Hi all i  have a golden labrador and a golden retriever i have only had the golden retriever for a month now and she is about four years old . She has an ear infection which i am dealing with but her coat is very smelly it smells like cheese. She was bathed about 1 month ago. my lab doesnt smell at all. If it is the ear infection could someone please tell me why it is making her coat smell all over.

This sounds like an allergy reaction. The most common cause of ear infections in Golden Retrievers is either/and grain and yeast in their food.

Do you feed her a food which has maize, corn or wheat as a major ingredient and which may also contain yeast?

Read the label of the bag of food, the largest ingredients will be listed first, maize, corn, wheat & rice will all be listed separately but they should all be added together to calculate the percentage of grain in the food.

Do you feed yeast tablets (eg vetzyme) as a supplement, if so these should be stopped. Ear infections are usually caused by a yeast infection and feeding a diet containg yeast is feeding the problem.

If the current food contains large amounts of the above, I would change to a food which has less of these ingredients present or, if possible, give raw feeding a try.

We have had Golden bitches in the past with bad ears and itchy skin (it is a problem which the breed can be prone to) but since changing the dogs diet to raw, the problem has gone away. It may just be coincidence, but if you have tried other remedies and they haven't worked it may be worth a try.

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snomaes

Hi,

Have to say I feed a complete good quality food to my Goldens been very lucky with my lot never had allergies or ear infections or come to it any skin problem.
However if their coats get wet or damp and then dries they can smell however ours are probabaly bathed more due to showing them as well as pets so we just dont notice a build up of this kind of smell and being longer coated than your lab the smell will be stronger as obviously more coat.I find visiting people with dogs they all heve their own smell some stronger than others.

Or as Snomaes says possibly an allergy,  is the dog concerned going to the loo properly what I mean is  not constipation as this can also give rise to unpleasant odours from the dogs breath and skin just a thought :-)

Briony :-)

Thank you both for your replies.A week or two on she does seem to be less smelly as i am sorting out her ears now and she seems happier too