My Rat Terrier has dry skin, is it silly to put lotion on her?

Question

I give her baths atleast once a week and use conditioner on her, The vet said to give her children's benadryl, but it just knocks her out.

Answer 1

Well, first of all... thats too often! I know this from past experience! Bathing your dog too often is not good for his skin, so keep it down to when he gets into something greasy, when company is coming, or when he gets to smelling just too darn doggy. How often a dog should be bathed is different for each breed. Breeds prone to skin conditions, such as Cocker Spaniels, benefit from regular bathing about every six weeks. Double-coated breeds only need bathing about 3 or 4 times a year. Bathing a dog with an undercoat more often than this will cause the coat to soften and reduce the coat's insulative and waterproofing qualities. Try to keep it to once a month. I know it's hard but, it's much better for your dog. If you INSIST on bathing him this often invest in a very good shampoo and conditioner (ask a groomer). When my dogs skin was dry from giving him too many baths, I gave him 1/4 of a teaspoon of olive oil (check to see the proper amount for the size of your dog) mixed in his food a day for a few weeks and it worked wonders for his coat. Also, you may want to try switching foods. As soon as I switched my dogs to Solid Gold, they're coats were 100x nice, softer and better! Good luck!

Answer 2

Vitamin E in the food helped my cat's dry skin. Just buy the capsules intented for humans and poke a hole in them so the liquid can come out. As others have suggested, use only shampoos and lotions for dogs as human products can be bad for K9s. There is an oatmeal-based product called Avena Satina that many people I know have had a lot of success with.
If your vet suspects allergies but the dog doesn't respond well to Benadryl, I suggest you consult the vet again. He could prescribe something different. Veterinarians also carry various brands of hypo-allergenic food. Sometimes a change in diet is all that is needed. Good luck.

Answer 3

Why on earth would someone tell you to give the animal benadryl? What for? Giving your dog a bath once a week is your problem and so is using your conditioner especially if it is the regular kind you buy from the supermarket. Any lotion you purchase (unless organic) contain some of the nastiest, highly toxic chemical ingredients that I say, 'if you can't eat it yourself don't use it on any animal'.
Better to find out the CAUSE and treat that rather than the symptoms. Are you feeding her regular commercial foods that come out of a can, or commercial dog sausage, they all have ingredients which cause havoc on an animals skin.

Answer 4

Terriers should be bathed mimimally (like once a month). Their coats are designed to shed water and dirt. After all, she's NOT a human, she's a DOG.

To improve her coat, bathe once a month and change her dog food to a quality high protien diet - Artemis or better. Include a squirt of salmon oil to help improve her dry skin.

Your lotions probably say "not tested on animals" and there's a reason for that. Canine's don't care what they smell like. Stop humanizing the dog.

Answer 5

Our Doxie has terribly dry skin in the winter months. Last year, we bought a humidifier for the home and it has worked wonders at relieving the dry skin for him and for the people in the house.

You need to be careful applying lotions to a pet as if they lick it, it could be harmful to them to ingest. Check with your vet first before doing it.

Answer 6

They sell lotions for this at the pet store. I wouldn't use "human" lotion because that could make it worse or she could lick it off and it may have ingredients in it that she shouldn't eat. She may have dry skin from the food that she is eating. This is a common problem for dogs with allergies, especially if you feed "supermarket" food. Here is a good one for allergy ridden dogs.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/SPFish.html

Answer 7

use mineral oil and egg in the food a couple of times a week in her food and stop bathing her so often. your drying out her skin,and sounds like the shampoo you use is allergic, thats why the vet says benidryl.

Answer 8

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude stop there! rats are very clean u don't have to bath them once a week more like once every 2 months! that's probly why shes got dry skin because rats aren't ment to have baths like us and use conditioner, conditioner has salt in it what drys skin, i would strongly advise you not to use it, if i was you i would just leave her (don't bath her until she rely smells lol) and she be fine.

Answer 9

Try putting a teaspoon or two of olive oil on her food. This will help her skin and her coat. Also try changing her food and/or bathing her less.

Answer 10

No dont use lotion.Try a dog shampoo that includes "oatmeal"...it works!