# Dry feeling coat



## PoppyLove

Hello!

Please may I seek some advice? Poppy's coat has become very dry feeling over the last couple of weeks. Her skin seems fine - no dryness or itchy patches - but her coat has totally lost that soft, silky puppy feel. She's not 15 weeks yet so surely it's too early for her to develop a more adult 'woolly' coat. 

Is there something I'm doing wrong with regards to her grooming, bathing or diet? She has a bath once a week with a diluted solution of Groomer's Puppy shampoo, and my husband will give her a quick rinse with some fresh water if she comes back mucky from her morning walk (due to the dew on the grass). She's on a diet of Lily's Kitchen (the dry kibble) with a little of the wet food mixed in. For treats she has a variety - chicken, cheese, ham, and puppy treats. As she has a variety she never has very much of any of these. There hasn't been any change in her diet. 

Is there something I can add to her diet to encourage natural oils, or should I be adding something to her coat? 

Thanks


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## lady amanda

once a week might be too often for her coats natural oils...I would dial back the baths


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## PoppyLove

Yeah, its pretty frequent I know, but she gets so mucky . She's attracted to mud, puddles and water . Should I just let the mud dry and brush it out?


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## wellerfeller

Yes bathing that often will dry her coat. Rinsing is fine as often as needed but the shampoo will wash her oils out. You can also try adding a little coconut oil to her food each day and even run a little through her coat. Get a little in your hands, it will begin to melt on contact with your skin, rub your hands together and lightly run through her coat. I love the stuff!!


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## lady amanda

I use coconut oil on me too! Lady and Cricket then follow me around the house trying to get a taste! lol


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## wellerfeller

lady amanda said:


> I use coconut oil on me too! Lady and Cricket then follow me around the house trying to get a taste! lol


Me too! I eat it, moisturise with it, bathe with it. I have two jars one for eating and cooking and one for cosmetic use 
I use it on my human children as they get dry skin. It's brilliant.


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## PoppyLove

Brilliant! Thanks everyone, I'll cut back on the baths and get some coconut oil in. Here's Poppy after our walk last Sunday (she gets particularly dirty at weekends as we take her a little further afield). She had already had a dunk in the river to get rid of some of the mud when I took this.


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## Lindor

Maggie has a bath once a week with Tropiclean puppy shampoo as she gets really yucky after rolling around being silly at puppy school. I give her coconut oil on her food once a day. She's 16 weeks old and soft and silky.


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## dio.ren

Molly only gets a bath if she is super dirty....sometimes she goes a month without one. I am not sure but frequent bathing might dry out their skin? I brush her daily. Maybe her coat is changing I know Molly's changed a lot as she got older. Now that she goes to the groomer's regularly we have no problems with her but when she was a baby she would shed quite a bit....Now she doesn't shed at all!


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## Lexi&Beemer

So when they were muddy, I would let it dry and then brush it out. Now it's dirt and brushing gets it out as well. I also used shampoo with different essential oils to keep the bugs off them when they were that age and honestly, it made their coat even softer. I stopped for a while over the winter as it is quite pricey. But when I started using it again, it's as if they had their puppy coats back it's so soft. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## PoppyLove

I really hope she's not losing her puppy coat already........that wouldn't be fair! 

Hopefully it's just my obsession with having a lovely ball of clean fluff that is causing the trouble . 

What shampoos does everyone use then?


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## Tinman

Children and dogs are supposed to be dirty!!
Well they are in my household 
They try and avoid a bath at all costs....... Dirty bunch x


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## Tinman

My groomer highly recommended this .....
Demelex - it is a French product, but there is a uk supplier.
Www.caninedesign.co.uk 
It de-matts and helps with tangles, it is very sleek and has a slight silicone feel to it, to prevent the fur matting. It's not the cheapest product.
I have got one, but not had chance to use it as their coats are still so short, maybe next week I will be able to do a better review on it.


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## 2ndhandgal

Sniggering slightly at your definition of dirty for baby Poppy - if Molly comes back looking like that I consider her shiny and clean 

She prefers more this look










or this one










She gets a dunk in the sink to get the worst of the mud off her legs on the really mucky days and a proper bath with shampoo around every month to six weeks when she needs trimming


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## RuthMill

Get the coconut oil out! Use it for everything!


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## Tetley1

Hi. Just wondering which coconut oil you use to add to their food and where you get it from - sounds like fabulous stuff!!


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## PoppyLove

I'm not a clean freak honest, but I'd definitely be a bit  if poppy got as muddy as molly :laugh: . I guess I'll have to get use to it come winter.


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## 2ndhandgal

PoppyLove said:


> I'm not a clean freak honest, but I'd definitely be a bit  if poppy got as muddy as molly :laugh: . I guess I'll have to get use to it come winter.


She does not always get quite that filthy but it is rare I need to do more than stick her in the sink to get the worst of it off her legs. I have now learned my lesson and if we have something like a trip to the vets she does not come off lead that day until after the visit


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