Coconut oil for puppy dry skin: How long? What other treatments work?

Yes, it is fine and might help his immune system and digestion too. The key is to start by feeding a tiny amount to start with, as dogs’ tummies need to adjust to digesting the oil. Let’s say you start with the tip of a teaspoon per day for the first three days, and if Phoenix body motions are fine, you can increase it to half for another 3 days. If no tummy upsets are noticed then you can gradually increase it to 1 teaspoon per day, you could divide it into his two meals or just give it first thing in the morning. I would say to continue for a couple of months and then discontinue and start again when the season changes or moulting occurs. Extra virgin olive oil is also very good for the dog’s health but I would not mix the two together, as we risk giving too much fat in one go. I would stick to coconut oil for the time being.! Hope this helps !

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach! In my experience, I've not seen coconut oil do much to relieve inflammation and allergies. I would instead recommend that you use a shampoo such as Douxo PS calm shampoo and bathe twice weekly. You can find this shampoo easily online. I would also recommend using welactin omega 3 fish oil and essential 6 spot on by dermoscent. Malacetic conditioning spray can also be used and applied to the affected area 2 to 3 times per day until resolved. All of the above recommended products can be found online. If this does not help then I would consider prescription medications such as Apoquel or Cytopoint, both of which are prescription drugs that will need to be prescribed by Sherry's veterinarian.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. You can use coconut oil but it will likely not change the dandruff. For a dog Jett's size I would add 1/4 tsp to the food. Also, I personally like to use the Krillex Shed Free chews for dandruff and shedding, so if the salmon oil does not work, I would use the Krill oil chews. You can find these online quite easily. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

Hello. The problem with using oils on the coat is the residual greasiness. If you want to use something, use a leave-in conditioner made for dogs, either post bathing, or one of the mousse rub in ones. The best way to get oils into the coat is to feed Arjun omega 3 fatty acids, so a good fish oil supplement daily. I would administer 1 000-1200 mg capsule twice daily & in a couple of weeks, his coat should start looking a little better. The longer you give it, the better it will work. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

You can try a fish oil supplement, such as EicosaCaps or DermCaps. They may be more effective than coconut or EVOO. Use a humidifier in your home if you live in an arid climate. Lastly, have Damien physically examined by your veterinarian to diagnose any underlying medical causes. Certain endocrine disorders can lead to skin issues as can infection (bacterial, fungal or parasites).

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Coconut oil has not been very helpful in my experience. What I think helps is fish oil. If this is allergies, it really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

I am sorry that your pet is having sore skin due to ticks. You really should invest in a good tick preventative such as Bravecto, Nexgard, Seresto collar or the Preventic collar. This will prevent you from having to bath daily, which causes more skin irritation. The best thing for skin irritation is not oils (which often just get licked off and can cause GI upset if ingested), but instead a calming oatmeal based shampoo or hypoallergenic shampoo (i.e. Duoxo calming shampoo). Also daily fish oils is a natural anti-inflammatory that can help also. Try to limit his baths from now on to once every 2-3 weeks, especially if you are giving him a good high quality tick preventative. Also tick removal does not require a bath, but instead just removal of the entire tick with tweezers, making sure to remove the entire head to help avoid transmission of disease.