Home Remedies for Dog's Dry Skin

Dogs, like humans, can suffer from dry skin. It may be caused by an allergy, an intolerance to certain foods or a flea infestation, or it may be genetic in nature. While remedies can be purchased through a veterinarian, this becomes a big expense because the dog must stay on these remedies. If the dry skin is caused by fleas (usually an allergy to fleas), it should clear up by removing the flea infestation.

There are home remedies, including diet, to help with a dog's dry skin. The home remedies use people-grade ingredients. Never use anything less for your dog. Always follow weight recommendations. For most vitamins and other supplements, the weight recommendations are similar to human weight recommendations.

The main home remedy for a dog's dry skin is to change the diet. Many dogs are allergic to or intolerant of starches and other ingredients in kibble. If you look at the ingredient list of most low- to mid-priced kibbles, often the first ingredient is corn. Another ingredient that many dogs have an intolerance to is flaxseed. Change the dog's diet to a raw or cooked diet, or choose a high-end kibble that is not made with these ingredients. With a raw or cooked diet, you can easily identify the problem-causing ingredient by process of elimination, feeding only one protein at a time. Slowly add other proteins. If the dog shows a reaction, stop the new protein. Some dogs will tolerate certain fruits and vegetables.

Adding fat to a dog's diet will also help clear up many dry skin problems. When feeding raw or cooked, the dog will get plenty of fat from chicken skin and the fat on certain cuts of pork and beef.

To help with an excessive dry skin problem, supplement the dog's diet with fish oil and vitamin E. While the dog may get enough fish oil from a can of jack mackerel two or three times a week, a severe case of dry skin may need a little bit of help. Not only will feeding human-grade fish oil capsules based on the dog's weight plus vitamin E help with dry skin problems, but it also cuts down on some shedding for most breeds. Fish oil tends to dilute the vitamin E in the dog's blood, so it must also be supplemented.

Each dog is different. It may take more time for Dog A to show an improvement with the diet and supplements than it takes Dog B to show an improvement. Always watch any changes in diet and supplementation for at least 2 to 3 weeks before deciding that the changes have not worked. Before starting supplements, take note of the dog's condition. The supplements may not completely eradicate the problem, but they could make it much better.

Other benefits of the diet change and supplements used for dry skin include whiter, cleaner teeth, fresher-smelling hair (the hair doesn't have the "wet dog" smell) and smaller, less-smelly poops. Also, a raw or cooked diet is generally cheaper than high-end kibble.