Doggie Dandruff

April 19, 2022 10:58 AM

My 7-year-old hound has bad dandruff. What's the best way to reduce or eliminate it?

She doesn't get bathed very frequently, and when I do, we use an oatmeal or other soothing shampoo. I've tried putting coconut oil on her coat but all it really did was get on everything in the house. She loves getting a good scritch and that always results in snowdrifts of dandruff in her short coat.

Dog Tax

posted by PussKillian to Pets & Animals (8 answers total)

My dog used to be* plagued by skin allergies and at one point the vet prescribed Trizchlor shampoo. I don't know if it's the right thing for dandruff (this would be a good vet question) but it did seem to give my boy relief during the worst times.

*we moved and it got better, I guess he was allergic to my apartment :(
posted by phunniemee at 11:46 AM on April 19, 2022

what kind of food does she eat? dry skin is often solved with diet and supplements rather than bathing (which can dry it out more). we’ve had luck with adding fish oil to out dogs’ food and/or switching to a diet with salmon as the main protein.
posted by adastra at 12:04 PM on April 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

My dog had a fair amount of dandruff and was itchy all the time until I started feeding her wet food and supplementing with salmon oil. Even if you don't want to switch to wet food, putting a fair amount of water on the dry food might help.
posted by little king trashmouth at 12:11 PM on April 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I had good luck by swapping food- same brand different protein in this case. Didn’t fix it entirely, but made a big difference. A sensitivity or allergy.
posted by Grandysaur at 4:47 PM on April 19, 2022

+1 to fish oil.
posted by Mid at 5:45 PM on April 19, 2022

I would consider trying an OTC canine shampoo for seborrhea like Malaseb or a ketoconazole shampoo. As with humans, dogs can get seborrhea through a fungal mechanism that the -zoles can help address.

But if it's really persistent, I would take that sweetie into the vet for a workup. There can be a lot of causes of seborrhea and they can help you identify the most likely. Poor thing is probably itchy. That's the worst!
posted by praemunire at 5:51 PM on April 19, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks, guys. I'll try the fish oil first and see if that helps over a month or two. Kiki thanks you for making her dinner more delicious.
posted by PussKillian at 11:49 AM on April 20, 2022

Check with your vet but you can use a human OTC dandruff shampoo for your dog.
posted by esoteric things at 3:57 PM on April 20, 2022