problems - Page 1

hi, I am facing a lot of probs with my dog lately mostly related to his skin condition n fur. His fur has gone dull and the skin is quite dry. lost some hair around his legs mostly n elbows. the tail hair r very less, it used to b a huge bush. the skin is scrapy n looks like he has dandruff. i m not sure if this is something related to his food or is it a skin problem. i plan to take him to the vet tomorrow to get him checked but wanted an opinion. Regards prashant

 Telling the board what food you provide him and how frequent you bathe him might help, plus if you noticed a sensitivity towards certain types of food or treats.

Regards
Ibrahim

well, its mostly raw meat, chicken n buff meat. bathing is just once a month or two. i havent seen any allergies to his food yet.

 I don't know if GSDs are like Huskies, but with Huskies you are only suppose to give a bath twice a year......otherwise you will get that dry skin and dull fur since it strips the natural oils out

Why do you bath him every month this will only dry his skin and coat out, does he get a varity of meat, bone, organ meat, even fish(oily) sardines and such

all this advice is not worth or equal to one trip to the vet. Raw doesn't mean a completely balanced diet. A dog can get wet as often as he likes but thats not a bath. Environment has it's effects to be considered. Let your vet look at the dog, tell him how you raise it.

Check for massive worm infestation, if there's no visible skin infection. Also NOTE that @ a given season of the year dogs, but especially bitches do shed their coat to the extent that one may suspect an infection even though their's non. I've expirience it and only recently seen a friends rott that later got back her full coat without any treatment. Finally, see your vet. Cheers

My bitch started to blow her coat the last week of Aug this year. It was early. Does cause some itching. We have now started up the wood stove and every year she gets very itchy. Right now I have her on Puppy gold as a supplement to prepare her for breeding. If I wasnt planning on breeding her, I would have her on Show Stopper. She also has a dust mite allergy, which causes severe itching. She gets Revolution to keep that under control. I also have some salmon on order to start feeding her to help with the dryness. The humidifier is going but only adds a little bit of mosture.

So I would make sure his diet is sufficient, the house isnt too dry, isnt allergy related. Allergens can be tested with bloodwork.

Spray equal amount of baby oil+ antiseptic mouth wash + distilled or clean water on her, this will stop the itch and lubricate her skins till you get chance to get her to vet  .

Before you start changing diets or dunking your dog in snake oil get him to the vet and run basic blood panel and fecals on him. Skin and coat conditions are almost always secondary to some underlying problem, but guessing which one out of dozens of possibilities is pointless. And time consuming. And costly. If it were my dog he'd be at the vet's already.