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As dog owners, we always go out of our way to ensure our furry family members are healthy.
Protecting the health of your dog also means protecting your dog’s coat and skin.
Don’t you just love dogs with beautiful, lustrous coats?
Me too.
But sometimes, shedding can be a massive pain for both you and your dog (anyone who wears dark clothes knows the pain)!
When your dog begins to shed, don’t worry.
It is a natural process that enables your dog to lose old or damaged hair.
However, you need to employ some strategies to stop or minimize excessive shedding.
Before asking how to stop or minimize excessive dog shedding, it’s important to know why dogs shed!
Why Your Dog May Shed More Than Normal?
There are several reasons for excessive shedding in dogs.
Understanding these reasons is the first and most important step to stop and minimize excessive shedding.
Keep in mind that some dog breeds shed more frequently and excessively than other breeds.
Excessive shedding can also be influenced by the season, most dog breeds develop thick coats in the winter and shed what they no longer need when spring arrives!
Poor nutrition, stress, parasites, and dehydration can all lead to excessive shedding.
In some cases, excessive shedding in dogs may also be linked to health issues.
Once you understand why your dog is shedding more than usual, you can implement effective strategies to stop or minimize excessive shedding.
How Do You Stop or Minimize Excessive Dog Shedding?
Even though normal shedding is a natural process, you can employ some strategies to reduce the amount and frequency of excessive shedding.
1. Groom your Dog Regularly
When it comes to grooming, maintaining a well-defined routine is the key to success.
Regular grooming is effective to minimize excessive shedding in the short-term.
Your dog’s grooming routine should include bathing, drying, and brushing.
Bathing:
Regular baths can enhance the health of your dog’s skin and coat.
Routine baths can help you stay on top of your dog’s cleanliness and avoid the accumulation of dirt.
All-natural dog bathing products can enhance the effectiveness of your dog’s baths to keep their skin and coat healthy and minimize shedding.
Drying After a Bath:
First, towel-dry your dog. Second, use a pet dryer to remove excess moisture and loose fur.
This drying technique is perfect if your dog has long hair, just make sure not to go too hot with the dryer!
Brushing:
Just like humans, brushing your dog after a bath redistributes natural skin oils into your dog’s fur more evenly.
Brushing also removes excess and loose fur.
You can choose the best brush between rake, bristle, and a slicker brush.
Ask your vet or groomer to recommend the best brush for your furry friend.
Schedule to bathe, dry, and brush your dog weekly or bi-weekly, although this may be different depending on breed, location, and exposure to dirt.
2. Feed Them Healthy Dog Foods
Feeding your dog healthy, high-quality foods only can enhance the health of their coat.
You should always check ingredients, reviews and recalls before purchasing.
To keep your dog’s coat healthy, you should look for meat-rich dog foods.
Dogs can digest and absorb foods with high meat content more easily than grain-based fillers.
Meat-rich dog foods are perfect for promoting a healthy coat and minimizing shedding.
Unfortunately, even the best diet won’t stop shedding completely.
We suggest you compliment your dog’s diet with a skin and coat supplement.
3. Complement with Supplements
Sometimes, you may need more than grooming and a healthy diet to minimize or stop excessive shedding.
The best dog supplement for dry skin contains nutrients, minerals, and natural ingredients that can reduce the rate of excessive shedding, or stop it once and for all.
Supplements for dry skin contain zinc, biotin, and essential vitamins that support your dog’s immune system for a shiny and beautiful coat.
Insist on high-quality, certified, and positively reviewed skin and coat supplements for your dog.
4. Rule Out Diet-Related Shedding
If your dog is allergic or sensitive to specific foods, you should examine the nutrients in your dog’s food as soon as excessive shedding starts.
This will help you rule out diet-related shedding.
You can consult a vet to be on the safe side and determine whether you need to change your dog’s foods.
Natural foods or even healthy human foods like fruits are perfect alternatives for treats and snacks.
5. Increase your Dog’s Oil Intake
Dry skin is one of the causes of excessive dog shedding.
You can address dry skin directly by increasing your dog’s oil intake.
For every 10 lbs of your dog’s body weight, add one teaspoon of olive or flaxseed oil.
They are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and perfect for securing a firm coat and improve the texture of your dog’s fur.
Olive oil and flaxseed oil can fight off dandruff and are renowned for calming inflamed skin.
Fish foods like salmon, tuna, and so on are high in fatty acids and can also increase your dog’s oil intake naturally.
You can also enhance oil intake with dog supplements for dry skin.
6. Employ De-Shedding Tools
De-shedding tools are perfect for stopping and minimizing excessive seasonal shedding.
You can use de-shedding tools to minimize shedding when seasons change.
This will save you a lot of trouble with your dog shedding all that fur from their thick winter coat.
De-shedding tools can also be used in the fall to minimize shedding when your dog’s winter coats begin to grow again.
7. Hydrate your Dog Sufficiently
Sometimes, all you need to do is hydrate your dog to minimize shedding.
This is because dry dehydration can lead to dry skin and excessive shedding.
Ensure you provide your dog with access to fresh water at all times!
If your dog’s diet is too dry, you should refresh your dog’s water several times a day.
You can also hydrate your dog with juicy fruits like watermelon or switch to wet dog foods with higher moisture content.
The best dog skin supplements can help increase the absorption of water and promote moisturized skin.
8. Parasite Control
Fleas and other parasites are itchy.
Your dog will be scratching most of the time, which can increase shedding.
Parasite control should incorporate other measures like reducing skin irritation to stop or minimize shedding.
You may also need to clip overgrown nails that can loosen or pluck out hairs which may also lead to excessive shedding.
9. More Fun-Time
Stress can also lead to excessive shedding.
You can focus all your attention on your furry friend.
If your dog is distressed, pampering them with more love than usual can relieve the stress.
More love and fun-time together can do more than minimize your dog’s shedding.
It can also tighten your bond. Never underestimate the power of love (and new toys and treats)!
10. Pay your Vet a Visit
If all the above strategies fail to stop or reduce excessive shedding, you should consider paying your vet a visit.
Maybe, your dog’s shedding is due to a serious underlying issue related to their age, location, or health.
This is why it is important to get a vet’s advice on the cause of excessive shedding if symptoms proceed.
In some cases, visiting the vet should be your first move.
For instance, if your dog’s shedding leads to big bald patches, you should go to the vet as soon as possible.
You should also rush to the vet quickly if your dog develops open sores, a rapidly thinning coat, extremely dry hair, and redness, rashes, or scabs on the skin.
Conclusion
You have to employ effective strategies to stop or minimize excessive shedding.
But it requires you to understand the reason for the shedding first before you proceed.
Minimizing excessive shedding is achievable with proper grooming, a healthy diet, hydration, oil intake, and so on.
But to stop excessive shedding, you’ll need to combine several strategies and take advantage of dog supplements for dry skin and coat.
If all your strategies fail, please visit your vet.
