Snoopygirl

Has anyone ever heard of using Murphys Oil Soap to bathe your hounds? I was browsing another site and someone suggested it for peaple that bathe their hounds often (which I do, about once a week, the hound smell can be unbearable). I think that I may try it, I like the smell of Murphys Oil Soap.

FredMom

Fred used to have the "houndy" smell and I found out that it was the food. I would be leery about using a soap on a hound, especially since they are prone to allergies. I discovered after reading this site that foods with corn and corn gluten tends to make hounds smell. Once I found a food (Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and Stomach) that was without corn, Fred now does not have a houndy smell.

Now I'm not suggesting the food that I feed Fred. There are other brands like Innova, Solid Gold, etc that other owners feed their hounds that works great, but Fred couldn't absorb those premium brands very well.

Good Luck!

Lightning&Stomps

Murphy's oil soap is great for cleaning leather. And skin is just live leather, right? Still, it doesn't sound right to me to use a cleaner on a dog.

murraysmom

Frequent bathing can set up a situation where the oil glands in the skin get over-stimulated, producing more oil, more smell, and another bath.

Murray only gets a bath about twice a year, if that. Could something else be causing the odor?- yeast problems in his ears, anal glands, seborreah? Why not talk to your vet and see what might help-

In the meantime, try going up to the "search" option and checking out threads on some of the above-

Snoopygirl

I have tried different food, from Ol' Roy (cheapest) to Innova, Science Diet (pricier) and experienced no change as far as odor goes in either of my hounds. Their ears get cleaned once a week so I know that it is'nt that, I mentioned it to my vet and he claims that all types of hound have oily skin that causes the smell, and their is little that I can do about it. The only thing that betters the odor is bathing, and that only helps a little, maybe I am just more sensitive to smells?

FredMom

Well, too much bathing makes it worse actually and can cause dry skin and all types of skin issues. Frequent bathing isn't good for a basset. Maybe you can try some coat conditioning sprays (at Petco) that are scented to help you tolerate the houndy smell. Whenever Fred goes a long time without a bath (3 mths or more) I use a conditioning spray and I brush his coat real good. The spray helps to keep the coat shiny and give him a sweet smell between baths.

I get Fred groomed once every other month or so until the winter time, in which he doesn't get a bath at all. Fred LOVES to be groomed, so its more of a treat to him than anything. They even massage his paws as a treat for seeing him...LOL The women groomers at our Petco has him spoiled to the point to where when he see them, he jumps and lick their faces and they just smother him with hugs. He then, gives a nice Hoooooowll which tickles me to death...

Basset Momma

They make conditioning sprays with very nice scents that work well in between- I bathe every couple of months usually- However- when allergy season is upon us the vet has us bathe Jake weekly (he'd have us do more I just don't have the time) using a hypoallergenic shampoo... apparently this cuts down on the allergens in the fur and actually seems to help a great deal.

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-Wendy
Mom to Samantha, Jake, Cuddy, Frodo, & Indy

Elmer-n-Button

From the looks of the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) sheet on Murphy's Oil Soap, it wouldn't be a good idea to use it to bathe. Sounds like it is dangerous for ingestion, and could be very harmful to the eyes. I'm sure that there are other safer products out there formulated for dogs. I'd give the food more time. It took about a month for my two dogs to smell better after changing the food to Innova or California Natural.

Here is the scientific info on Murphy's:

http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/safety/MS...0OIL%20SOAP.htm

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Arrrooooos from Bubby Boo, Dee Dee and Elmee Too!

Lightning&Stomps

Another thing you might try is having their anal glands expressed. I've posted before that I LOVE the way Lightning smells. But a couple of weeks ago he started acting like he was in pain, and I also noticed that he smelled musky. So while he was at the vet's, I had her empty his anal glands. Now he's back to smelling like a rose (in my warped opinion).

Houndsong

You can put me in the camp of I don't bathe my dogs. Frankly I doubt it's good for the skin/coat. If the dog's dirty then I would hose it off with plain water. Your's may be a special situation but my last basset had a very dense short coat which I thought was pretty oily (it was a pain applying frontline or anything like that and it would wick off pretty quickly) but he had no odor. I would think the prodcution of oil would keep the dog's skin moisturized and be part of the cleaning process. Anyway if I was going to shampoo the dog I would use something formulated for dogs, not wood floors.