[LexiDog]

My poor girl has dry skin. I need suggestions to help her out. She is 2 years old and has only recently started to get dry skin. She is on Orijen Regional Red, soon to be switched to Primal raw. I also give her a teaspoon of coconut oil in the mornings. I don’t bathe her too often. Maybe once a month or longer if she doesn’t get too muddy. When she does get a bath, I use an oatmeal shampoo. Any other suggestions?

[Naturella]

Several, actually! You could really help us out by letting us know her breed, age, weight, and maybe hair length.

Also, I know fish oil is another supplement widely used by forumers to help with skin and coat issues. So are canned (or raw) sardines. Coconut oil is a great supplement, I use it myself, but you may need to adjust the amount depending on her weight. Fish-based foods are also known to help skin/coat issues.

As for my Rat Terrier mix (13lbs), I give him a teaspoon of coconut oil every other day, a canned sardine once a week, a bath every 2 weeks, and I “condition” him while he is still somewhat damp with a mix of coconut, olive, and sunflower oils, in which there are vitamins A, D, and E dissolved. So I rub that on his coat, trying to reach the skin until he doesn’t feel greasy and it makes him super soft and shiny. Also, he is currently on a fish-based food, so that will probably be good, but he has no particular issues to begin with. I did think he was excessively dandruffy when I brushed him, but that was supposed to be normal as I elevated all his dead skin by brushing him. Otherwise I don’t see any flakes.

Excess dandruff may be due to an allergy or something too, or just be how your dog is – sometimes, even all measurements do not quite help resolve the dandruff issue.

Hope others chime in with more advice or corrections of anything I may have misspoken about! 🙂

[theBCnut]

How big is she? I ask because you can give coconut oil at the rate of 1 teaspoon per 20#, but for dogs that don’t have issues with the extra oils, you can double that as long as you increase slowly.

[LexiDog]

She’s a 37 pound lab mix. We did the DNA test and it said that she has stafford shire terrier and rat terrier too but is probably at least 70% lab. She is black with a little bit of white with short fine hair. She is 2 years old.

I know Primal has a Turkey & Sardine formula I could try and increase the amount of coconut oil a little.

Someone said that they give their dogs the brewers yeast tabs…Would that help with her coat? I don’t know.. I’m not really into giving her too many supplements and what not.

[Naturella]

Amy, this is quite helpful! As theBCnut said, maybe you can try 2 teaspoons/day of coconut oil, or continue with the 1 teaspoon/day when you switch to Primal Raw Turkey and Sardine (I’d give it a try because of the fish). Remember, you can always adjust the amount if her skin is still too dry and go on with the 2 teaspoons of coconut oil/day even with the fish Primal.

I am not familiar with brewers yeast so I can say nothing about it. Hope someone else chimes in on that.

Also, not all coconut oil is made equal… The best stuff with most benefits is cold-pressed, extra virgin, raw, UNREFINED, the latter being the most important part of the equation. Refining the coconut oil takes out a significant amount of its nutrients.

[theBCnut]

Some dogs can’t handle brewers yeast, but if your dog does well on it, it is a source of B vitamins, which are great for skin and oat.

[Susan]

I went to my vet the other day & she told me about Dermoscent Essential 6 spot-on for dogs its a unique blend of essential fatty acids & essential oils that reduces odours & moisturises dry skin & maintains coat & skin health.. Google: “Dermoscent Esssential 6 spot-on for dogs” for more info, it comes in a 4 or 6 pack.. 0-10 kilos 10-20 kilos & so on, you apply once a week for 8 weeks then once every 2nd week, I dont like giving my dog to many oils or vitamins as he has tummy problems, that’s why I like this product u put it on the back of neck inbetween their shoulder blades, I went to my Pet Barn this morning to buy a packet but they had run out, so they had to order more in or u can buy online..

[theBCnut]

That sounds like a great product to help certain dogs!! If you also have cats, I would imagine that you would have to be very careful, not knowing whether or not the ingredients are cat safe and knowing that some essential oils are not cat safe. I haven’t checked to see if this is available in the US, I hope so.

[theBCnut]

I just went and found it on Amazon and they have a variety for cats, but multi pet households still need to look into whether or not the dog one is safe for cats to come in contact with.

[Susan]

The igredients are Bio-Defussion agent, vegetable oil, neem seed oil (repels many insects) Gelling agent, Rosemary extract, Lavandin oil, clove oil, tea trea oil, Cinnamomum camphor extract, pepperment extract, cedrus atlantica bark extract, curcuma longa root extract, moroccon oregano extract, gualtheria procumbers extract, musk, tocopteryl acetate bisabolol.
Gee thats alot of oils, There is a cat one as well & the cat one can be used on rabbits & ferrets..I dont know half of these oils but Paddy do these oils look safe, is there any nasty things in these ingredients as I haven’t tried Dermoscent yet but vet said that they have great success with dogs & cats with skin problems…It says frangrance free & Dermatological and clinical tested by veterinarians.

[theBCnut]

I don’t know what their bio-defusion agent might be, but those are generally safe from what I’ve heard. I don’t know what their gelling agent might be, but again, generally safe. Those essential oils are great for dogs, but I would keep my cats away from them, which means they couldn’t be on my dogs, actually it’s the tea tree that cats are very sensitive to. I don’t know what Gualtheria procumbers extract is. The only ingredient that I don’t like is the tocopteryl acetate bisabolol, and it’s at the bottom of the list, so there can’t be much of it. I would look into that ingredient more, but it might be something that I would try if one of my dogs ever needed it.

As a cat owner, with cats and dogs that are close buddies, I might consider using the cat one on the dogs, but I couldn’t use the dog one and risk it getting on the cats. But it looks like a very interesting product.

I just went googling for tocopteryl acetate bisabolol and the only result I could find was for tocopheryl…, so I’m assuming it was a typo, and in that case, this is a vitamin E preservative, and I’m OK with that. The dog one looks good for non cat households.

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by theBCnut.

[LexiDog]

I wonder how that would work with frontline or revolution. I have to research this. Thanks for the suggestions and ideas!

[Susan]

I just went online & looked at the cat Dermoscent ingredients as I have a cat & the ingredients are the same as the dogs Dermoscent, the cat one probabaly has less amounts so it must be OK for cats if the dog has it on himself…I might send them an Email & ask some questions…

[Author]

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