Longblades, I agree, the food is SOOOOO important. I do agree that finding the right shampoo is important, and I'm guessing a lot of it depends on what in particular is living on that individual dog.
Shazanne, the key with the thyroid trial is that long term, your vet is probably right. But a trial to see whether you noticed changes should not have this permanent effect, IMO. I've been on thyroid meds for 25+ years and if I back off on my meds, my own thyroid will start to kick in, even in the defective state that it is in!
I used the zinc and biotin in supplement form for supplement. I prefer zinc picolinate form because it's highly absorbable. I would use this one for my 20-lb dog 2-3 times a week, but I backed off once I started feeding a more processed food:
http://www.iherb.com/pr/Solgar-Zinc-...FVGewAodTiQLmA Long term you do have to worry about zinc buildup and balance with copper, BUT, as a trial, to see if there is a response, I don't really worry as long as I stick to not doing too many things at once and I'm usually watching like a hawk. For the biotin I use the Now capsules and just open up the 100 mcg one and sprinkle some in food.
Jazz here is an IBD/lupus dog with numerous food intolerances, so I mix up what I feed her so she will eat.
I try to get one homecooked meal in her a day, which nowadays is baked pork with sauerkraut that I mince together on a Ninja mixer. It's hard to get "clean" pork, but she seems to do the best on it. The dermatologist recommended using turnips with the meat, which I did for a long time, but she is turniped out. The sauerkraut is a good prebiotic and I know it's good for stomach stuff too.
Once or twice a day she gets a combination of pure dehydrated tripe:
https://www.chewy.com/k9-natural-lam...e-raw/dp/35438 (they have a meal version which I don't feed. There are frozen versions which she won't touch. Beef tripe is also available from different places, but Jazz can't tolerate beef) together with 2 patties of Stella and Chewy's:
https://www.chewy.com/stella-chewys-...inner/dp/34233 . The local store has a buy 3 get one free deal on these foods, but I get the tripe from chewy's. She will not eatany of it if I mix it with water, but she drinks a lot on her own, and sometimes I will follow it with a liquid mineral supplement. Of course the two different foods need to be separated for her to go near the dish and consider eating.
On mornings she won't eat, I feed her these in the car so she doesn't spend all day at daycare on a hurting empty stomach:
http://shop.bixbipet.com/products/ra...nt=16316779457 (she has BAD separation anxiety and can't be left alone) I haven't found much about this food, I'm not sure I would feed a lot of it, but for our purposes, and for training, it is working well, and she loves it, and it doesn't upset her digestive system.
When we get to have the morning together, I will share some hard-boiled eggs with her, she loves them, but won't eat them unless we eat them together
I would love to mix these in with some regular feeding, but she'll have none of that.
Each morning I feed her homemade chicken bone broth. It seems to help a lot with her fur and joints, and that is specifically to address her collagen deficiency.
It literally took me years to come up with this strange mix that keeps her eating regularly.