Hannibal Stinks...literally

[mrsknicks71]

I was just reading the thread about bathing and there was a post about stinky dog and diet, well it got me thinking Hannibal STINKS!!! It is more than just "puppy"(I think). Does this have to do with his diet?? What am I doing wrong,if anything? What ccan be done to improve his "scent"?? I haven't bathed him in 2 1/2 weeks and it is really getting tough with this heat
I planned on bathing him this morning but I will now wait and see what you all think... :D

[Troy]

Hi Chele,
I can tell you diet can make a big difference here. When I had Kamen on Science Diet (before I knew better) he always had that "doggy smell". When we went to Innova, one of the first things I noticed was he smelled clean...the "doggy" odor was gone. What are you feeding yours?
This is worth a look. ;)

[southerncomfort]

Chele ..what do you feed him???

[mrsknicks71]

The breeder had been feeding Blackwoods 2000, it's a small company in one of the Carolinas. I continued to feed that. The breeder said that the guys who started the company were high up in Iams and let because they wouldn't improve the quality of food. Hannibal also is having very BIG poops, before their wasn't much to them now it's like I thought we had a dog and not a horse!! Is this his bodies way of saying it needs something else? I want the best and will change in a heartbeat if I need too.

[Judy Chrusch]

Chele',I'm not familiar with that food but you might want to try another good quality food just to see if it makes a difference. Czar is on the BARF diet so there's NO smell what so ever. I can't even remember when Czar last had a bath. I groom him everyday and his coat is as shinely as can be. Everyone always thinks he's just had a bath. I don't know how it is where you live but the humidity is unbearable here so that will make matters worse too. Anyway, hope this helps, let us know if changing his food helps. I guess you know if you do switch foods to do it gradually and mix it with the old food for awhile. Take care.

Judy

[Muckdogs]

I've read the posts regarding not bathing "frequently" and all I can say is how do ya' do it? Here in the south it's darn hot and dogs do sweat and sweat stinks!! Patton gets a bath every couple of weeks or so. Usually it's with Black Pearl or some high end shampoo/conditioner that my wife gets from the salon (she is amazed how fast she goes through it hehehehhe) Anyway, Ive found that between baths when he gets stinky, I spritz him with a 50/50 mix of regular Listerine and water. Kills the smells and the bacteria. Works for me and doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on his coat. By the way, I feed Canidae, fruit/vegetables and Mega-CPlus.

[ June 22, 2001: Message edited by: Muckdogs ]

[CarolineS]

Dogs cool down by panting, not by sweating, so if your dog stinks, it's not sweat that's causing it. :)

I don't know if it's a specific kind of food that causes the "doggy" odor or just the way different dogs react to different foods. The one that made Maggie smell was a "prescription" hypoallergenic diet from the vet. It did her allergies no good at all, made her worse, so that coupled with the smell was enough to make me discontinue it. I remember talking to a client of Maggie's breeder once and he was talking about a particular food, can't remember which, and he said he had to stop feeding it because it made his dog smell. I'd never heard of this before, but when Maggie started smelling "doggy" after we started using the prescription food, I wondered. I switched to a different food and the smell did disappear. It wasn't overnight though, if I recall, it took about 4 - 6 weeks.

[rlogle]

At times Attikuz forgets he is suppose to lift his leg to pee and he kinda squats and ends up peein' all over his belly and legs. He smells like urine a good bit because of this. Maybe it's somethin' like this chele. I live in the south also and it is very hot here and the dogs do seem to smell worse than they would if they were not so hot. I learned in Nursing school and also in Med school that dogs do sweat on their pads and somewhere else, I can't remember where but most heat is lost thru panting.

Sometimes dogs get their sebaceous glands clogged up (or overactive?) and they produce a 'rancid' odor. Perhaps that is what your dog has? My bouvier used to get this every once in a while, and I have a friend with an Am Bulldog that gets this way often (due to allergies, I am told). The solution was to bathe when this flares up with a special medicated shampoo from the vet.

So, if the odor could be described as 'rancid', and the dog's fur feels kind of greasy, you might make a trip to the vet.

[Muckdogs]

Caroline, you are correct in saying that dogs get rid of heat primarily through panting but you are wholly incorrect in saying that dogs don't sweat. I'm certainly no vet, but I do know that they don't have sweat glands in the same places that we do, i.e. under the arms. But, they do sweat from the pads and the feet. Whether or not its from "sweat glands" I don't know. Test it for yourself. Take your dog for a good run in a dry area and then feel his feet. Also, ever wonder why the feet universally smell like fritos? Gotta be the sweat because we all feed differently, all our dogs walk in different places, step in different things, etc.. but every dog I've had has frito feet. I think that there was even a thread on this a while back.

[CarolineS]

Muckdogs,

I didn't say that dogs don't have sweat glands ;), I said they cool down by panting. The sweat glands that dogs have are not used in the cooling down process. They are only activated when dogs get into confrontations. The supposition is that the smell (pheromones) from the sweat glands boosts aggression and therefore helps a dog that's in a fight.

I can't remember where I read this, but I believe it was written by a vet.

[Muckdogs]

Caroline, you may be entirely correct about when they are activated, i really don't know. What I do know is that when Patton's feet stink, the whole room smells like fritos. That's usually after some kind of physical activity, i.e running, ScH, etc. That's why I said that his sweat stinks because the stink was definitely coming from his feet, where I knew sweat to come from.Anyway, a quick spritz of h2o and listerine takes care of it until bathtime. :D

[southerncomfort]

I would bet a food change would help alot, or do the trick all together.

[RottnPointerCT]

Originally posted by alexaV:
<STRONG>I LOVE the smell of dog's feet! Smells better than roses to me... But I HATE the smell of male dog urine, Blech!
</STRONG>

I can certainly agree with you here!!! I have 2 female dogs whose feet always stink...all the furniture smells like their feet, thank God for Febreze and similar products when company is coming over (otherwise I an tolerate it myself)!
I foster male rotties and yes, it is a horrible smell...even though they are neutered, in most case they have JUST been neutered so their urine still has a unique scent to it. And its so damn hard to remove!!! ;)

[mrsknicks71]

Ok folks here is where we are. I am switching Hannibals food, the tough decision is whether it will be to BARF or Canidae. I'll let you know when I know!!!! :D

[ June 28, 2001: Message edited by: Chele' ]