There is an adage – beauty is only skin deep. However, as far as your dog is concerned, the implications of beauty could be much deeper. Your furry baby’s coat and skin indicate how healthy they are.
A healthy dog has a shiny coat – that is not greasy and does not have dandruff. However, their coats could become coarse or brittle if they are under any stress or suffering from any ailment.
Their skin also becomes bumpy and flaky. So, when you are wondering how to keep your baby’s coat shiny, the answers could go deeper than you imagined.
Focus on dog nutrition
The process of shining your dog’s coat starts with their diet. If you want your furball to have a gleaming coat and healthy skin, you have to ensure their daily diet is properly balanced.
It would be best if you fed high-quality proteins, minerals, carbohydrates, vitamins, and fats. When a dog has a dull coat, it is due to a lack of proper nutrition.
Now you may wonder which diet is the best solution for your dog’s coat needs. Well, giving them a diet prepared from whole foods is always better.
Such a diet is nutritionally balanced and a great option from a long-term perspective. It lays an exceptional foundation for them to have a shiny coat as long as they live. Apart from that, it is also helpful and essential for their overall health.
Natural supplements
Natural supplements play a significant role in giving your little one a shiny and healthy coat. Fatty acids such as Omega 3 can promote a gleaming coat and healthy skin.
As per scientific research, it is evident that fishes – especially oily fishes such as anchovies and sardines – contain several essential nutrients.
These nutrients can help your dog have a shiny and soft coat and healthy skin. Omega-3 fish oil also stops pathogens from growing in your system.
It can control skin diseases and allergies by fostering the skin barrier. An olive leaf extract is a viable option in this regard.
However, it often gets overlooked. It is also a natural antibiotic. It acts as a natural antioxidant and antiviral and proved effective in treating allergies your baby may suffer, such as dermatitis.
Bella is an example of the power a combined diet of natural supplements and whole foods can have for your dog. She is an adopted dog of mixed parentage – A Rottweiler and a German shepherd. She was suffering from chronic ear infections and severe skin allergies.
The skin issues are aggravated by sleepless nights and non-stop itching. She would start by licking and scratching different her body, which later became skin wounds manifested as infections. She got treated for years with antibiotics, steroids, shots supposed to treat environmental allergies, and medicated baths.
However, they could do little as far as solving her problem went. Her parent, Kristen Pollock, soon changed her diet to a whole-food diet with olive leaf and fish oil supplements.
Pollock says the treatment proved so effective that she never considered stopping all the other treatments. Soon enough, her dry, wounded, and itchy skin was a thing of the past, and now Bella gets complimented for her beautiful coat.
Grooming
Grooming plays a crucial role in making your dog’s coat shiny. It is a mistake to assume that this is important only for dogs participating in various shows.
It does not matter if your baby is shedding or not. Brush them regularly so that the blood circulation gets stimulated. Moreover, it would help remove dry skin and hair from their bodies.
Brush in both directions, making their hair shinier and brightening their coat. You should also not forget to bathe them occasionally. Groomers suggest that you use shampoos made from oatmeal as they help in soothing itchy and dry skin.
Please remember that you do not have to bathe your dog every day. Doing so could damage them as it removes the natural oils in their skin. If your dog spends most of its time indoors, twice a month should be good enough.
Regarding brushing their coat, it does not matter what kind of fur they have. You can do this once every week at least. However, you must ensure that you find a brush commensurate with their breed. If your baby sheds a lot, you should get a de-shedding brush from a nearby pet store.
Visiting the vet
Even if your dog’s coat is not shining, you must visit the vet. You may not know this, but the lack of luster in your dog’s coat is the first sign that something could be wrong with their health, which is yet to be detected.
Vets say there could be various reasons, such as metabolic issues like hormonal imbalance. External and internal parasites and issues with their digestive system, like chronic diarrhea, could also be possible causes in this context.
Other Ways to keep a dog’s fur coat healthy and shiny
- Add Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids to dog food to combat dry skin and hair loss.
- Oatmeal bath to calm itchy and dry skin.
- Keep away Ticks and fleas.
- Healthy and well-managed diet.
- Bath dog with a proper shampoo
- Check dog skin regularly with your hands.
Conclusion
So, as you can see for yourself, there is no single answer to how to make my dog’s coat shiny. There are several ways in which you could go about it. It could be a healthy diet, proper grooming, natural supplements, and consistent supervision by the doctors.
This way, you would be able to keep a check on the dog’s health. Your precious fur angel would have a shiny and soft coat that would turn heads, and they would be healthy overall.