Hi All,

I have a 6 yr old King Shepherd who has developed dry skin. Anyone
out there have any home remedies for dry skin?




Thanks,

Ben

on Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:13:21 GMT, Rocky wrote:

Are you sure it's dry skin and not a parasite?

What parasite can cause dry skin? Roxy is having this problem right now,
but at the last vet check (just under a month ago) she was parasite free
and takes monthy FrontlinePlus and Interceptor. She's due for her
bordatella vaccine in late July so I'll ask the vet at that time, but if I
should take her sooner, I will.

--
Lynne

on Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:36:00 GMT, Lynne
wrote:

What parasite can cause dry skin? Roxy is having this problem right
now, but at the last vet check (just under a month ago) she was
parasite free and takes monthy FrontlinePlus and Interceptor. She's
due for her bordatella vaccine in late July so I'll ask the vet at
that time, but if I should take her sooner, I will.

Since Matt apparently has me killfiled, can anyone else please respond to
this? Are there any other parasites besides mange, tapeworm, and those
that are covered by Interceptor and FrontlinePlus cause itchy skin?

--
Lynne

On Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:50:40 -0500, Lynne
wrote:

on Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:36:00 GMT, Lynne
wrote:

What parasite can cause dry skin? Roxy is having this problem right
now, but at the last vet check (just under a month ago) she was
parasite free and takes monthy FrontlinePlus and Interceptor. She's
due for her bordatella vaccine in late July so I'll ask the vet at
that time, but if I should take her sooner, I will.

Since Matt apparently has me killfiled, can anyone else please respond to
this? Are there any other parasites besides mange, tapeworm, and those
that are covered by Interceptor and FrontlinePlus cause itchy skin?

I'm coming into this late. There's dry and there's itchy, though of
course they can occur together. I'm not aware of a parasite that
would cause dry skin, particularly that soon since she was parasite
free a month ago. Do you Frontline her year-round, or just spring,
summer, fall - - maybe it's the Frontline? Could it be air
conditioning? Any other change in the environment?

Mustang Sally

on Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:18:15 GMT, sighthounds & siberians
wrote:

I'm coming into this late. There's dry and there's itchy, though of
course they can occur together. I'm not aware of a parasite that
would cause dry skin, particularly that soon since she was parasite
free a month ago. Do you Frontline her year-round, or just spring,
summer, fall - - maybe it's the Frontline? Could it be air
conditioning? Any other change in the environment?

Thanks, Sally. I needed a sanity check on possible parasites I might not
be aware of.

She gets Frontline 8-10 months out of the year, depending on the
temperatures. This year I started her back up in mid-March. She gets
Interceptor year round (so do the cats). The ac has been running since
March, though I do open the house up on cool evenings/nights. We have
better humidity levels in the house than we did in the Winter (I have a
gauge so I can try to control it for one of my children's allergies).

Her skin is itchy but no sign on dryness (no flaking, no redness), but
she's blowing coat like there's no tomorrow.

I *think* she's improving, though, so maybe the fish oil is helping? I
haven't had to tell her to stop licking at all today (yet?).

--
Lynne

on Sun, 01 Jul 2007 03:52:20 GMT, Rocky wrote:

You've ruled out mange, I suppose.

No, not officially, and after doing some reading, I'm wondering if her
symptoms could be the very early stages of mange (can't remember which
type, though). So I will definitely get a skin scraping, though it
sounds like those aren't always accurate and sometimes the protocol is
diagnosis by treatment. I'll leave that up to my vet. She doesn't have
any visible signs of mange, but that might not mean anything. I don't
know, though, I've got zero experience with it. From what I read, once
they get to the point where they are losing hair all over, the mange is
advanced and it's pretty obvious. Itching and massive shedding are her
only symptoms.

When Good Ol' Murphy had a
skin/itching issue (maybe was corn, at least the itching went
away with a change of diet), her vet wanted to look further
into similar harder to find mange-related parasites.
Ivermectin should deal with those, though (as should the
synthetic Ivermectin in Interceptor).

I have no idea as to
what's in Frontline Plus (I use Interceptor Multi with my
dogs).

FrontlinePlus is just for fleas and ticks. It is a topical and, IIRC,
doesn't not get absorbed in the blood stream but spreads out through the
skins oil glands.

Murphy also had a complicating factor in that she was allergic
to flea saliva. While you couldn't find a live flea on her,
the indications were there - the rough red belly, etc. When
we moved to a predominately flea-free area, the symptoms went
away.

Years and years ago, when topical flea treatments were only officially
available for horses but were being used off label for dogs and cats by
some progressive vets, I had a cat who was allergic to flea saliva. We
used the topical on him, but they would still bite and die afterward. He
was on prednisone for years until we moved to an area where I (DUH)
stopped letting him outside and the problem went away. Roxy doesn't have
any of the same skin symptoms as Lamonte had, so I don't think it's that.
I've gone over virtually every square millimeter of her skin, and see no
red marks or bumps whatsoever, not even flaking, so it's a mystery.

--
Lynne

on Sun, 01 Jul 2007 17:44:58 GMT, Rocky wrote:

Murphy's flea allergy exhibited itself as more of a rash rather
than localised welts.

The same was true for Lamonte (the cat), but Roxy doesn't have a rash
either. Good thing she doesn't mind the frequent, close scrutiny.

I just hope my vet isn't slammed for the short week this week and that I
can get her an appointment.

--
Lynne