Help! Puppy dandruff!

Tootle

I feel like a disgraceful mother. My pup whom I've had for 4 weeks has dandruff. I've looked up a few causes for it and some of them recommend putting cooking oil on their food. He only eats Burns dry puppy food. I groom him most days in so much as you can groom a puppy who wants to eat everything in your hand, including your hand!
I only noticed it yesterday for the first time bad and its looking a bit unsightly. Theres conflicting recommendations for how often you should bath them. I haven't bathed him yet, well apart from a few wash downs after muddy walk/play.
Any advice would be helpful!

adser53

Bathing frequency does depend on breed in my opinion. For example more than twice a year for my akitas can be bad for them but I could wash my cavs every other week without their coats drying out, losing their oils etc.What breed is your little lad?
Anyway I wouldn't worry too much about it, I do think that all puppies have this dandruff initially to some degree, well all four of mine did until they were around 20 weeks old but I could easily be wrong about the whole thing

Tootle

He's a Yorkie x JR (probably).

Tony H

My golden retriever had a lot of dandruff as a pup as well and he used to be on Burns as well , but I think its just a puppy thing to be honest , I spent a lot of time worrying over it and in the end it just went away itself , my fellow has not been washed in about 8 months but he does go into the sea nearly every day and has no problems with his coat .

morganafay

Yorkies are known for having greasy skin, so maybe this is why? Yorkies need bathing often. And I've seen them with dandruffy skin. Does his coat feel a bit greasy and dirty, or smell a little?

I'm not sure if it'll help for dandruff, but I know for dry fur you can give him a little bit of cod liver oil every day (just maybe a teaspoon for a small dog? I dunno, but you can buy it especially for dogs and there will be instructions saying how much to give) to make the fur softer and less dry. If his skin is dry then that should help too right, I think it does for people anyway (eating olive oil, etc). I wouldn't use cooking oil (like vegetable oil) but olive oil or sunflower oil would be ok. My teacherl, a vet nurse, recommended alternating between cod liver oil, sunflower oil, and I think evening primrose oil? But she said not to use vegetable oil.

Tootle

morganafay wrote: »

Yorkies are known for having greasy skin, so maybe this is why? Yorkies need bathing often. And I've seen them with dandruffy skin. Does his coat feel a bit greasy and dirty, or smell a little?

I'm not sure if it'll help for dandruff, but I know for dry fur you can give him a little bit of cod liver oil every day (just maybe a teaspoon for a small dog? I dunno, but you can buy it especially for dogs and there will be instructions saying how much to give) to make the fur softer and less dry. If his skin is dry then that should help too right, I think it does for people anyway (eating olive oil, etc). I wouldn't use cooking oil (like vegetable oil) but olive oil or sunflower oil would be ok. My teacherl, a vet nurse, recommended alternating between cod liver oil, sunflower oil, and I think evening primrose oil? But she said not to use vegetable oil.

No his fur/skin is definately not greasy. Hes less Yorkie like in the body and more JR, so a bit coarser.

I'll look for the oil for dogs, or maybe try some olive oil.
Thanks

Lemsiper

I heard from a friend that vaseline can be very good.

peasant

Lemsiper wrote: »

I heard from a friend that vaseline can be very good.

Yepp ...it makes the dog more slippery

and most likely violently sick when he tries to lick it off

Mrs Garth Brooks

You should bring him to the vet to make sure. I was just reading up on something over the weekend about some mite thing that can affect them and is similar to dandruff. I think its known as walking dandruff. I think it can also be passed to humans. So get him checked for your sake also.

Sigma Force

As said could be a fungal skin thing but puppies do tend to go through a phase where their skin is dry.

Using a very mild puppy shampoo containing tea tree and / or lavender and oatmeal could help.

Every dog is different I find Burns helped all my dogs skin but it could have a different effect on your pooch.

I'd try a really good quality as natural as possible shampoo first and rinse really well and see how you go. Washing too much can make their skin dry as well.

Burns already contains oils so you shouldn't need to add extra, but if you feel he need a little perhaps try (think it's suitable for pups) seven seas vitapet coat conditioner. I find it brilliant when my collie is moulting, she's on Burns and it's the only time I'd need to use it is when she's moulting.

ghost_ie

One of my JR crosses had this problem when we got her aged 2. I found putting a spoonful of cod liver oil in her breakfast helped a lot, as well as frequent brushing

lorebringer

Fish oils are great for improving dogs coats and skin - you can get them in big pet shops or online. Adding a bit of olive oil to their food is a good way of getting extra oils into them, just be careful not to add too much or you could upset the pups stomach.

Brushing is a brilliant way to stimulate the skin and also clears dead skin cells. A tight bristled brush is a good option for this.

star-pants

Our Lhasa when she was a pup got very dry/itchy skin, we changed her food and it helped, and we started adding cod liver oil and alternately evening primrose oil to their foods and it did help a bit more.

Tootle

Thanks guys for the replies. I rang the vets to see if it was something I needed to bring him in for and they recommended evening primrose oil ( as mentioned above) either topically to the skin or orally on his food.

Noopti

Dandruff in puppies is very common. It will go away in time.

paultf

Burns have a good helpline that you can contact by email: info@burnspet.co.uk

Recently I enquired about adding oils to the Burns food I am giving my dogs thinking it might improve their coat. This was the reply I got: (these solutions might solve your dandruff problem.)

"Dear Paul,

Thank you for your recent e-mail enquiry.

If you are feeding the Burns diets then there should be no need to add any extra oil to the diet.

We believe if a dog has a dull coat or a coat in poor condition it is a sign
of waste toxin build-up. This indicates the diet is exceeding the dogs needs in some way which can be a number of reasons such as;

- too much food
- the diet is too high in protein & fat for the dogs needs
- too many treats or tit-bits are fed with the Burns diet
- there is an ingredient within the food which is not suiting the dog or the
dog is finding it hard to digest.

As long as you are reducing your dogs daily intake of Burns to compensate for the Kelties given this should be fine.

Kind regards
Rebecca"

PS Kelties are Burns dog treats

preddy

Great advise guys, I have a 9 week old King Charles who does scratch alot during the day and i have noticed some dandruff on his lower back today.

Breeder gave us some Madra food which we have been using but ive ordered some clinivet. They recommened using Johnsons baby shampoo this ok?

Hes not due last injection until 2 more weeks so hoping dry skin clears up, all ok with the above and how often to wash him?

Sigma Force

@ preddy Puppies can get a bit stinky so sometimes need washing more often than older dogs esp. during toilet training but sometimes you can just get away with washing the butt area to get rid of any pee smells with plain water.

Some people do use Johnsons I don't though our human daughter is allergic to is so if her skin can't handle it I wouldn't use it on a puppy lol.

A mild puppy or dog shampoo one perhaps that contains tea tree oil or aloe vera works well. I love the smell of Bow wow bouquet and it's really mild as well. Here's a link, it seems pricey but for a small dog it can last a whole year.
http://hartonpaw.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=259&zenid=a5a6039308e0830a5c05565c71943029

Puppies can get dry skin just like human babies can and it should clear up over time, trick is if you do wash the pup use one for dry/sensative skin and to rinse really really well.

With our pup I just washed by smell, needed to wash him more before he was neutered since he's been neutered he's not pongy so he gets washed less often every month or two.