male cairn odor

[lwhite]

i have a 1 year old cairn who has not been neutered. my problem is that he has a terrific odor problem. as a result we bathe him once a week which i know is not good but he will bring a tear to your eye if not!! anyway, he has been on science diet canned and dry. he has skin problems so we can't use the deodorant shampoos or sprays. the puppy wipes help a little but not much. he has a different coat -- very coarse with no detectable undercoat. we got him from an individual with papers but the parents weren't on site. his head and body are similar to the females but the female's coat is the traditonal outer and under coat. any suggestions for the male odor?

[George 'n' Gracie]

Does he do any scoooting? George had an odor until we had his anal glands expressed. (Or as the vet said...his butt squeezed) He was like a different dog! We use baking soda in between bathes. Sprinkle it on, rub it in, brush it out. You have a sweet smelling dog.

[Dan]

Our male gets a strong urine like smell as well and the vet expressed about one teaspoon of whatever from his anal gland. We have the groomer or vet check each time now. We also noticed that he will get that smell if he has not had a recent bowel movement. A good walk and a b.m. usually take care of it.

[LORI]

What type of food are you feeding this dog? Try one of the foods that are almost human grade such as azmira or any of the others. Most Cairns if they are not being shown never if ever get a bath, of coarse they live not in my home, but you know what I mean. Most supermarket type foods have a high content of filler and chocked full of dyes for coloring. If you notice if you open up a bag of that food the smell makes you take a step back. That is not for the dogs sake, that's for yours. Rethink your choice in what you feed your dog. Also, don't for get to give them fruits and veggies for snacks and treats. Cairns do have trouble digesting vit c so try to stay away form those types of foods. You may spend more on the daily food but in the long run you will have a happy and healthier dog!

[wags]

I think I know what Dan is talking about.

For a while there my car started to have a strange odor. I suspected a burglar did his business in there. I also suspected the car upholstery- In the 60's some of the cheap material smelled that way from the dye.

I sprayed the car and after reading Dan's posting, I realized what the smell was. In our case it had nothing to do with the food the dog eats. He eats better than we do! LOL!

[magadog]

Hand-stripping and NOT bathing so much can help. Science Diet isn't what it's cracked up to be-- except some of the prescription diets, which can serve a purpose and are just "what the doctor ordered." One exception: although prior to my switching my two over to a raw natural diet, I offered them some of the tartar control stuff, and they literally backed away from it as if to say, NO MORE!

The reason for Science Diet's popularity is that they give a lot of money to vet schools, and so a lot of vets are "beholden" to them for their educations.

Unneutered dogs can have sort of a musky odor at times-- especially if aroused, but I don't find it particularly offensive-- just-- um-- musky.

Any reason that you aren't neutering your dog? Unless you're showing or breeding him, life is easier when they're not intact.

That-- and a change of diet-- could make a difference. Both my dogs-- one spayed female, aged nine and a half and on intact male Ch. stud dog, aged eight-- have probably had a total of 20 baths in their entire lifetimes so far, and neither of them seem to have an odor problem. My boy-dog sometimes smells rangy when a bitch in heat is around or he watches Baywatch , but that vanishes. and mostly, he smells neutral. My girl-dog smells almost floral. Of course when I invite people to sniff the inside of her ears, they think I am nuts, but they agree that the smell is pleasant and sweet and should be bottled.

Has your vet had any ideas about this problem? It sounds like it's a bummer.

(Just looked at the date of your post, and perhaps your problem is solved!)

Jill

[Guest Angus MacDuff's Mummy]

Hi! I just got a Cairn Terrier a couple of weeks ago. I'm feeding him Iams and when it comes to goodies only when he goes to the bathroom in the correct place I give him MilkBone or Alpo treats. Training a pup is all new to me never did this before. I live in a condo so I really cannot walk him so I've been using the dog litterbox he's doing so so . I also have a wee wee pad in my bedroom because that's were he sleeps at night and he uses it every morning. Sometimes he uses the mat by my front dog which i say no no but over all his doing well.

I keep him in the cage while I'm at work. Yesterday I tried something new. I have a gallery kitchen so I purchased two gates one on each side of the kitchen but one side of my kitchen is hard to put the gate up because its in an angle so I had to block the opening with the cage. When my da came over to check on him Angus greeting him at the door. Turned out that Angus jumped on top of the cage and over the gate. Have to figure something else out so I can keep him in the kitchen while I'm at work don't really want to leave him in the cage all day just seems cruel.

Any suggestions from anyone regarding cairns would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Sheila-Anne & Sir Angus MacDuff

[Posey]

I kept Nicky in the kitchen as a puppy or else his crate. When they cut their teeth they will chew up your cabinets. It is difficult to leave a Cairn unattended when they are a puppy except in a crate. One women had to put in new cabinets in her kitchen, she had a poodle she kept confined in the kitchen while she was at work.

A terrier chews anything they can up. See that your puppy has a lot of good safe chew toys.

Posey

[magadog]

Sheila-Anne,

Sounds like typical Cairn terrier ingenuity! If you're really uncomfortable using the crate all the time, which is understandable though these guys are pretty adaptable, write me privately, and I can send you plans for a wonderful, Cairn-proof gate that has even hindered my very own Houdini's efforts to escape. I keep my two barracaded off to the back section of our house where the dog door leads out to the fenced yard.

Write me privately-- jsa@magadog.net for "blueprints." Ours has lasted us nine years!!!

Jill

Oregon City, OR