What do you know about natural skin treatment for dogs? No one knows your dog better than you. When your dog isn’t feeling well, you’re likely to be the first to notice. Whenever your dog isn’t feeling their best, your first move should be a call to a licensed veterinarian. Once your veterinarian rules out any serious issues, you can often turn to tried and true home remedies instead of traditional medicine.
One standard and often unserious set of problems that affect many dogs are skin issues. Skin issues can have a variety of causes, but there are plenty of remedies that can help treat symptoms for more than one cause of irritated skin. Let’s explore natural skin treatment for dogs.
Itchy Skin: Natural Skin Treatment For Dogs
Last week we discussed a few reasons your dog might have dry skin. This week, we’re covering natural skin treatment for dogs to help alleviate some of their worst skin symptoms.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a powerful fat-soluble antioxidant that helps fight aging. While your dog might not care about their youthful glow, this nutrient can protect our dogs from UV radiation and moisturize their skin.
Dry, flaky skin can cause our dogs a lot of discomfort. Not only are they itchy, but as a result, their skin is often quite dry. Vitamin E can help rejuvenate dry, itchy areas. To give your pup some relief, apply vitamin E oil and massage it into the affected areas. This treatment might be difficult on dogs, especially those with long coats, so supplementing your dog orally with vitamin E is often a better option. While vitamin E may not provide a cure for the cause of your dog’s irritated skin, this natural skin treatment for dogs can help give them some relief while you treat the issue at hand.
In addition to being good for your dog’s itchy skin, vitamin E is also recommended as a topical treatment for minor burns and cuts.
Oatmeal Bath
While you might enjoy oatmeal as a healthy breakfast option, it is also a skin protectant with anti-inflammatory properties that can help soothe your pup’s irritated skin. Oatmeal baths help the skin form a protective barrier that keeps moisture in and slows the loss of hydration.
How To Give Your Dog an Oatmeal Bath
To give your dog an oatmeal bath, you first need a blender, food processor, or coffee grinder. You also need plain, unflavored oatmeal (it can be instant, quick oats, or slow-cooking), warm water, and somewhere to bathe your dog.
For medium to large breeds, get ½ to 1 cup of oats; you likely won’t need more than ⅓ cup for smaller breeds. Additional optional ingredients are a cup of high-fat milk and 2 tablespoons of avocado or olive oil.
- First, blend the oats on the highest setting until it becomes a fine, consistent powder.
- Test 1 tablespoon of the powder to see if it’s fine enough to absorb water. Do this by stirring the tablespoon of oats into a glass of warm water. The oats should easily absorb the water and turn the glass milky-colored.
Once your oats are ready, it’s time to bathe your dog. Note that though it shouldn’t harm your dog, try to prevent them from drinking the tub water.
- Pour the oat powder in a tub of running warm water and stir until it fully dissolves. Do not use hot water, which will further dry out your dog’s skin.
- Fill the tub as high as your dog will tolerate. Most dogs will tolerate water up to about their belly height. Carefully place your pup in the tub.
- Using a cup, dip it into the oatmeal bath and pour the water over your dog’s body. Rub the oatmeal solution directly into your dog’s skin for especially irritated areas.
- Let your dog soak for about 10 minutes before rinsing the mixture with warm water. Pro tip: smear plenty of peanut butter on the wall of the tub to keep your dog occupied.
- Use a towel to dry off your dog and brush out their fur thoroughly. Do not use a hot hairdryer as, like hot water, this heat will further dry out their skin.
Oatmeal Spot Treatment: Natural Skin Treatment For Dogs
If your dog has irritated skin in certain localized spots, you can skip the oatmeal bath and focus on direct treatment. Using less water and forming a thick oatmeal paste, place the paste directly on the irritated areas and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Keep your dog engaged during this time so they don’t try to lick off the oatmeal paste.
Oatmeal treatments and baths may not cure what ails your dog’s skin, but they can be highly beneficial to ease your dog’s irritation and suffering.
Epsom Salt: Natural Skin Treatment For Dogs
Epsom salt is a pure mineral compound consisting of magnesium and sulfate named after the saline spring at Epsom in Surrey, England. Epsom salt is a commonly used natural remedy for illnesses in humans and beauty, gardening, and household cleaning. Did you know that you can use epsom salt on dogs too?
Magnesium manages activity for 325 enzymes in your dog’s body. It also assists with muscle and nerve function. Most effective for skin issues, magnesium reduces inflammation, while sulfate helps flush toxins and improve nutrient absorption.
Like oatmeal, adding Epsom to your dog’s bath can have excellent healing properties for dry, itchy, or irritated skin. When you place your dog in a bath with Epsom salt added, their skin absorbs the salt after it dissolves in the water. Once they absorb the salt, their bodies are ready to transport those nutrients where they need them. This process is called the transdermal approach treatment, in which these nutrients are delivered into your body without having to go through the liver and intestines.
Not only can a 10-minute soak in an Epsom bath help ease your dog’s skin woes, but it can also alleviate pain, relax sore muscles, and clean open wounds.
Note: Try to keep your dog from drinking the Epsom bathwater, as it can upset their stomach.
Natural Skin Treatment For Our Favorite Fidos
While our first thought when our dogs aren’t feeling well should be a call or visit to the vet, we can turn to natural skin treatment for dogs once we know they aren’t suffering from any serious health concerns. The three methods above are quick, easy ways to help our dogs feel better in a relatively short amount of time with items we likely already have around the house.