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.
Dietary Changes
Posted by SacredCowBBQ (Nevada) on 09/02/2023
★★★★★
My mini-Aussie came into my life unexpectedly. I asked a friend what she fed her dog. Taste of the Wild. So I started giving him the beef and bison formula. He started scratching and biting at himself like crazy. A pet food store in Colorado recommended taking him off Taste of the Wild and putting him on a salmon-based kibble. Within 4 days his scratching and biting stopped. I now give him half raw beef/ half kibble. When I can afford it- I'll give him all raw meat.
Dietary Changes
Posted by Mommagsd (Canada) on 03/18/2018
★★★★★
Yeast Infections: All this natural remedies are better than the over use of antibiotic's and other nasty drugs, You have to start healing from the inside, good wholesome fresh foods is medicine. Dogs and cats can not thrive on processed foods. Once you start feeding a healthy nutritious diet, be it raw or cooked, you will start to see amazing results and a healthy dog.
Dietary Changes
Posted by Figment (Co) on 12/19/2013
★★★★★
We dealt with chronic yeast ear infections in our vizsla pup for months. Vet just kept giving us new ear washes/ointments/etc... most with steroids. Finally after switching foods many times, we found one that has ended the problem. NO GRAINS makes a big difference. We use Taste of the Wild dry food, prairie bison and venison formula and he LOVES it! No more smelly ears and he smells better overall. Poop still stinks but ears are happy! No more scratching, rubbing, or painful ears. They are cold to the touch instead of warm and red. Happy dog finally!
Dietary Changes
Posted by Kandice (Nj) on 12/17/2013
★★★★★
My bulldog/box mix has been suffering from yeast infections for over 2 years on her face/ears/paws/ingrown tail/vulva. She scratches, licks, bites, runs around in circles chasing her tail, squirms around on her back on the floor, and drags her behind. I've felt terrible that I could find nothing to relieve her itching. She smells like Fritos or white cheddar popcorn. Her paws and tail smelled so bad I used to gag while cleaning them. I have tried all kinds of home, and over the counter, and prescribed sprays, cleansers, powders, creams, and meds. She has been tested for tons of things and also has had her anal glands expunged. Nothing stopped any of her infections for any real period of time. During this time I was trying to narrow down what she was allergic to. I tried many different brands and flavors of foods for several months one at a time. Finally, I have found a great one. Nature's variety instinct grain-free salmon meal formulas dry dog food. It contains Salmon Meal, Herring Meal, Menhaden Fish Meal, Canola Oil, Tapioca, Pea Starch, Pork Liver, Natural Pork Flavor and tons of veggies. My dog appears to be allergic to Chicken and beef like most dogs and most dog foods have some type of chicken or beef in it. This is the only food I could find that didn't have chicken or beef product without potatoes or rice. I buy it at Petco but I'm sure other places sell it. After her eating only this and Vitality Salmon treats (only salmon and veggies) for 5 weeks, her rash around her vulva has disappeared. She has stopped dragging her behind, rolling around on the floor, chasing herself in circles, and scratching her face/ears. She still chews her paws but I think she may be allergic to grass or likes to keep them clean. Her coat is also thinker and she appears to be shedding less. I will continue to clean her deep folds, ingrown tail, and big paws with the water/vinegar/peroxide solution to maintain her cleanliness. If your dog has any of those, then are prone to yeast anyway and need to be cleaned often (at least bi-weekly). Please try this food if you know your dog is allergic to chicken/beef. I'm so happy my baby is finally feeling better!
Dietary Changes
Posted by Doc (Olathe, Kansas Usa) on 01/30/2012
★★★★★
My dog (a nearly 4 year old black lab) had come down with yeast, overgrowth. He was so miserable and looked so bad some friends asked me if we were going to have to put him down. For the past 2 years he just kept getting worse. The vet we were using just kept giving him steroids, yeast meds, antibiotics and blaming it also on allergies and recommended I take him to an allergist vet. At $1500 to start with, I don't think so.
So, I took matters into my own hands and got him tested for allergies using a non traditional way using frequency vial tests. Wow! That was the start to my dogs recovery. I had then started him on a grain free diet from costco. It had tomato in it and I had to get him desensitized to the tomato but now that is fixed. I also started him on products from ortho molecular. The products were Ortho biotic ( a probiotic) candicid forte, Intestinol, and Adrenall. I have given him these for 5 months or so now and his coat is nearly back to normal. My grown kids who had not seen my dog for 6 months easy could not believe the change! They wondered what I had done.
I also agree with the other writers about Malaseb shampoo. It really is the best. I went from bathing my dog 2x per week ( at 110lbs that is no easy task) to 2x per month!
I still have to give him benadryl to help with the itchys but he is so much happier and not tearing himself apart literally, ( I had blood all over my carpet on the main floor and basement from his open sores)
There is no sign of the missing hair patches any longer, all his coat is back to normal. He looks like his handsome self again.
I write this to help those of you struggling with the yeast issues to not give up and take matters into your own hands. Most vets just want to give meds and not look at anything else. One vet even told me what I was doing had no scientific validity. So I asked him if he wanted to see the pics of my dog at his worst because he was getting to see him 5 months after my treatment plan. He did not care to and we left abruptly as you can imagine.
I hope this helps someone out there.
P.S. I forgot to tell you that I also gave my lab 1/2 cup of plain yogurt 2x per day as well.
Dietary Changes
Posted by Jennifer (Arlington, Tx, United States) on 12/30/2011
★★★★★
I don't know where to put this, but I wanted to share my experience. I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars at the vet for yeast infections in my dog's ears. He said allergies probably were the cause, but allergy testing was a lot of money.
So I did some research and decided to simply eliminate the most common food allergens - wheat, corn and soy - presto! No more ear infections. At least, not nearly as often and not as bad - there is no way to prevent all airborne allergens from getting in, but no more sudden, awful ones.
In a pinch, I buy Purina One Beyond. It has soy but no wheat or corn, and can be obtained from the grocery store.
When I can get what I prefer, I use Canidae from the feed store. It is the cheapest of the 'premium' foods, and contains no wheat, corn or soy.
When I notice that an infection might be trying to start - when she scratches and I see gunk in her ear, I use a product called Zymox. It is so much better than the two step cleaner antifungal/antibiotic from the vet. It is a gel that is easier on the ears - no alcohol to sting - and nicely travels down like you need it to. I normally only have to use that one-three days max. It also works for a full-on infection, but takes 1-2 weeks like the stuff from the vet. I buy a large bottle that lasts me a very long time and we never have to see the vet anymore.
Of course, if there is a possibility there is something in the ear canal, a vet trip is required. Otherwise any substance put in there will be very damaging, possibly fatal.
Anyway, I really encourage everyone with any type of problem possibly caused by allergies to change foods. It may not be as simple as avoiding wheat, corn, and soy, but it might be! And if not, you can do your testing further and see what you find for yourself.
Also, if she is really itchy - chewing on her paws and such, I give benadryl. be sure and look up the correct amount for the weight of your dog if you try that.
Dietary Changes
Posted by Aryk (Plainfield, Il Usa) on 11/22/2011
★★★★★
I have a 13yr old Westie and he's had chronic ear infections/icthiness since he was about 4. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I wanted to suggest a few things to the other dog owners out there with problem poochies.
Oskar has had itchy, red, smelly ears, sores that crust and flake off his skin, oily, smelly skin and hotspots. We've been through it all! It really breaks my heart to keep seeing these issues flare up. We've been to the vet throughout his life for these issues and he's been treated with antibotics and steriods which never helped. So this is what I've been doing:
I feed a raw-food or grain-free dry food. Try and stay away from beef, because this is considered a "hot food" and can irritate the allergy. (Oskar likes duck, lamb and I know fish is a good choice as well. ) Also, a tbsp of Greek yogurt with live cultures and a tbsp of apple cider vinger with food once a day. This took two weeks to really notice much of a difference, but his ears started to open and I was able to clean them and then begin treatment for his ears.
It was recommended to me to use Zymox products, you can get them on Amazon.Com, I have yet to find them in a pet store. I use the shampoo and rinse, two times a week. Leave the shampoo on for 10mins and then you can leave the rinse (conditioner) on to dry if you want, or just do spot-treatment with it on your pet's worse itchy places. I've also used their ear products, I got the ones with the hydrocortisone in it because Oskar is constantly scratching his ears, and this has helped as well.
Recently I picked up their Topical Cream with hydrocortisone and have been using that in between baths, once a day and it's been really amazing. His hotspots on his back legs have healed up tremendously and he hasn't been chewing nearly as much. I really recommend this. But as a disclaimer, if you have a white dog it will turn the fur yellow to the areas you're applying it. The yellow does grow out and wash out though. I usually throw an old T-shirt on Oskar after applying so that way the oil from the cream doesn't get on anything and he can't lick it off.
Anyway, I hope this helps some. I'm still on the road to completely getting rid of his yeasty self, but this has really been helping!
Dietary Changes
Posted by Laura J (Miami, Fl) on 05/18/2010
★★★★★
My pug has suffered with skin problems for 9 years. He used to smell horrible a day after bathing. I went through years of medicinal shampoos, $200's in vet visits each month, steroid shots, antibiotics, hair falling out all over his body, scabs, scaley skin...all the things I read on your posts. And really bad ear infections. So bad that he couldn't even open his mouth at times. Then I read your site and started trying out different things and observing the effects. Instead of the $30 medicinal shampoo from the vet (which made his skin MUCH MUCH worse over time) I purchased a medicated shampoo at the pet store for $10 with coal tar, sulfur and triclosan. I gave him yogurt, white vinegar and acidopholus. Then I decided he must have a food allergy that is weakening his immune system and causing the yeast infections...so I switched his food yet again from a limited ingredient duck and potato dry food from the pet store. I tried the fish and potato, all the different limited imgredient varieties. He only got worse. Then I tried the prescription diet duck CANNED FOOD from the Veterinarian. Now, finally, he is so much better. The dry food has too too many additives. The canned food is simpler. I think he may have been allergic to the yogurt, so I eliminated that and added probiotics to his diet (with acidopholus) each day. For a time, I sprayed mild vinegar and water solution on him after his medicated baths. After 3 months his scabs were completely gone and his hair all grown back. It's been 4 to 6 months of treatments. I have discontinued the vinegar and the acidopholus. His coat is now gorgeous, and the awful smell is almost all gone. He still licks his feet, and has some painful sores on them. He still has mucous on his eyes in the morning and I am still working on curing his much improved, but still stubborn yeasty left ear. Most of his years of suffering are behind him now and it seems to all boil down to nasty food allergies compromising his immune system. I may go back to the probiotics again for a while to see if the ear infection and foot licking can go away completely. The prescription canned food is quite expensive, but the change in diet has cured his skin condition and I don't have to go the the vet constantly and pay huge bills for treatments that didn't help him at all--only made him feel worse. Puggy and I thank you for all the great info. It takes trial and error, but really pays off.
