One of our shepherds has been dealing with skin issues for a while and we've tried all types of creams, ointments, shampoos, rinses, dietary changes, supplements, and of course, antibiotics. Nothing seemed to help. Since I'm always on the lookout for new products that might work (hope springs eternal) as well as a natural route as opposed to giving antibiotics, I stumbled upon something called Vetericyn that horse owners were raving about.
I found the Vetericyn
website, and found that this unique product cleans, treats and heals wounds and infections such as staph and MRSA, yet it's non-toxic and won't hurt your pet if they lick it. To learn more about how it works, you can
click here. Up until now I was bathing my shepherd regularly, then applying ointments and while his skin would be O.K. for a day or two, the problem would show up again and we'd have to do the whole thing over. Since shepherds aren't the smallest dogs to bathe and dry, this was becoming a very big pain in the butt.
There's two different versions of the product. Vetericyn comes in a blue bottle and is typically found in many places (I found some at my local Farm & Fleet). There is a gel formation which stays on the skin longer, as well as a non-gel spray. Now there's a new version called Vetericyn VF. This formulation is twice the strength of the regular formula and also comes in a gel- and non-gel based solution.
We purchased one bottle of each (gel and non-gel) the first round and found that while the gel form did stay on the skin, it also seemed to run out pretty quickly and the gel tended to clog the bottle. I found I couldn't spray anymore, yet there was still product inside so I had to dilute it a bit with bottled water. I didn't have this problem with the non-gel form. The product smells very strongly of chlorine and is clear. After using both bottles we started to see real differences in his skin. It was much less inflamed and the bald or darkened areas were starting to sprout hair and become normal colored again. We hadn't seen this in a really long time, so we quickly bought several more bottles and have been treating him with it ever since.
This product is not cheap. We started out paying $39.99 a bottle and since we're not dealing with a just one little spot, we go through the bottles pretty quickly spraying areas 2-3 times a day. However, we've spent a fortune already on numerous other products, so spending money on one that actually works feels much better. I found other stores that sold the product for as high as $54.99, but recently came upon an online store,
Petstruly.com that sells the product for $32.99 a bottle. The store also offers free shipping once you reach $100; otherwise it's $7.65.
With any product, however, you need to make sure your dog isn't working on themselves (i.e. licking or chewing affected areas) as this cancels out any positive progress that's made. We've found that using a Comfy Collar (soft e-collar) has helped tremendously. We got ours at
Drugstore.com , which currently has the product for $22.99, which is much less than other stores. We're hoping that this year he'll be fully healed. Skin issues are always difficult and frustrating, but starting out with a product that really works makes a world of difference!
