Violet has constant yeast problems. What we do to keep it under control is:
Raw diet
Fish oil pills
Benedryl
Claritin
She has each of those daily (except the Benedryl, we usually try to hold off on it unless she's really itchy that day) and she has not had another "itching so crazy, licking so much that a hot spot develops and she goes bald" type of problem. However she is getting itchy right now. But she looks GREAT, better than she has in months, and is not losing hair or getting flaky dry skin. I'm hoping the continued itchyness is seasonal and that she will get over it soon (because for a while there she wasn't itching much at all) because otherwise we're going to have to try something else (in addition).
Unfortunately raw did absolutely nothing for the Dobermans. Unless maybe if I fed them nothing but raw fish, as like I said, they seem to have improved with fish being the bulk of their diet. Still not perfect, but better than they were. Allergy medications don't help them at all... likely because it's not an allergy at all. They're really not itchy or anything lately. Keira's stomach sometimes is, but it's better than it was. I give them fish oil every evening and lately olive oil in the mornings as well, just to see if it might make a difference.
Basically my dogs act normal, and Keira now looks normal, except she stinks. And Ripley looks almost normal some days, and flakey some days, but doesn't smell nearly as bad as Keira. It's so weird.
But I looked over my report from the specialist again last night and I'm pretty confident they diagnosed them properly. They also have siblings with the same thing now. After my dogs were diagnosed with something, a couple of the other dogs wanted to get checked out as well thoroughly.
Toller, if you are worried about the dobes and chicken. I would try to find a source to buy your chicken and turkey that is hormone and grain free fed. Here it took a bit of work but I found a grocery store not horribly far for me to get those things VS. driving clean on the other side of the state. Also this fall talk to any deer hunters in your area about their venison scraps and rib cages.
And a fan pointed at Ripleys crate might help keep the moisture level down as well.
I don't really know if they have a chicken allergy or not, but I don't give them anymore anyway just in case. The venison idea is a good one though. I'm lucky that I work in a raw food pet store currently and get food pretty cheap, so when I do feed them any raw, I stick to different and a little less common red meats (Llama, venison, elk, bison).
Ripley's not crated anymore because he gave me a huge scare during his last blanket eating episode. So now I just leave him gated in the basement where he can't eat blankets. But a fan would be a good idea as long as the room he stayed was warm enough, as he's pretty cold sensitive.
Just a suggestion, but what the vet recommended to us that worked WONDERS was bathing in Nizoral (an anti-fungal shampoo you can get at the drug store) twice a week for one month, and then one a week to once every ten days thereafter. Wow. I had tried everything, and NOTHING touched his scratchiness and flaking and discomfort until this. I noticed a difference after the FIRST application. Almost unbelievable. Recommended it to my grandparent's for their westie (who has major westie skin issues and is on prednisone and anti-biotics almost constantly) and it worked almost as well for him.
I also rub his belly, paws, and armpits with refined coconut oil after each bath, and that really seems to sooth things as well (though it could just be the nizoral).
It might get expensive with two large dogs, but I would recommend at least trying the nizoral a couple times a month to see if it kills the infection and alleviates their discomfort.
We actually did use Nizoral for quite some time. Probably 8 months or more. No difference. They looked good like the day of and day after a bath, and then were right back to their normal.
I think none of these things work because it's definitely not an allergy or just a plain old yeast infection. They really don't even look infected, and there were just minor traces of yeast on them as per the scrapings and biopsies. Obviously there is something there for them to smell yeasty (although Ripley's really just more 'doggy' now than yeasty), but I don't know.
The whole thing is just strange and sucks. A lot.
I really do appreciate all of your guys' tips and suggestions, and I probably sound like I'm being difficult. But we've honestly tried all of these things to no avail already. :-(
