Product Review: Dog Wrinkle Maintenance with Ketoconazole

My English bulldog, Ribeye, is beloved in his neighborhood for his distinctive looks: a figure like a propane tank, with short legs, a pushed-in face, and many wrinkles. Those classic wrinkles are quite the issue with this breed and several other breeds of dog. Deep wrinkles often mean dealing with yeast infection. Ketoconazole has been the answer for maintaining Ribeye's wrinkles, on top of the daily cleaning and drying of said wrinkles. If you're running into smell, itch and goop, chances are, your dog too has a yeast infection raging in those wrinkles. Ketoconazole may be the solution to your dog's problem too.

What Does Ketoconazole Do?
Ketoconazole is an antifungal prescription drug used to treat and prevent fungal infections, like yeast infection and ring worm. For dogs, it's usually prescribed in pill form. For people, the typical use is in Nizoral shampoo for dandruff. Some find it creepy to know that dandruff and a yeast infection are so closely related, but I find my dog wiping his yeast infection on my carpet a creepier thought. If your dog tends to have allergic reactions to every passing pollen and spore, check those wrinkles for goop. From Ribeye's experience and what I've heard from other dog owners, I'd say that it works particularly well for a dog with a sensitive immune system. Dosing your dog on a daily basis will tamp down the natural enzyme that encourages the fungi that cause a yeast infection, dandruff, and ringworm.

How does Ketoconazole Work?
Ketoconazole damages the structure of fungal cell walls. It works by either killing the fungus, or by slowing its ability to reproduce. Fungi are short lived, but famous for their prolific reproductive abilities; so if you stop the reproduction, you take care of the problem.

What Doesn't Ketoconazole Do?
Ketoconazole isn't effective in treating or preventing all types of fungus infections, like Fusarium, zygomycetes and Aspergillus. Your vet will need to test that goop with a swipe test before prescribing Ketoconazole.