DOGS SKIN CARE MANAGEMENT TIPS
Dr.Santosh Giri, Canine Consultant,Varanasi
The Dog’s skin is very sensitive. Though the natural oils of the skin will protect it very well, the dog can still be affected by various things like parasites, excessive bathing etc. These can make the skin go dry and rough. And this will obviously give your dog a very unpleasant look. To ensure that the skin of your dog always remains healthy and in good condition, try out the following tips.
Proper Grooming:
If your dog is not groomed very well, they will be at risk of suffering from skin issues like allergies that can make them constantly scratch their skin. As a result, they can develop hot spots and lesions. A proper grooming regimen will involve the right amount of baths, combing and moisturizing the coat at regular intervals, cutting the excess hair on the dog, caring for the eyes, and so on. If you follow such a strict grooming regimen, your dog will have a healthy skin.
Healthy coat’s appearance:
A healthy coat will be soft and relatively smooth even on short or wired hair breeds. The coat should be shiny but not greasy, and it should not have a strong odor.
Unhealthy coat’s appearance:
A dog with an unhealthy coat will have dry and brittle hair with lots of loose hair in the coat. The coat itself may also be greasy or have a dusty appearance and include bald spots and an unpleasant oily smell.
Brushing is the most important part of dog grooming:
Long-haired breeds — such as Irish setters, border collies, shelties and Pomeranians — need to be brushed twice a week.
Dogs prone to shedding, or with thick undercoats, should be brushed once a week.
Even short-haired breeds benefit from regular grooming to remove loose hair.
Brushing requires the appropriate tools. There are as many different types of brushes as there are types of coats on a dog. Ideally, you need two brushes: one with widely spaced teeth for the coat’s outer layer and a finer-spaced brush for combing and brushing around the face. You can also ask your veterinarian or groomer for a recommendation.
Regular Vet Consultations:
You should also make it a habit of taking your dog for regular visit to the vet. Ideally, this must be done once every six months. The vet will be able to do a full diagnosis of the dog, watch out for any problems on the skin, and recommend a course of action that will help you resolve the skin issues. If you skip visiting the vet at a regular basis, then it is very possible that your dog will develop certain skin problems without you ever knowing about it.
Watch Out For The Parasites:
Parasites that live off your dog are also harmful to its skin. For example, parasites like lice and flea will inevitably make the dog bite and scratch on its skin. And as a consequence of this, the skin will have scratch marks on the surface. Reddish spots can also develop that can make the skin look unappealing. And if there are any rashes on the skin, then you can be sure that hair fall is next. To avoid such things, it is necessary to completely remove these parasites from the dog’s body.
Avoid Too Many Baths:
Home Advice How to take care of your dog’s skin
How to take care of your dog’s skin:
Maintaining a healthy skin and coat
Keeping your pet’s coat and skin in tip top condition is an important part in maintaining their overall health but, just as in humans, every pet’s skin is different.
Along with a regular skin care regime and choosing the right shampoo for your dog’s skin type you can easily keep them looking and feeling happy and healthy.
The first step to maintaining is healthy coat is regular brushing. It give you the opportunity to check the skin regularly and remove any dead hair and impurities, promoting the regrowth of healthy hair.
What to consider when bathing your dog:
Top tips when bathing your dog:
Make sure you have a non-slip surface in the bath, perhaps use a towel or bath mat, which will help to relax the pet during the process.
Ideally there should be two applications of shampoo, with a thorough rinse in between. The first application should cleanse the coat and skin of surface dirt and old skin cells, whereas the second application of shampoo should be left in contact with the skin for 5-15 minutes (according to individual shampoo recommendations) to allow the shampoo to be absorbed and penetrate the deeper into the the skin.
It is important to thoroughly rinse off the shampoo after this second application.
How often you shampoo your dog will depend on the skin condition; every 2 weeks is adequate if your dog doesn’t have a skin condition, please speak to your vet if you think your dog has a skin problem.
Dry your dog with a towel, not a hairdryer and given them a comb or a brush once they are dry.
One of the easy ways to take care of your pet dog’ skin is obviously by bathing it regularly. Unfortunately, some dog owners make the mistake of making the dog undergo too many baths. This is not good. Excessively bathing the dog can dry out its skin. In addition, the hairs might also end up being rough. Usually, a dog only needs a proper bath once a month. However, this will obviously differ depending on the type of dog you own. So, consult with a vet and they will be able to tell you exactly how many times you should bathe your dog every month.
Healthy Diet:
Your dog’s diet will also determine the quality of its skin. It is recommended that you provide your dog with meals that is rich in protein. This can be done by offering high-quality meat like beef, chicken, turkey, and so on. In addition, you should also feed your dog with food rich in fatty acids since they are known to promote healthy skin. Excellent sources of fatty acids include fish and nuts. In addition, it is also a good idea to sprinkle some olive oil or coconut oil on the meals before serving it to the dog since it will contribute to the health of the skin.
Puppy Skin Problems and Treatments
Skin is the largest organ on your puppy’s body and is the barrier between the outside world that keeps him safe. But injury, fungal or bacterial infection, bug bites, parasites, and even pollens and molds can result in all sorts of skin problems. These articles describe the different kinds of skin problems, what they look like, and how they’re diagnosed and treated—including home care options you can perform yourself.
01 Seasonal Skin Allergies
During hay fever season when people sneeze, have runny, itchy eyes and become miserable from pollen and dust in the air, dogs also can suffer from these inhaled allergens. Dog’s allergies tend to affect their skin more than their respiratory tracts. It’s more accurately called atopy and is a seasonal allergy that can make your puppy itch and scratch with misery.
02 Food Allergies and Itchy Skin
Puppies and dogs can suffer from several types of allergies, including sensitivity to foods. It’s not the brand of food necessarily, but the ingredients in the diet–most commonly chicken or beef. Despite common misconception, it is extremely rare for dogs to be allergic to grains. While you may think that a food allergy would cause digestive upset (and some do), in many cases the food allergies can also cause skin problems.
03 Contact Allergies
Contact allergies are much more common in people than in puppies. That’s because the fur appears to help protect your puppy from contact with irritating surfaces or substances. But the puppy’s tummy, where there’s less fur, can be sensitive to contact with some substances, such as cleaning materials on the floor or fire retardant on carpets.
04 Demodectic Mange
Mange is caused by a skin mite that burrows into the hair follicles. Some types of mange mites, such as the demodex mite, actually are a normal part of the dog’s skin. But puppies that don’t have a fully mature immune system can develop skin problems as a result of overgrowth of the mite population which can cause irritation. When localized to small areas of the skin, this skin disease isn’t serious and most puppies outgrow the problem, however the infection can often spread to affect the entire dog and secondary infections can occur which can be very uncomfortable. In addition, when this condition occurs in adult dogs, it is usually a sign of another, more serious health problem suppressing your dog’s immune system.
05 Sarcoptic Mange
Sarcoptic mange also is caused by a skin might that cannot be seen without magnification. This type of mange is very contagious between dogs—it may even affect you!—and causes severe itching so that puppies scratch and can damage their own skin trying to relieve the discomfort. The veterinarian must diagnose the problem before you can treat it.
06 Ringworm
Ringworm isn’t actually a worm. It’s a type of fungus that’s found in the environment, and most animals (and people) have immune systems that prevent ringworm spores from causing problems. In puppies that haven’t yet developed a strong immune defense, though, they may be susceptible to infection. You could call ringworm “the great pretender” because it can look like any number of other skin problems, and is very contagious between pets—and people, especially kids and immune compromised individuals.
07 Skin Abscess
You may notice a soft-to-hard or warm, painful swelling on your puppy, following an injury, and this may be a skin abscess. An abscess is a pocket of infection beneath the skin. When the skin heals over bacteria that were introduced into a wound, the infection gets sealed in and can swell up and cause serious problems. While most abscesses require veterinary attention and medicine to heal, there also are home care tips that help speed the healing such as warm compresses to the area.
08 Flea Bites
In this day and age of terrific flea preventive medications, most puppies don’t have to contend with flea bites. But some are so highly allergic; it takes only a single bite for them to break out and itch all over their body.
9.Tick Bites
Tick bites leave skin sores that can become infected, especially if the head of the tick is left in the skin. Many of the flea prevention treatments also protect puppies from ticks.
10 Sunburn
Fur protects most puppies from sunburn pain. But the sparsely furred bridge of the nose and tummy can become painful if overexposed during sunny days. Dogs with white fur and light skin are at highest risk. In most cases, you can prevent sunburn and offer first aid treatment at home.
11 Hot Spots
Hot spots are a type of skin infection that becomes moist, hot to the touch and itchy-painful. They may begin from any skin injury—a scratch or bug bite or sting, for instance, could introduce bacteria and from there the infection grows, usually due to the dog continue to scratch and traumatize the skin. Severe cases require veterinary help. But some home care and first aid can relieve the discomfort.
If you suspect your pet is sick, call your vet immediately. For health-related questions, always consult your veterinarian, as they have examined your pet, know the pet’s health history, and can make the best recommendations for your pet.
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