What can I do for dry, smelly skin on my puppy?

Question

When I first brought my Mini. dauchhound home he was COVERED in fleas. I used Dawn detergent to get them off. But now his skin is dry, smelly and scaley. He is 8 weeks old now. And, his hair is falling out. He keeps scratching. I used olive oil last night and that seamed to help. I there anything else I could try?

Thank you for your quick responces. Very helpful. Every once in a while I will find a flea on him. I have been very diligent in watching for them. I rescued him from a home when he was only five weeks old. He was eating and drinking on his own. His mommy stopped feeding and caring for the puppies anyways. He has come to a good caring home. I will take him to the vet ASAP. Untill then, I will try your suggestions. Thanks Again.

Answer 1

I use Petlands Premium Banana Oatmeal dog shampoo. It gets rid of the flaky skin and they don't scratch as much. It has aloe and it won't take off any spot treatments. It's about $8 for an 8oz bottle. It works great.

Answer 2

I assume the Dawn got rid of the fleas; my vet advised me to use dishwashing liquid this way, as it is not toxic.
The Avon Skin So Soft is a great idea if you have it; it comes in a spritzer too. And olive oil sounds like a good idea.
I have had good results from Johnson's baby hair conditioner, but I can't get it anymore, so I use any children's hair conditioner. I find the dog fur conditioners are harsher.
You might need to give the pup a high quality oil supplement of some kind, if the problem persists.
By the way, if you still have fleas, you can use boric acid powder, which is sold in 99 cent stores as a roach powder, and in hardware stores as a bug powder; you have to look at the ingredients to find out what it is. Boric acid is not poisonous to animals with bones, so you can sprinkle it everywhere.

Answer 3

I'd take the dog to the vet ASAP and have a skin scrape done to see if he has :

mange
bacterial infection
yeast infection

Also...don't bathe the dog with dawn...it DRYS the skin terribly

If you leave any basic dog shampoo on for ten minutes it will kill the fleas anyway.

Instead of using olive oil topically which is most likely doing to clog the pores, I'd use fish oil pills orally. They're cheap, and effective.

Don't feed the dog the olive oil...olive oil is omega 6's and he needs mostly omega 3's

vet
vet
vet
go to the vet
:)

Good luck

Answer 4

take the puppy to the vet. Does he still have the fleas? He could be allergic to the fleas and this is not good. Dawn detergent may have been too strong to use on a puppy. It's best to have them checked out by a vet and have the vet give them a flea bath or recommend what you should use.

Answer 5

I have a couple of things you can try. First give him another bath, use oatmeal shampoo, very little because he is so young. I know it says you aren't supposed to, just dilute it really well. Anyway- another thing that you can use is Avon's skin so soft lotion. Just the regular lotion. It will help heal the skin by keeping it moist and also, will keep other fleas from jumping on him. If all else fails, take him to the vet. It is awful when they are miserable... Good Luck!

Answer 6

Call your vet IMMEDIATELY!! If he is only 8 weeks old, he should only be leaving his mother now. And, I wonder where you got him that he was covered with fleas?? He may have a serious skin allergy or health problem, so I'd advise you to get him checked out by a vet ASAP.

Answer 7

that sounds like mange, a trip to the vet it in order
for now if you can get a shampoo from the pet store that has coal tar and tea tree oil it will help the smell and irritation but wont cure the problem

Answer 8

I can't advertise this product, but the product I used was a laundry product that you attach to your washing machine and it treats the water with bacteria fighting stuff and removed soaps from your washing. i love the product, but anyways. I washed my dog in it since someone told me it would be great, and my dogs skin and coat was amazing! So soft and fluffy. He stopped scratching his itchy skin. Pretty cool. I guess that really didn't help though.

Answer 9

there a antifugel shampoo you could try that or even something with oatmeal in it may help him stop iching... have you tried to use bendryl try that for the iching for 7-10 and give him a bath he should be back to normal before you know it
snookie