Smelly Dog

[MANDYANDALFIE]

Hope I'm posting this in the right place and thanks in advance for any help that anyone can give for poor Alfie.

Alfie, 2.5 years old, has started to smell and I can't work out the source of the smell.  It's a disgusting,putrid smell like something has died and is decomposing and it appears to just generally be around him.  I have cleaned his ears repeatedly, washed his bedding, checked his teeth and mouth, groomed him (I do this every day anyway) and bathed him 3 or 4 times in the past couple of weeks.  I've even had my nose closer to the underside of his tail than I ever thought it would be in order to discover exactly which bit of him smells!!  There just is no specific place on him where this smell is actually coming from - it's as if he's had eau de disgusting, putrid poo smell sprayed all around him.  Each time after bathing/ear cleaning/bed washing the smell completely disappears but comes back within just a few days so I am beginning to wonder whether it could be something diet related and is just generally oozing out of him all over and building up until I wash the concentration away.

His normal diet would be about 50% tinned Lily's Kitchen and about 50% home cooked (meat/veg/fruit and a little brown rice) but this has been a little disrupted over the past couple of weeks as I have had a foot operation and can't stand for more than about 5 mins at a time so he has been having 100% tinned food.

Does anybody have any other ideas re the smell or should I just go for a change of diet and see if that makes a difference?

[MIN]

bless him and you. its amazing where we will put our noses when it is our pets. would not be so keen to sniff out our partners though 

nothing in the garden or where he walks that he can be rolling in ?

[julie1]

My first thoughts are  Anal Glands, does it smell matalic/fishy , our vet charges £15 to empty them.    I suppose it could also be a bad tooth. 

[MANDYANDALFIE]

I don't think he's rolling in anything but he does swim in the local river (clear running water) when out on a walk at any and every opportunity MIN.  It's weird that the frequent swimming doesn't get rid of the smell but the garden hose and soap does.

I thought of anal glands (which is why I was tentatively sniffing under the tail) but there's no smell.  If they were full, what would the symptoms be?

[MIN]

staffy poppy mouth/ breath smelt worse than a sewer when she had a bad tooth

[Mudmagnets]

It could be the tinned food, as it is different from his normal feed, Branston whiffs if I feed him the adult Forthglade instead of puppy with his Royal Canin,  - so it could well be an inbalance somewhere.

[Pearly]

Does he have any matts? We had to cancel a grooming appointment just before the main holiday, so her fur was longer than usual, sea swimming and woodland walks soon meant she had matts at the back of legs and on one side of her body - oh my they smelt  after cutting them out she was a much sweeter smelling girl and seemed much happier too 

[MANDYANDALFIE]

No, no mats.  He's a working cocker and doesn't have a very thick coat. The smell is quite overpowering which is why I think it may be coming from the inside.

[Mudmagnets]

I think if all other options have been considered, it may be time for  a trip to the vet  - see if there is anything wrong, at least you will know what you are working with then...and hopefully be able to rectify it.

Tbh you could keep guessing till the cows come home, but maybe a ten minute consultation would resolve it quicker. And if it is something internal - better to find out sooner rather than later me thinks

[tenaille]

Lipfolds can make a really awful putrid smell, definitely worse than any other odour they can produce.  The vet nearly fell over when he smelled Beau and he opened windows and doors and sprayed air freshener as we were leaving.............

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

You can get doggy sprays (groomers online/pets at home etc).However, if it's medical, you don't want to mask the smell. If it's because of something he does, I don't see why you shouldn't use it.

[minimoo]

personally I would wait until hes whiffy and pop him to the vets, if hes that bad he needs to be looked at. sprays and bathing him aren't going to solve the problem long term and I would want to know whats going on

[MANDYANDALFIE]

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts.

I'm going to take him to the vet to see if he has any ideas and, if not, I'll try feeding him raw to see if that makes a difference.  I'm hoping we can get it pinned down soon as he's not winning any friends like this!!!!

[MANDYANDALFIE]

I thought I would post an update in case it helps somebody else out in the future.

I changed Alfie on to a raw food diet.  I started with feeding him 3% of his ideal body weight each day but he lost weight so he's now getting 4% and I'm watching him closely as I don't want him to lose any more.  We're using Nutriment and he's really enjoying the food. The best part for me is that he doesn't smell anymore.  He also has a lot less "output".   I'm so happy that this problem appears to be solved.  I'm off now to read up on feeding a raw diet that isn't prepared so that I can just visit the butcher when we go away on holiday and I don't have a freezer available for his food.

[Mudmagnets]

So glad things are going well, it can seem like an uphill battle sometimes.