How to manage yeast infection in dogs

What is yeast infection in dogs?

Yeast is a fungus that lives on skin and inside the intestine of your dogs. Yeast normally found on the skin but its abnormal overgrowth can cause infection.

Yeast infection is caused by under active immune system. Yeast infections are particularly common in hot, humid environment.

It’s important to see the signs of yeast infection because it can cause some serious issues if not treated.

Symptoms of yeast infection in dogs:

Smelly paws and licking of paws
Ear infections, scratching of skin biting and chewing of skin
Seasonal allergies
Flaky skin
Skin irritation and inflammation
Hair loss

Steps to prevent yeast infection:

Diet Control:

Remove all sources of sugar in dog’s diet. Diet high in sugar is the main cause of yeast infection as yeast needs sugar to live.

So if you remove carbs and sugar from your dog’s diet, you can starve the yeast. We should not feed carbs or grains to dogs as it can worsen their infection.

Avoid foods which contain carbohydrates like potatoes, corn, wheat, rice, honey, peas. These food can trigger the allergies in pets as they contain sugar.

This step is actually really important because you can’t effectively deal with the yeast problems without addressing this aspect of your pets’ diet. So cutting of the sugar from diet is important.

Treatment for controlling yeast:

Yeast infections are a common skin concern for dogs, causing itching and irritation so they need to be controlled by using the right products and medications.

Apply natural topical shampoos on dogs focus more on the infected areas. Add anti fungal foods in diet like coconut oil for reducing yeast.

It’s not just enough to apply any anti fungal cream or lotion to those parts of the body, the parts of the body which have yeast infection must be disinfected.

Coconut oil is best for curing yeast infection.

Preventing the yeast from coming back:

Some vets will tell you that yeast infection stays forever and will require medicated treatment.

You should dry them properly after bath.Your pet should be damp but not dripping wet.

Keep them indoors during extreme heat and humidity.

Give them good quality food and be aware of any kind of allergies.

Risk factors that increase yeast infections:

Bacterial infection is common in dogs. It occurs when a dog’s immune system is weak and bacteria is able to reproduce and spread in the dog’s body.

Underlying skin disease like atopic dermatitis. Pets that develop signs of atopic dermatitis should be seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible. In this disease skin becomes very itchy. It is caused by food reactions or airborne substances.

Skin folds dermatitis is a infection in dogs. Skin folds dermatitis is common in overweight dogs, dogs with wrinkle skin. It only occur in few selected breeds of dogs.