mini schnauzer bad odor

Question
I have an 11 year old mini schnauzer with terrrible skin. She scratches all the time. the vet said it was allergies and when she is on an antibiotic it is ok, but when we stop it starts up again. It gets all crusty, especially under her neck,back and down her back. It smells awful. I bathe her with oatmeal shampoo and the vet said to use alittle oil. nothing helps, and it is getting worse. I don't let her on my furniture and when I walk in the house I smell her. If shelays on the bed the bedding smells. What can I do. Someone told me to get a vitamin that kills yeast infections. Please help.  

Answer
Allergies can be a terrible thing to have to deal with. The only real way to "cure" this is to figure out exactly what it is that your dog is allergic to (environmental or food) and try to eliminate that.... and dogs can be allergic to absolutely anything, and often it is several things rather than just one. I myself would have allergy testing done by a veterinary dermatologist to see if the source can be determined; anything else is simply putting a band-aid on the problem. I once heard of a fox terrier puppy who was severely allergic to newspaper ink and cigarette smoke!

Here is a list of veterinary dermatologists: http://www.acvd.org/sites/site-1528/refs/16e9aaf6-7f00-0001-26de-8ea08780cb43.do...

As to treating the yeast infection, you really need something stronger than oatmeal shampoo. Here are some good websites with better ideas on how to deal with this nasty problem:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_yeast_infection_of_the_skin.html

http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/systemic_yeast_infections_candida_albicans...

http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/itch.html

Karen