Doggie breath and body odor.

Hi Darcy, she’s a Caucasian Ovcharka, 7 in May. She has always tended to have a sour sort of odor if not bathed recently.Teeth are fine, water & exercise good; she has recently begun favoring the left hind leg, which I’m trying to address. She was on SynoviG3 which you probably are aware is no longer available- this came up after she was off it a short while. I have been feeding a raw diet for 10 years now & all my dogs are in good general health. I am fortunate in that my vet is very supportive. C

Dear C, I’m so glad that you have a supportive vet, that’s often not the case for so many.

Dogs should smell good, like they’ve just had a bath even when they haven’t had a bath in a year. Unless they’ve been rolling in something stinky, you should be able to hug and snuggle and still breathe in the lovely smell of their bodies.

From what I know about your breed, they tend to be a healthy bunch aside from the usual size issues of hips and elbows. There could be many reasons for the sour odor and maybe easy to fix. I’ll give you some ideas to try.

SynoviG4 contains MethylSufonylMethane (MSM) which is a natural source of sulfur and sulfur can add odor to the body.

My best guess for the sour smell of her body if it’s not the supplement for pain, is diet, it might need some adjustment. In large dogs who grow sooooo fast from puppyhood, some tend to have body odor unless their diet is just right so it can be a life long thing. Have you ever smelled a young human child’s hair after they’ve been out playing? Some of them smell fine but some have that kind of sour odor that you can’t quite call stink, it can be something lacking in their diet or over supplementing with vitamins, minerals, an even herbs. Adding more fish to the diet could be the cure. Grains in the diet can often cause a dog to smell “off”, too, and grain often supports yeast. If you do feed grain, try pulling that out for about 10 days to see what happens. I know it’s odd that smelly old fish can give a dog a nice smelling body but it’s often the cure for body odor and it’s such a good food. Give her some acidophilus Pearls with breakfast and dinner, yeast can be a lingery thing without causing a lot of noticeable symptoms, bad breath, body odor, and icky ears are often the first signs.

SitStay.com has some great canned fish. Be cautious of the grocery store canned fish, there can be way more in the can than you want to give to your dog. Fresh is good if your dog will eat it. Some don’t like fresh fish but they almost always go for canned.

Stress from pain can upset a tummy making bad breath and body odor. If you’ve ever closely visited with a person who is in pain from an injury or emotional stress or with an older person who may be going through pain because of what we call old age symptoms, they have a distinctive odor to their breath. That odor can seep through the body as well to cause a sour or “off” body odor, it can be especially noticeable in hair. Drugs and supplements are prime culprits of body and breath odor.

If she was mine, I’d get her to a vet chiropractor for some adjustments and acupuncture, they can do amazing things to get your girl relief and sweet smelling again. See Tilli’s Adjustment Video

Nobody, not even we humans, have to wake up with bad breath or body odor or suffer it during stressful times. If our diet is right, our breath is sweet, we’re easy to be close to, even first thing in the morning. People who eat fast food and too many sweets often have bad breath and waking up with them is turn your head away and hold your breath love. Diet can save you so much money! No more mouthwash or antacids.

Supplements only when they are needed are great and can do a lot of good. It’s matching the right supplement to the right body while still feeding a good diet, that’s the trick. Our Tilli is testing a natural supplement for pain and inflammation right now, I’ll know in one month if SitStay will carry it. It’s been well tested by the maker so it’s safe for her to try. But will it work like it supposed to? She’s been doing great with her chiropractic visits. She does have a history of elbow and hip problems so she gets a lot of fish in her diet. So far so good, she seems to be “happier”, if that’s possible. She loves her vet Chiropractor and has done so well seeing her. I think that chiropractic should be a first when we get our dogs and a life long practice, certainly a first treatment for any sign of illness, disease, or pain. If our bodies are aligned, they have a better chance of working properly, to see us into our last days with minimum pain and suffering. Tilli is 13 1/2.

Give some or all of these things a try for a few weeks and let me know if you see any differences. Hugs to your beautiful girl. – Darcy