What can I do about my Lab's dry skin?

Question

she has really bad dandruff... and very dry skin.

Answer 1

That seems to be a problem with 90% of the labs i've met. My vet reccommended a bath in oatmeal so I went to Walmart and picked up some dog shampoo with oatmeal and that seemed to help quite a bit and relieved her scratching as well from her skin being so dry.

Answer 2

High quality food, frequent brushing and less bathing.

You could try a raw diet, it does wonders for coats and overall health.

If raw just isn't your thing look into foods like Canidae, Wellness, Eagle Pack, and Innova to name a few.

Stay away from store brand foods, and well known foods such as Science Diet, Eukanuba, Purina, and Pedigree. The well known companies spend more on advertising than do quality ingredients for their foods.

Daily brushing in addition to a high quality diet will keep your lab's skin and coat healthy.

Avoid overbathing. A bath 2 or 3 times a year is plenty unless your dog is obviously dirty, the brushing will keep him clean between baths. Overbathing strips the dog's coat of its natural oils. This leads to dry itchy skin, and possibly skin infections, it also leads to more dandruff from the dry skin. Overbathing a dog will also lead to more 'doggie odor' since you put the oil glands into production overload.

Answer 3

Diet, diet and more diet!

Unless you are overbathing, chances are it is either the result of a low quality food or a reaction to grains in the food (as said above, corn wheat and soy are the top three allergens commonly found in lousy food).

There are supplements you can give, but we aware they are not all alike. Just because it says fish oil does NOT mean it is good. And if you choose to go that route (after getting your dog on a great diet such as Innova, Evo (grainless), Wellness or Canidae... and do it gradually so as not to upset the intestines and tummy) only use human grade supplements of fish oils, if that is what you choose. Do some research on those before you buy them.

Answer 4

My Pit had atopic dermatitis (dry skin) caused by food allergies. It can cause secondary skin infections and ear infections I feed her no wheat, corn, soy(the 3 worst things for allergies) or milk products (bad for dogs with chronic ear infections). I spend more time looking at ingredeint labels for my dog then for myself...LOL

I also add fish oil to every meal, it add the extra omega 3 fatty acids that is needed to enhance their coat. With in a week or two you will notice a HUGE difference in you dogs coat. Your dog will be softer, there will be almost no dandruff and less shedding.

Answer 5

First of all, have you checked with your vet? Oatmeal DOG shampoos help, as well as oil in the diet, but have you checked the ingredients in your dogs kibble? Corn, wheat and soy are the most common causes of allergies in our pets, which can cause the dry skin problem.

Answer 6

Try bathing her with a oatmeal shampoo, you can put her on a food made for coat problems. I have a Corgi with bad skin and my vet recommended Avoderm and it made a big difference, you can also try some supplemental oils to give daily that should help.

Answer 7

If you bathe often, then don't. Once a month is enough. What kinda food is she on? If it's one you get in a grocery store..then she needs a higher grade food. Talk to your vet about vitamins for skin and coat.

Answer 8

They make dandruff shampoo for dogs. Check at Petsmart or somewhere similar.

Answer 9

you can get 3v caps from your vet to put in there food. or change foods, i feed mine Timberwolf org. and it has fish oil in it. my dogs coats are great becasue of this food, and it wasn't on the recall list

Answer 10

garlic and oil mix have your dog soak in it! also oatmeal bath works too!