My dog is 12.5yrs old, min-pin/pomeranian/gsp mutt. Recently I’ve started researching whether or not a possible gut biome issue exists and if it does, if it’s possibly lead to some skin issues that he has. 

- if anyone has has similar experience, I’d love to hear what you did and if it worked. FOR NOW, I am not considering allergy meds or shots in case I can remedy this otherwise. I’d also respectfully prefer first hand experience over PURE veterinary suggestions (I love our vet but she is very short-term minded which frustrates me)

BACKSTORY THATS NOT SUPER RELEVANT BUT KINDA RELEVANT:
Due to work and life stuff, over the last 2 years or so, my dog has spent 80% of his time at my parents. He loves them but my mother treats him like a human and offers him apple slices and cheese and too large portions so he’s gotten fat. Not grossly obese but he should weigh 21lbs. He was 25.6lbs and now that I’ve been paying attention, he is down to 23lbs. The quality and quantity of food is what’s important potentially here. He’s short and longer than average and the vet says being fat affects his knees more than other breeds. Also if he is being given random snacks, food allergens are like the Wild West of possibilities thanks to grandma

ANYWAY,

Cavi is ITCHY.
He mainly scratches his sides, above his belly button, above his chest/collar area (midline, like chin-chest).

He has visible hair loss in these areas as well as his inner back thighs. (Attached pic is of his chest. It’s not BAD but note the weird hair quality and you can see his skin which was not the case 2 years ago)

I’ve recently found out he SHEDS LIKE A MOFO; there was never this much fur on my duvet 3years ago as now. 

Two summers ago, I noticed rusty coloured nails and fur in his paw pads; we learned these were ”yeasty paws” and after treatment by:
-wiping paws after every walk
-frequent chlorhexidine shampoo soaks
- sprays with ACV diluted 1:1 with water
his paws cleared up after about 6 weeks when the unstained fur grew out. He stopped licking his paws as well and stopped trying to eat grass. 
We maintain this as needed, mostly a weekly paw shampoo/soak in spring/summer is all we need for ZERO YEASTY PAWS! (Yay!)

—Could this yeast have been caused/exacerbated because his immune system was already affected from an imbalanced gut biome?????

BEFORE MY THEORY, YES I ASKED A VET ABOUT HIS CURRENT SKIN ITCHINESS:
- vet said possible allergy (environment VS food)
- offered steroid cream for areas of hair loss but said it’s not too bad so she recommended playing around with allergens and doing same thing we did for ”yeasty paws” on his skin. 
She said chlorhexidine shampoo was a good plan too


FINALLY HERE IS WHAT IVE READ:
All dogs have yeast (malasezzia) in their gut and skin. It’s normal. However, some dogs, especially senior ones, can develop an overgrowth of yeast in their guts. Yeast eat sugar, so a diet rich in sugar could promote this imbalance,right? 
Symptoms of an imbalanced gut in dogs include:
-bloating/flatulence
-diarrhea or constipation
- bilious vomit (so that foamy yellow/green stuff) between meals 
- eating grass
- eating poop (they think eating the missing bacteria will help)

LONG TERM gut imbalance leads to chronic inflammation of the GI tract because its angry and now unable to absorb nutrients as well, worsening the yeast, worsening the symptoms, etc etc the cycle goes on 

UNTIL (HERE IS WHERE OBJECTIVE SCIENCE STOPS AND MY ALLEGATION BEGINS)

A body in such a state of inflammation, starts to react much more sensitively to things it might not. As a result of GI inflammation, the skin becomes more dry, potentially becoming itchy. This leads to scratching which produces histamine (the chemical that makes mosquito bites itchy) which leads to red skin and subsequent hairloss and skin hyperpigmentation/cracking. 
He also has slight expiratory wheezes which the vet said could be slight asthma or just because it’s dry here right now. I think it could ALL be connected to his gut though…

Thoughts? 


Looking for a KIND discussion RE: yeast gut imbalance & skin symptoms connection