doggie dandruff

[Formula86]

hey guys. i have a question. my dog penny (yorkie) has baaad dandruff. i keep her hair in a puppy-cut btw. i talked to the vet and she said that i should use Selson-Blue with Aloe for penny. she also itches a lot (penny, not the vet ) penny eats Nutro Naturals. should i get her on something just for her skin? i like for her and chaquita (short hair) to eat the same food cause they go from bowl to bowl. any other ideas?
thanks!!

[Formula86]

anybody have any ideas?? just bumping this up!

[kittygurl823]

My dog Penny (dachshund) had the same problem with dry skin. It was flaky. Hmmmm about the Selson Blue with Aloe, I have never heard of using that, interesting!!! Jasmine was also really itchy at one time too, and shedding alot. My vet said it was probably a skin allergy, and I got this shampoo at PetSmart for about $10, it had natural oatmeal in it, to stop the itching. That might be something to try.
I would think about changing the food, and seeing if that makes it better. It sounds like it could be a food issue. I don't know much about Nutro. I have my dogs on Solid Gold and it is really good for their coats!! Penny got so much better after we switched. I highly reccomend it! Also a great food for their coats/ skin is Wellness, but can be a little more pricey.
Here is the Solid Gold website, and they also have alot of skin care and coat products, too. I didn't know they had so many!

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/produ...wcat.php?cat=4

And here is the Wellness site..
http://www.omhpet.com/

It's cool b/c you can type in your zip code and find a store locator, that is how I found out where to buy the food. Wellness can be a little harder to find. I feed Wellness to my cats. Solid Gold can be found at some nutrition stores and PetCo here carries it. I think the prices are about the same for Solid Gold vs. like Eukanuba or something. Oh, and both Penny and Chaquita could eat it and everything. I hope Penny's itchy skin feels better!
I hope I could help you out!

[jmb9101]

Does the shampoo the vet has her on help at all?? Harlie has really bad flaky skin and she has had it ever since she was a puppy, Harlie has had so many food changes, she has been on Nutro, Wellness, and she is on Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul dog food now. Her flakes got a lot better when we changed her food to Wellness, and it has stayed about the same with the Chicken soup brand, but she still would get flakes in the cold seasons starting in the fall, so Harlie was put on a omega oil supplement...an oil found in fish that helps the coat. She is also on Flaxseed oil. The flaxseed oil helps a lot with her flakes and her coat is so soft from it. You can buy flaxseed oil or just plain flaxseeds at health stores, if you buy the flaxseeds, you should buy a grinder and grind them up and add them into the food. With us, I just have the pills for her, and I just prick them with a pin and squirt the oil onto her food and she eats it right up. Harlie gets 2 pills with each meal, smaller dogs would get less. Hmm...I would call your vet and see what she thinks about the flaxseed oil or omega oils, she might know of a good brand that you can put her on. Just a thought. It does wonders for Harlie.

[kittygurl823]

Awesome advice, too, Melissa!! Harlie sounds like she is doing great with it! Oh yes, another food I have heard great things about, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul!!!

Also Jane, what Melissa suggested, Flaxseed oil, I just saw on the Solid Gold page I posted, too, about the 5th product down.

[Formula86]

thanks guys! i will ck out the food websites and i will TOTALLY ask about the flaxseed oil! i haven't used the selson blue w/aloe yet, but i will let you know what happens when i do...
i'm not sure if it's the food cause she's been on so many and has always had flakies. but this is the worst it's been. but then again...it was such a cold winter. who knows. i'll keep you guys updated! =)

[Formula86]

just so everyone knows (cause i know you guys are dying...haha), penny started taking her Flaxseed Oil today and i gave her her first selson blue bath. i had no idea that selson blue was really BLUE! it looked like she had icing with food coloring all over her! haha!
hopefully she'll stop flaking and itching.
and just to be fair (and cause she was staaanky), i gave chaquita a bath too.

[Deja]

I hope Penny's flakies start improving with the new shampoo and the Flaxseed Oil

I was really interested when I read about Penny's dry skin because I've been reading so much about Yorkie grooming lately. There seems to be a big split between the people who say that a high quality human shampoo is better and the people who say that a shampoo formulated for dogs is better

I've gotten into a good grooming routine with Remy (although you'd never know by the pictures I've posted ) and I've been using Dove shampoo on her. I always use a conditioner and I never brush her when she is dry. I keep a spray bottle with a few tablespoons of conditioner mixed into the water - I shake it up and mist her before I brush her every day. I also use Miracle Coat on her. When she's wet fresh from her bath I blot her in a towel and spray her with it. I also use a type of light coat oil in a spray form (it's what I use on my hair - it's "Spray Glace" or something like that - too lazy to go check the bottle) and it gives her a really pretty glossy sheen - and it helps with the tangles. I give her a light misting of it when I brush her daily - only I don't use it every day, every other or every third day seems to work well.

Anyway - I didn't mean to blather on about Remy. Jack my Golden is prone to dry flakey skin from time to time. It gets pretty icky sometimes! I've mentioned this in lots of posts when this subject comes up and you probably think I am nutso - but when the flakies start I drizzle a little Olive Oil onto his food for a couple of weeks. I swear - within days his coat starts to shine and the flakes start to go away.
I'm going to look into the Flaxseed Oil and see if it does the same thing. If it does - I might as well stick to the Olive Oil because I always have it in the house. If the Flaxseed Oil is better for him I will get some and start using that instead.

Formula - how often do you bathe Penny? That's another topic I read about a lot regarding Yorkies.

Keep us posted on her flakies? I am really interested to know how the new shampoo and the flaxseed oil work on her.

I feed all three dogs Wellness (Remy gets the Puppy formulation) and they do really great on it. They've been on Wellness almost a year now and when I changed them over I thought it was going to be the end of Jack's dry flakie dandruff problem - but - nope - it's back. Maybe it's the season changing and him shedding - he seems to be blowing his winter coat - and when he sheds - man - he sheds enough fur to make 3 puppies at a time I could spend the day brushing him and never get to the point where undercoat isn't coming off him. It's amazing!

OK I am shutting up now

Just wanted to say Good Luck with Penny, I hope her flakies disappear!

[Formula86]

hey there. i bathe penny about every 2-3 weeks. the vet recommended the selsen blue (w/aloe) and jmb recommended the flaxseed oil. to give it to penny i just bought the capsules and cut them open. then i squeezed the oil into some peanut butter and mixed it up. she just ate it all! so it's not hard to give to her. i always brush her, then bathe her, towel dry her, let her air dry, then brush her. she does fine like that. hopefully this will work! let me know if you have any more yorkie ques! i'll try and help.

[Chinchilla_Girl]

We use Linatone for our dogs when they start getting bad dandruff, dry itchy skin, and excessive shedding...just add 1 tsp for every 20 pounds of weight to their dinner and it really takes care of it...for a Yorkie, you would give 1/4 tsp over his food. It really works wonders!! You may want to think about trying it...Here's a link to the Petsmart website where you can find it http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...=1081405681024 I hope this helps!

[Deja]

Thanks!! I always have Yorkie questions This mini 2 1/2 pound tiny dog is just such a new and different experience for me - so different than the 2 big dogs!

Chinchilla Girl - I have read about Linatone! It's supposed to work really well - maybe I should try that for my Golden... he's the one with the flakey skin prob. If it helps excesive shedding that's an added bonus in my book! I have dog hair tumbleweed roaming my house right now Thanks for that link!! I appreciate it... and it sounds like just what he needs!!

[Chinchilla_Girl]

Not a problem sweetie! My dad uses it on his Golden with skin allergies and it helps a lot...I used it on my chow and the tumbleweeds subsided (not totally, lets face it, she was a chow) and we use it for the pitbulls since pits are known for sensitive, itchy and dry skin along with excessive shedding....especially in the winter. Linatone is a great product for this kind of problem and you should start noticing results within the first 2 weeks of daily use. We just dribble it over their kibble and they gobble it right up!

[elfomatic]

Is it just me or are terrier and terrier-like breeds prone to dandruff?

[Chrisanne]

Linatone is great stuff, but I too use Olive Oil. It seems to do the same thing for my babies and is a bit less expensive.

Checking into the flaxseed oil too!

Good luck with your baby though, I'm sure her flaky skin will subside. I'd probably not go the selsun blue route though, that's some strong shampoo. My son uses it for his sebhorric dermatitis.

[Chinchilla_Girl]

Yeah, I agree...I wouldn't use Selsun Blue either...it can be very irritating to the eyes if it gets in their eyes and some dogs freak out with the tingling...I would try the Linatone or Olive Oil.