How to improve my dogs coat?

Question

I have GSD and Golden Retriever pups 8 weeks old which have very poor coats as well as itching.

Answer 1

The first symptoms of round worms is a dull rough coat. Nearly ALL pups are born with roundworms, so need de-wormed at 3, 5, and 7 weeks. Over the counter Nemex works well.

If your pups have been wormed, and have no fleas, then it is a nutritional problem.

Feed a kibble with no corn or soy. Most grocery store kibbles have those as their base.

I have had the best results with Canidae. It has Human grade chicken meat as first ingredient, then turkey, brown rice, and lamb.
I switched to Canidae (from Nutro) 2 years ago, and all of my dogs have just blossomed. My 10 1/2 year old acts like a puppy, and my 2 year olds just sparkle more than any before.
Innova, Wellness, Wysong, Solid Gold, are all great kibbles
.
These Premium kibbles will cost more per bag, but quite a bit less per month, as they eat less, and waste (poop) less.
They will produce beautiful coats.

Answer 2

Check for fleas - if the pups have them and you feel they are still too small for any flea shampoo, bathe them in Dawn Dish Soap. Make sure not to get it in their eyes or ears. This is a gentle "flea bath" and should kill the majority of the fleas that are already on the dog. This is not to say that any fleas in your house wont jump on - because they WILL. When a puppy is born it has what dog groomers call "puppy hair". It is usually thin and seems to be blotchy (patches are shorter than others, or wirey, etc) They do grow out of this phase. In the coming up weeks, make sure you brush them well every day with a slicker brush to rid them of any excess hair and to leave room for adult hair to start growing in. This could take until they are a year old (usually not though). Keep a close eye for any "hot spots" (which are areas where they have scratched so much that they have actually removed all hair in that spot that they start scratching through their skin as well). They are so hard to get rid of because it is an irritation that the dog doesn't understand NOT to scratch. So it is an on going battle to rid the poor guy of it.

Answer 3

Being a vet I suggest the following approaches in your case:-
1. If you haven't de-wormed your pet- do this with Piperazine adipate ( because at the initial stages of dog, chances of round worm infection is very high because of which there will be the tendency of less/loss of hair. PIPERAZINE IS THE DRUG OF CHOICE.
2. Use only mild and medicated shampoo for bathing ie some bio-organic shampoo with conditioner like Satinique 2in1.
3. Observe the feed which you give-- to watch feeding of which food increases the intensity of itching. Generally avoid high proteineous food like egg in any form, cows milk in some cases etc.
4. Include food supplement like a)Nutricoat powder @ 2.5g /day in the pups diet. b) Omega-3 fatty acid in the diet (available as Salmon omega-3 in the market) c) vitamin and mineral like Kentab, Recovit liq. etc.
following this schedule your pup's hair coat will definitely become shiny, lustorous and itch free.

Answer 4

With a Retriever this is alot of work but very effective.Put a cup of uncooked oatmeal in a sock and after bathing with a good shampoo and rinsing them off thouroughly,soak the sock in clean warm water and squeeze the oatmeal juice onto the dogs coat making sure that it gets down to the dogs skin.No need to rinse after ward.It sounds wierd but try it.

Answer 5

Get a good dog food with meat as the first ingredient, or try poached eggs and/or fish oil. You can buy fish oil at your local pet supply store in the "vitamin" section. I'd advise against bacon grease myself. It might make their coats shiny, but it is really bad for them, just like it is for us. I don't mean to insult anybody or their tried-and-true ways, just have seen it blow dogs up like balloons too many times. Hard on the arteries, too.

Edit: Chetco is right about the Canidae food. Nutrisource isn't too bad either, and they'll deliver it right to you house for a small charge...

Answer 6

The first thing to do is check for fleas. Fleas are the cause of most skin problems in pets. At 8 weeks it is time for vaccines and check up anyway. Let the vet check them over.

Answer 7

i was told by a vet that if you pour a little cooking grease in a dogs food it will make they're coat shiny and healthy looking. i know it sounds gross but i tried it on my lab puppy and his coat is really healthy looking now.

Answer 8

put a raw egg in their food for shine and luster. Itching might be fleas or the shampoo you clean them with is drying their skin out.

Answer 9

A few drops of Olive oil on their food.works wonders for both coat and skin.

Answer 10

bath him with anti fungal n bacterial shampoo n add egg to his diet n u can start giving him coat nutrition supplement.
n consult vet for deworming , vaccinations.
gud luck take care