Hot Spot Relief is Here!
April 26, 2012 at 10:39 pm
We’re happy to announce that we now carry a wonderful new skin treatment for hot spots, dry skin, and many other serious skin irritations. Wondercide Skin Tonic Spray is an all-natural product made with organic neem oil and essential oils of lavender, atlas cedar, and lemongrass. It also contains organic jojoba, karanja, and coconut oils that offer tremendous skin moisturizing benefits. This combination of essential oils and moisturizing ingredients is beneficial for both dogs and people, but the essential oils do make it unsuitable for use with cats.
Conditions that also benefit from Wondercide Skin Tonic include:
- Dry & Itchy Skin
- Skin Irritations
- Dry Scalp
- Hot Spots
- Rashes
- Burns
- Fungal Infections
- Ringworm
- Insect Bites
- Mites
- Mange
Stop by and ask us about this wonderful new product and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have and show you how to apply it and get your dog on the road to relief!
Reduce Dog Shedding by 75% in a Month
April 17, 2012 at 9:42 pmI spend a lot of time cleaning dog hair off of floors, so I have a strong motivation to learn how to keep as much of it on the dog as possible. Shedding hair, particularly at certain times of the year, is normal. What’s not normal is the kind of shedding problem where large amounts of hair billow off the dog every time he shakes or massive deposits of loose coat wind up sticking to your hand every time you run it along his side regardless of season. It’s the type of shedding that keeps you up late shopping online for a vacuum cleaner named after a natural disaster, and it may very well be indicative of a problem. The good news is that it’s a problem that’s usually solved rather easily.
Setting Expectations
Before discussing the remedy for excessive shedding, it’s important to set your expectations. Dogs shed. If your dog has hair on its body, that hair will come off at some point. Most of the increasingly popular “non-shedding” breeds should actually be called “low-shedding.” They may shed significantly less than a German Shepherd or a Labrador, but they still shed. The acceptance of at least a little loose dog hair on your floors, furniture, and clothing is part and parcel of the dog-owning experience.
The good news for those who are buried in a decidedly abnormal avalanche of hair is that there are a few simple things you can do to dramatically reduce the shedding, and by extension, the amount of cleanup. Most of these suggestions are not expensive, but a few of them will require effort and consistency.
What Not to Do
Let’s begin with a few things you shouldn’t do to reduce your dog’s shedding. First, consistency over time in the grooming process is key, so letting the problem build and then attempting marathon brushing and deshedding sessions won’t be effective. Keep up with the physical maintenance of the coat, don’t let it go and then try to fix the entire problem in one sitting.
Second, please don’t shave your dog to reduce shedding. This is a bad idea for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that dog skin is not adapted to direct exposure to sunlight. Humans have earned their ability to expose naked skin to the elements through millennia of evolutionary adaptation. Dogs have not had this advantage and so their skin is extremely susceptible to damage from the elements. It is also worth noting that the double coat of most dog breeds acts as insulation from both heat and cold. I’ve seen a great many huskies and chows who can bask in the sun comfortably on a 100+ degree afternoon. Shaving their protective outer coat can make them less capable of handling the heat rather than more. Some breeds, poodles, bichon frise, cocker spaniels, etc., are fine with being cut short, but most dogs require at least enough length to leave their guard hair longer than the undercoat.
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