Your dog suffering from a yeast infection can be one of the most heartbreaking things to witness. They’re continually scratching and potentially harming themselves. Worse still, an ear yeast infection can lead to deafness if left untreated.
There are several home remedies for dog yeast infections, including apple cider vinegar spritzes, beta-glucans, coconut oil, degreasing shampoos, diet change, and avoiding allergens. But for best results, you may want to combine a home remedy with your vet’s prescription.
Let’s look at what a yeast infection is, how to tell if your dog has a yeast infection, effective dog yeast infection home remedies, and how to prevent your dog from getting a yeast infection.
What Is a Dog Yeast Infection?
A yeast infection is the overgrowth of yeast, a specific type of microbe. Yeast generally prefers to grow in warm moist environments. There are several yeast species; however, dog yeast infections are typically the result of Malassezia pachydermatis.
Dogs don’t typically transmit yeast infections among one another. Dogs with allergies, depressed immune systems, and oily skin might be prone to yeast infection. Yeast infections in dogs are usually on the skin or ear.
Yeast otitis is a yeast infection of the ear. It typically begins at the external ear canal but could spread into the middle ear, affecting balance or the inner ear, which might cause deafness. It often causes dogs to scratch their ear, rub their face, and shake their head repeatedly. Sometimes, it also produces a distinct odor.
Yeast dermatitis is a yeast infection of the skin. This infection can occur on any skin covered part of your dog but more common in areas with folded skin such as armpits or feet. It creates redness, flaking skin, and sometimes an odor.
How To Tell if Your Dog Has a Yeast Infection
Symptoms
One of the first signs your dog might have a yeast infection is persistent itching. You might observe your dog scratching or licking its paws or ears, or shaking its head. You might also notice some redness or swelling around the affected area. Ear yeast infections might also present waxy residue or scabbing, and the ears may feel warm.
Despite these signs, don’t be hasty to diagnose the condition as a yeast infection. Bacterial infections might also present similar symptoms. The most accurate way to diagnose a yeast infection is by visiting your vet.
If your dog has chronic yeast infections, after a while you will be able to recognize the similar symptoms and be reasonably comfortable diagnosing them yourself. This is when you may want to try a home remedy before immediately going to the vet.
Yeast Infection Diagnosis By a Veterinarian
When you take your dog to the vet’s office, they’ll usual collect a swab or scraping sample from your dog’s ear or affected skin area and view it under a microscope. This allows the vet to identify the yeast and differentiate it from bacteria so that the proper diagnosis and treatment can be given.
After your vet has assessed your dog, they might prescribe special shampoos or a medicated bath to help with the condition. If that fails, your vet might move forward with antifungal drugs such as itraconazole, fluconazole, and ketoconazole. These drugs might have some side effects, and you might want to discuss that before proceeding.
Home Remedies for Dog Yeast Infections
Apple Cider Vinegar Spritz
Apple cider vinegar is acidic, so spritzing some on affected areas on your dog should discourage yeast growth. It changes the pH of your dog’s skin, hindering yeast growth. You can mix equal amounts of Apple Cider Vinegar and water, put the mixture in a spray bottle, and spray generously on the affected (or potentially affected) area of your dog.
If your dog has scratched open specific spits in his skin, you might want to skip them because the vinegar can cause a slight tingle. Let the mixture sit, and don’t wash it out.
Alternatively, you could use the vinegar mixture for bathing your dog or rubbing on using a damp cloth. Consider doing this even on areas not showing signs of infection. That’s because from scratching and biting the affected area, your dog might have spread the infection to other sites, but it’s yet to become visible.
Though apple cider vinegar works best because of its acidity, you could use white vinegar if you don’t have apple cider vinegar.
Avoid Allergens
Dogs who have allergies are generally more prone to yeast infections. You might want to be on the lookout for food or environmental allergies that might be aggravating the yeast infection.
Eliminate these allergens from your dog’s diet and, if possible, keep them away from the potential environmental allergen.
Use Ear Cleaners
If your dog has an ear yeast infection, consider using ear cleaners with drying agents. Drying out your dog’s ears is essential because a damp ear canal forms a cozy habitat for the yeast.
You might want to use these ear cleaners after every activity that possibly creates moisture in your dog’s ears, such as swimming or bathing.
We recommend OtiRinse drops as an ear cleaner with drying agent.
Stop Feeding them Yeast
Yeast thrives on a sugar-based diet. When your dog eats carbohydrate-rich meals, the starch breaks down in its gut to form glucose and other simple sugars, which yeast present there feeds on.
Consider cutting out dog foods containing rice, millet, peas, wheat, oat, and corn. A raw diet low in carbs might be best for your dog during this time. Your dog’s diet should consist mainly of meat and bones. You could include offal such as kidney and liver. Also, add in some vegetables for fiber.
You could also focus on antifungal diets low in heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, or mercury. These metals could cause free radical damage to cells and are toxic. Also, these metals could interfere with the growth of good bacteria. Consider giving your dog foods rich in chlorella and sulfur, which could bind to these metals and prevent oxidative damage.
Use Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is rich in antioxidants and triglycerides. These antioxidants help prevent free radical damage, as seen in fungal infections. The free radical damage from yeast infections could cause skin wrinkling.
The triglycerides in coconut oil also help your dog’s skin heal from scratches. Coconut oil is safe for consumption, so don’t worry if you see your dog licking its coconut oil covered paws.
Consider adding some essential oils if you’d like to get more out of the coconut oil therapy. Melt some coconut oil and add in two drops each of lemon essential oil and lavender oil. The lemon essential oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties that would help relieve your dog’s symptoms. Simultaneously, lavender oil seems to be pretty effective against antifungal resistant strains of fungi and might help alleviate your dog’s symptoms.
Load Up on Probiotics
Specific bacteria strains can help your dog fight off fungal infections. Sometimes, if a dog has been on antibiotics for prolonged periods, their good bacterial populations may decrease, making them vulnerable to fungal infections.
Consider giving your dog soil-based probiotics such as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus coagulans could help your dog fight off fungal infections. Probiotics don’t last as long in your dog’s gut so that you could try out prebiotics. Prebiotics encourage the growth of good bacteria faster.
Beta-Glucans in Diet
Beta-glucans are polysaccharides on the cell walls of baker’s yeast, grains, and mushrooms. You might want to consider giving your dog beta-glucan fortified food during this time. That’s because it maximizes your dog’s immune system, thus improving its ability to fight off infections.
Your puppy might benefit from beta-glucans in their diet because it helps in their immune system development.
How To Prevent Dog Yeast Infections
If your dog has folded skin and ears, and allergies, they might be prone to yeast infection. Specific dog breeds such as Boxers, Poodles, Shih Tzus, Dachshunds are particularly vulnerable to yeast infections. Here’s how to prevent yeast infections if your dog is vulnerable:
- Use ear cleaners. Consider using ear cleaners each time you bathe your dog or after swimming.
- Avoid allergens. Try to keep known allergens out of your dog’s food and environment.
- Use degreasing shampoos. If your dog has oily skin, using degreasing shampoo might help by limiting the environment for yeast to grow. However, be careful not to overdo it and strip all the oils from your dog’s coat as this can lead to other health issues. Check with your vet before using these shampoos.
Conclusion
A yeast infection can be an uncomfortable time for you and your pet. You would need to visit your veterinarian for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. However, you could try out some dog yeast infection home remedies to manage the situation. Some of these include:
- Apple cider vinegar spritz
- Avoid allergens
- Stay away from carbs
- Use coconut oil
- Beta-glucans in diet
- Load up on probiotics
If these don’t work, be sure to take your dog to the vet before allowing the infection to become advanced or discovering that your dog is actually suffering from a different medical issue.
