# German Shepherd with dry skin



## danibeth_2000 (Jun 8, 2007)

Hey ya'll 
my german has really dry skin. at first we thought it was fleas but after two months of flea treament not to mention not a single flea in sight we figured she was still iching due to dry skin. also beacuse her skin was flaky and dry. we currently feed her Iams dry food, dose any one know of a good treatment for dogs with dry skin? I would be more then happy to try anything at this point given she's begun chewing off her fur


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## Ginny01OT (Dec 3, 2006)

Iams is not great food and when I got my puppy from the breeder and he was on that food he coat was like brillo. I would look into Timberwolf Organics, Nature's Variety, Orijen, Canidae to name a few--also I would consider giving the dog, in addition to his food, 1/2 can of green tripe with menhaden fish oil (tripett.com)--which is a canadian product I buy online thru petfooddirect.com Good luck!!


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## Renoman (Mar 20, 2007)

Ginny01OT said:


> Iams is not great food and when I got my puppy from the breeder and he was on that food he coat was like brillo. I would look into Timberwolf Organics, Nature's Variety, Orijen, Canidae to name a few--also I would consider giving the dog, in addition to his food, 1/2 can of green tripe with menhaden fish oil (tripett.com)--which is a canadian product I buy online thru petfooddirect.com Good luck!!



What Ginny said!


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## MollyDog (Sep 29, 2007)

yea, Iams is bad food. stick with natural stuff


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## Occy (Oct 3, 2007)

If Iams works for your dog stick with it. Try adding sardines twice a week or a mix of omega 3 and 6 oils. I would be adding some meat to the diet as well - red meat isnt great for gsds - chicken would probably be very good.

This will increase the quality of the food, and will add some oils and nutrients to help the coat

introduce any change slowly

personally i wouldnt touch Iams but thats me - I feed pro plan - there is a salmon and rice version which is really good for gut and skin

good luck there


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## cascabel (Sep 25, 2007)

Ginny had some great suggestions regarding food. If you google "dog food analysis", the first hit is a website which ranks kibble from 1-6 stars and gives an explanation/review of the food. Both Iams and Purina are low quality dog foods full of many allergens and questionable products. 

Additionally the omega 6 : omega 3 ratio in Iams is around 10:1. The proper ratio that you want to strive for is 3:1. You definitely do not want to add a mix of omega 6 and omega 3. What would be helpful is to add a substance rich in omega 3 (tripe or salmon oil) which would help bring the ratio closer to the ideal 3:1. This should really help with the itching, flakiness, and shine of your dog's skin and coat. 

I've heard great things about Canidae. It is the most cost effective high quality dog food available. Although it costs more per bag than Iams or Purina, you feed less because there are more calories per cup. So by volume you may be paying more, but the food will last longer and you won't be shoveling allergens and such into your pup.


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## melvs (Aug 21, 2007)

In addition to changing the food and adding supplements, try a shampoo/conditioner that helps w/ dry skin - such as Oatmeal dog bath. They also have conditioning sprays that you can use in between bathing. The woman I adopted my pup from fed her Iams and they used baby shampoo on her. Two no-no's. Her hair was falling out, skin dry, etc. I changed food (at the time I went to Chicken Soup for the pUpppy Lovers Soul - see reviews on the food section), and started using Kenic oatmeal bath and cond. spray. Also, she had one area that was scabbed over from scratching and I cut a piece of aloe plant and put it on the irritated area. Within minutes she stopped itching it and within a week it was completely gone. I've heard that the aloe vera gel works well to help ease the irritation. Let us know what works for your baby!


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## all4thedogs (Sep 25, 2006)

Occy said:


> If Iams works for your dog stick with it.


It doesnt sound like Iams is working for them. As other said I would find a higher quality diet. You can also add fish oil caps to her food.


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## danibeth_2000 (Jun 8, 2007)

wow! thanks for all the info. i think i will try changing her food. she really dosn't care what she eats. yea a oatmeal bath might be good also. hope this really works out, she's running out of but fur


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## Occy (Oct 3, 2007)

The problem with GSDs is that a food change can cause gut problems so whatever you do, do it slowly.

ive had great success with pro plan salmon and rice and before it was available the chicken and rice versions

No skin probs here. Had a dog with severe flea dermatitis when he came here - now has a full body of hair.

A4TG - Im used to, on other forums, people trying to shove certain foods and philosophies down peoples throats so i try to be moderate. As I said, I wouldnt feed the stuff myself but if its what people want to feed I can only advise.


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## MegaMuttMom (Sep 15, 2007)

When my dog was on Iams and then on Science Diet and my husband kept asking if he had fleas. We switched to Sild Gold MMilennium and no more dry skin and biting at himself.


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## Nira_Vey (Feb 6, 2008)

how often are you bathing the pup? I was giving my g.s. an oatmeal bath probably once a month and read somewhere that they can get dry skin (she didnt thank god ((love the oatmeal)) and should only be bathed a couple times a year. Either way - I have had no problems out of fleas with her - hardly had to use any frontline and gave her ONLY oatmeal bathes and she is fine. Mabye that will help.


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

MegaMuttMom said:


> When my dog was on Iams and then on Science Diet and my husband kept asking if he had fleas. We switched to Sild Gold MMilennium and no more dry skin and biting at himself.


Haha...and then there's my hubbies lil mutt dog; doesn't matter how much I spend on a bag of dog food, he still scratches!!! We had spent lots of $$$ trying to figure out why; no allergies, no health issues, he doesn't even have dry skin, nice soft coat...nothing...but when DH started going to work everyday, and the dog was home with me, or went to work with me; having more day time play, and interaction to keep him busy, we finally figured out that it is literally all in his head...Hubby being home=Dominoe being bored=scratchy scratchy...brat. And it is now a pretty much 'set in' habit too, because even though hubby will play with him more (knowing his dog is neurotic due to HIS laziness) the dog still scratches, immediately upon his return from work! Doesn't scratch when he's home with me... Fortunately he isn't scratching anything out, or anything raw anymore (used to be that bad), so we are going to wait on his 'antidepressants' that were recommended by a vet. I wish his case was as simple as a food change...Lol!!!  

Oh my...I think I hijacked the thread...

To the OP...I would try a good conditioning bath (I LOVE Therapet's Line of shampoos\conditioners), and try getting her on a more 'conditioning' type of food. Perhaps some Cod Liver Oil added to each meal may help too.


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## Jaxon (Aug 31, 2008)

I have a five month old german shepherd and he has terribly dry skin. Flakey and everything. I started him on Natural Choice by nutro and then switched him to science diet, only to find out later that science diet is even worse. www.dogfoodanalysis.com 
Then tonight I get a bag of nutro ultra large breed puppy, before I knew about these websites, and discovered that its better but I still need omega 3 and 6 suppliments. I really don't like seeing him uncomfortable and I really don't like spending so much money on food but what can you do?


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

I agree that a new, higher quality food would be the first step. If it were my dog, I would go directly to a grain free kibble. It is also helpful to change the protein and carbohydrate source to help eliminate an allergy. For example, if you have been feeding a chicken and rice based food, go to a salmon and barley based, etc. There are MANY to choose from out there and someone already stated that you don't feed as much of the high quality foods because they have less/no fillers in them. If she is scratching to the point of tearing out her hair, its more than dry skin. Most likely an allergy, but you should rule out ringworm, mange, and other skin issues with a visit to the vet. I would however be very leery of any "hypoallergenic" food they try to sell you to feed, and chances are they will try to sell you some.

Oatmeal shampoo and conditioner could be useful. I personally, find oatmeal to not be helpful on 99% of the dogs I have used it on. It can often be more drying even. (Think about it, you use a oatmeal poultice etc. on burns, stings, etc....to DRY them out...) I think an Aloe, or just simply a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner is going to be a better help. You can also get some no itch spray like Allercaine (made for dogs and hotspots, etc.) and that will relieve the discomfort while you try to figure this out.


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## Patt (Feb 12, 2008)

IMO I would also skip the Iams. Check out www.dogaware.com for top quality foods. I feed Innova and periodically switch with Wellness Super5Mix. I add Grizzly Salmon oil to the food in morning feeding. Dogs are doing well and coats are shiny.


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## Line-of-Fire (Aug 2, 2008)

That's no good... We have Shepherds ourselves actually. We haven't had a problem with anyone having dry skin... Other than my old woman, Cinder. She's nine. Last summer, her skin got really dry. Do you think it's allergies? Or just dry skin? And please do be careful when you switch foods. Do it gradually over time. I've seen GSDs get bloat and all kinds of nasty things from switching foods too quickly. Not good. 

If you don't think it's allergies, then I would second the suggestion to using oatmeal shampoo. Or if you can find an "Ultra Moisturizing" shampoo, you could use that one week, then a week or two later, use the oatmeal with Lanolin conditioner. That's what we did for Cinder. It took a couple bathings with the Lanolin, so it isn't instant, but it did help her a lot.


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## Jaxon (Aug 31, 2008)

We went to the vitamin shop and bought omega 3-6-9 tablets and I'm giving him 1 a day to see if that helps. I don't think its an allergy, but what do I know.


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