Cat dandruff?

Question

A few times a year, my cat gets little flakes of skin that are visible in his fur. It doesn't seem like a huge deal, but if it's the result of poor diet or something, I'd like to correct it. Any tips on what causes it or would get rid of it? Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi Sal...cat dandruff could be symptomatic of the cat food ingredients: corn, corn meal or soy. Most commercial grade cat food includes these as their leading ingredients. These are primarily used to help preserve the life of the product in the package and used as a binder to hold together the dry kibble so they won't crumble easily. They unfortunately don't serve a nutritional purpose for cats. However, Royal Canin (http://royalcanin.com/produits/gb_chat_nourrir.asp) is usually a healthier alternative in the same price range.

Switching to a better quality food will improve your cat's coat and overall health as well. Additionally, most of the premium quality foods are more of interest to finicky eaters since they are more rich in protein and vitamins.

Sometimes by adding a small few drops of cod-liver oil will help minimize or eliminate dandruff.

I'll include a website below which discusses what ingredients to look for and how it affects a felines overall health.

When changing the diet be sure to do it gradually over a few weeks to minimize bowel distress common to all cats of all ages. For example...take 3/4 of the old food mixed with 1/4 new food for a week...1/2 to 1/2 the next week...3/4 new to 1/4 old the next week.


Here are even some better premium brands you can try found usually at pet specialty stores or ordered direct from the Internet:
Nature's Variety Prairie: http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1352
Innova EVO: http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=%2F%2Fproduct%5B%40id%3D%272%27%5D
California Natural: http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=%2F%2Fproduct%5B%40id%3D%2772%27%5D
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul: http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/
Wysong: http://wysong.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=WOTTPWS&Category_Code=FD
Wellness: http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/cats/index.html

Answer 2

There's a couple of possible reasons for this. Since it only happens a few times a year, it's most likely happening when the cat is shedding. It could also be a result of too few fatty acids in his or her diet.

Be sure and brush your cat, as this not only removes extra fur, but also helps stimulate the natural oils that will help your cats skin. You can also introduce omega-3 fatty acids to your cats diet.The most common way of doing this is by flax seed, but I DON'T recommend that. Instead, find salmon oil gel tabs. The main reason for this is that the flax seeds are plant based, and as your cat is naturally carnivorous, he or she is not able to properly use the flax. Salmon oil geltabs can be found in the vitamin section of most grocery stores; barring that, it can be found in health food stores.

Just squeeze a bit of the oil directly on the food when you feed your cat--but don't leave it sitting out if you free-feed your cat (ie, if you set food out for the cat to eat whenever it wants). The oils can go bad.

If you find that you are still having problems, or if you can devote the time to preparing meals for your cat, you may want to think about a raw diet. Here is a great site about raw feeding: http://www.catnutrition.org/

There are a lot of people that say not to do this (and that number is dwindling as people see the end result), but I started all three of my cats on it two months ago, and they're doing fantastic. They are more active, and my overweight cat is FINALLY losing weight (I've been dieting him for two years with little result).

Answer 3

I would go with Stormy on this one. I have prepared a raw meat diet for my cats for the last seven years. I do think it makes a difference in the quality of their coats (vets always comment on this even though they are horrified that I do it). Everyone of my cats checks out well at the vets for their annual exams.

I trust that good things are going on inside the cats too. That's the real reason I do it. Not just to have soft kitties. It was interesting though as when I started feeding my cats raw I was still volunteering as a behaviorist at the shelter and the cats that I petted there began to feel like wire brushes compared to my cats. The change will happen in barely two weeks.

Seatle's recommendations on commercial food are excellent too. I fed my cats some Wellness (Old Mother Hubbard) for a number of years (I do use some commercial dry and canned food) and recently my cats have indicated that they don't care for it any more.

Answer 4

Our cat had the same problem. He's dead now (oh, he died of an old age related cat disease). When we asked the vet about it, he said it's the weather change and his only advice was to take a damp cloth to remove the flakes.

Answer 5

It might not be dandref, I recently got a kitten who had much ov small black dirt-like stuff in her hair. I took her to the vet, turns out theres a dirt flees leave behind after biteing cat. Since mine was a kitten I had 2 get it off w/ a small comb i recieved from the vet b4 it could possibly kill her.

Answer 6

You can't really get rid of it your cat just has dry skin just like people. y cat has the same problem. I would got to a pet store and ask for a product that will help his dy skin.

Answer 7

yes it is cat dandruff, some of my kitties get it, as long as they are white granules of course, if you see black ones that is called flea dirt and that means your kitty has fleas, for dandruff if it gets too bad you can get a medicated kitty shampoo, and give them a bath, i know that is not the most joyous of tasks, now i do not know if vets have a pill or anything to get rid of dandruff but you might call one and ask, eme anytime about kitties, [e-mail], god bless