As the owner of 5 dogs, I happen to know a thing or two about vet bills. There are immunizations, spay and neutering fees, and general health issues to keep up with. When I added a beautiful lab puppy to our dog family, I had no idea what kind of vet bills I was in for. At first she was a perfectly healthy puppy, but as soon as she turned a year old she began to show signs of irritation on her skin. When I took her to the vet, he said that she probably just had sensitive skin that simply overreacted to even a single flea bite. He put her on a round of steroids and sold me the most expensive flea medication on the market. A few weeks later she had only gotten worse, so back to the vet we went. He then decided to do a scrape test on her. This is when they scrape her irritated skin long enough to draw blood and then examine that under a microscope checking for parasites. The test was negative. However, he said that she still could have parasites that just hadn’t been in that particular area. We left that appointment with another round of steroids and a presription for antibiotics. She showed little or no sign of improvement. When I took her back, she had gained 5 pounds from the steroids and the vet decided that she had skin allergies. After doing another scrape test and getting a negative result, he gave her yet another round of steroids and a stronger antibiotic. He also sold me a very expensive hydrocortozone based shampoo. She did show signs of improvement after using that for a couple of weeks, but still had major problems. Eventually she bagan to get constant ear infections. When I took her back the vet he would give her an antibiotic injection and send me home with ear drops and more steroids. This went on for years! As time passed she kept getting fatter and fatter and having more and more problems all related to her deteriorating skin condition. Once she had an abcess between her toes that had to be lanced and then stiched back up….and once again, more antibiotics.
After spending thousands of dollars at the vet and never getting any answers I decided it was time to figure this thing out myself. I surfed the internet for weeks looking for an answer. I was trying to link her contant ear problem with her horrible skin problem. I found that yeast infection in dogs can and will spread like wildfire and usually ends up in the ears since yeast, being a fungus likes warm moist places to grow. The first thing I did was to treat her ears with an antifungal ear drop medication. She began to show signs of improvement almost immediately. Excited about that, I went to the vet and bought a shampoo that contained antifungal agents. I chose the best one available which was called SEBOZOLE (Miconazole Nitrate 2%, Chloroxylenol 1%). It cost $23 for a 16 oz. bottle. I also bought a probiotic suppliment to add to her food. I went home and used the shampoo on her according to the directions on the bottle. Within a week she had shown a big improvement. Within 3 weeks, she looked absolutely beautiful again. That was it! Her skin problem and everything that came with it was all due to a severe yeast infection. The yeast was only being enhanced by all of the antibiotics that she had been given over and over again. (Antibiotics do have a tendency to produce yeast) Now, six months later my lab has a beautiful shiney coat that covers her perfectly healthy skin, and because she is not on steroids anymore, she is back to her healthy weight. My only regret is that it took me so long to figure this thing out for myself.