[tewecm]

I have a Peke, a Beagle, and a Daschund mix. All three have dry skin and paw pads. My Daschund mix digs and her nose dry and looks scraped. The vet told me to put olive oil in with their food, but I've done this for almost a month with no improvement. It should also be noted that I live in Las Vegas, NV. Any ideas?

[Kathyy]

This is a nutrition problem, try searching that sub forum. Olive oil is neutral, not good or bad. Most other vegetable oils are not good for dogs at all. Fish body oil is high in the omega acid missing from a dog's cooked diet, look into a supplement high in fish oil.

[Graco22]

I agree with Kathy. Dry skin is almost always from the inside out. Especially if all 3 of your dogs are having issues. I don't know what you are feeding, but you need to get them on a better quality diet. There is much info on this board in the dog food threads. I think you will see this problem go away with a better diet. Just because its labeled for dogs/cats to eat, does not mean that it is the best thing for each and every dog.

[tewecm]

All three of my dogs are on Science Diet

[rosemaryninja]

Science Diet is a pretty terrible brand of food. It's a bit like feeding your dogs McDonalds - it's junk food. It fills their stomachs, and keeps them from going hungry, but it's lousy for their health.

I would definitely stop by the Food forum for some suggestions on what to feed your dogs.

[Graco22]

I'm with Rosemary...and no offense to anyone that likes Hills, but, personally, I would never feed any of my animals a Hills product...I would say that is a big part of your dry skin problems. I know many vets recommend Science Diet...but there are reasons for that...and they aren't good reasons IMO. Time for a food change if I were you. Immediately.

[Coly]

Science Diet... blech!


As for the fish oil supplement.. I totally agree.. use a capsule or two a day... but make sure that you use a mercury free fish oil supplement.. I don't think that was mentioned.

[Pasofino]

I second the dislike for any Science Diet food. WAY too much junk in it that could be the cause of your dog's dermatitis.

Try a higher end food (one of the ones listed under the 2007 Dog Journal top 10) and adding flax meal or fish oil.

Fish oil is easier for a dog's system to absorb and utilized totally and high in omegas, but flax has more nutrients, high in omegas and is good fiber. I use 1T of flax meal per dog 1Xday.

I use flax meal for all my dogs as well as diatomaceous earth, for the probiotics and trace minerals.