That’s right, the skin is the largest organ in the body. We don’t usually think of it this way, but if you put your skin on the scales (don’t try this at home), it would tip the balance on even your liver or your brain. 

How to prevent dogs from itching

The best way to give your dog great skin is to feed great food. It’s the same with us. We’re omnivores so lots of fruit and veg with a bit of meat (if you’re not veggie or vegan) is just the ticket. Dogs are carnivores which implies they eat meat. They don’t. If you look at their history, they eat anything that moves; mice, rats, rabbits, sheep, goats etc. They also eat prey without legs like horse, sheep and rabbit poo, a little grass, berries and rotting carcasses. They have evolved to thrive on this varied diet, unlike cats, obligate carnivores, who are designed to kill and eat exclusively fresh mice and small furry things. 

Why dogs eat poo

All the herbivore animals they eat are full of vegetable matter. This and the herbivore poo they eat gives them a ready and continual supply of plant fibre and herb nutrients and for the gut and microbiome. 

Helping itchy dogs

We can emulate vegetation gut contents with herbs and plant material. Herb mixes containing seaweed, milk thistle, wild sage, neem, parsley, cleavers, chamomile, slippery elm and many other gentle, safe, but essential nutrients are available. They can be used sprinkled onto every meal. Use a different blend each time you buy to keep a variety going into the gut for the microbiome. Alternating between our Furbalisious Skin And Fur Powder and our immune blend, for example, can be really useful for best bug function. Good internal microbiome is 90% of keeping a good external skin biome. 

Bathing itchy dogs

Giving your dog a bath is one of the most under used solution to helping them get rid of that itch. It’s important to find a shampoo that doesn’t contain any nasties like sodium laurel sulphate, SLS or other unnecessary chemicals. Almost more important is to find a dog shampoo with the right acid-base balance, the right pH, as we call it in the trade so make sure you never use human shampoo even baby shampoo is bad for dogs skin.

Dogs have a more alkaline skin pH of between 5.5 to 7.2 (where 7 is neutral, above is alkaline, below, acid). Human skin is acidic at pH 4.5 to 6.0. Using a pH balanced dog shampoo helps maintain the skin pH which in turn helps maintain a good skin biome to ward off bacterial and yeast infections. 

How to give your dog great skin? Work on the body and the bugs inside, as well as out. 

Blends to aid itchy dogs

https://herbaldogco.com/product/herbal-dog-co-furbalisious-skin-and-fur-blend/

https://herbaldogco.com/product/immune-support/