Is her Stinky Bum something serious or just change of food???

Hi All,

I have boxer going on 12 years old. For a boxer of her age she is in reasonably good condition really. However, for the past week she has been really stinking from her back end and it is getting worse.

This is NOT the usual fishy smell associated with anal glands – It is more like a wet dog smell, mixed with poop and smelly cheese.

Now before I rush her off to the vets there is a couple of things I think may have caused it.

I usually feed her a fish and potato feed, 70% fish, with nothing else. But about a week before the smells started we had ran out of the kibble, so I bought her some premium brand tinned stuff to keep her going for a day until I could get to the pet store, when I bought her a bag of fish and potato again.

However I changed the brand of fish and potato feed from the one I normally get, as they had one specifically for mature dogs with “added joint care”, which I thought may help her in her later years as she does have a touch of arthritis, but now the fish content is only 45%. This one also contains barley.

I also as a treat bought her a hide chew, filled with something, that funnily resembles the cheesy smell which is mixed in with the poop, wet dog she seems to have now.

Needless to say, 3 days ago, I binned the chew, in case that was causing it. I also bathed her, making extra sure to give her rear end a good clean (in case it was just some dried up poop in the area).

But neither worked, and it is getting worse.

I am going to try today to change her food back to her old one, which unfortunately leaves me with 10kg of this new feed which was really expensive, but it could save me expensive vet bills – as just a consultation would cost more even without treatment, which would be money we don’t really have at the moment, and they may just tell me go back to the old food anyway.

Advice I wanted though was. Is it likely that it is the food causing this or is it just coincidence and should I really be rushing her off to the vet as it could be something more serious???

I really feel sorry for her, as she seems to know she is stinky, and looks very sad at the moment…