'My dogs shed so much'

My dogs shed so much

Lucy from Hickville, USA -

I saw a thread for cats that shed so I thought I would start one for dogs. My 2 fur ball dogs shed like crazy. If I don't keep right on top of it there are small black tumble weeds all over the house. I am constantly getting the vacuum cleaner to go over the floors, chairs and couches. We brush them but it never seems to help. Oh well I guess you have to take the good and the not so good.

Comment #1 Jeanette from AZ -

A friend of mine had the same problem with her dogs, I forget what kind she had. She would come to work with dog hair all over her clothes.

Comment #2 endora (24.45.126.104) -

ISnt there a brush you can buy or some other method you can use to help with the problem? Yuck its so gross when this happens. My nose goes nuts when my cat used to shed.

Comment #3 Priscilla (24.92.102.146) -

My black labrador shed profusely, what can I do about it?

Comment #4 Brenda Wagner (190.2.226.26) -

Change their dog food! Just changing my dog´s food helped her not to shed. I thought that moving to a hot climate was the culprit, but it was the changing of her food that was affecting her.

Comment #5 Matthew (71.77.38.231) -

My dog sheds so much. I am constantly using the vacume around the house. I would try changing his food but he is already a picky eater. He just eats when he wants and what he wants. I give him a bath every few weeks due to his sisetive skin. What other methods can I use

Comment #6 Donna (98.145.178.152) -

We have a 14yr old golden retriever that sheds so much I could make a blanket out of her fur. Any suggestions?

Comment #7 Pet Lover (71.229.217.225) -

Matthew ... if you had kids and all they wanted to eat was candy, would you let them? No, you wouldn't. At least I hope you wouldn't. So why would you allow your dog to eat only what he wants? Get a grip. I'm willing to bet that the sensitive skin and shedding would be better if he was on a proper diet.

Yes, dogs can be picky eaters and they will continue to be picky eaters as long as you give into them. However, there isn't a healthy dog out there that would ever allow himself to starve to death. The way to get him eating what he should be eating is to bite the bullet and not offer him anything but what he should be eating until he eats it. If all he's offered is the dogfood he should be eating for three days ... he'll eat it and learn to like it so long as you don't allow him to bully you back into allowing him to eat whatever he wants.

Excessive shedding and skin problems are usually due to poor diet. A lot of dogs are sensitive or even allergic to corn and, but if you check the label on a lot of commercial dog food corn and/or corn gluten shows up in the top 5 ingredients. This includes a lot of Science Diet foods. You have to read the lables.

When choosing a dog food, if there is corn or corn glueten in it, skip it. If you start using a brand that doesn't have corn in it, you'll likely see improvement with haircoat and a lot of other things. (Just a note but I've seen ppl swith their foods but not pay attention to treats they give their dogs - many of the treats are also full of corn. Something to watch for.)

Finding a brand without corn isn't very hard. Nutro Ultra has no corn, works well for most breeds of dogs and is easy to find at your local petsmart. Innova and Wellness is also good but you do pay more for them than you would for Nutro. But any of those are better than anything Purina or Science Diet puts out. If you're feeding your dog Old Roy, you should be shot. The bag that stuff comes in probably more nutritious than the food.

Dogs do best with multiple sources of protein so, for example, a dog food that has chicken, fish and lamb is better than one that uses just chicken. But you'll find that a lot of "sensitive skin" diets contain mostly rice and lamb. Which is not bad if your dog has a lot of problems with his skin and coat, but something with more sources of meat protein is better.

Keeping them clean, well groomed and on a nutritious diet will help slow down the shedding. But you have to remember - they're dogs. They're going to shed. Unless you've got one of the non-shedding breeds (like poodles) you're going to have some dog hair. So don't expect a new food to elminate shedding completly.

Hope that helps.

Comment #8 Mandy (71.237.246.226) -

I have a 11 year old yellow lab. And he has always shed tons of hair. Great diet, great grooming and healthy. The Ferminator and the shedding solution have been a life savior and a vacum savior. Some dogs are more prone to shedding. I use the Ferminator brush once a week on him and the solution once a month on bath day. I also use the brush on him after the solution has set for 5 minutes. I was told about this from several vets including our own vet of 23 years. This has cut down on the hair to the point of vacuming twice a day to every other or 3rd day. Try it. We love it. Our vet says removing the extra hair also keeps skin problems down. So far we have never had a problem with his skin or allergies. Keep him clean brushed and good food. Venison is a a food choice because a lot of dogs have not been exposed to this source of meat. Our Cocker spainel had bad skin and ear problems and the venison dog food helped him greatly.

Comment #9 Olivia (63.176.159.72) - Wed Aug 19 19:31:46 2009

I think dog shedding is a normal phenomenon. It is experienced by dogs or even cats to replace their old hairs away. Animals shed to get rid of old, damaged, or extra hair. Animals grow a heavy coat in the winter to help insulate themselves and then shed the extra hair in the summer. However, dogs will also shed broken or damaged hair, and if their skin is irritated from conditions such as allergies, they will also shed excessively.

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Comment #10 cwemoy (63.176.159.38) - Wed Sep 2 17:54:38 2009

Plenty of useful information in here. It had not struck me that a high corn diet could trigger excessive hair shedding, especially in dogs. The much I knew was that once mites dig into the hair follicles, what results is that the hair begins to fall off. As a precaution then, proper grooming and teaching your dogs good feeding habits need to go hand in hand.

Comment #11 B Hart (8.2.208.4) - Sun Sep 6 14:48:24 2009

I have two poms, the female is 5 and the male is 2yrs old. The

male has long thick fur, the female's fur in not quite as long, bo

th have the mane and long back (kinky) hind ends...the shedding is just awful, its a all day long task for me. since reading about this from your emails, maybe it is the diet.I am feeding them Purina Dog Chow which they like..they also eat treat. they eat raw carrots and string beans, and boiled chicken and some white rice(probably that is wrong) is brown rice better? I don't wear dark clothes because of the hair. They both are the most loving dogs I have ever had and love them to death. They are spoiled rotten, mind really well and smart to commands. If I don't vacumn everyday everything it would get out of hand...please help!!!!

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