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My dog has started to stink bad

My four year old Springer Spaniel started stinking mid-summer. He is groomed on a regular basis of every two months. He never smelled bad before. Even after I take him to the groomers for a bath and trim I can start smelling it within two days, Ears seems to be clear. After just two weeks I don't want him around my customers or me.

I have asked the groomers but they want me to bring him in every two weeks for a $36 wash so they told me nothing. About to take him to the vet as I am worried that something is very wrong. Does anyone have an idea?

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UPDATE 1/12/16

The vet told me to stop feeding him the high dollar dry dog food Beyond Salmon & pumpkin

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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This is more like what I noticed when I worked in the medical field. Certain diseases and cancers have a definite odor. I know this sounds strange but actually dogs can smell it too. @oldturkey probably knows what I am talking about. I can be walking in a grocery store and smell someone with certain types of cancer or diabetics.

http://dogsdetectcancer.org/can-dogs-sme...

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@mayer , Sorry your dog is having a problem. I would take him to the vet. They can run blood test to see if it is diet related and hopefully get you and the dog on the right track. Hope all is good.

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@mayer , just thought I would check in to see how the Springer is doing.

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This question was migrated from https://www.ifixit.com/Answers.

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Hi @mayer

My last dog (West Highland terrier - 18.5yrs old when she passed on) was initially a high maintenance dog - she was 4 yrs old when we inherited her from the father-in-law when he passed on) with a skin condition that smelt to high heaven. Medicated shampoos and vet prescriptions did nothing to solve the problem, they only masked it. Stop the treatment the problem resurfaced. it was eventually cured by a diet change to one that was composed of raw vegetable and fruit matter (peelings and offcuts from the kitchen, rough blended, not pureed, together in a blender -no onions or potatoes or orange peels) coupled with tinned tuna. That was for the evening meal. In the mornings she was given a raw chicken wing or leg to munch on to keep her teeth in good condition. As she was only a little dog 7.5-8Kg. I only had to make the food up 1 or 2 times a week , as it didn't matter that even though it was kept in the fridge it was slightly "off "after 3 days she couldn't get enough of it. She was on this diet for the last 10 years of her life. Her skin condition cleared, once we found that it was diet that was causing her condition (prior to this the vet had her on a 1/2 cortisone tab/day which cleared the skin but made it as tight as a drum).

Basically she ate what we ate in the form of vegetables and fruit. The only bad effect of this was after her meal she smelt a bit fishy but that was all. Before the diet change there was always food left in the bowl, after the change she licked it to within an inch of its' life, every meal for over 10 years. The other side effect was that I lost my compost bin as she became the household food composter.

The diet change came about because a locum vet mentioned(on a regular vet check up) how dogs were being fed the wrong food as their ancestry was that they were a scavenger animal which usually fed on the remains of carcasses left by the top order predators - basically stomach contents - which in prey animals is mainly vegetable matter. Whatever, it worked for her. Just thought that it may be of interest to you.

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Just be careful with chicken bones. If a dog breaks one, as they're hollow, they can splinter easily. More of a problem for cooked chicken though. Just figured to throw that in. I'm not sure if the dog can break them or not.

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Hi @wheeljack

Thanks. We worried about that too but found that raw bones were "soft" as compared to cooked and do not splinter as much and being mostly wings were small enough for her to crunch through. Towards the end we stopped giving her chicken legs as the bones were bigger and old age caught up to her and she started losing a few teeth

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@jayeff Thanks, maybe I do feed him to well. He does eat everything I feed him for the evening meal. He won't eat salad, spinach, beets or raw carrots. He will miss his ice cream ;-)

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@mayer

Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

You may be surprised at his reaction if you rough blend all the food (raw) you mentioned that he doesn't like, plus anything else that is going in the vege/fruit line, together, add a few spoons of tuna (tuna in springwater not brine as salt isn't that good for them either).

I now understand where the phrase 'wolfing it down' must have come from.

Also regarding the smell, in layman's terms with my dog the smell before the diet change was because she wasn't getting enough of 'something' (did not find out what) and the skin reacted. A bit like a swimming pool when it smells of chlorine. It is not because there is too much chlorine in it, it is usually because there is not enough.

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Gee, that's a pretty tough one.

I've heard that you can get dog shampoo, but I'm not sure about the accuracy of that information, so take the suggestion with a grain of salt.

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I don't think it's the shampoos. I've had him to three different groomers besides washing himself. Some make him itch. But this is something different. Even when he's nice and clean I can get a whiff of it. In a week it's really strong and he never had this issue before.

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Change of diet perhaps? Did Anything change in that time frame? Maybe he's eating from the garbage, or food from elsewhere? Or playing in smelly areas? Could also be medical? Any behavioural changes? He might need a vet visit. But, I know vets can't diagnose everything, but maybe narrow it down. If your concerned, I would try and go to the vet,if possible.

-Liz

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@wheeljack Liz Thanks for your answer. No he is very well fed. So well in fact that sometimes I have switched dinners with him. He always has dry high end salmon and pumpkin food out. That's always available and he does not overeat, there is always food in that bowl available. Feed him high end canned food every other day. Mixed with, every other day a good meat starch, and veggie dinner (same stuff I eat) heated. This dog eats better than 95% of the people in the world. Tonight a full meated roast prime rib bone for desert. On behavior, he is barking at people when they leave. He has never done that before. He seems to be more demanding and I'm not reading him as well as normal. I'm with him 24/7 so we usually communicate vey well. I'll take him to the vet this week.

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Sounds wise. I hope this gets resolved and everything works out. :)

-Liz

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Just wonder if you can pinpoint where the smell is coming from. That might give us a clue as to what could be causing it

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No. I can pick up the smell with a day after going to the groomers.

Had an appointment with the Vet this morning but it snowed early this morning and a lady made the corner , slid right up into my driveway and hit my girlfriends car so it will have to wait till Monday.

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@mayer - So it's more of a body odor issue than a stomach gas smell?

Does your dog scratch anywhere more often? If you look at the area is it inflamed? Sometimes a skin infection (fungus) can create a smell. The other possibility here is something deeper like cancer or diabetes which causes the chemical makeup of the body to be off as you noted people's odors can likewise be effected which a trained dog can detect when the difference is so small.

I hope its something treatable, hang in there Mayer!

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Yes he has started scratching, but all over. I found out that another guy has the same dog and had named it the same thing but it died of cancer.

http://presidentialpetmuseum.com/pets/ra...

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mayer will be eternally grateful.