# Very bad smelling dog



## kristan27 (Apr 1, 2012)

I have had my dog for about 2.5 years and he started to develop a very bad body odor problem about 6 months ago. This smell was not present, even after he had been swimming, etc. before this summer. I do not have a sense of smell but it has been described to me as a rotting garbage smell. I was unable to see anything wrong with him (he is very healthy, not itchy or anything, skin looks good) and baths in his regular shampoo were doing absolutely nothing for the smell. I took him to the vet who could also find nothing wrong with him but gave me a Seborrhea shampoo, as, per the vet, he seemed to be a bit oily/greasy. The vet considered an anal sac problem but smelled around his bum and said that it was definitely not an anal sac smell. Also, others have told me that the smell is definitely not coming from his mouth and the vet said his teeth were good. I have been using the Seborrhea shampoo, which I hear makes his smell 80% better, but he is still pretty smelly. I just don't know what to make of it..I do not understand how this smell developed overnight out of nowhere. He has had no changes in diet and is fed a premium dog food.At this point I'm bathing him weekly and it is still hard for others to be around him, but his smell seems to be somewhat better for about 24-48 hours after he is bathed. He is long haired and has a thick undercoat, which I hand strip. The vet noted that I had done a great job keeping his undercoat at a minimum. I also recently trimmed him, taking about 2-3 inches off, but everyone tells me that his fur (I had my friends smell his fresh fur trimmings) does not smell bad, but rather it seems to be his skin. Anyone have any ideas? Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

Cool! I've only ever met one other anosmic person in my life! (I'm anosmic too!)

Regarding your dog... Has a skin scraping been done? It could be a skin infection. 
What's in his food? Sometimes allergies develop randomly and can cause a smelly dog, so you could try going grain free and see if that helps at all. 
Does he roll in stuff? Maybe he's coating himself in the smell from outside??


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## kristan27 (Apr 1, 2012)

Oh, how crazy. Hopefully, you can see how frustrating this has been for me...people tell me he smells and I'm like "No, he's clean..I just gave him a bath." It doesn't make any sense to me!
The vet could not find any visual indicators that he was having any skin problems and he is not itchy. If you saw his skin you would be hard pressed to think he had any type of skin problem. I read a bit about yeast infections and other skin problems and they seem to have visual indicators or itching..could there be an infection in healthy looking skin? His food is grain free and it has lamb and chicken, but I could try a different meat source. He never rolls in anything (his little sister does enough scent rollig for the both of them) but he does like to eat dead things, however he rarely gets the chance...so I don't think that is the issue.


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## Hector4 (Sep 16, 2013)

Perhaps a yeast problem? Ears check out okay? 

What treats have you been feeding? Peanut butter? Anything with sugar or wheat or flour ? Try and cut out all biscuit treats and cut out all sugar and food that has wheat or potatoes and see what happens.


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## ForTheLoveOfDogs (Jun 3, 2007)

Oily/greasy fur is usually a pretty good indicator of some kind of skin issues. What breed of dog?


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## luv mi pets (Feb 5, 2012)

Is he neutered? My males when reaching maturity urine will smell like ferret smell. They will smell like till they are neutered and then the smell goes away. My girlfriend is facing the same thing with her male dog right now. 

If he is then I would look at the dog's diet and cut down on the carb content of your dog's diet. Carbs can cause some dogs to have stink like yeast smell.


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## kristan27 (Apr 1, 2012)

The vet said his ears were fine and I've never seen him dig at them or anything, and he is neutered. Honestly..he doesn't get many treats, especially over the summer. My dogs run with me frequently so I end up using their dog food as treats because I can keep it in the pockets of my running shorts pretty easily. I give him a bit of peanut butter maybe every couple months. My dogs do get meaty table scraps, like plain cooked chicken or pieces of burger/steak, and I get them antlers and soup bones from the butcher every so often. His food is already grain free, but I could look at getting something with increased meat content. I fed him Taste of the Wild for about two months and his smell did not change at all. As for his breed...I will try to get some pics up later but my best guess is samoyed and standard schnauzer with whatever else thrown in. He weighs about 75lbs, his tail is curled very tightly like a Samoyed, and he has a thick white undercoat. However, he has an outer wire coat and grows a mustache and eyebrows like a schnauzer.
It's looking like it might be wise for me to actually request a skin scraping and try to find a food that has a higher meat content than at least Taste of the Wild. My budget for dog food isn't huge...can anyone suggest something?


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Could it be allergies? Maybe try switching to a grain-free limited protein food with something like fish, and see if that helps.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

My dog is riddled with allergies and wears a medic-alert tag. The food that has worked best for his needs has been Merrick Texas Beef. It's about $67 for a really big bag of it.


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## kristan27 (Apr 1, 2012)

I tried him on Merrick a few months after I got him. At the time I had him on BB but I really liked the ingredient list for the price that Merrick has but he didn't like it and it seemed to give him severe stomach upset, to the point of blood in his feces, and when I discontinued the food he went back to normal. I tried it again a few weeks later with the same results so I ended up giving the rest of the bag to a friend. He has not had any bad reactions to any other dog food that I have noticed.
The first two pics are of him when he came with work to me the other day after I trimmed a few inches off of him.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

He's really shaggy! What a cutie. 
Which flavor of Merrick did you try?


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## kristan27 (Apr 1, 2012)

Thanks! I spend a lot of time on grooming and everyone asks me why I would want a dog like that but I think he is super cute. He had an identical brother that he was surrendered with (if you saw their pictures side by side you would not be able to tell them apart) and the guy said that the litter they came from all looked like that, which makes me think that he may not have too many different breeds in him.
I think it was grain free chicken and sweet potato. I'm honestly hesitant to try it again..I really panicked when I saw the blood in his poop. He has had foods with sweet potato and chicken since then with no issues. I think Merrick is an excellent food - I have friends that swear by it, it just doesn't seem to agree with him.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

If you do go back to it, try a different recipe. Sometimes that's all it is. 
I hear ya about the scary blood-in-stool experience. The first 6 months of Toby's life was figuring out why he was bleeding. It was awful.

I like the way he's groomed. I love scruffy dogs.


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## Boleyn (Aug 25, 2008)

I remember an article about coconut oil in Whole Dog Journal from several years ago. It was listing the many benefits of coconut oil, one of which was a deodorizing effect on dogs with odor problems. It needs to be the virgin/unrefined type. DogAware.com recommends a dosage of 1tsp per 10lbs of body weight at maximum; but to start with much less and build up slowly. It might be worth a shot! Also, your pup is utterly adorable


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Definitely try a grain free food without chicken. Poultry in general seems to be a common allergy. Try something like beef, or even fish (not sure what other formulas Merrick comes in)


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Have the anal glands checked too.

And also try different foods. My dogs always smell different when they have dry or canned food instead of raw. When we go away on holiday I usually tell whoever is staying with them to give them canned food, because it's too much trouble with the raw food, and when we come home the dogs always smell different, then go back to normal after a few days on raw food.

The smell from the change in food is very mild though.

I find it hard to believe that poor diet can lead to a strong garbage smell. That sounds more like a medical condition to me, like anal glands, skin infection, ear infection, or similar.


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