Dog has really bad dry skin

Hi, Maya is a 7 year old labrador. Over the last few months, she developed an extreme itch. Her skin was all scabby.

Vet gave her antibiotics that helped for a short while but the itch soon returned. She then put her on steroids which helped at high dose but not at lower dose. Maya was really unhappy while on them and I didn't want her on them long term. I tried her on antihistamines....no help. Frequent baths with Maliseb....that actually made the itch worse. So....now she is on Apoquel for the last 2 weeks, which has gotten rid of the itch and she seems quite happy.

The thing is, her coat, which was beautiful up until a few months ago, is full of dead skin and clumps of hair are still falling out. I am *hoping* that it will ease once she has been on the Apoquel a bit longer.

I give her 2 fish oil capsules every day....but does anyone have any ideas of how I could get her skin and coat healthy again?

 

Hi, I believe not. They are sold as 'fish oil capsules' as my vet said to stay away from the cod liver oil. However I have posted a question on the suppliers site.
I also have a bottle of yuderm itching dog oil but I didn't want to give her this at the same time as the capsules, in case of overload.

 

Jydy, Not sure if it is diet related. I did consider changing her food to grain free.

Hemlock, no, they haven't even suggested it.

One of my concerns is, Maya has had cancer twice...mast cell tumours. Analysis showed that it was grade 2 but with the fact it had returned once, there was a fair to strong chance it would return again. She has no tumours that I can feel....but I am worried that she has tumours internally. I read that mast cell tumours one of the problems/signs is an overload of histamine. I asked the vet about this but they were non commital. The vet knows that my hubs and I have made the decision that if it comes back, we are not putting her through the treatment again as she was so very, desperately unhappy before and it changed her personality quite markedly.

 

Tinytom....no. Are they better for skin problems?

I went to pet shop this morning and bought her a grooming mit. That seems to be better at removing the dander.