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Apple Cider Vinegar for Yeast Infections in Dogs

The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
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Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Chement (Oakland, MI) on 03/04/2022
 ★★★★★

Excellent advice. Saved me having to go to the vet. I have a 4 month old puppy and the stupid breeder gave her a bath and got water in her ear which started to smell yeasty. I bought regular cheap store brand apple cider vinegar (not Braggs organic) and mixed it half and half with distilled water and sprayed it in her ear and used cotton balls to squish it around and get the brown out. My dogs ear turned red and she was shaking her head more often so I did not repeat and do it a second time that first day. Instead, I added a little more water to the mixture and sprayed it in her ear once the next day and used the cotton ball method again. She was still shaking her head that second day but not as much and the inside of her ear was still red. I repeated the procedure again on the third day and she was shaking her head even less but her ear was still red. On the fourth day, she stopped head shaking and her ear looks great and is no longer red or smelly. THANK YOU for this valuable info. Saved me from buying those over the counter expensive solutions or going to the vet and having to spend $100 for an exam. Glad I found this post.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Stephanie (California) on 07/05/2017
 ★★★★★

My dog has yeast chronic issues and has been on medications his whole twelve years for skin allergies. Now, I just use vinegar.

EC: Hi Stephanie, can you please provide more details, such as dosage, dilution (50/50 water), frequency, and whether you applied apple cider vinegar topically or added it to food? Thank you!

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Lilli (Kenmore, Wa, Usa) on 01/14/2013 13 posts
 ★★★★★

I read all the great posts here about ACV and the various uses in caring for a dog who has a yeast infection. I just had to write and share my success story.

My adopted pal, whose breed is prone to severe skin problems, developed a bad skin yeast infection. His legs and parts of his torso turned black and lost fur. He scratched 24/7 and we had to watch him constantly or he would scratch and bite until he bled. Eventually, we had to keep him in onsies and a plastic cone.

When he lived with his previous family, we think he was given too much prednisone and too many anti-biotics which ruined his immune system. Every vet we took him too wanted to prescribe the same meds including atopica. IMHO I would never give these things to him again! Prednisone shuts down the adrenal glands which stops the itching but causes severe medical problems down the road.

We were at the end of our rope watching our poor guy suffer. Here's what worked for us:

We finally found a naturopathic vet who has been allergy testing and giving him Chinese herbs and tinctures which attacks the yeast internally but takes time to work. We changed his diet to a commercial brand of frozen raw meat with some veggies. (I would not recommend dry kibble of any kind because it is still processed and most have binders, starches, and grain products. ) He lost the extra weight, that he gained due to the prednisone, and was much livelier, but still scratching.

The single most amazing change in him occurred when I started spraying him with ACV/distilled water, 50/50. (I use organic ACV which has the "mother" in it. ) I sprayed the hot spots and black areas of his skin and rubbed the vinegar in. I kept him standing or moving until he air dried. (Do not spray it on open wounds and sores) Then I put him back in a cotton onsie. It is important to keep them from scratching and re-irritating the skin. I did this in the morning, after feeding, and the evening before bed. It reduced his scratching 75% in two days! I also mixed a little ACV in his food. (I would not recommend giving ACV on an empty stomach)

About every three days I mix a lotion of pure aloe vera with pure vegetable glycerin and distilled water and rub it on the troubled areas and let dry. (Do not use straight glycerin on skin because it traps moisture and may cause blistering) After a day or two, the lotion dries the surface yeast and it sloughs off. I clean the areas and new pink skin is underneath.

We are at day four of using this system. My dog is calmer, scratches less, and sleeps better. His skin is pinking up and I do not have to keep an eye on him all day.

(One word of caution: Talk to your naturopathic vet before starting any new remedy. Dogs can have a reaction to most anything whether it is natural or not. Start on a small patch of skin as a test before using any product on your dog.)

Thank you to everyone who posted ACV suggestions. After years of frustrating vet visits, many $$$'s spent, bad drug reactions, and the arrogance of Western medicine, a little $3.00 bottle of ACV did the trick!

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Tizalee (Sonora, Ca.) on 07/22/2012
 ★★★★★

I use AC Vinegar as a rinse for my dog who has systemic yeast infection-remember people many times the yeast infection can be a secondary infection due to something else going on. In my dog's case it was staph (in fact MRSA)-I had to put her on antibiotics-no choice-30 days of it-but I also gave her pro-biotics, omega 3 & milk thistle. Bathed her in Malseb with the vinegar rinse. She is a Doxie I found 7 months ago curled up in a ditch, thought she was dead. She weighed 8lbs and was covered in sores & scabs. She's now 14lbs, her hair has grown back in and we may have the staph licked. My vet tried to say it was allergies-didn't listen-that is the usual diagnoses. I did put her on Precise holistic grain free food though as I didn't want anything yeasty in her system. Good luck folks yeast is a tough one to conquer!!

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Atticus (Wellington, New Zealand) on 04/14/2012
 ★★★★★

I have been using vinegar for a few days, before reading a post for getting rid of cat and dog yeast smells on the carpets and pet bedding. 50/50 vinegar and water sprayed on carpets and the next morning doggie and kitty smell gone! The vinegar smell evaporates. I also used this in the rinse when washing dog blankets today. Finally got rid of the smell which putting disinfectant in the wash hadn't resolved in the past.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Mons (Chattanooga, Tn) on 11/02/2011
 ★★★★★

I have a 6 yr old daschund and he has been having a horrible time with yeast infections in his ears and all over his body. I just found this site yesterday looking for a home remedy because we just can not afford the vet bills. We gave him a bath last night and right before we got him out we poured a little ACV diluted with water over this back but did not rinse him after that. He did not itch at all for the rest of the night, it was amazing. However he did wake up in the middle of the night itching again, I know it takes awhile to completely clear up so we are gonna continue this for a few weeks and hope it continues to give him relief. Also, wanted to put some ACV drops in his ears but was not sure how much. I think I will just try to put a couple of drops in each ear tonight and see if that helps. Thanks so much for this site, this has helped answer a lot of my questions.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Halber (Omaha, Ne) on 06/07/2011
 ★★★★★

Kate,

I battled ear infections in our labradoodle for 5 years, probably a dozen trips to the vet, several hundred dollars and about a gallon of Animax, but it still didn't solve the problem. I found a recipe online from a cocker spaniel owner for a vinegar based solution that has been a miracle. I use it once a month and for the past four years there hasn't been a single ear infection. Here is the website: http://www.zimfamilycockers.com/EarCleaner.html

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Hailey (Granada Hills, California) on 05/05/2011
 ★★★★★

Just diagnosed my lab with yeast and I have been fighting my own battle with candida with coconut oil so what easier way to give to them in their food and put in their ears, belly, paws, and groin and is harmless of couse give them the best virgin coconut raw oil you can buy it for 45 at rawfoodworld.com for a Gallon!

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Adrianna (Emerson, New Jersey) on 04/24/2011
 ★★★★★

I would definitely start with changing the food your dog is eating. The brands you are giving them are of the lowest quality. It's made of slaughterhouse waste and fillers. Check out the website www.dogfoodadvisor.com it will help guide you to a better food. Grain free is not always expensive. A lot of people use Taste of the Wild and it's affordable.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Wendy (Great Cacapon, WV) on 06/16/2009
 ★★★★★

thank you all for this site. the acv is healling my black lab. i clean them just once a day now and he no longer licks the area. now anyway to get rid of the smell. he still gets baths evey 2 weeks but it seems not to leave. ty wendy

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Leslie (Clearwater, FL) on 10/22/2008
 ★★★★★

Apple cider Vinegar is great to use on your dog for yeast. I mix some with water in a spray bottle and spray and brush her. She doesn't mind smelling like a salad. When I first got her, she use to chew on her paws till they were raw. I thought it was a nervous habit, but a vet recommended giving her a bath in Selsun Blue shampoo. But.. you have to get them to stay in it for like 5 min. It worked.. she has never chewed her paws again. Thank you everyone for this wonderful web site.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Michele (Roseville , CA) on 09/05/2008
 ★★★★★

I have a Pitbull 18 mos and he has been very itchy since i got him. He always was licking his feet, and always getting yeast infections in his ear. Someone at the dog park suggested the vinegar thing and I came home and tried it that day and he has not licked his feet in probably a week now! I couldn't be happier with the results :)

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Ellen (Charles Town, West Virginia) on 08/06/2008
 ★★★★★

I am so happy to see this site. It gives me hope that my poor English Setter, Lady has some chance to finally get well. She has been miserable for so long that I have been considering putting her down. I hate to lose her but she is so miserable with itching and she is constantly raw and bleeding all over. This has been going on for almost 6 years with her getting worse and worse. I don't know if this will work but at least there is some hope. How much should I feed and do you also use it topically? I love my pet so much that it hurts to see her suffer.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Kathryn (Scottsdale, Arizona) on 07/24/2008
 ★★★★★

After reading about ACV on this website, I tried it on my pug Lotus, who was treated for 2 years by my vet before I read this. Her feet were the worst, so I let them soak in half and half ACV solution and dandruff shampoo while i wash the rest of her. In one bath I noticed her coat was much shiner, and after a few baths her hair started growing back in some bald spots and her feet were much much better.

Warning: yeast is stubborn and does come back (the minute you stop looking for it) and it seems hot humid weather makes it worse. It remains a problem in her ears, but I emailed my vet and told him the ACV worked better than any of the shampoos and creams he had been prescribing.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Anna (Ottowa, Canada)
★★★★★

Our 13-month old female Black Lab-Rotty mix dog Maya has been suffering from recurrent eye and ear infections for the last 7 months. When we first took her to the vet 7 months ago, the diagnosis was ear mites. We treated her with Revolution - twice. The infection seemed to get better at first, but then returned quickly. I then treated her ears with Yellow Dock for a few months, it seemed to keep the infection under control, but had not cleared it. Last month, Maya got a very severe ear infection and we took her to emergency - the test showed NO MITES - YEAST infection! It meant that I have been treating her all this time for the wrong cause - thanks to the vet who did not perform any tests the first time around and simply "guessed" that Maya had ear mites.

To cut the long story short, the emergency vet gave us some antibiotic cream, which helped at bit at first, but then we saw no improvement, especially around the eyes, so I found this website and decided to treat Maya with an organic ACV (half and half with water). I sponged her back (she had a few lesions there as well) and her ears twice a day, I let her shake and then wiped her ears dry. I sponged her eyes gently as well. Her eyes were circled by an elephant-like skin with no hair, and it seemed that like would never go away! Within 2 days we noticed a great improvement. I continued the treatment for a few days twice a day, and her conditioned improved 99%. I've read that it takes 3-6 weeks for it to clear up completely and that it is suffice to do it three times a week.

I measured her pH balance and noticed that it was too alkaline (around 8). This helps yeast to grow, so we started adding a bit of vinegar to her food to stabilie her ph balance. We've also implemented other dietary restrictions that are typical with yest

Overall, we've definitely found success with ACV, and I hope that other dog owners would be able to learn from us to help their furry kids.



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