Mary Allen
A shiny dog coat shows that the dog is doing well and is getting enough vitamins and minerals. As soon as an animal suffers from deficiency symptoms, this deficiency can be recognized quickly by its fur. It looks dull, straw-like, and no longer feels as soft. Dog fur needs a lot of care, is dependent on vitamins and minerals, and should never be let out of your sight.
Not without reason, because a changed coat can quickly be a sign of illness, deficiencies, or other changes in your dog’s body, so this change should be examined.
Experts agree that more than 30 percent of all coat and skin diseases can be traced back to a lack of vitamins or minerals. For this reason, it is important that you ensure that you always provide your dog with all the important nutrients and that you pay attention to the needs of your animal when choosing the food. If your dog suffers from a lack of certain vitamins or nutrients, it is of course far from too late, because you can now help your darling to eliminate the existing deficiency with various measures. In this article, you will learn a lot of important information about your dog’s coat as well as the most important vitamins and minerals for the dog’s coat.
Dull and lackluster fur – these could be the reasons
As soon as your dog’s coat loses its shine and looks dull and strawy, it’s time to act.
There are many different reasons why your dog’s coat may change, but it is clear that you should find and eliminate the cause so that the coat regains its shine and health.
The most common cause is deficiency symptoms. It can be observed that the affected dogs often have a vitamin or mineral deficiency. It doesn’t even have to be related to feeding the wrong food. Even with feed that is completely fine, a nutritional deficiency can arise, which is now due to the metabolism of the animals.
This comes either from illness-related or genetic disorders, which means that the metabolism does not work properly and the animal cannot properly utilize the important vitamins and minerals.
The age of the dogs and the season also plays an important role in the skin and coat of the animals. While the young dogs are full of energy and only very rarely have coat problems, the situation is different with older animals, so that dull and brittle coats can be observed more often.
The weather conditions also affect the dog’s fur and dirt and other pollutants from the environment also settle in the fur of your pet and damage it in the process. Furthermore, your dog’s skin is covered with countless dander, dead hair, and excess sebum.
These are still loose in the roots and result in an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and parasites. Unfortunately, pests that are barely visible can also be to blame for the change in the coat. For this reason, it is important that you take your dog to the veterinarian so that he can take a closer look at the animal’s coat. Furthermore, these facts mean that the natural exchange and barrier function of the skin is impaired, which can lead to irritation and infection.
What you can do now
As already mentioned, it is important to act immediately when there is a negative change in the dog’s coat. So going to the vet is the first thing you should do. This person now has the task of taking a closer look at your animal, examining the coat and skin of your dog and you should also take the food that you give your dog with you.
Always groom your dog’s coat
It is important that you regularly groom your dog’s coat and never take its function lightly. Because the dog’s fur protects the animal from injuries, the cold, and UV rays. There are different types of fur that are breed-specific and therefore have different care requirements. For example, some dogs need to be trimmed or clipped to stay healthy. It is therefore important that you inform yourself about your pet’s coat and act accordingly. Regardless of the breed or coat, it is important that you brush your dog regularly so that loose hair and dirt can be removed without causing any harm to your pet.
Fight parasites and bacteria
If bacteria or parasites are the cause of the negative change in your four-legged friend’s dog fur, it is logically very important that you fight them. If pesticides do not help, your vet will help you, who will give you various medications, spraying the fur, or giving your animal an injection to kill the parasites or bacteria.
What does a dog fur need?
Dog fur needs different nutrients. You can find out what these are below:
Sufficient essential fatty acids
Make sure your dog is getting enough essential fatty acids. If this is not the case, you can give your darling 1-2 teaspoons of vegetable fat every day over a longer period of time. You should make the amount dependent on the size of your dog and the severity of the deficiency, so that small dog breeds, such as terriers or dachshunds, now get one spoonful and large dog breeds, such as Great Danes or Bernese Mountain Dogs, get two spoonfuls. It is now important that you reduce the amount of food so that your dog does not gain too much weight due to the increased supply of calories. If a fatty acid deficiency is the cause of the dull and lackluster coat, you should notice a positive change after three weeks, but no later than eight weeks.
Proteins
Nowadays, the different types of ready-to-eat food for dogs usually have a fairly high protein content, so it is often unlikely that a protein deficiency can be virtually ruled out. However, not completely. For example, it is possible that dogs, especially after a meat-free diet, home-prepared dog food, or starvation, did not get enough protein and there is a deficiency. So if you want to prepare your own dog food, you should always find out about a very balanced composition and don’t forget the protein.
Vitamins
Vitamins A, B (B complex), E and vitamin H (H complex) play a particularly important role in coat and skin. In dogs that have a vitamin A deficiency, cod liver oil is particularly well suited to compensate for this and it is also very well accepted by the dogs. Vitamin E can be added by sprinkling some corn germ oil over the feed. The B vitamins are more of a vitamin group. The individual B vitamins are water-soluble and cannot be stored by the dog’s body, which means that these vitamins have to be ingested again and again with food. Most of the B vitamins are contained in yeast, for example, although you should make sure that you only use good yeast, such as brewer’s yeast when making your own. A lack of biotin, vitamin H, is very often to blame for falling or dull fur. This can be due, for example, to a disturbance in the intestinal flora or to increased feeding of raw eggs. Such a deficiency can be remedied with a good biotin remedy, which is available from some manufacturers specifically for dogs.
Trace elements and minerals
Minerals and trace elements are very important for dogs and take on numerous functions in the animal’s body. For example, your animal should always get enough zinc, calcium, and copper so that the iodine metabolism works. As soon as a deficiency occurs here, it has a direct effect on the fur and skin follicles. In this situation, the dog’s fur very quickly becomes dull, and colorless, and loses its beautiful shine. In the event of a deficiency, for example, a high-quality seaweed meal can help to eliminate these deficiencies. This special flour is also rich in other vitamins, so it can be used for numerous deficiency symptoms.
Conclusion
You have a very high responsibility towards your dog, which not only refers to nutrition, sufficient exercise, and affection. The care and supply of all important vitamins and nutrients also play an important role, as this is crucial for the health of your pet. Pay attention to your dog’s coat, take care of it and get to the bottom of the smallest negative change, because a strawy, dry and lackluster dog coat has a reason and can be an indication of diseases and deficiency symptoms.