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Question About Hound Odor

18582 Views 9 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Nicky's mom
How strong is a normal basset hound odor?

With our boy Flash (approximately 4 - 5 months old) the odor is pretty strong. When he jumps up to say hello you can definately smell him. Which is why I was bathing him weekly.

Something else that occurred to me is Flash goes outside to play with our Husky. They "chew" on each other - not hard but playful - like wrestling. I wonder if that's what I'm smelling??? Since our Husky tends to "chew" around Flashes neck area. Don't get the wrong idea here "chew" is not the best word. Wrestling with their mouths is a better description. Lots of mock growling, but no crying or yelps like someone is being hurt.

If that's the issue I wonder if there's a odor spray or something I could use that would help with the odor. It's definately noticable. Any ideas, suggestions????

Thanks for all the great advice. I really appreciate it!
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Have you checked his ears? Yeast problems and infections can make a hound's ears smell awful-

When we got Murray he had yeasty, stinky ears - the vet helped me to clear up an infection and get him on a cleaning schedule- I clean his ears once each week with Dermapet flush which I get from our vet, but other people use other things- if you go up tp "search" in the upper right, and type in "ear cleaning" or "ear problems" you'll find other threads which talk about this-

If it's not his ears, you can still do a search under "hound odor", etc.

Hope that helps-
A mentioned earlier a strong "hound odor" is most often associated with a yeast infection. Now yeast can not only found in the ears but any warm moist area. Skin folds, b etween toes, fip folds etc. A dog with a heathy immune system are able to do a good jub of speressing the yeast. A dog that requires frequent bathing because of odor either has a oner with a super sensitive nose or there is an underlying cause for the odor that unless address is going to keep reacurring. Allergies, and sheborrhea are two of the more common cause of yeast infections in basset.

MALESSEZIA DERMATITIS

With yeast that developes in skin fold many find help with useing an antimicrobial wipe. These can be pruchased or hand made two of the more common are listerine on a cloth or Distilled white vinagar.
A mentioned earlier a strong "hound odor" is most often associated with a yeast infection. Now yeast can not only found in the ears but any warm moist area. Skin folds, b etween toes, fip folds etc. A dog with a heathy immune system are able to do a good jub of speressing the yeast. A dog that requires frequent bathing because of odor either has a oner with a super sensitive nose or there is an underlying cause for the odor that unless address is going to keep reacurring. Allergies, and sheborrhea are two of the more common cause of yeast infections in basset.

MALESSEZIA DERMATITIS

With yeast that developes in skin fold many find help with useing an antimicrobial wipe. These can be pruchased or hand made two of the more common are listerine on a cloth or Distilled white vinagar.[/b]

edittied to add you also had a dandruff problem also you really need to talk to your vet about seborrhea it is not uncommon un basset and can cause both conditions dandruff and odor.

seborrhea
What breeds are affected by seborrhea?

Primary seborrhea is most commonly seen in the American cocker spaniel, West Highland white terrier, English springer spaniel, and Basset hound. ...

What does seborrhea mean to your dog & you?

Early evidence of the disorder such as mild flaking and dullness of the coat may appear as young as 10 weeks of age. Because these signs are subtle, they often go unnoticed. However, usually by a year to 18 months, the signs have become pronounced. Affected dogs commonly have a dull coat with excessive scaling, a greasy feel and smell to the skin (especially in areas of body folds), smelly waxy ears which may be infected, thickening of the foot pads, and dry brittle claws. Some breeds (West Highland white terrier, cocker spaniel, springer spaniel, Basset hound, Shar-pei) are more prone to the greasy form of seborrhea (seborrhea oleosa) with chronic ear infections and greasy skin,[/b]
in between bathing Louie, we spray this "Fast Bath" stuff (check our their website if you like - www.naturvet.com) on him and it cleans and deodorizes well we find. It's a natural product so yer little one shouldn't react to it, but if there is an existing skin sensitivity issue, i'd try a little bit first.
Our Louie doesn't smell that often, but then we don't have other dogs in the house, so maybe the old saliva IS what you're smelling like you said.
It's been my experience that Bassets are just kind of inherently stinky...as has been said, keep the ears clean...I try to do 'em once a week and since too frequent bathing can cause dry skin and itching, I've found that Pet wipes or Puppy wipes do a good job of de-stinkifying when the visit to the groomer is a little too far in the future...Tess has allergies so it's good that they only clean off the fur and don't get too close to the skin...I find it is a good idea to make sure you clean the paws and especially around the mouth, lips and neck as drool gets trapped in the flews and also dries on the fur in that area and gets very sour smelling...now if there was only something to do about the other smell she creates all too often...we sometimes call her Tessie the Gassy Bassy...her diet choices are limited due to the allergies and she is on simple one protein/one carb hypo-allergenic food...so there's not much we can do about changing her diet...just be sure to wear crew necks so you can pull 'em up over your nose to keep from gagging :blink:

Sandi
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........when they go outside to play and eat poop---that will make them stink. Hate to be gross about it but that is a fact with some, like I discovered with my Hound.
don
It's been my experience that Bassets are just kind of inherently stinky...as has been said, keep the ears clean...I ..Tess has allergies so it's good that they only clean off the fur and don't get too close to the skin...I find it is a good idea to make sure you clean the paws and especially around the mouth, lips and neck as drool gets trapped in the flews and also dries on the fur in that area and gets very sour smelling...now if there was only something to do about the other smell she creates all too often
Sandi[/b]
Allergies are the major cause of secondary yeast infections that are the cause of most of the stink.
Dixie has that strong Frito's smell. It is not her ears. She has the cleanest ears. Luke has an ear fetish like Wilson and constantly licks them clean. When we clean her ears out there is hardly anything in them, unlike Luke, who I swear actually goes out side and packs mud into them. When w clean his ears it usually take almost half a pack of swabs. Luke on the other hand, does get a smell after a while, but never very strong like Dixie. Although, by the end of the week if you lift his ears it can gag you. I have a pretty good sense of smell and can usually tell which one is in the room without even looking up, I can only imagine how easy it is for them to identify each other.
I changed Nicky's food to Nutro Natural Herring meal, rice and potato and a lot of the frito smell from his feet has dissipated. His ears weren't the problem either, but this seems to have helped.
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