Dear Pat,
I have a Golden retriever with skin problems. We have taken him to the vet and the animal skin specialist but have had no luck. He keeps having to take antibiotics, sometimes steroids too.

The problem is that he gets skin rashes around his bottom, paws, elbows, belly and muzzle. They come with lots of little red spots. He constantly nibbles and scratches at them. This happens all year round. Also he gets heat spots. From time to time his ears get red and then he has infection in them. The vets wonder if he has a yeast infection.

Can you help him?

- Ginny, Auckland

Dear Ginny,
I might suspect that he is having a reaction to something in your environment such as Wandering Dew or certain grasses like kikuyu. If this is the case, I would give him an appropriate homoeopathic to deal with that. But you would also have to try and remove the offending material or keep him away from it.

Whether this is being caused by something environmental or not, his immune system is being affected by it constantly and he will need immune herbs alongside antiallergy herbs. These could be prepared together in the one formula. This would also take care of the constant infections. I would also suggest an external natural antibiotic to put on any weepy sores he has from the scratching and biting. He may also need some probiotics for a little while to help his digestive system recover from the effects of the antibiotics which will have killed off a lot of his natural gut bacteria. Also, these will help counteract yeast infection.

- Pat @ www.animalherbs.co.nz

Dear Pat,
My little Jack Russell/foxy cross, Poppie is 5 years old. She has the most awful bad breath! We are careful what we feed her and the other dogs she lives with are all okay. This has been happening for the last six months. The vet has checked her teeth and they are alright. Is there something I can get from you to help?

- Den, Whangarei

Dear Den,
There certainly is something that will help. I can prescribe for her a herbal formula which will improve her digestive system and this will stop the bad breath really fast. You can give her 20 mls once a day mixed into her food.

- Pat @ www.animlaherbs.co.nz