Why Does My Bulldog Smell So Bad No Matter What I Try?

Bulldog Smell That Never Goes Away Answered

Dear Viki,

I hear you. I have had this exact battle in my own hospital, with the air conditioning running, the windows open, fans going and every odor control product we could find, and all of it losing to one bulldog. 😂

Here is the first thing worth knowing, and it is the part that explains your last nine years: no amount of bathing fixes a smell that is being produced faster than you can wash it off.

It is like scrubbing the outside of the trash can while the bag is still sitting inside it.

What is The Smell Source?

The problem almost certainly is not your care and pet hygiene. It is that the source has not been found yet, and in a bulldog the source is usually hiding somewhere the eye cannot reach.

Five Minutes 8 Sniff Tests Must Do:

Before anything else, do my five-minute bully sniff test.
The smell is information. The trick is finding out which part of your bulldog is doing the “talking”.

Take a clean, damp cotton pad or cloth, use a fresh one for each spot, press it firmly into each of these places in turn, then smell each pad on its own, away from the dog:

1. EAR: Inside the ear flap and in and around the opening of the canal
2. TAIL: Deep into the tail pocket, all the way around, not just the entrance
3. WRINKLES: A nose or face wrinkle
4. MOUTH: The gums, especially right at the back of the mouth
5. TOES: Between the toes and the pads
6. PERIANAL: Under the tail, to either side of the anus
7. VAGINAL: Vaginal folds and hood for a female
8. SKIN: The skin itself along the back and in the armpits, coat parted down to the skin

One of those test wipes will usually make you recoil, sometimes a double recoil and head jerking. That is likely the “smell bandit” source.

It takes five minutes, it costs nothing, and it tells me more than a photograph does.

It also stops you spending money on the wrong treatment, which after nine years is probably the more useful saving.

My List Of Most Common Cause Of Smelly Bulldogs

The usual suspects, in the order I find them

#1 Tail Pocket and Folds

The tail pocket, the undisputed champion

The worst bulldog smell I have ever personally encountered was a moist tail pocket dermatitis that had progressed to an abscess, with hidden draining tracts quietly releasing material under the skin.

What Cause The Bulldog Tail to Stink?

Here is the part most owners, and plenty of vets, do not realize. A bulldog tail can twist, curl and pretzel in ways that are impossible to see from the outside.

What looks like a shallow dimple may run much deeper and fold back on itself.

Checking it properly means a gloved finger and a wipe, exploring around and under the tail rather than dabbing at the entrance.

What comes back out tells the story: discolored material, pus, blood staining, and that unmistakable "something is very wrong back here" smell.

Will My Bulldog Smelly Tail Require Surgery?

A severely diseased tail pocket may eventually need the tail amputated, and that is surgery for a veterinarian who knows bulldog anatomy and this particular procedure, because of how close those tail bones sit to the vertebrae, rectum and the colon.

Can Bulldogs Smelly Tails Be Prevented?

The good news, it is also entirely avoidable in most bulldogs.

Prevention is far easier, cheaper and a non-painful experience than a tail emergency, and it is one minute a day.

Wipe into the pocket, not across it, with our Wrinkle & Skinfold Antiseptic XL Wipes, they are made for exactly this job, and if the pocket is already sore, the Bully Wrinkles Antiseptic Lotion clings where a wipe only passes through. There is a second benefit to doing this daily: you become a tail expert. Once you know what normal looks and smells like on your own dog, you notice the change early, which is the whole game.

More detail here: Tail Pocket Dermatitis in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs

#2 Smelly Bulldog Ears

You have already met this one, you mentioned ear infections, so this one is worth taking seriously.

Why Bulldog Suffer From Smelly Ears?

Bulldogs are commonly born with narrow, poorly ventilated ear canals and sluggish cell migration, which like the tail pocket leaves the canal warm, damp and perfectly suited to yeast and bacteria.

Chronic inflammation becomes uncomfortable, and in advanced cases the canal can mineralize and calcify, which is the road to end stage ear disease and surgery such as total ear canal ablation (TECA).

Bulldog Ear Disease and Allergies (Allergic Otitis)

In this breed, repeat otitis is very often an allergy announcing itself through the easiest exit or as an outcome of lack of preventive care with our ear wipes and rinses.

How To Prevent Bulldog Smelly Ears?

Regular ear care is the preventive half: the WaxLess Aloe Vera Ear Rinse for routine drying and cleaning, the Yeasty Bully Antiseptic Ear Rinse when the smell is yeasty and sour, and the Bully Advanced Ear Cleansing Wipes for the quick daily pass.

Working on the allergy underneath matters just as much, which is where something like our Bully Skin and Ears Allergy Chews may complement what your own vet is doing.

When Should I See A Vet For A Bulldog Ear Infection?

One rule above all; if the pain, smell and productive discharge remains, have your vet examine them which often require sedation for a deep otoscopic visual and flushing.

#3 Other Causes Of Smelly Bulldogs

Bulldogs have several other reliable sources of odor, and at nine years old I would weigh the first two higher than I would in a young dog:

Smelly Bulldog Due to Dental disease

Most bulldogs over three have it, and this breed has a particular talent for trapping hair and debris under the gum line and around the soft palate.

A mouth can smell long before it looks dramatic.

At home the two tools that reach the gum line are our Bully Teeth & Gums Antiseptic Dental Wipe and the Dental Antimicrobial Water Additive, which works every time he drinks.

Smelly Bulldog Due to Anal Gland Disease

Anal gland trouble, with its signature fish smell.

Excessive production, Impaction, infection and abscess. A sudden fishy smell, often with scooting or licking, and it comes and goes, which matches your "some days are worse" description.

Firmer, bulkier stools do more for anal glands than anything else, which is the thinking behind our Gastro Gentle Move & Anal Gland Health chews.

Smelly Bulldog Due to GI Disease

Gas and gut. Diet, not enough of the right fiber, food sensitivity, colitis, dysbiosis and gas producing bacteria.

This one fills a room rather than clinging to the dog, which is a useful way to tell it apart from the rest.

Diet and fiber come first, and then the population doing the fermenting, which is what our Bully Pre / Probiotics N’ Zyme KEEP-UP is for.

Smelly Bulldog Due To Skin Disease

Yeast dermatitis, bacterial pyoderma, oily seborrhea, hot spots, and less commonly immune conditions such as pemphigus auto immune disease.

This is the smell that may come off the whole dog rather than one spot, and it is usually the one owners describe as musty.

For a yeasty, musty coat the Yeasty Bully Antiseptic Shampoo is the weekly workhorse, and Bully Fish Oil EFA may help support the skin barrier from the inside.

 

Smelly Bulldog Due To The Other Wrinkles

The nose rope, the lip folds, the neck folds and, in females, the vaginal fold, which can also set off recurring urinary trouble.

The Wrinkle & Skinfold Antiseptic XL Wipes handle the large folds, and the Bully Wrinkles Antiseptic Lotion is for a fold that has already gone sore.

Smelly Bulldog Due To Reflux

A sour smell on the breath with a reasonably clean mouth. In this breed it can come with an elongated soft palate, a hiatal hernia, a lazy stomach sphincter, food sensitivity or an unbalanced gut.

Smaller, more frequent meals and a rest after eating help, and where the gut is unbalanced our Pre / Probiotics N’ Zyme KEEP-UP may complement what your vet advises.

Preventive Care & Management Therapeutics For Smelly Bulldogs

We make topical and supplement options aimed at most of these, and they sit together more cheaply in our V4B bundles.

Remember, none of them is a substitute for finding out which one you are actually dealing with, which is why the sniff test comes first.

How Often Should I Bath a Smelly Bulldog?

One more thing worth saying, because it surprises people
More bathing often makes a bulldog smell worse, not better. A bath wets every fold on the dog, and unless each one is dried properly afterwards you have just watered the garden.

If you bathe him and he smells sour again by the next evening, that is the clue: For those we often recommend using our waterless gels and lotion, spray, rinses and wipes.

What Should I Do About My Smelly Bulldog Final Advice

Send me this and I can be more useful
If you would like me to look closer, send me the result of the sniff test, which spot was worst, along with photos, any recent veterinary notes, tests conducted and the names of the medications, supplements, wipes and shampoos you are using now.

With a nine-year-old dog I would also want to know whether his coat has become greasier or his skin thicker over the last year, because that changes where I would look next.

And if the smell comes along with discomfort, or anything else that worries you, please have your own veterinarian examine him rather than managing it at home. A supplement or a wipe may complement what your vet is doing, it does not replace the examination.

Best of luck, and here is hoping for a much better smelling bully.