Little bit of a mystery.......

I have a 9 month old dog who is in fab condition......he is very straight forward...no allergies,fit & healthy, will eat what is put infront of him & you can literally see your reflection in his coat he is so shiny!

BUT.......he has had from the day I got him a scurfy coat ( dandruff - not flakey but almost like dry skin). & I was wondering if there were any idea's out there of ways to improve it.....?he is short haired.

He is fed on a diet quiet high in oil ( Fish, eggs etc...along with kibble fresh meat etc) so not sure I can add anything there..... I was wondering if there were any product's out there that I could perhaps use on him? ( bit like us with our V05 Hot oil treatments for hair!)

He is not itchy and when he is bathed ( perhaps once every 6 weeks,I used a mild tea tree oil shampoo for puppy's)& I use a rubber grooming mit on him once a week, which brings the scurf up a treat!.

Any idea's?

Sometimes it can be caused by an intollerance to specific foods

Hi whipkit

> in fab condition......he is very straight forward...no allergies,fit & healthy, will eat what is put infront of him & you can literally see your reflection in his coat he is so shiny!

as the dog has a 'scurfy coat' then the above suggests to me that perhaps you're missing something :)   While it sounds as though your dog is fed a healthy diet with good ingredients it doesn't automatically equate to these being the ideal ingredients for your specific dog. 

Some skin and coat conditions are hereditary or familial whereas the majority are due to allergic or intollerant reactions to environmental or dietary intake. 

If you are fully satisfied that your dog is not having a reaction to anything being fed directly to him whether main meals, treats, snacks, sharing your cereal/spag bol/ice cream and anything he may scavenge outdoors, then I'd recommend you look closely at household products such as hard floor or carpet cleaners/refreshers, washing powder used for bedding etc, air fresheners, basically any cleaning fluids, powders, scents etc in and around the home and also plants or garden products.

If the coat problem is sporadic could it be a reaction to something elsewhere than home or garden?  Does it flare after visiting a less regular exercise area, friends' homes, etc?

HTH,
regards Teri

One of the best things for skin is Evening Primrose Oil.

If that doesn't work, I'd be tempted to ask the vet for a skin scrape just to rule out any mites etc.

Teri...:-)

How the divil are you Sis?

What a lovely surprise to see you popping in.

Hi de hi Sis :) :) :)  Just a flying visit - haven't even been snooping for a while and fancied a trip 'home'
Luvs ya, T x

Why is he bathed every 6 weeks?  This may be a factor as it could strip his skin/coat of the natural oils.

You can give him Sulphur as this helps with skin/coat and nail.  6x - 2 tablets 3 times per day for a month, then when needed.

I didn't think you were supposed to bathe your dog that much, it can make their skin really dry and irritated. I had the same problem with my own skin lol, I would wash my face too much and it would end up dry and flaky and worse than it was before :\  but yeah back to DOGS :P

How about using a dry shampoo to freshen his fur up between washes instead of constant washing? We have some spray stuff we use on our dog and its quite good, gets all the crap out of his fur without stripping it as his undercoat is still nice and oily.

The one we have is from Petkin, smells great and it just brushes out after you rub it into their fur. It doesnt penetrate as deep as normal shampoo, so it just cleans the top layer of fur.

We got this because he used to like swimming in the lake and he used to end up smelling like skanky wet dog and it would completely stink our house out lol

http://www.petkin.com/1-800-PETKIN-1/product_information.jsp?products_id=94

[byt he way this isnt the one I use, I just came across that and thought that would be more suitable for you?]
Laura

x

Thanks for all your replies :)

I have spoken to an experianced dog groomer and she said these symptoms are quite common in westies too. it's been suggested to perhaps give exmarid shampoo a go when I do have to bath him etc.

Just wanted to point out also that 'perhaps once every 6 weeks' doesn't mean I religiously bath him every 6 weeks! he has a very active outdoor life and also goes swimming @ a hydrotherapy centre so I bath him for hygiene reason's with a very mild shampoo when he needs it :)

Will also look into household cleaning product etc to make sure they are as gentle and dog friendly as possible

:)

I shower my dogs regularly - probably about every 2nd or 3rd week, and sometimes depending on how muddy the fields are it can be more often.  Neither of them suffers with dry or flaky skin and both have gorgeous coats (ok, I know they are my dogs but they really do) :) and I use the neem mite shampoo (no they don't have mites either) it is gentle, smells gorgeous and keeps their coat and skin in tip top condition:
http://www.neemgenie.co.uk/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=HA02&Category_Code=007&Product_Count=1
They are both fed on the BARF diet too which also keeps their skin and coat healthy :)

take a look at this website  http://www.karenruggles.co.uk/rs_ruggleit.htm

Just wondering why he is bathed so often?  Maybe the bathing is the reason, you may be washing away all his natural oils.