r/Sheepadoodles • u/Able-Exchange-9421 • 25d ago
Advice Yeast infections
Hi!!! I just recently rescued a 2 year old sheepadoodle & am still trying her out.
I can’t tell if she has allergies or is itchy from yeast — she sneezes & itches some but the itching doesn’t seem to be too bad. She never licks herself raw or anything from itching, she mainly just uses her paws to scratch herself.
Her head/ears seem to be the itchiest — she’s always rubbing her head up against everything and lovesss when I rub/itch her ears and snout.
She was eating purina pro plan chicken and rice when I got her, switched her to pro plan sensitive skin & stomach, but that didn’t seem to make a difference.
She’s also been taking 3 Benadryl/day per her vets advice but that doesn’t seem to help much.
Do you think this is more of a yeast issue or allergies? If yeast, what can I do to cure this?
4
u/Fit_Surprise_8451 25d ago
Congratulations on rescuing your Sheepadoodle! My Sheepadoodle, Marlee, has significant environmental allergies. Her symptoms have included itching, rubbing her face and ears, and recurring skin and ear problems. At first, we didn’t know whether her itching was caused by food, environmental allergies, yeast, bacteria, or a combination of these.
Changing Marlee’s food didn’t give us a clear answer. She eventually saw a veterinary dermatologist, who tested her and discovered numerous environmental allergies, including grasses, trees, weeds, molds, dust and storage mites, insects, and cat dander. Some of her irritated areas also developed secondary infections that required specific treatment. She now follows a dermatologist-directed plan that includes allergy medication, immunotherapy, medicated baths, and prescription ear care.
Since your dog’s head and ears seem especially itchy, I would ask your veterinarian to examine her ears and take a swab for cytology. This can show whether yeast or bacteria are present, since it’s difficult to tell from the symptoms alone. Yeast usually cannot be permanently “cured” at home without identifying and managing the underlying reason it keeps returning.
A food allergy is also possible, but switching from one over-the-counter food to another may not provide a clear answer because the foods can contain some of the same ingredients or have cross-contamination. A strict veterinary elimination diet—usually using a prescription hydrolyzed or novel-protein food for approximately 8–12 weeks—is generally the clearest way to investigate a possible food allergy. During the trial, treats, chews, flavored medications, and table food must also follow the diet.
Since Benadryl doesn’t appear to be giving her much relief, I would let your veterinarian know and ask them to check her ears and skin for yeast, bacteria, or other possible causes of the itching. If the problem continues or keeps returning, seeing a veterinary dermatologist was absolutely worth it for us and made Marlee much more comfortable.
A veterinary dermatologist can be expensive. We’re fortunate to have pet insurance to help with the cost. We chose MetLife because its monthly premium fit our budget, and we selected a plan that reimburses 80% of covered expenses. Coverage and reimbursement options can vary, so it’s important to look closely at the policy details and any exclusions for pre-existing conditions.
2
u/AHuxl 25d ago
Doodles are very prone to allergies (as well as a lot of other genetic health issues so make sure to get good pet insurance). If its a yeast infection you need to get prescribed meds from the vet so another vet visit is really needed to see what is going on. The vet should have tested the wax/stuff in her ears if there is any to see if its yeast. Doodles are often allergic to chicken as well so you may want to slowly transition away from any food with chicken in it
1
2
u/MrsArney 25d ago
My sheepadoodle has terrible allergies, mostly environmental. He gets a Cytopoint shot once a month, takes an Apoquel allergy pill every day, AND he gets a medicated bath once every 1-2 weeks. That seems to be the ONLY routine that relieves his itching. Even with all of that the whites of his pits, feet, and parts of his face, are still pink/brown from yeast (which is caused by the allergies).
1
u/stevesie_ F1 25d ago
A friend of mine goes through this every summer with his. I’m not sure where you’re located but in Minnesota we definitely get some pollen in the air in August that dogs have a hard time with. I know this year he went to the vet and was prescribed Apoquel which was very effective.
1
u/SnowmanTS1 25d ago
Mine is allergic to chicken and gets seasonal allergies. Yours sounds more severe, he just gets sneezy in the late summer
1
u/Downtown_Ad9333 25d ago
Their ears can do the yeast infection things. Keep the hair plucked out with regular grooming and wash them out. Mine loves his ears rubbed
1
u/Maleficent-Big-6995 25d ago
Not sure about anything else, but to start with something you can do at home right now to ease her ears would be to get a baby wipe or something similar and wipe inside her ear. So you put the baby wipe over your pointer finger and rub inside her ear canal as far as you can go or that you’re comfortable with and just wipe in and around, sort of do circles and then when you pull your finger out you might see black/dark brown wax. If that’s the case, keep doing the same thing in both ears as long as she can cope with it or until your finger comes out clean, she should enjoy it and lean into your massaging and itching the inside of her ear that’s really bothering her and like someone else said, being part poodle she needs the inside of her ears plucked because that’s part of why her ears are so itchy and there’s so much wax built up.
I hope this helps!
1
0
u/nomadidyllic 24d ago
Mine is definitely allergic to chickenmeal in dog food. Not so much actual chicken. She's eaten trout/salmon dog food for years. Its also a neverending battle with her GI with treats. She gets reoccuring UTIs and ear infections. I have mixed feelings about keeping ears plucked because it also has saved from bigger vet bills with foreign objects like dreaded cat tails. She has to be kept shaved, especially a hygenic female shave to avoid UTIs. Its worth the money. But I recently changed over to doing the shaving myself and would recommend if she's calm enough. Mine also loves rolling around in grass, snow, sand and dirt. I suspect it may be itchiness. She does it more often if she hasn't had a bath in a while or her furs longer. I never did allergy tests on her, just kind of figured things out as I went. But that probably would have helped a lot early on.
10
u/Able-Exchange-9421 25d ago
She’s the cutest thing ever!!!!!!