Hiya! My 7mo black goldador has been suffering from severe SEVERE flaky dandruff head to toe for months that hasn’t improved. Luckily he isn’t too bothered and hardly scratches but has horrific body odor that no shampoo can defeat. We’ve visited the vet several times and the vet passively suggested it may just be allergies and suggested a food change. We were previously on taste of the wild for puppies. Then switched to rx science hill sensitive skin and tummy. Neither showed any improvement to his coat. Recently switched him to Kirkland salmon and potato due to cost issues but have kept him on a strict no beef/pork/chicken diet per our vets instruction. We’ve tried anti-sebboric shampoo, olive oil in his meals and recently started omega 3 salmon oil. We try our best to groom him regularly to help dislodge the dead skin but there is no end or improvement to it regardless! Sorry for the very lengthy post but we are running out of ideas to help our pup! Perhaps someone out there has some experience and advice?
I would suggest getting a second opinion. There are many causes for a dog's dry skin. It could be something simple like cold weather to a bacterial skin infection. Ask the Vet to do a skin scraping test.
How long have you been using the omega 3 fish oil? This cured our old Lab Scooby, who came to us with dreadful dandruff & a smelly coat. He had previously been on a vegan diet(!).
Definitely continue with the salmon oil daily. Two thoughts come to mind.... 1. Have you tried just leaving his coat alone for a prolonged period? The thing is: The more you wash a dog's coat, especially with shampoo or medicated products, the more you strip the coat of its natural oils - and the more oil the coat will produce, to compensate. Stripping the coat of natural oils is enough to cause severe dandruff. You get locked in a vicious cycle of shampooing dog, then that causing smelly dog, then you shampoo dog again - and so on, forever. Dog coats (gundog breeds) are not 'designed' or meant to be washed frequently with shampoo. I would really recommend grinning and bearing it for a prolonged period of months and seeing if you notice an improvement. (It will take a while for the coat to 'realise' it is not getting stripped anymore.) 2. If the above doesn't work, I would really consider a food allergy as the next concern and be working to simplify the diet and feed only one protein source, remove grains etc etc and see if I could identify an allergy....
