# What's the real deal with oatmeal shampoos?



## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

I took my little Pekatese to a groomer who said she used an oatmeal shampoo because it hydrates their skin, but my little Lola was itchier than ever when she got home. Are oatmeal shampoos really good for puppies/dogs?


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

Your dog was more then likley itchy due to being groomed 9such as shaved) most dogs are. oatmeal bathes are the best for dogs, they hydrate skin, sooth itchy skin and help with alot of skin issues.

WTH is a pekatese?


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Personally, I am not a fan of oatmeal shampoos, and I only stock it for the clients the specifically request it, and usually I end up using my medicated shampoo on them anyway, because there are skin issues.. Oatmeal tends to be a catch all shampoo for "itchies" and itchies are caused by everything BUT the skin..Itchies are from the inside out..and what little if any relief comes from a shampoo is so minimal its not worth using. I find oatmeal shampoos to be drying and irritating..they burn my arms and hands, and after a day of using it on and off, my hands are red and dry and burning..And I have used TONS of oatmeal shampoos. I feel that there are so many other options out there..Certain medicated shampoos are great for some skin conditions..and hypoallergenic (TRUE hypo shampoos with no dyes, scents, or soaps) are great on the unknown "itchies" in my experience.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

I believe a pekatese is maltese x pekingese.


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

lil_fuzzy is right... It's a mix of Maltese and Pekingese.

Graco - I'm with you. Lola didn't even get a shave that grooming. She had a scissor cut and a bath and blow, so I have to think it was the oatmeal shampoo that irritated her skin so badly. I just washed her a couple of days ago with a puppy shampoo I have at home and she's not nearly as itchy. Makes you go "hmmmm."


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)




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## lyttleravyn (Sep 8, 2010)

Hey guys, there are 2 types of Oatmeal when referring to shampoos, conditioners, etc. Colloidal and ground Oatmeal. Colloidal is what is used to moisturize the skin, it is a humectant and draws moisture from the air while on the skin. However there is no residual effect once it is rinsed off. Ground oatmeal is just as it sounds as is used as an exfoliant: it irritates the skin in order to give the skin a "jump start" in renewing skin cells. Ground oatmeal is best for dry flakey skin that has no irritation. Right now there are no dog shampoos on the market that do NOT have ground oatmeal in them (even if it says Colloidal oatmeal on the bottle). The best way to add moisture is by rinse, rinse, rinsing and following with a deep conditioner to seal moisture into the skin and hair. 

If using an oatmeal shampoo (since they all have ground oatmeal in them) on normal skin, it irritates the skin for no reason. If the dog's skin and coat is normal, I would try using a mild hypoallergenic shampoo and a light conditioner on a regular basis to keep everythin clean and moisturized. This way you avoid any possible sources of irritation and build up. Hope that helps


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

Thank you! Can I ask your opinion on what type of conditioner to use? Do you have a recommendation on a brand for home use around every 7-10 days? 

Also, what kind of cut do you think would be best with my puppy's coat?


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## lyttleravyn (Sep 8, 2010)

I really really like the products by Chris Christiensen, especially for regular bathing. Either the Clean Start or the Day to Day is good. I LOVE their After U Bathe product, its a light conditioning rinse that removes any remaining shampoo residue and has a nice subtle fragrance. You can get little "trial packs" for only $10 and they come with little bottles of 4 products (you pick one of the packs). It is available from the company website chrissystems.com or cherrybrook.com (which has stores in NJ also). 

Other good brands include BioGroom, Les Poochs, Coat Handler, and Isle of Dog. Most are available from groomer sites like petedge, ryan's pet, groomer's choice, etc. I think Les Poochs is only available from their website (expensive but I've never been disappointed by them).

Frequent bathing is perfectly fine, however make sure you follow with a conditioner in order to keep the coat and skin moisturized - it is very important that you brush/comb through the coat entirely when wet and then dry completely with a hair dryer on cool. Use a pin brush followed by a fine tooth comb when brushing every day, also I like to use a spritz of leave-in conditioner when I brush daily to protect the hair shaft. 

Your pup is adorable! I would pick a length for the body (ask your groomer), then ask to have her legs longer and scissored and a slightly longer head. I think that balances a pet trim really nicely while adding some style (no chicken legs! haha). The best thing you could do is to print out pictures you find online of what you want and bring it to your groomer. I think small topknots with bows look absolutely precious on Maltese, but that's my opinion!  This site has some really adorable variations on Maltese-mix pups (your pup has Maltese/Maltipoo/Yorkipoo type coat) for you to look at (I especially love Zeus and Coco's pictures!): http://pinkpuccidoggrooming.com/category/maltese/

*I am not affiliated with any sites or products above, just a groomer in NJ haha. Hope that helps you!


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Awwww your dog is so cute


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

LyttleRavyn - Thank you so much for taking the time to give me all that advice! I really appreciate it!

LyttleRavyn & Lil_Fuzzy - Thanks for the compliments on my pup! I think she's absolutely adorable, but I may be a little biased. =) I'm a first time pet owner and have had a huge learning curve to overcome. Plus, she was traumatized at a vet's office within the first 2 weeks I had her and so I had to work really hard to gain her trust and get her back to normal. She was so scared/sad for a while - hiding in corners for hours, high pitched crying constantly and at random for no apparent reason, nightmares, wouldn't play with any toys, ran from met, etc. In fact, two different trainers thought she had a neurological condition/disorder because of her odd behavior and randon screeching. However, we got through it and now she LOVES people and all dogs. She's confident and well socialized and is the most popular small dog at her puppy daycare! I'm so proud of her!


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

patriciap said:


> LyttleRavyn - Thank you so much for taking the time to give me all that advice! I really appreciate it!
> 
> LyttleRavyn & Lil_Fuzzy - Thanks for the compliments on my pup! I think she's absolutely adorable, but I may be a little biased. =) I'm a first time pet owner and have had a huge learning curve to overcome. Plus, she was traumatized at a vet's office within the first 2 weeks I had her and so I had to work really hard to gain her trust and get her back to normal. She was so scared/sad for a while - hiding in corners for hours, high pitched crying constantly and at random for no apparent reason, nightmares, wouldn't play with any toys, ran from met, etc. In fact, two different trainers thought she had a neurological condition/disorder because of her odd behavior and randon screeching. However, we got through it and now she LOVES people and all dogs. She's confident and well socialized and is the most popular small dog at her puppy daycare! I'm so proud of her!


What happened at the vets office?


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## mitzi (Aug 3, 2010)

I so agree with you on the topical issue. IMHO all of these additive concoctions are just a fad of the day, I've seen it all go down over the past 35 years and none of them last for long. Green tea, chamomille, coconut, papaya, avacado etc. not worth a darn on the outside, all good nutrition starts on the inside.


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

LazyGRanch713 - 

I'm not really sure what happened at the vet's office, because they claim that nothing happened. All I know is that she was a really friendly puppy with lots of energy until I took her to the vet and boarded her there for about 5 hours because I had to get to work. Starting the night that I brought her home, she started growling and being really aggressive (snapping to bite) and then out of nowhere she'd start screeching like I was trying to kill her when I hadn't even moved or touched her. One second she'd be laying on my lap, the next second screeching like a banchee. Then her behavior got worse. She started running away and hiding for hours. She totally lost all interest in her toys or playing at all, but no impact on her appetite. I finally figured out that she was being really protective of her right shoulder area, so my assumption is that something happened (another animal nipped at her, god forbid - but someone could have hit her, or maybe they accidentally closed the kennel door on her... who knows since they wouldn't cop to anything. She was just there for a check up so she didn't get any shots or anything like that. I knew something was wrong when I picked her up and she had peed on her bed (I left it there so she'd be more comfortable. She never never peed on her bed before or after that one time. I never went back to that vet.

Lola really had me at my wits end... She wouldn't let me sleep with all the screeching, but that was nothing compared to how guilty I felt that something was wrong with her and I had no idea what or what to do about it. I was a nervous mess! The two trainers telling me that they thought she had a neuroglogical condition didn't help either - I broke out into tears on the spot! Then I called my cousin and went on and on... then, I just pulled myself together and decided I was going to do whatever it took. She bit me a couple of times and would struggle to get away from me and growl at me (which broke my heart), but she LIVED in my arms (when I was home and not at work) and I slept with her in my arms on the couch (she wasn't potty trained yet) for about 5 days before she picked up her first toy and started to play. =) Now, she is VERY social... almost too much so! LOL The little thing has no fear! She tries to play with Boxers and Basset Hounds and every stranger that passes by!


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## Masterjedi688 (Apr 27, 2009)

patriciap said:


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LOL what a cute dog.


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

Thanks Masterjedi688!


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## camoreno (Sep 16, 2010)

We just started giving our dog a few oatmeal baths since she's started showing signs of itchy distress. Doesn't seem to be resolving the problem. Any other suggestions?

Thanks for your help!


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## lyttleravyn (Sep 8, 2010)

camoreno said:


> We just started giving our dog a few oatmeal baths since she's started showing signs of itchy distress. Doesn't seem to be resolving the problem. Any other suggestions?
> 
> Thanks for your help!


I would try to find the source of the itchiness. Allergies, fleas, matting, etc. Is she bothered in one are (like her feet, rear end) or is it all over? Before you started with the oatmeal shampoo, what distress was she showing? Was she biting herself, scratching her ear, have flakey skin? Any topical treatment is only going to provide temporary relief from the symptoms, without dealing with the source it will not go away on its own.


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## camoreno (Sep 16, 2010)

lyttleravyn said:


> I would try to find the source of the itchiness. Allergies, fleas, matting, etc. Is she bothered in one are (like her feet, rear end) or is it all over? Before you started with the oatmeal shampoo, what distress was she showing? Was she biting herself, scratching her ear, have flakey skin? Any topical treatment is only going to provide temporary relief from the symptoms, without dealing with the source it will not go away on its own.


She scratches and bites at several areas on her body: her sides, her thighs, behind her ears, her tummy. We don't see any flakey skin in her coat, and her coat looks good. She gets an Omega Fish Oil capsule morning and night with her meals which helps her coat look really nice. 

We don't see any fleas on her when we check her, but she does lay out in the dirt when we're working in the garden, so there might be some small biting bugs from either the dirt of the lawn that are nibbling on her. We felt a small cluster of bites that had scabbed over on the inside of one of her legs. They have since dried up and are gone now. 

The groomer and the vet are talking about a lot of allergies for dogs this time of year - late summer in Northern California in the east Bay of San Francisco area. Perhaps with the season change coming up, she'll not be so bothered by whatever it is that's bothering her now. 

Where are you located? Anything sound similar to what you experience with your dog?

Thanks,
camoreno


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## lyttleravyn (Sep 8, 2010)

camoreno said:


> She scratches and bites at several areas on her body: her sides, her thighs, behind her ears, her tummy. We don't see any flakey skin in her coat, and her coat looks good. She gets an Omega Fish Oil capsule morning and night with her meals which helps her coat look really nice.
> 
> We don't see any fleas on her when we check her, but she does lay out in the dirt when we're working in the garden, so there might be some small biting bugs from either the dirt of the lawn that are nibbling on her. We felt a small cluster of bites that had scabbed over on the inside of one of her legs. They have since dried up and are gone now.
> 
> ...


I wouldn't be surprised if there was something in the dirt that was either biting or bothering her. I would try sudsing her up really well in a hypo-allergenic shampoo and let it sit for 5-10 minutes (if there are any bugs on her, this should kill them without aggrevating any condition if it isn't caused by bugs); follow with a deep moisturizing conditioner to help soothe the itching temporarily. Allergies is a fairly large umbrella, I would either ask for an allergen test or talk to a pet allergist. I would not just brush it up as being 'allergies' and not do anything else. Most often when I see dogs suffering from an allergen outside it usually shows up by the dogs feet itching and them biting them till raw. If its all over, I would think its either something in the dirt or possibly food. Has anyhing else changed recently? Food, treats, formula of food, toys, bedding, fabric softener/detergent, etc.?

I'm a dog/cat groomer at a vet hospital in NJ


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## camoreno (Sep 16, 2010)

Thanks so much for your suggestions. We'll definitely look into this further. She is not bothered by her feet at all and there is not desperate scratching or incessant scratching, thank goodness! It makes me think that it was a seasonal thing since she is showing less discomfort now that it is getting cooler. 

As you are a groomer, have you ever had a long-haired Rott as a "client"?


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## lyttleravyn (Sep 8, 2010)

camoreno said:


> Thanks so much for your suggestions. We'll definitely look into this further. She is not bothered by her feet at all and there is not desperate scratching or incessant scratching, thank goodness! It makes me think that it was a seasonal thing since she is showing less discomfort now that it is getting cooler.
> 
> As you are a groomer, have you ever had a long-haired Rott as a "client"?


You're welcome! I hope you get everything cleared up 

Currently I do not have any long-haired Rotties as clients, however my boyfriend's sister has one so I am familiar with them. Normally they wouldn't get any trimming besides shaved pads and rounded feet I think, however hers gets pretty messy so I will neaten up the rear end and front leg featherings and around the ears. Such sweet dogs


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