Sorry. This is even longer than my usual posts!
This has been going on for a couple of weeks, maybe more.
It's a kind of "earthy" smell. Very strong at times.
At first I thought it was his ears (I used to clean tham daily, but reduced it after reading that it shouldn't be done too often), so I started doing them every day again, and regular Thornits. I then started using the Leo I got from the vets even though he hates it and I have never previously been convinced he needs it.
When that didn't stop the smell (Thornits only masked it for a few hours at most) I decided it must be the newly discovered lip folds. I had thought they were in a totally different place up to then!
I started with Hibiscrub, then moved on to Betadine but it hasn't helped either and I am not sure if it's that.
Someone told me that her lab used to smell bad until she started removing her collar in the house. She wondered if it was a build up of grease under the collar. SO we have been doing that, and I've washed the collar, but still haven't tracked down the source.
His breath isn't too fresh, but I don't think it's the same smell, even so I've been cleaning there too (always have, but have started to do all these things more often).
I've taken to cleaning thoroughly around his privates each day too as he's a young adult male. 'nuff said there! And I've been baby wiping his bum.
He had a bath just over a week ago after rolling in something dead, and he did smell a bit better for maybe a day. Just a strong aroma of his conditioner, but surely I shouldn't bath him
too often?
His poos are usually quite good, and he hasn't scooted for months so I don't think it's his anal glands either.
He does swim most days but if he gets in the manky water we rinse him off either in the cleaner river or with the hose. I wondered if he had a skin infection, but can't see anything widespread. There might be something going on on his throat. When we took his collar off we found a slightly pink area of fur, but can't find anything on his skin there at all. It's not even dye from the collar - wrong colour!
I've run my not very efficient nose all over him (the things we do!) and honestly can't find the source.
I am wondering whether I should pop him up to the vet for a quick check, as I'm sure it's not a healthy smell. It's certainly not a smell I've sensed from a dog before, but I am a novice.
Before I do that, I just thought I'd ask if anyone has any other clues as to what this could be please. I hate to think that I might have inadvertantly neglected him, but I think I must be doing something wrong.
This would be one of the reasons I have been thinking a bit about BARF, but not quite ready for that yet. Just wonder if I have failed to check out anything else which might be the source.
