With being a hybrid combination of a schnauzer and poodle, schnoodle health issues can come from one or the other type of dog or even both. After owning 2 different schnoodles over the last 25 years, I can tell you from firsthand experience 3 health problems that both my dogs had and how those problems were treated. All the treatments came from our veterinarian (no homegrown guessing when it comes to our dogs’ well being).

One schnoodle health issue both our dogs had was with their digestive track. One dog ate an entire steak bone and became extremely constipated. We had to keep it with the vet for 5 days in order for daily enemas to be administered. Our other dog ate one of those giant dog treats in the matter of 20 minutes. He proceeded to throw up 20 times in about an hour. We got him to the emergency vet clinic. He was rehydrated and blood tests were run. It turns out when schnoodles have a hard time digesting anything if they eat it too quickly. The giant 20 minute treat cause our dog’s pancreas to overreact leading to all the vomiting. Once he was rehydrated, his pancreas stabilized.

The lesson here is to stick to the right size treats for your schnoodle. Pay attention to the size of the treat recommended for the dog’s weight. Rawhide bones also help because the dog can’t eat it too quickly, allowing sufficient time for digestion.

Even though schnoodles are hypoallergenic, they still need grooming every 6-12 weeks because their hair can get matted and rough. Both of our dogs were groomed religiously every 6 weeks. The first dog began to have skin irritations soon after I left for college. The second dog experienced the same thing after having our first child.

What I’m getting at is that events that cause our dogs stress seemed to have triggered a schnoodle health issue on their skin. Both dogs were brought to the vet. Both times, the vet recommended bathing them with a shampoo called Chlorohexiderm every other day for two weeks or until the skin irritations went away. After that bathing every 3 weeks with the Chlorohexiderm shampoo should keep the skin irritation at bay. A side note…Chlorohexiderm has be temporarily discontinued. Our vet recommended a substitute of oatmeal shampoo with 2% Betadine added to it.

Lastly, but certainly not least, a major schnoodle health issue is bad teeth that are very susceptible to rotting. Our first dog got hit teeth brushed at least once a week. He also enjoyed small rawhide bones, which helped get his teeth clean. Our second dog, not so much. We had two kids when he started having teeth problems. The kids took up more of our time and attention so his teeth did not get the attention their needed.

We decided to get his teeth cleaned by the vet. A year after that, his breath got really bad. We took him to the vet, only to discover that all his front teeth between his incisors were rotted out and needed to be removed. Thank goodness dogs don’t use their front teeth very much and can adapt easily to not having them. We did feel guilty about neglecting his teeth so much though. We now get his teeth cleaned by the vet once a year to make sure nothing like that happens again. The cheaper route is to definitely check your schnoodle’s teeth regularly, offer small rawhides and brush from time to time to keep them pearly whites in good condition.

These 3 schnoodle health issues certainly do not cover all the ailments that these dogs could have. It would be a little too much of a coincidence with both dogs having the same issues and not say schnoodle are prone to dealing with a touchy digestive track, skin irritations and bad teeth. Now that you know about 3 major schnoodle health issues, owning this cute hybrid dog breed will be that much less a mystery.