Itchy skin cure?
gr
us last year with pretty good skin (February), but within a month or so
developed crusty flakes and itching. Cortisone pills helped, but we
could not use them too long. Shampoos don't seem to do much. Tried the
sweet potato, white potato, white bean diet for 3 weeks with no change.
Now trying 100% organic food (Natures Recipe I think), but no change so
far. I heard that someone put a teaspoon of oil on their Poms food each
day, which helped a lot.
1) What kind of oil?
2) Is this likely to help?
and comments appreciated.
GR
Jo Wolf
Stay away from that....
If your Pom is not getting enough of the Right fatty acids in her food,
she will have drier skin than if she is. The food you have her on now
should do a good job if she is not allergic to some ingredient.
However, it can take up to 3 months for complete results.... because it
takes that long for the changes in the skin and it's oil glands to kick
in all the way.
You might consider giving her a capsule of fish oil daily. My vet told
me to either puncture it and squeeze the oil onto the food, then drop
the capsule into the food.... oe just cut the durn thang in half over
the food and drop the capsule into the food with the oil. Messy.... I
keep a seperate pair of small scissors for this. I buy mine at WalMart
in the supplements & vitamin section (human). Cheap. A big bottle will
last nearly half a year.
There are some excellent balanced oil supplements on the shelves of pet
stores. I have used DermCaps and a couple of others over the last 30+
years.
Read labels on food bags. Look for such things as fish or fish oil,
oils from vegetable sources such as flax seed/flax seed oil or canola
oil, and fat from meat animals.... although if the food has a high meat
content, it will have enough fo that version of fatty acids. The food
probably should, for your dog, have about a 16-18% crude fat content.
I"ve been using a food with 18-20% fat (can't recall which) for over a
year and haven't needed to supplement. As it's also grain free and high
meat content (high protein... 32%), it ain't cheap, but I need to feed
only about 2/3 to 3/4 the amount of other foods.... and scoop less.
AND! In the winter, once the house has heat on, the dog's skin is just
as miserably dry as ours is. When you groom her (daily?), spritz her
coat lightly with some coat conditioner in water before you start. This
supplies just a little moisture and conditioning....
What most people mean when they suggest adding a tsp of oil to the food
is just corn oil, like Mazola or Wesson. I prefer the results I've
gotten using the pet balanced oil blends or fish oil....
Hope one of these ideas helps you. No, I don't have a Pom..... I have
terriers and a funny little mixed breed bitch who appears to have a Pug
chassis and Pom coat.... and heaven only knows what else is in the
woodpile....