Dry skin..flakes.. any best lotion? advice..

Adara said:

No, you want to treat the flakes from the "inside" (food, nutrition, supps) rather than the outside. Has she seen a vet to determine if it is staph, etc. or just 'dry skin'?

What do you feed? Do you bathe often? What do you use? Do you rub her coat both directions (sometimes that can cause flakes).

It's not uncommon for fawns or blues to have some coat issues.

Click to expand...

we feed her "Fromm adult gold" .. Bathe her i'd say once every 2-3 weeks since i noticed her rashes and hair issue (vet prescribed me oatmeal shampoo and the leave in conditioner lotion $$$ ).. i do rub and scrub.. (she always seems to have yellow scaby flaky follicles and i want to remove them..) is that bad? then shes ok for about 2-3 days.. and it all comes back.. shes been itching alot at her forhead.. since this summer.. it causes little bloody scabs and shes almost hairless from between her eyes to between her ears..

AugustusMcCrae said:

my red dobe has pretty bad dry skin esp after baths, and i use a great oatmeal shampoo/conditioner. gus has been taking omega supplements, specifically fish oil tablets solve it really well, my vet gave me them and told me how much of the tablet to give gus. he hasn't had a problem since. good luck

Click to expand...

dobebug said:

Sweetz,

What you are describing in hair loss is a typical CDA (color dilution alopeca) pattern. Most pronounced on the back from behind the shoulders to the hips. Thinning on the chest. The rust markings are not affected by the hair loss and the fawn coat tends to feel very harsh (which a lot of folk interpret as "dry"). Someone already pointed out that hair loss due to CDA will probably never regrow. If you have not had her thyroid checked (full panel, not just T4) I'd certainly do that but the hair loss you describe is not actually what normally shows up in just a thyroid related hair loss.

About the bathing--STOP SCRUBBING AT HER COAT!!!!!! Even for black dogs or red dogs this isn't good to do. You are probably creating more problems for her (the flakiness) by doing that. Scrubbing at coat of a short haired dog like a Doberman with fingernails, scrub brushes, the little rubber things that look like curry combs etc can and probably will create further irritation of the skin. Some of the flakiness is probably due to folliculitis (inflamation or infection of the hair follicle itself) so stop doing that. Whatever shampoo you use should be thinned and applied in the direction the coat grows (with the lay of the hair) with a wash cloth or soft sponge. And if you are bathing in warm water stop that too. If the water feels comfortably warm to you it's too warm to be good for dog skin. At most it should be tepid which means it feels cold to you. I've stopped bathing my dogs in anything except cold water--I NEVER have dandruff, flakes or "dry" skin. I have a fawn dog--his skin is fine. He has hair loss due to CDA--but on a relative scale for dilute Dobes he's still at nearly 6 has a pretty good coat.

He generally gets bathed every two or three months. I use a prescription, medicated shampoo ONLY on the top of his head where he occasionally get a bumpy rash. If I catch it early I can clean only that area with the medicated shampoo, rinse thoroughly and it will clear up in days.

I do use a leave in conditioner but I use it very moderately because if you get too much on it'll attract a lot of dirt. I put it in a spray bottle (and I thin it down about 1:10) and when he's still wet from bathing I spray all of his body coat down. When you dry a short haired dog off--the same rules apply as in bathing. Wipe the dog down with a towel in the direction of the lay of the coat. Or just let them shake and dry off without toweling at all if the weather is warm.

I would not use lotions of any sort on a dog--their dermis is built differently from humans skin and the products intended for human use usually just end up as a scum on the top of the skin and collect dirt.

I wouldn't be so concerned about which food as long as the dog is doing well on it. I feel ProPlan Sensitive Skin and Stomach which happens to be a fish formula but I wouldn't bet that a fish formula would be any better than any other protein source.

I don't give a lot of supplements but I do give fish oil (I use gel caps from Costco--Kirkland house brand)--the ones I use are 1,000 mg and all the dogs get one with each meal (so two a day) and one 400iu Vitamin E cap once a day. If you are supplementing with fish oil you should be adding Vitamin E at about 200iu for every 1,000-1,200 mg of the fish oil.

Hope some of this helps.

Click to expand...

Sage said:

Why the need to add vitamin e when you supplement fish oil? Thanks.

Click to expand...

bean said:

If you look carefully, you can find human fish oil capsules that have some Vitamin E included in them - that's what I do so I don't have to add another capsule to the food (just easier). But it's tricky to find the right brand that has it. They are out there, though!

Click to expand...