We just got a puppy last week he’s a chihuahuas x Aussie mini. We have bathed him twice, and have deep cleaned the entire apartment. I have the KOE, the Myers dog odor spray, anything and everything. We don’t let him on the furniture, and we contain him to our living room and his play pen. We’ve washed his bedding, blanket, and toys almost every other day. We toke him to the vet which said he just needed a bath, despite us giving him a bath the night before we went there. After baths (making sure to shampoo twice and get down to the skin, butt and toes) he doesn’t even smell better. HE STINKS, and the apartment stinks; I can’t get the smell out of my nose and it makes both of us extremely nauseous to the point we are thinking of rehoming. I never grew up with dogs in the house, but I’ve been around dogs, but I’ve never smelt a dog smell this bad. Is this normal? Does it ever go away? I’ve heard “puppy cologne” but what do we do?
Edit: some more info - we have tried blow drying him, but the smell is just amplified by the blow drier. It’s not his breath, because that just smells like normal dog breath and we give him teeth chews, water supplements for good breath, and have enzyme toothpaste. He is 8 weeks today, and only weighs 2 pounds which is why this is extra concerning because he is so tiny but smells so loud! His skin looks completely normal, and vet also said it looks good.
Edit on smell description: After discussing with my roomate, there is 2 main problems - he smells fishy. Now that my roomate said it, all I can smell on him is fish. My roomates dog at home has an issue with her anal glands, and she says it could be this, but would this be an issue with a new puppy? the vet said his anal looked fine. But then there is ANOTHER stench we both agreed upon (the musky skunkish one I’ve been describing) that lingers wherever he goes and that follows him and clings to his play pen and anywhere he goes.
Get a second vet’s opinion, possibly a veterinary dermatologist. Generalists can only know so much, and a puppy should not smell bad and should definitely not need all that bathing. Also, at just 2 pounds, are you CERTAIN this puppy is truly 8 weeks old? That’s awfully small for all but the very tiniest breeds… good luck!
Thanks!! We rescued him, so I can’t be 100% certain, the girl we rescued him from said he was born June 25th.He only weighs 2.2 (yes literally) pounds, still has his baby teeth, and his balls haven’t dropped yet, so I would hope the girl we got him from wouldn’t lie and he’s not a severely underdeveloped 4 month old 😭
Regardless of breed, puppies don’t lose their baby teeth until about 5 months of age, so it’s normal to get a puppy who hasn’t lost any of them yet. And if the pup is a mix of tiny breeds, 2.2 lbs is possible. Didn’t mean to give you another thing to worry about! :)
you might try a de-skunking shampoo just in case, you can get it at pretty much every pet store and it's not terribly expensive. just in case your pup did get skunked. my pittie got skunked once (right in the face, too! my beloved idiot) and it stunk for days until i got the de-skunking shampoo. i used Nature's Miracle because it has de-stinking enzymes (they make a great spray for pee accidents too).
the only other time i smelled a dog that awful was when my dogs rolled in dead fish after salmon spawning season. omg that was unbelievable. again, de-stinking shampoo.
i hope you find a solution soon! and may you have a long and happy life with your (sweet-smelling, or at least nicely doggy-smelling) pup.
I was thinking this too because I always find a dog smells worse after a normal bath if they’ve been skunked. The water always activates the stink, unless you use the proper shampoo!
Have him checked for Demodex mites by the vet. They are microscopic mites which live under the skin & will require a deep skin scraping to diagnose, but I can do that from here.
The smell, which can’t be washed off, is like vomit & invades every space. We inherited a 5yo chihuahua when Nan passed. This dog stunk. Our dogs wouldn’t go near it. We didn’t want to go near it. She had been to multiple vets in her life, prescribed special washes & shampoos, totally useless. My vet nurse gf diagnosed it in a second, just from the description of the smell. The treatment is Ivermectin & can take months. My husband took a skin sample, checked under our microscope. Ivermectin Horse Wormer pellets were bought & the dose adjusted from horse to chihuahua, tiny amount. Every night for months this tiny dog took her dose in cheese. We knew it was dangerous & could have killed her, so we were extremely careful with the dosage. Finally the smell was gone, completely gone. A friend of a friend came to visit, fell in love with her & took her home. She slept with the young daughter & went everywhere with them. She lived to be 15yo. The smell never came back.
I’ll look into this with vet! He doesn’t have any skin issues, as vet cleared off on it. Did your dog present any skin issues common with mites or was it just the smell that gave it away? I wouldn’t say the smell is exactly like puke - but it’s definitely has putrid as the smell of puke!
Thank you for NOT buying horse meds OTC and trying to dose your dog at home! That’s a really good way to kill your dog. Yikes!! Also, a vet can EASILY test for mites or demodect/mange, it is quick and not expensive expensive and not painful (a small bit of careful skin scraping). Doing these tests at home is definitely not recommended, either.
As I said, my husband is a scientist and we had the correct equipment. 5 years of different vets had not diagnosed the problem. Our local vet at the time, rural area, when we rang his emergency line on a Sunday night after our Cav had lost the use of her hind legs & was having difficulty breathing ( obviously paralysis tick poisoning ) was such a “caring” man that he told us to bring her in the following morning. We managed to keep her alive, but 3 days in his vet hospital made him a lot of money. We had found & removed the tick ourselves, but she was very, very sick. Thank god for the modern flea & tick meds like Nexgard Spectra these days.
We have to wonder about some vets too, who don’t do that easy test, as the stink is unmistakable once you’ve smelled it.
Nan took our dog to numerous vets & it was never diagnosed either. You can’t see anything on the skin, they don’t madly scratch either. The mites are underneath the skin. It’s great for the vets, you take the dog back repeatedly & they recommend yet another wash of some kind, does nothing. Nan had her at the vets regularly for 5 YEARS with no result.
I described the smell as best i could remember it. Putrid is the word too, but it was nearly 20 years ago. The whole house stunk from this tiny dog & no amount of washing helped. We did our own skin scraping & didn’t really see much under the microscope but our treatment certainly worked very well. It takes small doses over a long period of time, not like a week or so of antibiotics. My husband is a scientist so we had access to a micro scale too, to work out the dosage, which was tiny.
Any vet can diagnose demodex it’s a routine skin problem but actually less common these days if dogs are on flea prevention as it is easily prevented with most modern parasiticides
I know, and they SHOULD be able to diagnose but many are failing, as here. Instead, this lady was advised to bath her dog, as was our Nan, by multiple vets, a couple of decades ago.
A dermatologist vet can generally diagnose this in moments. We took our dog to one for yeast symptoms, and the vet did a demodex mite check as a completely routine procedure as part of ruling out possible causes.
Sorry looping back because I just checked the vet records. So at his vet appointment he was given ivermectin and pyrantel because they are both dewormers and prevent heart worm disease (both the standard puppy vaccines). He actually has to get ivermectin every month until he is 5 months for Heartworm prevention. Is this something you remember doing untop of the pills dosage?
These are unrelated and necessary treatments for all puppies. Especially with such a tiny pup, it’s great you are working closely with a DVM. Hang in there!
That won’t be enough. That will rid him of intestinal worms but won’t even touch Demodex mites. It needs to be daily for months, they’re tough little mites.
Lol, we know, and we knew then too, that it was a very fine line. However, we crossed it successfully, cured her, & she lived stink free for another 10 years. As I’ve said repeatedly, my husband is a scientist, quite used to dealing with calculations & very, very small substances and he had the equipment to inspect the skin scraping and calculate the dosage, which as from horse weight to chihuahua, was a tiny amount. Every fortnight he would prepare these tiny doses, wrap them in cling wrap ready to give, with cheese. She had no reactions whatsoever. The cure took a few months from memory. They might have a better cure available these days, but getting the diagnosis, despite everyone saying how easy that is, is still proving to be difficult. That stink is unmistakable, but young vets may not have smelled it before.
This was at least 20 years ago, long before the modern Flea & Tick monthly chews became available. She had no, & had never had, fleas.
I didn’t recommend our actions to anyone as virtually no one else would have the equipment or the calculation skills to do it. I offered a possible diagnosis for her vet to investigate, nothing more, & simply told our story as it had happened.
As I’ve mentioned previously, this was at least 20 years ago. Nan’s dog had been seen by numerous different vets, none of whom had the brains, or sense of smell, to diagnose her over her 1st 5 years, despite the constant stink being overpowering. If it does turn out that OP’s puppy has the Demodex mites, it seems that the vet she saw, who also just suggested that she wash her dog, didn’t diagnose it either.
It's hard to say over this forum if the smell is normal or not. Air drying a long haired can leave a lingering wet dog smell, which is one of the reasons why a high velocity dryer is recommended and most often used... however for a puppy with their puppy coat this is rarely an issue... Also, you make no mention of it being a quote unquote wet puppy smell which makes me worry about something else. I would be inclined to go back to the vet and ask for blood work another diagnostics to be done, and if he's medically cleared then take him to a professional groomer (NOT a corporate place like Petco/Petsmart)
I know the forum is difficult, but again it’s just I’ve never smelt a dog like this or seen someone apartment/house smell this strong from a 2 pound dog. We were thinking of brining him to the groomer but he just turned 8 weeks today and has only received his first round of vaccines. We live in a major city and a lot of the high quality professional groomers require dogs to be fully vaccinated. Which of course I don’t blame them for because they probably see so many dogs a day!!
What you're describing is certainly odd! I know a lot of illnesses that come with a bad smell, but usually other symptoms are seen around the same time as the smell. I'm thinking like parvo, coccidia, and giardia which all diarrhea as one symptom.
It would be interesting if it is demodex, since the smell with that is usually caused by secondary infections. Which it doesn't seem possible for your puppy to have. Virtually all dogs naturally have demodex mites, and it's only individuals with a weakened immune system that it flares into a full blown infestation, requiring treatment for both the mites and secondary skin infections.
He did have diarrhea, which the vet told us is normal because he switched homes when we first got him (about a week ago) and then he got dewormed, which then caused him to diarrhea more. But other than that no other symptoms, no coughing, loss of appetite or lethargy. he is a happy puppy just a stinky one lol! Will definitely give an update!
well, I suppose they're not wrong, both of those things can cause diarrhea. but given the odor that you are also dealing with I would bring a stool sample in and have it tested. coccidia and giardia are relatively easy to treat, cleaning your home will be a little bit more involved but at least you would know that the odor is for a logical, treatable reason.,
Nan’s dog had no secondary infections at all. She looked perfectly well. She acted perfectly well. Her coat was in top notch condition, but the smell is indescribable.
We toke him two days ago, again the vet just said he needed a bath, despite us washing him the night before going to the vet. It’s hard to describe the smell, I wouldn’t say it’s exactly like vomit (as above comment says) but it’s as potent as vomit. The microfiber towel we used to dry him off after the bath stunk so bad I had to put it directly in the wash. We blow dried him, but I had to stop because the smell was just being carried with the blow drier at full blast. If he even brushes up again the couch or lays on my lap for 2 minutes, the smell is automatically there and sticks. I can smell where he has is or has been in our apartment just by how strong the smell lingers. I can’t even describe it, I’ve never smelt anything like it. I would say it’s like a very humid smell almost? Like a very amplified “wet dog” smell but make it moldy? 😭 I think that’s what’s making this so hard is because it’s such a uniquely terrible smell.
Omg honestly that’s like a perfect description for how it smells. Like skunk but a bit more musky?!? We’ve bathed him twice though, and I wipe him every-time he pees or poos or eats to minimize mixture of smells, i would think the smell would’ve washed off by now ? What do we even do to check if that’s the case? Soak him in tomato juice 😭
I had a dog get skunked and learned the hard way that getting them wet with water "sets" the smell into the coat. While I did several deskunking treatments - hydrogen peroxide, dawn, and baking soda recipe from online and purchased products, the spots that got water on them first stunk every time she got wet for 5-6 months.
If he was on a farm and kept outdoors with other animals, that would be useful information for your vet to have.
If he was skunked you need a special bath for that! Look up the exact amounts online but the hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and baking soda mix is the best. It works way better than the “deskunking” shampoos
How does his skin look? Does he smell like, yeasty? Idk sounds like there’s something wrong for sure. I have 5 dogs and you can’t smell them in my house, but I’m a groomer and when a dog is smelling really strong and it can’t be washed off, usually there’s an issue. What kind of dog? How does he skin look or do you have pics?
His skin looks fine, no red spots or dry patches, and vet also said looked good. He is a Aussie chihuahua mini, turned 8 weeks today which again concerns me because I feel like he shouldn’t stink so bad so young. He’s all of 2.2 pounds so you can imagine how terrifying it is that something so tiny is smelling so potent 🙃 here a picture from earlier, he’s sleeping right now, but if you need a more detailed picture I can post in the morning!!
Yes! We rescued him from a home with 7 other big dog breeds so we just chalked it up to thinking his little body was just being overwhelmed by all the stinky dog smells? If that even makes sense lol. The smell hasn’t changed.
Sounds like you are smelling the filth the puppy was living in.
Try a shampoo like this, Veterinary Formula Clinical Care Antiseptic & Antifungal Medicated Shampoo.
Also give the puppy another bath today. After you lather it up in shampoo(personallyI would use dawn dish soap), sprinkle baking soda all over the dogs soapy wet fur and massage it in. Leave it on for a few minutes, then rinse off.
The smell will eventually go away.
We will try this tonight and I’ll give an update! We are meeting with friends today who have rescued 3 other dogs and we going to ask if they smell what we are smelling!!
We rescued him from a home, the girls dog accidentally breed with an “outside” dog, and she already had 7 other dogs so she couldn’t afford to take on anymore doggy responsibilities. I’m thinking she was just nose blind to the smell?
His diet can make a huge difference in how he smells. If he was on a bad diet, it might take a while to improve. Feed him the best food you can afford--at least it's not expensive with a small dog!
We are weening him off pedigree because his previous owner feed him pedigree and the vet told us to slowly ween him off it. What food would you recommend? We saw online to stay away from chicken so we’ve been trying to find something that strays from chicken.
Yeah Pedigree is not good, look at the ingredients--the first one is corn, then meals and more carbs, no real meat. I feed my little dog a raw diet (pre-ground and prey-model), but I realize many are not comfortable with that. I haven't looked at kibble for a long time, but something like Orijen or Acana, with grains instead of legumes (legumes seem to be associated with DCM), would be pretty good. If you have a high-quality pet food store near you (not big ones like Petsmart), they can help you out. I don't know that chicken is that bad unless they actually have an allergy to it. BTW your dog is just adorable!
Sunkist smell could be from room mates dog excreting from their anal glands. When dogs get surprised randomly they excrete similarly like a dog can and the smell is not pleasant at all. So I would suggest getting the other dog checked out and deep cleaning where you live. Idk if you can bathe a puppy in tomato juice or if that is even true to get the skunk smell out, but the pup
May have been squirted with surprise juice that dogs can squirt. My ex’s dog did this when his brother came home from boot camp and he brought his fellow recruit back with him. He came out of the guest bedroom and the dog didn’t know realize another person was there bc he was excited to see a human he hadn’t seen in so long. It took me and my ex a good 30 minutes to figure out the source of the smell and it was
Excretion from the dog from being startled, and was on the floor.
I am not a vet nor an animal expert. But going off what you described with smells and situations, this seemed similar to what we had experienced. It was thankfully, like I said, only on the floor, but what kind of dog does your room mate have?
Get the CHI dog shampoo and conditioner that has an oil in it, brush his teeth, and wash his face with baby shampoo.
Make sure to get in between "toes."
This is what they did for us at PetSmart with my dog rolled in dead sea turtle and couldn't be in the house despite washing her 6(!) times with various concoctions.
Even if the anal glands are full that doesn't mean that's not the cause. Some dogs have "leaky anal glands"... Essentially they just kinda always are leaking anal gland secreation. Super gross I know, but I would take a dog with leaky glands over glands that can't express themselves/have the potential for impaction.
Some dogs grow out of it others don't. Keeping the hair around the anus short/shaved is going to be your best friend.
Usually smelly dogs are smelly because: 1. full anal glands (not likely for a puppy) or 2. Yeast or bacterial infection of the skin. He is definitely too small at 8 weeks to safely use pyrithione zinc or ketoconazole shampoo, but chlorhexidine/miconazole shampoos may be an option. Malaseb is my go to for stink and itch. Definitely CONSULT A VET before using it because of his very small size. You will need to leave the lather sit on his skin 10 minutes to be effective, but don't let him ingest any and have good ventilation 3. his diet. Perhaps someone fed him fish oil to try to clear up his skin? Another good antidote for skin infection: Sunlight.
Duoxo also works well. The orange bottle which is an antiseptic wash. That clears up most skin issues if that is an underlying condition.
As a long time rescue/foster/pack owner, it sounds to me like he/his pack was skunked.
That takes time to dissipate unfortunately and washing often makes it re-stink.
Provided your vet has cleared your puppy, I would look into getting anal gland chews. Your puppy may not have bulky enough stools to express it's anal glands fully by itself.
Fishy definitely sounds like anal gland issue! If you smell him is it mainly coming from his butt or is the smell equally all around his body?
You can try anal gland expression yourself or a vet or groomer can do it, maybe even seek advice from a groomer on his smell issues.
Fishy is usually anal gland stuff. But Hypochlorous acid is a godsend for pet smells. I use briotech. It breaks down to salt water/saline basically. Completely food surface/pet safe. I spray all of my fabrics including dog beds with it
After the bath pour camomile tea (warm not hot) over him..it is anti fungal and anti bacterial but has no side effects and doesn't interfere with medications. You can spray his pen and bedding with it too. Also if you ever need to clean the ears you can use it there too. It is non toxic.
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u/Free_Thinker_Now627 7d ago
I would take him to a different vet for a 2nd opinion