my dog is a mess. hes a smooth-coated senior dachshund, and since we moved somewhere warmer last year, his skin has been nonstop driving him crazy. he’s currently had really bad yeast issues (mostly in his ears, which are bright red and lumpy, and it’s beginning to eat away at the fur around the edges and…
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my dog is a mess. hes a smooth-coated senior dachshund, and since we moved somewhere warmer last year, his skin has been nonstop driving him crazy. he’s currently had really bad yeast issues (mostly in his ears, which are bright red and lumpy, and it’s beginning to eat away at the fur around the edges and replacing it with blackish-purple leathery skin,) even though he just got off a treatment of Eas Otic, and his eyes are red some days and ooze either clear or light green mucus (which out vet says is allergies, not pink eye.) he’s just ending a twice-daily treatment of hydroxyzine, as well as ketoconazole, both for allergies and anti-itching, though they don’t seem to work well and I read that ketoconazole has some pretty mean side effects.
on top of all this, he has very severe arthritis in his back legs, and he’s been on just about every pain med available at one point or another. metacam gave him ulcers, but he spits out pills no matter how well you conceal them. the rest of the dog meds in our cabinet (which are becoming increasingly hard to keep track of) are malaseb shampoo, tramadol HCL, caratate/sucralfate, and methocarbamol.

long story short, how can i finally put an end to:
-the eyes oozing/ allergies
-the all-over itchy skin analyzer artistryskin,
-the horrific yeast in his ears,
and the arthritis.

he’s a very happy and playful dog when he’s not itching and miserable, and i really dont want to even think about putting him down. any suggestions about meds/ alternative treatments we can ask the vet about?

Answer:
Maikang First of all how old is this poor boy? It’s high time somebody got to grips with what’s going on, and if he were mine, I’d start with diet. His yeast, itchy skin, yeast infection in his ears and oozy eyes would all point to the basic cause being he’s simply on the wrong diet.

Switch him, gradually (although to be honest, I’d get him onto a sensitive diets asap) onto something with NO CEREAL, and I also recommend a fish and potato diet, which is commercially made by many these days.

Malaseb may work on some, but using it on my hounds in the past, it has always made their skin red and more inflamed than ever. Tramadol – my one experience with this on one of mine who was terminal cancer wasn’t good. It completely spaced her out and wasn’t working in any case.

So start with diet for the majority of his problems – you won’t see an instant improvement and it may well take some weeks, but stick with it.

As for the arthritis, although arthritic patients should have some exercise, within sensible bounds, to keep their muscle tone going, you have to judge when he’s bad and when he’s not – and I’d suggest that will relate directly to weather. When it’s cold and damp, his arthritis will flare. When it’s warmer and drier, he should feel better. Try to find a hydrotherapy pool – these are great for providing exercise without further damaging bad joints. Acupuncture may help too.

Bottom line – depending his age and what your vet can still offer (and it may be worth finding another or at least taking a second opinion), he may have simply come to the end of his days and needs help over the final hurdle. When his down days outnumber his up days, then the time is coming.skin analyzer