Dry Skin?

[JAY RENAUD]

Just wondering if any one had any suggestions about dry skin. Bailey has always had great skin up until she started blowing her coat , about a month ago. She eats two servings of 2 cups of Canadae a day. The odd Dentibone, and once in a while a boiled pork bone. She is brushed at least 3 or 4 times a week. We only bathe her maybe once a year. So I am not sure what the problem may be. I was thinking of adding some canned Salmon to her food. Any help would be great.
Thanks
Jay

[DixieGrl113]

Does she have dandruff? If so is it in only in certain areas, eveywhere...dry dandruff, oily? If she doesn't have flakes what part of her skin is concerning you? Is she itchy, red, have hair loss. Please elaborate. :)

[JAY RENAUD]

No most of the dandruff seems to be coming from near her butt. It does seem to be a bit oiley I am not really sure. Their is no redness or fur loss. But I have noticed when you rub your hand over her fur and ruff it up and then smooth it back their is a small white film on my hand. I hope this helps

[brunie's mom]

Jay why don't you try giving her a bath. It may be old winter skin is coming off with your brushing.
I gave all 3 of my fosters baths last week when the weather was so hot... they all had some dry flakey skin in their coats... I don't know if it was poor nutrition, lack of a bath, stress etc.
The bath really helped and it made them start blowing coat...YUCK..:( but the birds are happy.. they have something to line their nests with:)

Canidae is good food and she should be getting enough Omega fatty acids from it.
I would really skip the boiled pork bones though:( ... just give her a raw soup (marrow) beef bone... she will enjoy it very much:D

Gina

[Judi W]

When they are blowing coats everything looks awful. The coat looks dry because of all the dead hair coming to the surface before it lands on your floor, and it is not uncommon to see a bunch a flakes coming right along with the dead hair. (after all, those hairs were attached to the skin before they decided to fall out). Just around the butt, I would also look for fleas, but if you are sure that is not it, it is just mother nature changing clothes. A good shampoo with lots of rubbing in of the suds helps to raise the dead hair and get it out as well as cleans the skin. I know some people think there is a virtue in not bathing their dogs very often, but imagine how dirty that skin must get over a year!!!! Brushing gets the dust and so forth out of the haircoat, but you can't convince me it gets all the crud clear down to the skin. Also, if your dog has a decent amount of oil in their skin/coat, that does accumulate dirt that simple brushing won't remove.

[rottnkidd]

[quote]Originally posted by brunie's mom
[

Canidae is good food and she should be getting enough Omega fatty acids from it.
I would really skip the boiled pork bones though:( ... just give her a raw soup (marrow) beef bone... she will enjoy it very much:D

I don't deny Canidae is a good kibble, however, the essential oils are very fragile, and although they're added to many of the kibbles today, the long shelf-life of these foods contributes to their degeneration. I would suggest adding a single-source
fish oil like salmon, to the food daily.
kathy

[Ilovemypuppy]

I might suggest flax oil and Missing Link be added the the diet...the essential fatty acids in kibble are likely not that bioavailable because of the processing. I wouldn't feed pork meat or pork bones to a dog, or to people for that matter. Beef bones are better, but we only give nylabones for chewing, for various reasons.

[WorkinDogz]

My dogs get 2 baths/year (unless of course they roll in something disgusting and it's either a bath or they aren't invited into the house )

Spring coat-blowing and Fall winter-coat-coming are the two times of the year when they get their scrubbings.

Nice warm water coupled with a shampoo like Allergroom or HyLyte makes that coatblowing time quicken and cleans the skin and allows the new oils to surface. (I don't use a medicated shampoo or one with Flea/Tick killing properties.....just a nice gentle on the skin/haircoat shampoo)

Daily grooming with an undercoat rake stimulates the skin and brings all of the "old" oils and dirt to the surface; then running your hands over the dog after the grooming with the undercoat rake helps redistribute the oils.

Inbetween batheings I disolve a couple of tablespoons of Baking Soda in a couple of gallons of warm water in the sink and take a wash cloth (excess water rung out of course) and wipe them down.

Works pretty well for me and the dogs never really smell like "straight dog".