hot spots - Page 1

Last fall Lucky started shedding badly and got a hot spot under his elbow. I did a LOT of reading and determined it was caused by an overload of wheat  (treated him to some  artisan bread crusts for weeks- BAD) I always have made his dog food with rice,chicken,veggies, etc. The wheat and corn makes the yeast in the dogs digestive tract multiply and create toxins that kill the good bacteria, which causes hot spots,smelly ears and skin, dandruff,greasy  and smelly skin,and hot spots. I stopped the bread, added apple cider vinegar,garlic, and probiotics (acidophilis), biotin, and omega 3 to his chicken and rice and it cleared it up.I bathed him with a mild shampoo and used a dilute vinegar rinse every couple weeks. Do not know exactly  what all killed the yeast overgrowth but what most vets call an allergy to wheat is this yeast problem. Make sure your dog food does not have wheat or corn as a large ingredient. (I used homemade sauerkraut as probiotic because it is full of great stuff for humans as well as dogs, but few people realize how easy it is to make this healthy food, and most dogs love it. It probably took 6-8 weeks till he got his thick undercoat again. Antibiotics also kill the good bacteria and cortisone shots and pills do not get to the bottom of the problem and have bad side effects. I am so thankful I read about yeast toxins killing good bacteria on the web- it saved me a fortune in vet bills. Hope this helps some people before they spend a lot on allergy testing and cortisone. Good luck

Jane, thanks for your post, hopefully many will read this. I know systemic yeast infections are often mistaken for other things and the treatment is such an easy fix. I always put a couple of squirts of lemon juice in my dog's water (they won't drink it with the apple cider vinegar), my boys love eating a couple scoops of plain yogurt daily, it's an easy fix and my dogs love it.