Rash under belly and Armpits, tried everything

My blue-brendal Pit has had a rash under his armpits for a while now. I've got it to get better at time, but it's flared up terribly again and here I am feeling helpless. I feel like I have so much information to cover because I've tried so many things. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I've included some photos of the rash that keeps plaquing my poor boy:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/89608127@N02/8151995505/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89608127@N02/8152021068/in/photostream

As for the symptom itself, I treat it with benadryl and try to bathe him as often I can (usually 3-4 days), I clean his paws with an alcohol based allergy spray, and they're extremely red. He's gnawed all the fur from between his toes, and he licks so much they stay slimy and nasty down the in cracks between his toes. At any given moment, if I'm not playing with him or distracting him, he's scratching his belly, his ears, his armpits, gnawing at his groin and back flanks or chewing on his paws (it's gotten so irritated he chews them two at a time). After this post, everything is getting cleaned and mopped again in the house. We have hard wood and I only mop with water, no chemicals, and the couple rugs around the house get vacuumed. He recently got over an Ear Infection is currently on antibiotics (clavamox). The ear infection itself was full of very dark brown ear wax and smelled a great deal of "puppy." Some would stay it stinks, but I kinda like puppy smell, so it's a coin toss. Either way, it did produce an unclean odor, but did not smell rotten. His ears were very dry and flaky and swollen similar to his stomach and armpits until I got a few days of antibiotics in him, got the swelling down and used an anti-fungal/microbrial (cont)

My first determination was food, as I started him on Iams Puppy. I switched to Pedigree Puppy and it got worse. Then I switched to the expensive stuff, Blue Buffalo Chicken Grain-Free, and each food switch it got a little worse.

[jamesearly85]

OOPS, I left in an extra Paragraph, stupid me. Anyway...


(CONT) ear flush and all was in a day or two, but I'm still finishing out the antibiotics. He's got a week left on them. I have at my disposal still that Ear Wash (Ketomax Flush), I was wondering if it might be worth washing his sores with it? It stays being for topical use. Anyway..

As I forgot to delete before, my first determination was food, as I started him on Iams Puppy. I switched to Pedigree Puppy and it got worse. Then I switched to the expensive stuff, Blue Buffalo Chicken Grain-Free, and each food switch it got a little worse. Also, in this entire time of all 3 of these dog foods, his poop was NEVER solid other than may be a few days total. But now I feed him homemade food. I have freezers and freezers of venison from hunting years past and my family running a meat processing operation during the hunting season, so now I feed him a homemade dog food consisting of (in terms of volume) ~30-35% Ground Venison, ~50-60% Sweet Potato, and the rest split up between Carrots and Apples, I make it in about 5gal batches, to that I add about 20 1200mg Fish Oil Tablets (cut open and drained, leaving out the capsule itself) and about a 1/3 cup ground Flax Seed. I also feed him about a 3/4cup of Cottage Cheese or Plain Yogurt in the mornings (he likes both so I switch it up a little). For Snacks and Teething, I use plain Dehydrated Sweet potatos and he loves them. IMMEDIATELY, within 36 hours of a very abrupt diet switch because the Blue Buffalo seemed to flair him up so bad, I saw his poop turn solid and it still is, despite some Orange color to it, his coat is healthier, fuller, oilier, softer and thicker and his energy levels are up. The rash also improved about 80%, but was still present. Here I am a couple weeks later and it's back worse than ever. I took him to a new location the other day (friends house, new dog), and he came back so red and so hot to the touch he wouldn't let me near him to bathe him that night.

So it's got to be environmental... I assume. I clean his paws, I keep him out of the grass, no chemicals, hypo allergenic shampoo with regular baths, benadryl regularly and I'm about to move up to daily zyrtec, his diet is like Pit Bull ambrosia, I keep the apartment as clean as I can.... I'm lost... what do I do? He's scratching himself to bleeding now. I can't take it....

[jamesearly85]

Also, his fur has some "thin spots" and few little spots along the ridge of his back that are only really visible when you look at him against the grain of his fur and you can eraser-head sized spots where he's lacking fur.

[jamesearly85]

He's been tested for skin Mites and Mange. Nothing showed up on these tests.

[pittfallin]

Im not a vet or anything, but ive been with these dogs a while... If you feed raw you need to add a bone and organ percentage as well....have you tried and anti fungal or yeast medicine on his feet and armpits?

[pittfallin]

This is my dog on a half raw half kibble diet

http://m.facebook.com/?_rdr#!/photo.php?fbid=155372311266080&id=100003799371758&set=a.131983993604912.25881.100003799371758&ref=bookmark&__user=100003799371758

[jamesearly85]

His food is cooked, not raw. Once I figure out what's causing his issue I'll add in may be oats or rice or livers or something to add some bulk, but I'm going with minimums until I figure out what's getting to him. I'm pretty confident he has an allergy to chicken.

I have Ketomax. A "broad-spectrum anti-fungal and anti-microbrial cleansing solution." I have not yet tried cleaning his wounds with this, as he's scratched a few open, even though the bottle doesn't say that's bad, it does say topical use only. Do you believe his rash could be fungal?

[jamesearly85]

That's a beautiful pit you have there. My boy tucker's fur and coat improved immensely when I swapped his food, Im even noticing better muscular definition and bulk, but I can't get this rash figured out. I switched him to homemade because every kibble, even expensive kibble, has 25+ ingredients after it gets to you, so I'm giving him something I can control. I know 100% of his food intake and where it comes from now.

[jamesearly85]

And while I'm thinking about it, I have been using ground venison. My next batch I plan on using a neck roast and try mashing the bones of the roast in with the food. (My research says neck bones of dear should become soft in a slow cooker and are safe for dogs.)