Dandruff!

Ryan2421 · Nov 15, 2016

Cami has been scratching like crazy the last couple months! I'm sure it's not fleas, and I'm noticing a lot of dandruff when she scratches. Any advice?

Honeys Owners · Nov 15, 2016

I would add fish oil and coconut oil to her diet. Most people seem to squirt Grizzly brand salmon oil on their dogs food, but that could potentiallly go rancid after a few months, so I just squirt the contents of a fish oil capsule on my dogs food. I also feed her a teaspoon of coconut oil a day. She should probably get more coconut oil, but she will stop eating after a couple of days if I give her more than that. If you are feeding a less expensive dog food you should switch to a better brand, or go with frozen food such as Stella & Chewy's, Primal or Natures Variety. I feed my dog Orijen regional red. I also brush my dog daily with a Zoomgroom brush to remove shedding hair and distribute the oils. I also give my dog daily "Probiotic Miracle". Some people also rub in coconut oil to their dogs fur, but that's a bit messy, so I don't do it. You can also spray fur with a solution of half and half apple cider vinegar and water to kill yeast. You can also bathe the dog with Curaseb shampoo ( or similar products ) twice a week for 4 weeks, then once weekly thereafter if all the above didn't work. The shampoo kills yeast and bacteria on the skin.

Honeys Owners · Nov 15, 2016

Forgot to mention you can add an antihistamine to help with itching such as chlorpheniramine or cetirizine, if your dog is older than 16 weeks.

davidh · Nov 16, 2016

Also if you are bathing her more than twice a month I would stop. Bathing to often will wash away natural oils in their skin and make them have the dry skin flakes.

Ryan2421 · Nov 16, 2016

Cami is on Fromm game bird w/ a teaspoon of Stella and chewys lamb (but weaning the S&C off). She gets bathed once a month at the groomers where they use hypoallergenic oatmeal based shampoo. How do I k ow if it's a yeast problem? It seems like it's dandruff.

Honeys Owners · Nov 17, 2016

You can tell if she has a yeast problem if she smells like corn chips. She probably will also have lots of debris in ears and itchy paws from the yeast. Fromm Four-Star is a good quality food, but I noticed game bird has potatoes, which could feed yeast, and I noticed Lamb and Lentil has no potatoes.

Honeys Owners · Nov 17, 2016

On second thought, if she does have a yeast problem, maybe Fromm Four Star isn't the best since it has about 42% carbohydrates. Orijen has about 25% carbohydrates, for contrast. The best would be to try frozen raw dog food which is less than 10% carbohydrates.

Honeys Owners · Nov 17, 2016

I was doing some reading on this website DogAware.com: Supplements for Dogs and it mentioned that if you are supplementing your dog with fish oil,you should probably be also giving your dog a natural source vitamin E 200 to 400 IU per week, and possibly vitamin C 250mg twice daily. I haven't been doing this for my dog, but since I have been giving my dog a 1000mg Fish Oil Blend capsule containing EPA 180mg/DHA 120mg each day, I'm considering adding vitamin E as well, since the fish oil can deplete my dog's vitamin E stores.