You are describing a staph infection of the skin. Pimple looking lesions that grow and end up being dry and flakey.
And what it sounds like is he has allergies. When a dog is allergic to something they release histamines in their feet as well as their ears. That is why dogs with allergies get ear infections and lick and chew their feet. The moisture due to the histamine release in the ears along with the temp and darkness is a perfect environment to grow yeast. And why your dog has yeast in his feet as well.
You do not want him to go with an ear infection untreated. It will cause MAJOR problems with his ears. I have seen dogs with chronic ear infections actually have to have surgery to have their ear canal removed. You have to stay on top of the ears. Once the infection is under control. Clean his ears out a few times a week as mantainance.
Staph is normal flora of the skin. However when a dog is itchy due to allergies they will scratch. And excessive scratching and breaking the layers of the skin will cause the staph to overgrow. Staph infections are very common in allergy dogs. Usually the Vet will prescribe antibiotic when they break with staph infection
A way to help determine if it is food vs environmental is if it was food they would exhibit symptoms year round you will not see a seasonality with it.
Until you remove the allegen from his environment he will continue to have skin issues. Dogs express allergies wether it is environmental (inhalent or contact) or food in their skin. Or if you remove the dog from the environment.
Adding an omega 3 fatty acid supplement is a start. Most dogs with allergies are deficient (lacking) that in their skin. So putting them on a suppliment will help.
Also using antihistimaines such as Benedryl, Claritin, Zyrtec. Benedryl is 1-2mg per pound. And you can give it up to 3 times a day.
If you want the dose to Claritin for Zyrtec let me know. Both Claritin and Zyrtec are once a day. But they are in a different class of antihistamines than Benedryl and you can use them at the same time.
I personally have had better luck with using Claritin in the morning and if my dog is having a rough night I give him a dose of benedryl at night. And during his seasons of allergies I give antihistamines every day. Wether I see him scrathing or not. I start at the beginning of spring and continue through the end of fall.
Allergies are frustrating. Because all you can do is manage them . And unless the dog is removed from the cause of the allergy it will keep reoccuring. I have one that has HORRIBLE allergies during spring and fall. He is chewing on his feet and itching and scratching, breaking out with staph infections. Thank goodness he does not have ear issues. Did not start till I moved to Florida. And I do not plan on moving so I manage his allergies. I do sometimes have to do courses of prednisone. But I try not to because long term use of steriods can cause issues as well.
You can do either a blood test or a skin grid for allergy testing to see what it is that he is allergic to. The blood test runs around a few hundred dollars and the skin grid can run up to $1000 dollars.
Good luck allergies and skin is very frustrating. But it can be managed
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