This change is very hard to notice since our sense of smell is pretty important to our daily life. If your dog smells bad, you need to realize that there are several factors involved with this bad odor. After reading through this post, you will realize that this information makes logical sense.
After living in this world for a while, you will realize that people with bad hygiene carry a bad odor around them. The same concept applies to our dogs, and some of the problems are caused by our bad grooming techniques.
Causes of Bad Smell
In our section down below, we will cover several obvious causes why your dog smells so bad, and try to cover other factors that you might not have know before. As always, I have included the solutions underneath each factor, so pay close attention to where the smell is originating from.
1. Dental / Ear Care
If the smell is originating from your dog’s mouth, the problem might be poor dental care or our section six called internal diseases. If you don’t brush your dog’s teeth or give something to your dog to remove the plaque buildup, the teeth in your dog’s mouth will start to rot and give out a foul odor.
Even though your dog might hate the dental products that you are trying to give him, you need to try different products to see which one is best suited to your dog. Try different flavors and brands, and also try giving him some snacks along the way to maintain his good behavior!
If the smell is originating from his ears, an ear infection might be taking place. This is a common problem for dogs with floppy ears and also for dogs that enjoy physical activities. After doing an exercise, your dog will sweat, which can accumulate in its ears too.
For dogs with floppy ears, the sweat will get stuck in their ears and start to develop yeast infections due to the constant wetness. If your dog’s ear doesn’t get the full air circulation that it needs, the infection can take its hold, which can cause your dog to smell really, really bad.
Solutions to Dental / Ear Infections
If you already have products in your house for cleaning teeth and ears, use them! Please remember that some of those products can react adversely with your pets, so if the product starts to worsen the situation, don’t try to use that product at all and try to use a different product instead.
In order to face the dental problem, you can either get a dog toothbrush that has a similar use that we use or get a stick treat that will take care of the plaque buildup. If your dog doesn’t let you use a toothbrush to brush his teeth, you can start giving him a treat that can help with your situation!
If you think that the culprit behind that bad smell is originating from your dog’s ears, you need to buy the medicated products related to dog-ear therapy. First, on our list, you can try an ear therapy treatment made by Clinical Care or an ear solution by Zymox. Make sure to read the customer reviews before you make your choice!
2. Skin Problems
If you don’t see any problems in his mouth or in his ears, you might need to check the skin of your dog next. The smell might be originating from a certain patch of skin or a certain area with scabs and signs of recent wounds. Your dog’s skin is susceptible to many types of infection and diseases, which I’ll try to list in our upcoming paragraph.
The most common skin problems that pets tend to have are allergies, which can be seasonal or permanent depending on which allergen that your dog reacts to. If your dog’s skin is reacting to allergies, certain patches of skin will start to generate oily substances, which can lead to a musty odor.
Not only that, the skin can be infected with bacteria, parasites, and fungus, which can all lead to a bad odor. Similar to what takes place in humans, bacterial infections will often take place in untreated wounds, and similar to what happened in their ears, fungal infections will take place in wet patches of skin that don’t have access to air.
If you have kept your dog around for a prolonged period of time, you probably have seen signs of parasites such as fleas, ticks, or mange. The most obvious spot that you can spot these pests is directly on your pet’s body, and other spots are your pet’s living quarters and frequently visited places around the house.
Solutions to Skin Problems
As always, the best solution to any given problem with your pet probably involves professional help, which includes a visit to the vet. However, you might not have access to this type of luxury around the part you live in, so I’ll try to give several suggestions for each type of these skin problem.
For dogs that are suffering from allergic reactions, you can either can a medication prescription from your vet or try to shore up your pet’s immune system through immune supplements for dogs. Since you don’t really know the cause of the allergy in the first place, it might be a good idea to get a solution that covers all the general areas.
For potential bacterial and fungal skin infections, you can try these medicated shampoos made by Curaseb or by Bexley Labs. In addition to bacterial and fungal infections, these products will also take care of any harmful parasites that might be harming your pet.
Even though the medicated shampoos listed above might do the job, you need a tick and flea treatment to remove any external pests in your pet’s body. Why not try the flea and tick prevention made by K9 Advantix if you think that your dog is going through parasitical infestation?
3. Grooming Issues
This section deals with basic logic that we all know since we tend to smell if we didn’t take a bath for a long time. This same concept applies to our dogs as well since they love to spend their time outdoors and exercise, which causes them to sweat a lot. As a responsible owner, you need to either groom him yourself or pay for his grooming.
Not grooming your pet is bad for their hygiene as well as yours since continual maintenance is key in maintaining a happy home and a good-smelling family. The reasons why your dog smells bad might be related to poor grooming habits, which accumulated into this one big bad odor.
Solutions to Grooming Issues
For this section, I don’t have any products that I can recommend to you since you can take care of it yourself. When you first bought your pet, you should have bought dog shampoo, which you can use to bathe your dog. When washing your dog, don’t let water get into his ears or his eyes since they really don’t like that happening at all.
After bathing your dog thoroughly, you need to dry them with a towel and also with a dry blower. You need to dry your dog thoroughly since wet patches of skin can invite fungal infection to take place. Even though you might get wet in the process, please get the job done to avoid further complications!
4. Digestive Difficulties
If your dog has eaten something that he shouldn’t, his digestive systems will start to rebel through nasty gas attacks (farts). If you suspect that the origin of the smell is near his anal area, you need to consider the possibility of a digestive disorder.
In addition to the bad odor, you will audibly hear his stomach rumbling or when he tries to pass gas. If that is the case, you need to calm down his stomach with a bland diet and try to give him something that would ease his digestive system.
Solutions to Digestive Difficulties
If your dog is going through a digestive ordeal, I’m going to suggest that you give him a bland diet (ex: chicken breast with white rice), or take a break from his meals altogether. Make sure that you don’t season the meat to keep the diet as bland as possible.
Similar to our case with allergies, the best products for digestive disorders are digestive enzymes and supplements that improve the health of the digestive system. The digestive enzymes made by NaturVet contain various prebiotics and probiotics that promote digestive health.
5. Infected Anal Glands
This is probably a factor that you might not have noticed before, and if your dog starts to smell bad, the origin of the smell will be near the anal area. Anal glands are two sacs that are located in the rear of your dog’s body, and these glands are used to mark up their personal territories and boundaries.
In worst-case scenarios, the anal glands can become blocked or even infected which often results in a bad-smelling odor. Several obvious symptoms are inflamed anal area, which can look red and puffed-up at times. Also, your pet will experience pain while going to the bathroom and whimper in pain.
Solutions to Infected Glands
If you want a homemade way to do this, you can try to gently massage your dog’s anal area with a hot cloth, and if that doesn’t suit your taste, you can try to get one of the products that are specifically supplemented for anal glands.
Glandex is a well-known company that has been one of the leading experts in this field, and its supplements contain digestive enzymes and probiotics fiber that supports the function of a healthy anal gland. In addition to anal gland support, it also promotes digestive health and allergy protection!
6. Internal Diseases
If your dog smells bad due to his breath, you might need to consider this section called internal diseases. Even though it is a quite rare case for kidney disease, diabetes is a common case among our pets today.
Symptoms for kidney disease include very foul breath, which means the origin of the smell is your dog’s mouth. If you ruled out dental care, you might need to consider the possibility of kidney disease if that foul breath continues to plague your house.
For dogs with diabetes, their breath will contain a fruity or sweet smell, which is the result of sugar molecules that are in their bloodstream. Both of these cases should be treated under professional guidance, so please visit your vet if you suspect the symptoms of internal diseases.
Conclusion: Thinking About Pet Insurance?
If you do enough research and have closely observed the symptoms that your dog is showing, you probably will have a good idea of what your dog is facing. But let’s face reality head-on, and we should realize that we don’t have the time to notice these subtle changes due to our busy lifestyle.
And if that is you, your time will be better spent on taking your dog to a veterinarian for a check-up. In order to avoid all the hassle and the paperwork that goes into it, you might be better off by signing up for your pet’s health insurance along the way.
You might not realize the need for this insurance at first during his puppy years, but as your dog progressively gets older in age, you will realize the long-term benefits and security that only pet insurance can provide. Read the benefits of pet insurance in this link first before making your final decision!
Last but not least, thank you for reading through our post and also for your time spent flipping through each section. I hope this information about why your dog smells so bad was helpful to you, and feel free to come back to our homepage for regular updates and new posts!
