Try putting him on a good diet - either make your own or get his food at an independent pet food retailer (no chain stores, like Walmart, Target, Kmart or grocery, or Petsmart or Petco or Costco or Sam's.....did I cover them all??). They only carry the ones that advertise to death (literally!) & in some cases the retailer is paid additional $ to prominently display that company's product. That's where the $ goes...on promoting the bag, not on quality inside the bag. I know the good stuff seems a lot more expensive & it is in most cases to buy, but you feed less, so it goes farther, & you most likely won't have huge vet bills down the road from mysterious ailments or cancer. You need to look beyond the initial outlay of bigger bucks. Do some homework. Get on the internet & find the API article "What's Really In Pet Food". That's an eye opener. Another informative website is "thedogfoodproject.com" . Go to the section "Ingredients to Avoid." It givs you the AAFCO (they're a joke!) description & then what the ingredient really is. Be aware all of these companies are all tied together (the "food" companies, AAFCO & our wonderful FDA) & it's all about $$$, nothing else! The shampoos easily available contain harsh chemicals that often make skin conditions worse. Quality shampoos don't contain soap or detergents. Look for one that says you can use it as often as necessary. You need to get used to reading labels but first you need to find out what the stuff is so you know what you're reading. DVM (the kind the vets sell you for $30 for an 8 oz bottle) makes some good stuff & is SOMETIMES available at Petco or Petsmart for about $15 a bottle (in CA anyway). Eqyss makes an excellent shampoo called Micro-Tek, available from on line vet suppliers (you can buy from those companies) or they also sell direct. I use that on my dog with skin issues & she's not had a problem for 7+ yrs. Or, you can make your own with natural or organic ingredients. The 2 things I did when I got her 7 yrs ago were good food & Micro-Tek. While you do homework on food, you can cook chicken or ground beef, or turkey (the cheap, high fat kind) with no sauces or salt - just meat, plus brown rice. You can add some ground up sweet potato (fresh, not candied canned stuff) with a little hard boil egg or something like that. A chi only needs 1/4-1/3 cup of food per day so you don't need to fix much. You can fix 3 days worth at a time - for longer, you'd need to freeze. Don't nuke to defrost - heat (esp microwaving) destroys nutritional value). You can feed that sort of thing for up to 6 months. YOu don't need your vet's permission or recommendation. Get a lg bottle of omega 3 fish oil caps at a big box store & stick a pin in one each day to drip on dog's food & you should have a happy, healthy & hairy beast! Good luck!:
Last edited by oldgroomer; 09-09-2009 at 01:25 PM.
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I have some ideas 
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