Boxer with bad body odor

[mbergh]

My 7 year old boxer has developed a terrible body odor.  He is on wellness dog food   We bath him once a week but cannot get rid of the smell.  any suggestions??  thx

[Stephanie]

Body smells can mean many different things, here's a basic check list of things for you to think about,  ultimately I would suggest you visit your vet for a check up

[1] skin infection - sometimes these are not always visible to the eye and often there isn't an identifying factor - they can just happen as your dog gets older

[2] what are bathing your dog with? is it a proper dog shampoo? have you changed shampoo recently? could your dog be reacting to that change? I have to say that weekly bathing seems too much to me, at most, once a month - maybe you over bathing him?

[3] Is it actually a body odour? or it coming from the mouth/ears/anal area?  have you checked these areas carefully?  Is it possible he has an infection in any of these areas?

[4] lastly it may be diet related

Sorry can’t be any more precise, I do think a visit to the vets is the best course of action.  Let us know how you get on.

[Dave B.]

Our bitch Khara does tend to have a bit of BO as well, has done since we got her, but it isn't as bad as having to bathe her too often. A white dog we had some years ago had really bad BO as well. Could it be down to pigmentation, I wonder? Our dog is a brindle and hardly ever smells, while Khara is a light red and white.  (Shame, we call her a ginger minger...awww)

[justontime]

If it is so bad that you need to bath her every week you need to talk to the vet to rule out any serious problems. Are you sure it is not coming from the jaw/mouth? An infection somewhere is the usual cause of a bad smell on the dog so keep a close eye on the dogs general condition.

[Nancy-IL]

Ironically, when we feed certain canned foods to our 22 month old General, he can make the whole room smell.  It takes a couple of days for his system to ease up on us.     God love him.   

[Missy]

Our 7(ish) year old rescued boy can stink to high-Heaven, too.  It comes and goes.  He has bad allergies, a reoccuring ear infection and skin infection too.  We've tried so many different methods of treatment that we thought it might be one of them, but the smell is always the same, no matter what experimental drug the vet is testing on him at the time.  (Ugh!)  He does get bathed once a week, with an anti-fungal vet recommnded shampoo, but it only makes him smell 'clean' for that day.  LOL!  Our 4 year old girl doesn't smell at all.  We think it's "just a boy thing" ...

[extra_strong_mint]

It is worth getting your vet to check the dog out in case he has an infection somewhere. If he is otherwise fit and healthy, then it is most likely to be the food. Royal Canin, for example, make my boxer stink to high heaven.

esm xx

[Boscosmum]

ESM, what is your thoughts to royal canin? I have only just heard of it, bosco was initially on james wellbeloved but he wouldn't eat it, he is now on 'wagg', he eats it but his stools are quite soft, almost mousse like but they hold their shape. he's not 1 yet and although I don't want to keep changing his food for obvious reasons, I am also reluctant to keep him on Wagg as it is cheap. It was purely because it was availabe in my local shop when i began to run low that i got some, as i needed to start mixin it through his JW. Any advice would be welcomed ...