My five dogs have been suffering with a skin issue for a few months now. In the spring, I assumed they had fleas when they began to scratch. I treated them with Advantage, and bought them what I thought was better dog food, just in case. It turned out that the Beneful dog food I purchased was known to carry mites.
I am not sure if that was the problem.
However, the poor dogs began scratching incessantly. They scratched so much that they removed patches of hair from the ear area, as well as from the armpits and the backs of the elbows (not dog anatomy, but you can figure out what I mean).
I went online for remedies, and tried a Borax/Hydrogen Peroxide mix. It didn't work. I tried using Dandruff shampoo. The dogs smelled better, but still scratched.
We switched to VERY EXPENSIVE dog food, with no wheat or gluten, and with the main ingredients of lamb, etc. That may have helped a wee bit, but the scratching continued daily.
So, I came up with a concoction:
I mixed a few tablespoons of coconut oil, then about a quarter cup of olive oil. Warmed that until the coconut oil melted, then stirred in a tablespoon of honey. I poured in some Skin so Soft oil, mixed it, then rubbed it into their skin.
They LOVED it. They just stayed put, letting me rub it in. They all groaned with those little throaty sounds that say, "Ohhh, that feels good. Do it again. Don't stop." The best part is the scratching has slowed down considerably.
Abe is a blonde dog with white skin, and it had been very red. The oil treatment has helped tremendously. The red has faded to a light pink.
I am going to keep doing this every morning. I don't mind the greasy residue if it fixes my poor dogs' problem. The scratching has been driving me CRAZY.
I will add a bit of tea tree oil to tomorrow's batch, and let you know how that goes.
A La Carte (April 18)
1 day ago
1 comment:
Tea tree oil may dry them out worse. The first time I found fleas on my dogs I washed them with shampoo that had tea tree oil added. Three of them tolerated it fine. The other two lost hair down their backs and on the backs of their legs. One has since recovered. The second still has scaly skin. A friend of mine started feeding her dogs fish oil capsules and yogurt. She has two dogs. She mixes one capsule in an individual sized yogurt tub and feeds each dog half a container. In a week the thick, yellow, scaly skin inside one of the dogs ears is gone. I don't think I'll feed my dogs the yogurt, but the fish oil doesn't sound like a bad idea.
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