Dandruff and excessive cerumen

Question
Dear Dr. Gotthelf

I have a two year old female black longhaired chihuahua.

She has had problems with dandruff and excessive brown coloured cerumen for more than a year now. She does not seem to suffer from itshing and is not scratching herself abnormally.

She has huge amounts of dandruff covering her entire skinsurface. The flakes are thin and dry and rather big and are difficult to remove by
brushing. She also produces huge amounts of wet darkbrown cerumen. The skin in the ears are a little reddish.

She has had these symptoms although less pronounced for over a year now but the last months it has become much worse and she is now also loosing a lot of hair not in spots but as an evenly distributed hair thinning.

We have seen different vets who have not been able to detect any parasites in the skin or ears.

I previously have tried to treat with a Nizoral shampoo and eardrops containing an antifungoid component and steroid but without convincing results. She shares sleeping place with another white female chihuahua who is completey without symptoms.

What do you suggest now?

Thank you very much

Sincerely

Karen Winther
Rungstedvej 74
2960 Rungsted Kyst
Denmark

Answer
Karen;

If it is flaky and does not itch, this could be a problem with fatty acid metabolism. See if your vet can suggest an Omega3 fatty acid supplement.  That will help some of the flakiness.  

If she is also itchy, it could be an allergy complicated by a bacterial infection of the skin. The excess cerumen and fungal problem is often caused by inflammation of the skin and ears, which goes along with allergic skin disease. Sometimes we need to use cortisone type drugs to treat the itching and inflammation associated with allergies.  If it is a food allergy, a diet change may be needed.

Dr. Gotthelf