Have changed food, given oily fish and groomed more regularly but our boy has still got really dry flaky skin!!??

He has the most beautiful shiny coat and is very healthy, the vet told us that he didn't think it was a skin condition (although they have been wrong on more than 1 ocassion!):rolleyes:

Has anyone got any ideas of anything else i could try, supplements or something? (he is a 7 month old cavvy!)

What brand food are you feeding?
I give a fish oil and vitE capsule everyday,this,along with a high quality varied diet seems to do the trick for most dogs.

I give vit e and flax seed oil most days, also pumpkin seeds zapped in the juicer and added to food which are also good for skin

He has a dried only diet of science plan natures best. Would you feed the capsule seperately or mix it in with their food?

I'd mix it with his food

And gentlemens vaseline hair tonic rubbed into the skin works too.

Evening Primrose oil works wonders for my two. Holland and Barrett have them on offer at the moment and that's where I get mine from (they are the ones for humans, by the way). A 500mg one a day should be plenty for your pup as my 40 pound shar-pei and my 100 pound TM have a 1000 mg one each. Just drop the capsule in his food and if he doesn't eat it, just pop it and squeeze the oil out.

You could also try bathing him in Vosene shampoo.  it'll help get rid of the dry skin.  You should see instant results with it unlike head and shoulders

One of my Gordons went through a really dry and flaky skin stage as he was changing from his puppy to adult coat.  the vosene worked wonders

it could just be his age

Jill

Thanks everyone for your suggestions i will try them out (not all at once though!!)

The vosene is that the human shampoo?

I would possibly change the diet as he could be sensitive to a perfectly normal and good ingredient.

One of our lurchers used to have very dandruffy skin and a fairly dull coat. He was on a top quality food. He wasn't in bad condition, just never 100% though. Gradually, I worked out that he was allergic to meat (and as it turned out later, all animal protein) and a vegetarian diet sorted his skin out totally. He has no dandruff at all and his coat is nice and shiny, oh, and he has lovely muscle definition too. He is now on a 100% vegan diet and has been for almost a year and he has never been in better condition, mentally and physically!

So it might well be worth switching foods and experiment a bit (e.g. exclusion diet). By the way, fish was the first thing I cut out of Flash's diet as I realised his skin was worse after eating fish type foods...!

Vera

hmm you could be right there, did you notice any other signs? Our boy is quite often maybe once or twice a week sick... not poorly just sick out of the blue!!! We changed his food from eukanuba originally to science plan then natures best but it has happened on all of them!!

Can you get a vegetarian complete food?

Hi,
I had this problem with my boy when I fed JWB. I changed to Arden Grange and his skin was fine. I now feed Naturediet and no problems with skin at all...........Vegetarian complete?? Dogs are meat eaters

Was asking because of the previous response about the lurcher changing to diet without meat!!

I don't really want to keep changing his diet as i'm sure it will upset his tummy more if i do so. We don't have Arden Grange over here, is nature diet tinned meat?

Where abouts are you Clare? Nature diet is a vacuum packed complete meal. Have a look at www.naturediet.net 

I've never heard of a dog on a diet without meat - would that mean only veg, grains, pulses and dairy or just fish as a meat.

One other thing Clare, you say he's 7 months - when my boys were around that age they got a bit of dry skin and our vet put it down to loss of puppy coat and thicker, courser hair strands pushing through the skin causing dander..........I went along with this theory and my two are both fine now.

Hayley, you can get vegetarian foods for dogs as someone above has said.  Dogs can be allerigic to meat and meat protiens and so these are taken out of the diet.

I know some brands dog a vegetarian version and there is at least one brand which is purely vegetarian compleates for dogs.

Sometimes dog do need such a diet however they are also used by people who are vegitarians which is really a shame for the dogs who don't need to be on such a diet.

Ahh right! I understand.

Interestingly a Friends dog was supposedly allergic to meat in her complete, but when she went over to raw with her other dogs she pinched some of theirs and had no reaction, so my friend weaned her off her vegetarian diet and she was on raw meat and veg with no problems for another 4 years and was put to sleep at 15.

It may be the processing that changes the food in such a way that particular dogs cant take it.

Flash is not just allergic to processed meat... he also reacted to fresh meats (chicken, lamb etc.) as well as eggs and dairy...

Vera

luvhandles: re diet without meat. Flash is on a complete vegetarian dry food. In addition he has a supplement called Missing Link and he also gets digestive enzymes as vegetable matter is obviously more difficult to absorbe for a dog! He also gets vegan treats like vegan meat replacements (sausages etc), vegan cheese etc.

No, he doesn't get fish as he is allergic to that too!

Vera

Where are you, as you can get Arden Grange in Ireland

Guernsey!

Might be worth contacting them and see if they can get it to you, as they do deliver.

I think rather than changing his food (again) I will continue with the evening primrose oil tablets and if i don't see an improvement over the next month i will then re think his diet. Thaks for all the suggestions though

Camp du roi (Gaudions) do the nature diet.
Karen ;-)

Thanks Karen thats good to know.

Hope you are well!

If we were to feed a wet and dry diet, is there a tinned food that anyone could recommend? (he has a very sensitive stomach!)

If you mean just a little wet to mix in with the dry, then I would try Natures menu. I used to feed this with Arden Grange until Harvey started leaving the dry:rolleyes: I'm afraid that I wouldn't recommend Naturediet at the moment as I'm sure it is the cause behind my two's mucusy poo but then again all dogs are different. My Harvey has a very sensitive tum and never had any ill effects with Natures menu.

Thanks, perhaps i'll try that if i decide on a mixture.

Sorry to hear about your two they are a worry aren't they!!:rolleyes:

Yes, there are vegetarian and vegan complete diets: www.veggiepets.com

Though I personally don't agree with feeding dogs a meat free diet, it is perfectly possible to do so and have a happy and healthy dog! My lurcher is proof of that! He has been on a vegan diet for nearly a year and is in better condition than most dogs I know!

Re other symptoms... it took me about 18 months to figure out exactely what was wrong with Flash. In addition to the dandruff and dull coat and itching, it turns out that many of his behaviour problems (restlessness, aimless pacing indoors, messing indoors, sometimes total lack of obedience outdoors, generally stressed) were also majorly contributed and a lot of it actually caused by the allergies! Since he has been on a vegan diet, he has been a different dog and we have never looked back.

Vera

He is still on the same food but we have changed his shampoo to shaws puppy from the one we got from the vet and this in itself made his skin a little better but he is eating his evening primrose oil capsule also so i will keep my fingers crossed that it clears up completely!

Thanks for all the advice