Caring for the Coat

In this blog, I'll discuss about care of the coat in dogs and cats. Your pet may have a long, medium or short hair coat. The shorter type is easier to care for. An unhealthy hair coat is bad anyways but more so in the medium and long-haired breeds. Other than specific diseases of the skin and hair, poor management is a big reason for a bad coat. Leave the specific diseases to the vet, ensure proper care of the skin and hair, and your pet will have a shiny satin coat that will humble a grizzly. Here is what you need to know.

Dogs and cats are not frequent bath-taking species. How many times have you seen wild dogs, wolves, foxes, jackals, the big cats (the Bengal Tiger is a genuine exception) or any of their kin bathing on Discovery Channel, National Geographic or Animal Planet? Mostly, you only see elephants, buffaloes, hippos and the likes of them. Why don't you see the afore-mentioned species bathing? Well, it is so because they do not bathe frequently! The same is true for domesticated dogs and cats. These animals, especially dogs, do not sweat (much) and their skin is not as productive as ours. Hence, if you are used to giving a bath to your pet at free will, then you must hold back. Except when indicated for veterinary reasons (during some skin diseases, it might be required to bathe the animal frequently to go with the topical medication), dogs and cats must not be bathed more than twice a week during (tropical) summers and twice a month during winters; for other periods of the year, you can bathe your pet once a week. The costliest shampoo or soap from the market is not the only thing that you can do for your pet's coat. Make up for the reduced bathing by increased frequency of brushing and combing. You can safely brush and comb your pet as much as thrice a day (maybe even more frequently). At least one of the brushing must be against the direction of the hair followed by brushing in the direction of hair. This will remove most of the loose hair and dirt. However, you must avoid combing against the direction of hair. Try to spend at least 5 minutes in every brushing/ combing session. Brushing and combing are also great ways to bond with your pet; they love it. Also, during these brushing and combing sessions, try to inspect the skin underneath for any early signs of skin diseases. Again, this is especially important in the medium and long-haired breeds.

Nutrition is just as important. I'll share a tip here. Mix two teaspoonful of soybean or sunflower oil in your pet's daily quantum of milk and see your pet dazzling in the most awesome hair coat ever. Another tip, if you are feeding your pet anything sticky (or something that may turn sticky later), make sure that your pet gets enough water immediately afterwards to gulp it down completely. Food sticking to your dog's tongue will eventually get smeared over his coat through licking; foul odor and flies will follow.

Thats all for now. Send in your feedbacks and queries below (as comments). You can also mail me at vetchums@gmail.com. Bubye.