Shazanne, I had a dog that battled chronic pancreatitis most of her 13 years of life, so I understand a lot about how difficult that is. In the holistic field, there is a lot of dogma about feeding raw and you have to treat the dog, not the philosophy. For about 10 years I fed cooked lean pork with green beans and, all things considered, she did great on that. However, I couldn't even add things like fish oil or she would flair (the only fatty acids she could tolerate were fresh ground flaxseeds). The only raw that she would get an occassional marrow bone to clean her teeth, but she needed extra digestive enzymes to digest the fat (she did get daily digestive enzymes since her pancreas was not functioning correctly).
So the key will be finding out what works for Millie For Jazz here, the dermatologist had her on lean pork and steamed turnips, which worked well until, well, I guess she could only tolerate so much of turnips (who can blame her???). Now I alternate with the tripe with stella and chewy's lamb, and a homemade portion consisting of pork and organic sauerkraut. I think that's a weird diet, but it happens to be working.
This is the nutritionist that I've used off and on:
http://www.betterdogcare.com/ There are a number of nutrients involved in hair growth - biotin, zinc, omega-6 fatty acids (I use grapeseed oil here), vit E, etc., and it's possible that lacking a single important nutrient can impeded healing. I found when I finally had my dog's diet first analyzed, when I had my GSD, that it was potassium deficient, and that was kinda a big deal because it helped him when I added it. There are groups like K9Kitchen on facebook and yahoo groups that can help you learn how to balance. With that said, I personally believe that we don't know the optimum level of nutrients needed for optimal health, but I like the idea of getting a solid base of balance before tipping towards mega-nutrients. For example, Huskies tend to genetically need more zinc and they have a classic set of symptoms that show in their fur and their nose when they are deficient. I think that a lot of us have genetic makeups that require more of certain nutrients.
I have seen a lot of chicken sensitivities, and I've never had a dog that could tolerate much of it.
It's really hard to stand up to the pressure of a vet and I hope that you will be able to continue working with this vet if you think she is pretty good. It's really hard to learn to stand up to your vet too. There is a holistic vet in town that I can't go to because I fight with her - she is very obstinate and dogmatic (no pun intended), that she often forgets about the actual dog. But it's nice to have a holistic ally. I have a very conventional internal medicine vet, a holistic vet, and a chiropractor vet for jazz and I use each one for different things.
I think you probably have more than one thing going on...
It's hard to say about the abdomen licking. I asked about the back because the abdomen is "the front of the back" and licking in that area could be digestive, but it could also be back pain. (Which makes me wonder if your holistic vet does anything like acupuncture....) I also wonder if you have your dog on any joint supplements.
You will have to judge, through careful trial, if the coconut oil is tolerated. I absolutely believe that a good probiotic is essential, and it might take you a few trials to find out which one will work best.
There are some similarities between jazz and millie in terms of fur issues, though with jazz we seem to have made more progress. We did initially treat for staph, which I'm sure your vet did a scraping to see if there was a bacteria issue (the dermatologist used a piece of tape
). So, like jazz, it seems to me that there is something genetic or hormonal. Jazz's was on her ears, belly and legs, and only a little bit on the flank. In fact, we didn't notice the flank issue until she started growing more hair and we saw how it was supposed to be.
It's very possible that there is nothing "serious" causing the hair loss, but there are issues with the gut, which you smell, and maybe that is also an infected skin issue. I saw a handful of vets that NEVER diagnosed jazz's staph infection until we finally saw the dermatologist. I have no idea how something like that can be missed. But the breath issues mean you have joint issues and gut issues at minimum.
I spent some time last night reading about seasonal flank alopecia in dogs. The pattern of loss doesn't quite match jazz or millie, but I'm fascinated by the thought that jazz's fur growth might be due to the addition of her vitamin D after we tested for it. The seasonal alopecia, they speculate, is from long periods of darkness and lack of sunlight. That sure sounds like a vit D deficiency to me. I don't know if a topical would work, but it might be worth getting some topical vit D and using it on the ears, or maybe alternating it with liquid vit E (Solaray makes a good product). If it helps some, then I would for surely run the vit D test. This is the vit D/K2 product my vet recommended for jazz (the k2 for helping vit d absorb):
https://www.amazon.com/Vitamin-Absor.../dp/B014K3H73A (made by Live Wise Naturals). No clue if it will work. The other things might be to look at the treatment for alopecia, of alopecia x in dogs, which would include lignans from flaxseed and melatonin.
Okay, now my turn to apologize for the very long post. I best post this and be done!