How to stop your dog from scratching all the time.

Dr Nat’s top tips on how to soothe your dogs skin itch.

It’s time I talked about skin issues.

The skin in the largest organ in the body.¹ It is also the one organ we get a good look at from the outside. Skin issues can often be a reflection of what’s going on with our over all health.²

Itchy dogs are common. Why I hear you ask? Well for all sorts of reasons. Some causative factors are simple – like flea allergy dermatitis (FAD) and others much more difficult to figure out. Often there is a dietary component. But sometimes its an allergy to an environmental factor like grasses, pollens and other plants. It can also be much more complex again like an auto-immune condition. With so many different causes it’s hard to have a one fits all magical cure (unless you are content putting your dog on corticosteroids for life). However, there are lots of things you can do to manage it yourself, lower your pets itchy thresh hold and perhaps even solve it altogether.

The first thing you need to understand is that the skin, gut health and the immune system are all intimately linked. A huge portion of the immune system is actually in our GI tract.³ There is a lot of interaction between the immune system and bacteria in the gut.³ Research is slowly starting to discover how the composition of the microbiome in the gut changes in different disease states.³ Thus as diet can impact gut health and gut health impacts the immune system; this can make an impact on skin health. In fact recent research suggests that skin microbiome has more diversity when pets were fed less processed food for 30 days.⁴ Research has shown that damage to the gut can lead to autoimmune disease.⁵ Thus more damage to the gut and the longer the gut has had issues for the more likely it is that your pet will develop an autoimmune condition. It is also important to know that using steroids such as prednisolone long term can increase the risk of leaky gut and perpetuate issues such as autoimmune disease.⁶

Tip number 1

Feed a non-processed diet. Ideally a raw diet.

There is more and more evidence to support that dry food kibble diets are making our pets sick. This highly processed food is highly inflammatory and not species appropriate. Changing itchy skin dogs onto a raw diet solves around 70% of skin cases. One of the major reasons for this is grain allergies. There are grain free kibble options these days but they are still not good for gut health. These are still really highly inflammatory due to being processes at such high temperatures and their high carbohydrate content. See my post on feeding raw diets and how to change to a raw diet for more information. If a raw diet is really not an option for your pet then a freeze dried food like Frontier pets is another good choice. Use my code DRNAT for 10% off.

Tip number 2

Support your pets gut health.

More often than not the patients I see for skin issues also have some gut trouble (this includes ear problems as the ears are an extension of the skin). It might only be mild like the occasional vomit or loose stool. If this is your pet then they will almost definitely benefit from my Restore digestion tonic. I highly recommend you add this to their food once a day. I have seen so many pets with gut issues benefit from this. This contains probiotics and supports digestion.

Nourish Pet Tea is my new product to heal heal the gut over time. It can be mixed into food, added to broth or syringe fed.

Make sure your pets water is filtered (and not chlorinated). Chlorine impacts on the gut health and immune system negatively.

Tip number 3

Don’t bath too often.

There are so many medicated and non-medicated shampoos available it is hard to know what to do here. If your dogs skin is NOT an infected weepy scabby mess then you should NOT use a medicated shampoo (unless prescribed by your veterinarian).

When the skin itself looks fairly normal with minimal broken skin or scabs then I would recommend NOT shampooing at all (unless this obviously brings relief to your pet). Instead try bathing them in green tea or chamomile tea! It might sound crazy but when you are kept awake by an itchy dog half the night I bet your willing to try anything and this my friend brings some dogs a lot of relief. Much more than most shampoos (which are actually striping all the good natural oils and microflora away from your pets coat.)

Use 1 tsp or 1 tea bag to 1 cup of hot water (make 1L or more for a large dog). Brew then let it cool. Once cool rinse your dog with water then pour the green tea over them instead of shampooing them. Let this sit for 10mins then dry them off. After this you can apply my Shield skin and coat spray.

Tip number 4

Use Dr Nat’s Shield skin and coat spray

I designed this spray to help maintain and re-establish the balance of microflora back to the animals coat. It can be sprayed on or wiped on if the pet prefers (some don’t like being sprayed). Use a cloth to wipe your dog down with Shield skin and coat spray at the end of the day to help remove pollens and environmental triggers. Particularly focus on the feet. This will help sooth their itch overnight. However don’t spray it directly onto open wounds as it may sting when concentrated. Apply my calendula Soothing Balm (coming soon) to any broken skin before spraying. Some dogs may find this spray a little to strong in which case you can dilute it down with water.

If you take your dog to the beach be sure to rinse the salt and sand of them as soon as possible then spray then with the Shield skin and coat spray.

The herbs selected in the shield skin and coat spray have been shown to be helpful in preventing parasites.

Tip number 5

Use Dr Nat’s Defend Immune Tonic

The Defend Immune Tonic was the first product I designed with the intention to support gut and immune health long term. It contains garlic as well as a number of other herbs. Garlic has been shown to be particularly beneficial to skin health as well as a whole lot of other health benefits including preventing cancer. The herbs selected have also shown to be helpful in preventing parasites. Both my tonics are contain wild caught probiotics which are also extra beneficial to skin, gut and immune health… the triad we are dealing with here.

Tip number 6

Fish oil

I recommend using a high-grade practitioner only fish oil to support the skin health. Alternatively you can feed sardines. A daily tin of sardines (in spring water) is equal to a dose of fish oil.

Tip number 7

Detox

Like I said at the beginning the skin is the warning sign telling you the body is not as healthy as it should be. Along with all the things I just mentioned; detoxing can play a really important role in getting back to full health and maintaining this health. Unfortunately our pets are exposed to a lot of chemicals. Just as a tiny example they are bare foot and they sleep on the floor absorbing all the chemicals we clean with or contained in the materials they are on such as carpet. We also regularly treat them with antiparasitic chemicals and other medications like vaccines. Their poor little body’s really cop it (remember they are so much smaller than us – in most cases). Thus detox is really important and I recommend a weekly liquid fast day.

a) Fast once a week using bone broth diluted 50% with warm water. Check out my blog post for more info on fasting and a recipe on how to make your own broth. 

b) It is best to feed your adult dog just once a day. However, if you need to give meds or supplements in the morning; do this with a little food as late in the morning as you can and then feed as early in the evening as you can to keep the nightly fasting window as long as you can. 

c) Chlorella is excellent to help detox. Add a pinch of this to meals (you can find it in health food shops).

d) Activated charcoal is also excellent for detoxing. Feed 1/4 tsp of activated charcoal (or one tablet) in the morning of the fast day (away from the main bone broth meal). You can get activated charcoal tabs from the chemist or a health food shop. 

e) Homeopathics can be helpful to help detox from vaccines. Dogs and cats are pumped full of vaccines – often still yearly and this can contribute to health issues. See my blog on vaccines for further reading.

Woah! I know this is a lot! But skin is not simple. Often it is a result from years of accumulated damage. Here are the gold nuggets to getting your pet back on track to health. This protocol will likely help if not close to fix most skin problem dogs. But it definitely will not cure all of them. When I treat skin cases I am also often using other herbs and homeopathics. I have a lot of success using these natural therapies however I am not always able to cure all of them. Those that I can’t cure are usually the ones that have had issues for a long time and been on many other medications and kibble diets before seeing me. I think often these pets overall health is so extremely damaged that it takes a long time for them to improve. On the other hand I find the young dogs or those that have not had many medications particularly if they have been on a raw diet and have reasonably good gut health; respond much quicker and are more easily cured in just a few visits.

Dr. Nat’s Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only. Please consult the advice of your veterinarian for specific questions about your pet. Consult’s are available with Dr. Nat here.

Source:

1. Fathi, R., MD FAAD (2022, November 30). Skin Layers. Medline Plus. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/8912.htm#:~:text=The%20skin%20is%20the%20largest,bacteria%2C%20chemicals%2C%20and%20temperature.
2. How skin reflects your health. Premier Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://premierdermde.com/how-your-skin-reflects-your-health/
3. Fields, H. (2015, November 1). The Gut: Where Bacteria and Immune System Meet. Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/research/advancements-in-research/fundamentals/in-depth/the-gut-where-bacteria-and-immune-system-meet
4. Becker, K. S., Dr (2022, December 12). Using Food to Help Manage Your Dog’s Skin Health. Healthy Pets. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://healthypets.substack.com/p/food-for-dog-skin-health?utm_source=email-ufi
5. Ellenport, V. (2020, October 8). Healing Your Gut is the 1st step to Reversing Autoimmune Disease. The Nutrition Factor. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://thenutritionfactor.com.au/healing-your-gut-is-the-first-step-to-reversing-autoimmune-disease/#:~:text=Research%20shows%20that%20the%20digestive,diseases%20of%20the%20immune%20system.
6. Holtorf Medical Group (2020, May 11). 6 medications that can cause leaky gut syndrome. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from https://holtorfmed.com/articles/gut-health/6-medications-that-can-cause-leaky-gut-syndrome