What are some of the most common skin and coat problems in domestic pets?

Skin and coat problems are very common among domestic pets and appear to be on the increase. They include:

* Abscesses
* Skin odors
* Eczema
* Allergic dermatitis
* Contact dermatitis
* Dandruff
* Hair loss
* Warts
* Puppy acne
* Seborrhea

What are the causes of skin and coat problems?

Toxins are routinely eliminated through the skin, and skin and coat problems can often indicate a number of underlying concerns including toxin overload, anxiety, thyroid problems and a compromised immune system.

Other causes of skin and coat problems include:

* bacterial and fungal infections;
* fleas (some pets develop a hypersensitivity to fleabites)
* dietary allergies
* allergies to certain irritants (e.g. commercial pet shampoos)

What is Skin and Coat Tonic?

PetAlive Skin and Coat Tonic contains a combination of especially selected herbs, nutrients and biochemic tissue salts known for their tonic and healing effect on the skin and hair.

Whether your pet has a chronic or acute skin condition or whether he just needs a bit of a help after a bout of illness, PetAlive Skin and Coat Tonic will quickly help to restore shine and health, as well as healing most chronic and acute skin conditions.

While moving your hand over your dog’s coat you might occasionally feel a bump under the skin. Chances are that if you have been able to locate one, a veterinarian will be able to find a few more since he is skilled and trained. Dog skin problems like bumps in the skin is as common an occurrence as feline acne and feline hair loss. Even though these conditions are common, they should not be treated carelessly. Such problems should not be considered as minor conditions of pet hair and coat disorders like canine and cat dandruff.

But spotting a bump on your dog need not be a cause of panic also. In most cases, bumps turn out to be harmless mass of fatty tissue. Such non-cancerous lumps like cysts, warts, infected hair follicles and swellings filled with blood can cause discomfort to the dog. But they are localized skin problems that have little impact on the overall health of the dog.

There are many reasons why these bumps appear on dog skin. Sebaceous cysts form due to plugged oil glands under the skin. Cysts that are a combination of dead cells, sweat or clear fluid often disappear on their own.

Being the largest and the most exposed organ of the body, pet skin is likely to be affected with mild to severe conditions. One of the major dog skin problems arise from allergies. Allergies can cause canine or feline acne. Allergies may arise from contact with an allergen or from food that does not suit your pet.

Before starting treatment for any type of allergy it is of paramount importance that you establish the cause of allergy. It is erroneous to assume that only new foods cause allergies and consequent itching. The truth is that any food can cause an allergic reaction in dogs – new or old. The commonly known skin condition of ‘hot spots’ can develop if your dog becomes allergic to his routine diet that he is no longer able to digest.

Food allergy often forms a typical distribution pattern and your veterinarian is the best guide in this matter. You can suspect food allergy in your dog in conditions where:

* there has been poor response to treatment for mange
* there is little or no improvement on administration of steroidal treatment
* the dog has not previously experienced any seasonal allergies

An expert can ascertain the general health of a pet simply by keenly observing the skin and coat. Dry skin tends to spoil the glossy coat and often leads to excessive itching and scratching in pets.

Before you do anything about it, it is advisable that you ensure that the dry skin and the resultant itching is not a result of parasitic infection, immune mediated diseases, allergy or bacterial and fungal infection. Such disorders require immediate attention of a veterinarian and are better treated systematically.

Conditions like dog or cat dandruff, flaking dry skin and canine or feline acne can be addressed with diet supplements, healthy nutritional diet and medication.

Winter dries human skin, especially hands and feet and we need to keep the skin moist by applying different sorts of crčmes and lotions. Just like humans, dogs too face skin problems during winters. To ensure that your dog’s coat and skin remains in good condition you need to remember certain basic aspects of dog skin and coat care.

After having given you a lifetime of love, loyalty and companionship, a senior dog needs a reason to live in its older days. Even though it remains debatable whether dogs experience emotions like humans or not, they definitely deserve the same compassion as any other senior member of your family.

With advanced age, senior dogs become more vulnerable to the same dog skin problems that they had to face while young. The skin is the first line of defense against the attacks of external pathogens. And senior dogs are prone to have a dry skin and loose some of the shine of their coats as oil secreting glands slow down. Graying hair and a dry skin are the key indicators of advancing age.

An itchy skin is common in all dogs but it occurs more frequently in senior dogs. As senior dogs are more vulnerable to environmental irritants and external parasites, fleas and ticks, an itchy skin in seniors require immediate attention lest they cause secondary infections.

Cats are excellent at self-grooming. Besides other reasons, they groom to heal wounds and minor abrasions with the ‘antiseptic saliva’. However, the cat tongue is rough and during the process quite a few loose or dead hair tend to stick to it, which are then swallowed. Hair tissue is not easily digestible and accumulates in the cat’s stomach or intestinal tract, forming what we know as a ‘hair ball’. A cat retches out the hair ball when it irritates the stomach. If the hair balls do not pass out with stools, they can block the intestinal tract leading to loss of appetite, constipation and weight loss.

Formation of hairballs is natural in cats. Unlike medical and physical conditions like feline hair loss, cat dandruff and feline acne, it does not require any complicated process for prevention. If you pay good attention to hair growth and hair shedding in your cat, you will be able to limit the accumulation of hairballs in the cat’s body.

Comb your cat’s coat regularly, preferably daily. Use a comb that helps you in removing dead hair effectively. The choice of the comb should depend upon the breed of the cat that you have and the length of the hair. If the dead and loose hairs are removed regularly your cat will tend to swallow lesser hair in the process of self-grooming.

Ticks on a dog (or any animal or human) can be a serious problem. These wingless parasites are not insects, but are actually related to mites and spiders. Many people are suprised to learn that there are over 850 tick species, about 100 of which are capable of transmitting potentially serious diseases.

The tick’s sole mission is to wait for some human or animal to brush against them so they have a wonderful new host to feed from. Because ticks can feed on many hosts, they can easily spread diseases between animals and humans. This is why it is very important for you to check your dog periodically, especially during the summer months, for any ticks that have decided to hitch a ride with your favorite canine.

Ticks Can Cause Lyme Disease

One tick in particular that you should watch out for is the Deer Tick. This tick is about the size of a pinhead in its nymphal stage and adult deer ticks are smaller than most normal ticks. Deer ticks are known to spread Lyme disease, a multi-system bacterial infection, which often has to be treated with antibiotics. Unfortunately, some animals won’t show any symptoms of Lyme Disease although they may be infected and this can make it difficult to diagnose and treat. An additional problem is that the body does not develop an immunity to this disease, so you and your pet can be reinfected by new tick bites.

How can toxins affect my pet?

Daily exposure to a wide variety of toxins can seriously affect your pet’s health.

A highly processed, chemically-enriched diet filled with colorants and preservatives; drinking chlorinated water, regularly wearing a commercial flea collar, daily being exposed to second hand cigarette smoke, insecticides and pollution – all these are just the tip of iceberg when it comes to the toxins affecting our pets.

Exposure to toxins can weaken a pet’s immune system and damage his body’s natural ability to fight off disease. Domestic animals are provided with food which they do not have to hunt for and which is not always suited for their bodies.

In addition, they are often exposed to a lifestyle which contributes to sluggish metabolism, underactive thyroids and livers which are not able to remove toxins or eliminate unwanted fat from their bodies.

The first step in helping your pet eliminate toxins from the body is to examine lifestyle factors like diet and exercise. Most of us are so used to feeding our pets commercially produced food that the thought of doing anything else seems very strange. But just as we need to eat a range of foods to ensure we remain healthy, so do our pets. And the more natural and unprocessed the better.

A yeast infection is a typical example of a beneficial organism revolting and causing harm if other systems of the body are not functioning properly. Yeast, a single-celled fungus that reproduces asexually by budding or division is present in the body and intestinal tracts of a dog. In a healthy dog, yeast identifies and destroys harmful bacteria and is controlled by the immune system.

A weakened immune system drastically reduces the number of friendly bacteria in the body. Without the active support of these friendly bacteria, yeast undergoes a dramatic change from a non-invasive and sugar fermenting organism to an invasive and mucus damaging organism. This is the start of a primary yeast infection. Secondary yeast infection occurs when yeast penetrate skin that has already been damaged by scratching or injury.

Skin problems in dogs and other pets produce symptoms that can bring about significant changes to the look of your pet. Conditions like canine and feline acne, dog and cat dandruff, dog ear mites, pet intestinal parasites, imbalanced diet and eczema can cause an itchy skin. The resultant scratching can lead to skin damage and this increases the risk of penetration by yeast. Yeast infection mostly affects moist parts but can prevail in almost any part of the skin.

The most common allergic skin disease in the dog develops when certain dogs become hypersensitive to flea bites. The allergic agent is contained in the saliva or mouth parts of the flea and is injected into the dog when the flea feeds. The disease usually occurs during the warm months and is commonly called summer eczema.

The disease begins near the tail-head of the rump of the dog. The animal will scratch or rub this area intensely, causing the hair to fall out and often ulcerating the skin. In severe cases the hair loss can become more generalized and involve large areas of the body.

Although the disease occurs more commonly in the summer months, many dogs will show signs constantly throughout the year. The flea can complete its life cycle in the home environment and thus can cause constant irritation to hypersensitive dogs.

Therapy is aimed at flea control on the dog, on other pets, and in the dog’s environment. In addition, specific therapy can be instituted to control the signs and affected dogs. Cortisone-type drugs will relieve the symptoms of the allergic reaction. Injections of flea allergy extracts have also been useful in helping certain dogs with their flea allergy.