How can you tell if your dog has dry skin?

trio

Hi,

Our dog has been nibbling at one specific spot on his fur for several weeks now, but I didn't really notice until this week when I realised that the fur has been broken and now there's a bit of a hole.

I've been googling on the problem and it's left me a bit none the wiser. There's no pinkness or irriation on the skin whatsoever - it looks completely perfect. And there's no evidence of fleas or mites or anything.

I don't think it's a nervous/boredom habit as it's the most walked dog you ever came across and virtually never alone.

I also don't think it's the food - he seems to be thriving on it, with great poos . It is dry food though. And whilst we've always soaked it in water, perhaps he's not getting enough oils?

We're experimenting with that theory at the moment - that it's dry skin. Olive Oil on the food yesterday, and a can of sardines mixed in with it today. Went down gangbusters.

But my confusion is that if it is skin dryness, surely it would look flaky? And whilst his coat is a bit crispy and he sheds LOADS, it looks perfect to my eyes.

So IS dry skin always flaky? Or can it look normal?

are you serious

hi, there was a thread only a few days ago of a similar topic

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056282271

Shanao

trio wrote: »

Hi,

Our dog has been nibbling at one specific spot on his fur for several weeks now, but I didn't really notice until this week when I realised that the fur has been broken and now there's a bit of a hole.

I've been googling on the problem and it's left me a bit none the wiser. There's no pinkness or irriation on the skin whatsoever - it looks completely perfect. And there's no evidence of fleas or mites or anything.

I don't think it's a nervous/boredom habit as it's the most walked dog you ever came across and virtually never alone.

I also don't think it's the food - he seems to be thriving on it, with great poos . It is dry food though. And whilst we've always soaked it in water, perhaps he's not getting enough oils?

We're experimenting with that theory at the moment - that it's dry skin. Olive Oil on the food yesterday, and a can of sardines mixed in with it today. Went down gangbusters.

But my confusion is that if it is skin dryness, surely it would look flaky? And whilst his coat is a bit crispy and he sheds LOADS, it looks perfect to my eyes.

So IS dry skin always flaky? Or can it look normal?

The food could cause dry skin, what brand is it? And you shouldn't be wetting his food, that completely defeats the purpose of giving them kibble.
What breed of dog is it and how old? Dry skin isn't always flaky, it can take a while to get like that and basically looks ike dandruff. Rather than olive oil, you would be better off giving him cod liver oil.

Sigma Force

If it's one specific area there might be an irritation there as in mites perhaps might be worth dosing her with Advocate if she hasn't been recently done.
If it starts to look sore and angry though have the vet take a look at it.
My collie's on a good quality dry food, she still gets dry skin esp. at this time of year she's just at the end of moulting..is your pooch moulting at the mo?
I usually use Seven seas moultone tonic haven't gotten round to getting it but you can use what's already been suggested I just find the moult tonic really helped. But once she's finished getting rid of the rest of her winter coat am going to go and get her groomed again and make sure they rinse her really well and use a sensative shampoo.
Sometimes dogs skin can dry out if washed too often or not enough but your pooch sounds like he might have something like mites or some other irritant since it's in one specific area.

paula w

Our GSD used to get "hot spots" after it was determined it wasn't mites. Had her on a steroid cream and then it would clear up, after a bit it would come come back. Tried different foods incl Hills Prescription Diet and it still came back. Tried <Spammer> and it cleared up, no flare up & now I can use any flavour. Been on it for 8 months now