The skin condition is more than important!

This is really no rocket science!

A very dry skin is susceptible to anything that establishes contact

This is valid for those dogs (and humans) who by any reason suffer from very dry skin. If your hands are dry, you can temporarily develop an allergic reaction to substances that you usually do not react to. If you got an eczema usually water makes it worse.

When it comes to our beloved  Manuel:

1.  SA causes very very dry skin
2. dry skin equals brittle skin
3. brittle skin equals major reactions on water
4. the reaction causes irritation and pain

 How many of you use skin lotion after shower?

If you forget, what happens then?

We over-shampoo our poor dogs, and destroy their natural protection. Conditioner? Well it works mostly on the coat…and it is just to damage control what you just caused with shampoo.

 So how is Manuel’s SA?

All spring has been “OK”.  Slowly the amount of total under-coat is reduced (that is unavoidable)  but at least we have managed to decelerate the pace of it. One dry spot here, one dry spot there to take care of but all “under control”.

Otherwise he is in a very good physical and mental state. We love every day with him. He is such a wise guy.

So, Manuel is shedding heavily in March (as always), than a bit more visible again in June (as always). This year that has occurred a bit earlier, I guess due to the very very early spring. This means that every walk in rain without his rain-coat has made his skin even more dry (sometimes cracking) even though we really have been careful to dry him afterwards.

The past week I have missed out on some spots so he has itched behind his ears which has caused  problems. Therefore I have now cleaned that area up with antiseptic and then I have to moisture the skin. This time I have used the Virbac Allerdem which the skin has responded very well to.

 The “curse” of dry skin

1. These dry parts itch
2. Itching on dry parts of the skin wounds the skin.
3. Wounded skin Manuel wants to “take care of”  = Lick
4. Licking can give fungus growth – which leads to infection

 If that already has occurred, I clean the areas with chlorhexidine, add local treatment as antiseptics ointment and sometimes cortisone to reduce the itch.

 To avoid step 2-4 – which is of course is the best solution. We moisture (various methods) AND avoid water on the affected areas!