Weight Gain and Itchy Ears

Before I ask I would like to say that Baxter is a happy chappy, playing, sleeping, eating, and his toilet is fine.

1. He is a ball of fluff and is getting bigger but under all that fluff he feels thin and ribby to me. He eats Butchers Puppy Food in a foil tray split over three meals with Bakers dried mix stirred in which he is tucking into. In addition he gets half a Tesco Dentastix Chew daily. I don't know the breed well enough to understand if they get fat or not.

2. In addition he wakes in the night scratching at his ears and whimpering as he does so. I have spoken to the vet who examined him and said that he has hairy ears (internally) but here is nothing wrong. Has anyone else experienced this ?

3. He's been out walking and living in the countryside as we do getting a bit smelly so he really needs a bath. I am concerned however about cleaning around his eyes which have been staining, what is the best in your experience to get rid of the red/pink staining.

I feel a bit stupid but instead of worrying thought I would come to the experts and see what you think

Sandi xox

He might get itchy because of all the grain products in his food. Dogs cannot digest these and some shi's get allergic. Glutenfree food, or even better, a complete fresh meat diet will help then! As your doggy is a puppy he'll need more food than an adult. Is he always hungry? If so he might need more food expecially if you can feel his ribs and spine without searching for it.
Always wash your dog with a special dog shampoo and use a conditioner as well. That helps against amtting when the coat gets longer. For cleaning round the eyes you can use cold chamomile tea. Cleaning roud the eyes has to be done daily to prvent staining. You can also buy products for cleaning round the eyes.

Thanks Famke. I will try increasing his food and see how he goes with that.

I do have dog shampoo and conditioner and will try the chamomile tea tip and see if that works.

Again Many Thanks xox

You're very welcome! I think your puppy gets more excersise than the average puppy and that is why he stays so thin. Do pay attntion if you increase his food weather or not the scratching increases. If so, it is definately food related! You can always get the vet to pluck the ears and see if that helps........

I am surprised the vet did not pluck a few of the hairs for you - when they have really hairy ears they can get quite hot and itchy in there. When I had pup with really itchy ears I used to fold the ears back to let the air get in there for a wee while (though the moment she shook her head they would fall back down )

As Famke says your pup is having a lot of grain in his diet and I don't mean to offend but Bakers is not the best food on the market. Perhaps you could try something like James Well-Beloved or Royal Canin which are hypoallergenic and not full of grain. And the Natures Menu pouches and Natures Diet or Natures Harvest trays are really good as they contain only natural products - meat and rice... they all do a puppy variety.

I myself feed raw but to make it easier I buy Natures Menu frozen Banquet Nuggets which are great for putting muscle/body on your dog without him becoming fat and also good for coat condition etc too. I just lift enough nuggets out to thaw before I need them and with my pup I have been cutting the nuggets into 2. they don't eat many because raw complete meat (it contains bones and skin) is filling and as nature intended.

As Famke has said bathing the eyes with chamomile tea - and I have just bought a product off ebay called EPIPHOREA EYE CREAM seems to be quite effective - its a natural herbal ointment base with witch hazel and Arnica.

Hope that helps xx

ps just a thought but the dentastix is quite filling and might prevent him from eating all the nutritious food he needs. An alternative to dentastix for chewing is a whole washed raw carrot

Charlie has Natures diet for breakfast and then Pets at home puppy complete biscuits for tea, and half a dental stick every other day..........., and he was 3.5kg last time he was weighed................................. please correct me if I am wrong, but I am sure the Mam-Ma said that when Charlie has his hair cut, she was going to ask the hairdresser to check his ears and pluck them if they needed doing, is that right you experts

Sounds good to me! Javari also gets hos ears plucked regularly to prevent a forest growing in there and giving him an excuse not to listen

I don't remove all the hair - only if they are very hairy ears and causing problems Lissa

Famke - if you ask me shih tzu don't hear even if they have hairless ears They all suffer from something called SELECTED DEAFNESS!!

I couldn't agree more!!! They suffer from selective everything I think!

You guys are so right . I asked the vet to check Tasha's ears the other day because I am grooming them myself and I have not had to pluck the hairs out yet . She said that as long as they were clean and Tasha's are there was no need to do anything and not getting too much hair in them they are fine.
I also asked her to look at the lashes on her bottom eye lid to see if they need plucking and one of them is about 2mm long, So I have bought some new tweezers to pluck them but I am not at all comfortable at plucking them out. I shall wait a little and hope they are long enough to get at more easily, she has Lubrythal gel in every night so I am hoping won't present too much of a problem at the moment.

I know Freddy Frog is in here somewhere
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Sandi wrote:Before I ask I would like to say that Baxter is a happy chappy, playing, sleeping, eating, and his toilet is fine.

1. He is a ball of fluff and is getting bigger but under all that fluff he feels thin and ribby to me. He eats Butchers Puppy Food in a foil tray split over three meals with Bakers dried mix stirred in which he is tucking into. In addition he gets half a Tesco Dentastix Chew daily. I don't know the breed well enough to understand if they get fat or not.

2. In addition he wakes in the night scratching at his ears and whimpering as he does so. I have spoken to the vet who examined him and said that he has hairy ears (internally) but here is nothing wrong. Has anyone else experienced this ?

3. He's been out walking and living in the countryside as we do getting a bit smelly so he really needs a bath. I am concerned however about cleaning around his eyes which have been staining, what is the best in your experience to get rid of the red/pink staining.

I feel a bit stupid but instead of worrying thought I would come to the experts and see what you think

Sandi xox

Please rest assured Sandi you shouldn't feel stupid at asking we all started asking these questions when we had our first Shih Tzu's. I had a similar problem with my first Mali at 9months of age. I tried her on Burn's Mini Bites and she stopped itching within a day or two and she is now nearly 4 years of age I now also give both of them fresh mince or chicken with the Mini Bites which they love and although Mali has always been picky with her food I think it was down to feeding tinned meat because she can't wait to eat now and eats everything. I also have to consider Mali is a tiny frame anyway and though she is heavier now she is nothing like Tasha's frame (and never will be)which is solid and large boned.

You should NEVER feel stupid at asking questions - we have all been in the same boat (just some of us can no longer remember it was so long ago ) - these questions are the whole reason for this forum because when I started out there was not much help around and I want to make sure there is somewhere people can go to now where they can ask the questions I was not always able to ask and had to learn the hard way xxxx

There is no such thing as a silly question, that is the way we learn. Never be afraid to ask anything, we have all been there and asked the same questions.

Hiya

I can't thank you all enough and don't worry....Now I feel welcome and safe I will asking all my silly questions !!!! lol

I have changed the mix I put in his Butchers Foil Tray food and for 3 days now he hasn't been itching so badly. The trays are going down a treat and I have increased the amount too without upsetting his wee tummy.

I am much happier now that I have spoken to the folks in the know, thank you
xox

Sandi wrote:Hiya

I can't thank you all enough and don't worry....Now I feel welcome and safe I will asking all my silly questions !!!! lol

I have changed the mix I put in his Butchers Foil Tray food and for 3 days now he hasn't been itching so badly. The trays are going down a treat and I have increased the amount too without upsetting his wee tummy.

I am much happier now that I have spoken to the folks in the know, thank you
xox

You ask away Sandi your always welcome. Glad to hear Baxter is liking his Butchers tray. I do think this itching is to do with getting a new coat and the age he is. My daughter has a Cocker Spaniel and she has been doing the same and she is about the same age.

We now have Burns Puppy Mini Bites to mix in with the foil trays and he seems to be enjoying that. No scratching today thus far so fingers crossed we might have cracked it !

Have a great weekend
xox

Sandi wrote:We now have Burns Puppy Mini Bites to mix in with the foil trays and he seems to be enjoying that. No scratching today thus far so fingers crossed we might have cracked it !

Have a great weekend
xox

You won't regrets Sandi, Mali certainly improved with her itching and fur falling out. I also give mine fresh minced beef or poached chicken with the mini bites but occasionally they have Caesar or Butchers tinned meat as a change. But Miss Fussy aka Mali has done so much better with the fresh meat and hardly ever leaves anything now. I also give the Mini Bites wet sometimes and dry another. I do think they need to crunch on something to keep the Tartar off their teeth when it is dry they do drink a lot more and inevitably wee more. Hope this helps. I still feed them Mini Bites as opposed to the adult Burns they are just the right size of kibble for their mouths.

gr8 news

Glad to hear there has been an improvment, fingers crossed it carries on.

Had to take Baxter to the vet. He was scratching the inside of his ear the hair on his wee paw was stained with wax.

I now administer antibiotic drops twice a day so here's hoping that will do the trick.....fingers crossed. His ears stink and there is alot of muck coming out so I hope that means better out than in !!

Sandi xox

sounds like you will be getting to the bottom of this now then

Heee ! Yep....All the muck from the bottom of his ears !!!!

Smelly wee boy though but that doesn't stop me from loving him. He just needs to look at me and my heart melts, even when he is misbehaving !

Thanks for the good wishes xox

I still melt after 30 years - They just have that way with them xxxx

It's the look in those eyes, they have the perfect knack of knowing when and how to do it!

.... even from a teeny tiny puppy