Dog Coat Condition and Nutrition
Dog Nutrition for a Healthy Coat
Check your dog’s coat…is it smooth and silky with lustrous fur? Or rough and brittle with dry flaky skin under?
Dogs are a pleasure to pet, especially when they’re blessed with healthy skin and lustrous fur. But some dogs are plagued with itchy, flaking skin and lackluster coats. What can you do to restore your dog’s shiny coat?
Essential Fatty Acids: Key to a Healthy Coat
Healthy fats play an important role in keeping your dog’s coat in good condition.
Reputable high quality meat-based dog foods typically contain enough nutrients, including essential fatty acids, to maintain healthy skin and a shiny coat.
In contrast, dogs on low-quality commercial dog foods or improperly balanced homemade diets — for instance, a dog that eats mostly chicken — may not get enough nutrients to keep a healthy skin and coat.
Low-fat diets are risky, too. The obvious coat problems from deficiencies would be a dandruffy, dull coat from an omega-6 deficit if the pet is eating an extremely low-fat diet. (Some pets require a low fat diet for other health reasons)
In fact, puppies that eat very low-fat diets develop coarse, dry hair and skin lesions that become prone to infection.
The dog foods we offer at Wholesome Pet Essentials in themselves can be helpful just to give a shine to the coat, add some luster back, and help replace the oils in the skin. Customers routinely tell us that their furry friends coats improved noticeably when they switch to one of our diets from the “big box” or grocery store brands.
We also offer a selection of supplements for these conditions. If these supplements improve your pets coat(s) it’s time to examine their diets!
