Natural Dog Skin Care The way to a soft as silk, smooth as satin coat and skin for your dog

Dog hot spots are a nasty skin problem and what starts out as a skin irritation often ends up as an unsightly soar which tends to spread and your poor dog is not only suffering, but looks like he’s down with some sort of contagious disease.

What exactly is a hot spot and how can you identify it?

A hot spot is a superficial inflammation and bacterial infection of the top layer of a dog’s skin.

Most common symptoms are:

· Licking, biting and chewing a spot on the skin endlessly.

· The spot suddenly increases in a matter of hours, sometimes with pus inside.

· The sore may sometimes begin to ooze.

· The hot spot loses hair.

· The sore smells funny.

It starts off as a red itchy spot.To relieve the itching the dog chews, bites or scratches the offending area which of course worsens the condition.The red spot soon turns into a sore, becomes infected and results in an open wound.This becomes so painful to the dog that your usually fun and frolicking furry friend turns into a growly and unhappy pet.

The three main causes of dog hot spots are:

1. Long and furry coats:
Certain breeds such as Shih-Tzu’s and Pmeranians are more susceptible to hot spots, this is because their long and furry coats are more susceptibel to get tangled and matted hair.  Dogs with long coats are also more prone to having trapped dead hair and, especially the smaller dogs since they are low to the ground, they “mop up” debris from the floor or ground. All this leads to irritation of the skin which in vet language is termed pyotraumatic dermatitis, but in your language and mine, it is commonly referred to as hot spots.

2. Allergies & environment:

The environment that your dog lives in has a lot to do with allergies.  First look at the immediate  your home.  What do you clean your floors with?  If you are using chemically laced household cleaning products to keep your floors clean and regularly have your carpets cleaned commercially, there is harmful chemical residue left on the floor.  Your dog lies on these chemicals which eventually begin to bother his skin.  Other environmentally caused allergies might be plan pollen at certain times of the year (think of spring fever in humans).

3.Dog habits:

Other dogs are just plain hyper and will end up biting, licking and gnawing at themselves if left alone. This can also cause hot spots to appear.

What can be done to relieve our precious from this misery?

Steps:

1. Trim the fur from the area around the hot spot with scissors. If the area is large at all, you should shave it instead. Causing the hot spot to be exposed to the air will help dry out the moisture and speed up healing.

2. Clean the affected area with a gentle skin cleanser for dogs and rinse thoroughly with cool water.Adding a drop or two of tea tree oil to the water helps to disinfect the area.

3. Apply a cold compress to the area a few times a day. It is best to use a cool wet washcloth.

4. A number of natural products have also proven to be very effective against dog hot spots. Among these are witch hazel, apple cider vinegar. Apply a good natural topical ointment such as K9 KlearUp which has the natural healing ingredient, Tepezcohuite.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure:

1.  Brush your pet daily, especially if he has a long coat that tends to get tangles.

2.  If your dog likes to swim, make sure that the coat dries well, this is particularly important with dogs that have a second undercoat such as a Chesapeake or a Newfoundland.

3. Use natural, chemical free household cleaning products to do your floors.

4. Contract a carpet cleaner that uses natural, environmental ingredients in the cleaning process

5. Keep your home well vacuumed and free of mites and other critters that can make a pet’s and your own life miserable.

Most importantly, be on the lookout for early symptoms.Treated early and swiftly your best friend will continue to be his true and happy self.

Technorati Tags: dog hot spot, dog hot spots, dog skin problem, tepezcohuite

Hotspots, itchiness, and other canine skin and coat problems

My human who is a veterinary naturopath, gets contacted ALL the time with dog problems such as hotspots, dry and/or flaky skin, dry & dull coats, and so on. The very first question she asks is what do you feed your dog??? That’s the key, what you feed is the key to STOPPING all of this.

I’ve blogged plenty of posts here about RAW FEEDING, which I make NO BONES about hehe! That is the key to ending these problems with your dogs.
To help assist your dog with symptoms such hotspots, dry skin, and other canine skin problems you can use a new product that we just learned about called K9 Klear Up. It only has three ingredients that are all natural: shea butter, vegetable-based emulsifying wax (we get those two products ourselves from Mountain Rose Herbs), and Tepezcohuite extract pronounced (‘Tep-Ez-Co-Heety’) and it’s a tree found in the former Mayan empire (present day central America). The people there used it for over 1,000 years to treat skin lesions of every kind.

Hey we dogs ARE smart, you humans just mess with us WOOF!

From the pads to the ears you can assist your dog with any skin woes WHILE feeding a raw diet. Don’t forget the raw meaty bones okay? This product is to assist and is not a cure-all, WOOF!

You can make K9 Klear Up a part of your natural first aid kit too – we’ve made it part of ours!

Some things you can use it for include hotspots, chronic skin rashes, cuts, scratches, minor bleeding, split pads, after surgery aid, acne, flaky skin, fungi, and so on. You don’t need to use much so a little bit goes a very long way.

If you want to know more just go to www.K9KlearUp.com. And to learn more about a natural approach to the health care of your dog join us on our natural dog health care group here:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalHealthCareForDogs/

To learn more about raw feeding your dog check out these audio program sets from Animal Talk Naturally:
Audios from Animal Talk Naturally:
Nutrition for Our Carnivore Pets, Vol 1
Nutrition for Our Carnivore Pets, Vol 2
Nutrition for Our Carnivore Pets, Vol 3

Have a pawsitively tail waggin’, NATURALLY healthy day, WOOF!

Bark ‘N’ Blog is brought to you by Aspenbloom Natural Pet Care

My dog"s have some kind of flea problem which makes them lose their coat and not gain weight please help?

their skin seems real hard and have tried flea bath but does not work

My dog’s have some kind of flea problem which makes them lose their coat and not gain weight please help?
Your dog could possibly have some type of worms, dogs or cats that ingest fleas/flea eggs can get some types of worms due to the fact that fleas are a host for the worms. And when the fleas make a dog or cat itch,if it is an area they can reach, they will “bite” at it. I would honestly recommend a trip to the vet so he/she can examine the dog. If your dog has not been wormed AND has flea problems,a product I suggest would be “Advantage Multi-Plus”. You get it at a vets/groomers office, I dont think you can buy it at pet supply stores or Wal Mart type stores. Either bring your dog in to be weighed or know its approx weight. Based on its weight, you will be given the appropriate dose, “Advantage Multi Plus” kills adult fleas,flea eggs, prevents heart worms,and kills the most common intestinal worms. You part the hair so you can see the skin on the dogs shoulder blades,and apply, If your dog is big, it is best to apply in more than one spot around the shoulder blades,if small I think one spot would be ok,but the package instructions talk about all this. After you administer this,and the fleas are gone,I would keep him on a flea prevention regimen. It is SO much easier to prevent fleas than treat them. Also,he should have a heartworm pill once a month to prevent that disease. We have two dogs of our own (Rottweiler and Beagle/Husky mix) and we foster rescue dogs and ALL of them are on a flea prevention and heartworm prevention regimen. Also, you might need to treat your home with a “fogger” type product for fleas. Flea eggs will fall off your pet into the carpets,furniture,etc and hatch there. They survive on microscopic debris (I know its gross,but its the truth) then when they get big enough,they get on your pet. If you use a flea killer in your home,read the directions becuase some of them you have to activate them,then leave the house for a period of time. Hope this has helped and GOOD LUCK. PS Before you put any product on your dog,give him a bath
Reply:why don’t you put them on the program, it is an excellant flea control program, it doesn’t kill the adult flea but it won’t let them reproduce, so it takes about 2-3 months to have an effect but that effect is awesome
Reply:make him eat pedegree
Reply:If your dog is not gaining weight, this could be some sort of worm infestation.

Fleas can also make your dog lose their appetite. Repeat the flea baths as often as directed on label, and comb the dead ones out after bathing. Flea combs will also help rid of the eggs that are already there. Bathing alone will not rid the flea problem however.

You MUST flea bomb your home, as directed on the product you choose. If it hasn’t already happened, the fleas could begin to bite you and your family members as well.
Reply:They most likely have a skin reaction/allergy to fleas. My cats are the same way. Put them on a topical preventive…..once a month. If the problem (sores, nasty spots, etc) is really bad the vet may give them a steroid injection to help with combatting the problem while you take care of the infestation…….you will also have to treat your house at least twice to kill fleas and then the newly hatched eggs 2 weeks later.
Reply:Its sounds like he is allergic to fleas (this is true, many animals are) take him to the vet he may also need worming
Reply:Sounds like they are allergic to something. Its really uncomfortable and can make them feel ill. If they really have fleas and the wash isnt working try a spot treatment for fleas from the vet. It could also be an allergy to something in their environment. The most common things to set off allergies are, grasses, bedding and blankets, carpet, insects and pests, food, fuzzy or sappy plants in the garden, grooming products and less likely the type of soil in your yard. Take your dog to the vet and have them tested for allergens. Its a bit expensive, but its worth it in the long run. Rather than spend months or possibly years trying to figure out whats causing it, go to the vet and find out. Then you can remove it and the dog will be happier and healthier, trust me, its not nice to be itchy and scratching and not able to do anything youself(ever had a body part in a cast and not able to scratch it).
Reply:You need to get them to the vet soon. There could be some other problem going on besides the fleas.

Second, I have black lab and a Yorkie, they are both on Advantage Flea. My lab had a pretty bad shedding and horrible dry skin issue last summer – I took her to the vet and there weren’t any allergies found – it just turned out that she has very sensitive skin. The vet advised me to put her on a regimen of Brewer’s Yeast and bathe her with an oatmeal based shampoo. I did both and maintained the regimens and she hasn’t had a problem since. And since my dogs have been on Advantage, I have not seen a flea or tick on them – and we live on a farm.

Hope this helps – best of luck!
Reply:its mange, get to vets NOW