Dog Ear Infections? Paw Licking? Yeasty smell?

Does your dog have a yeasty smell? You know the one, right? The Cheeto smell? Thankfully, that is not how dogs are supposed to smell and it is likely caused by an imbalance in the body. We are trying to determine what that imbalance is for our dog Luna and wanted to share our journey in the hopes it helps other dogs in the process.

Luna, our labradoodle, is two years old. In the last year and a half she has been known to lick her paws excessively, get routine ear infections, and have the cheesy Cheetos smell, you know the one I’m talking about! It’s definitely not for lack of bathing, we actually bathe her regularly. So, when I first started to notice I thought it may be associated with allergies.

And so, as any good dog mom would do, I took her to our vet. Which, by the way, if you live in the South Florida area, we highly recommend Sunset Animal Clinic. They are all absolutely amazing! A group of professionals that love and care for the animals as their own.

During Luna’s vet visit the vet confirmed she had an ear infection, just as I thought, and suggested we have her blood drawn to check for environmental allergies. Vet said that if it wasn’t an environmental allergy, Luna may have a food sensitivity, which would be harder to narrow down. It would take an elimination diet to find the culprit.

Luna’s blood test came back negative for environmental allergies. Now it was time to find the food culprit. I never would have guessed it was a food allergy or sensitivity. I mean, Luna eats better than I do. I buy them raw food that is ethically sourced with all human grade and/or organic ingredients. I know exactly everything that is in her diet. But nevertheless, I reached out to a dog nutritionist.

During the dog nutrition consultation, she suggested we feed a single protein diet for weeks at a time and see if there is any change. I’m here to report that thus far, there have been no changes. Feeling discouraged I kept doing what I do, lots of online research, and then I came across this article: NATURAL APPROACH TO TREATING SKIN INFECTIONS, ALLERGIES AND HOT SPOTS. And it changed the way I looked at the problem completely. Let me share some insights from Dr. Dobias:

If your dog’s skin condition is localized to certain areas – such as the paws, flanks and the abdomen, and the skin condition is not generalized, allergies are highly unlikely.

The distribution of the affected skin areas most commonly relates to energy lines that originate from the spinal nerves that supply the areas of diseased skin.

Luna does not scratch all of over. It’s usually her ears and constant licking of her paws.

Most skin lesions, with the exception of conditions such as fleas, thyroid, auto-immune or adrenal issues are related either to undetected spinal injuries, over-exercise or sprained muscles. Dogs can’t tell us how they feel so the only thing they can do is scratch! Similar to the garden, the skin will be visibly different, hair may be missing or there may be bumps or lumps in the areas. 

One of the ways Dr. Dobias suggests treating Luna’s condition is with a liver cleanse. So that’s exactly what we will be trying with Luna. To understand why dogs may need a liver cleanse, let’s first talk about the role of the liver in your dog’s body.

The Role of the Liver

The liver is known to perform over 1,000 different tasks. Some of which include:

• production of albumin, an essential protein responsible for regulating blood volume and keeping fluids from leaking into other body tissues.
• storage of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K
• manufacturing some digestive enzymes
• production of blood clotting factors
• storing energy
• detox of waste and poison

Every major section of the liver performs exactly the same tasks. And if this is not fascinating enough, did you know that the liver is the only organ that can regenerate? Yeap, you heard that right!

While I agree that detoxing an organ already responsible from removing toxins from the body seems nonsensical. But I do believe that it may be necessary at times when the body is showing signs of less than optimal liver function.

Signs your dog may need a liver cleanse

What are the signs that your dog needs a liver cleanse? According to experts, some of the signs include:

• Digestive disorders
• dry, brittle nails
• lethargy
• poor coat quality
• weight loss
• skin conditions

Where do these toxins come from?

Everywhere! Some of the ways are dogs our exposed to toxins is via over vaccination, de-wormers, pharmaceuticals, toxic chemicals in our lawn like pesticides and herbicides, cleaning supplies, heavy metals, chloride and fluoride in drinking water, radiation, and hormones, antibiotics, and preservatives in their food!

How do we support our dog’s liver function?

There are few things we can do to support our dog’s liver function.

1. Feed a raw (or cooked) balanced diet made with human-grade ingredients.
2. Keep the toxin levels low by being conscious of the vaccines, medications, and pesticides we are exposing our dogs to.
3. Doing a liver cleanse. Make sure you consult your holistic veterinarian before embarking on a liver cleanse.

We are following Dr. Dobias’ liver cleanse protocol and using LiverTune for Luna’s liver cleanse. LiverTune contains the following ingredients: