Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Heating Season Itching and Scratching

It's getting colder. The furnace runs more often. The air in the house is dry and that is creating a problem for your pets --dry skin equals itching and scratching. One simple solution is to add a little vegetable oil to your pets daily diet. Not a lot, in fact for a small dog a teaspoon a day generally helps and for larger dogs a tablespoon a day. I like sunflower oil as it has the right kind of fatty acids to help the skin and keep the hair coat shiny. Don't over do it as the oil has calories and too much can result in digestive upset.

2 comments:

dian said...

Dr. Jim:
I am giving my dogs flax seed oil instead of vegetable oil. Is this okay?
Dian from Atlanta

dctrjim pet vet said...

Flax seed oil will do the same. Least effective are generic vegetable oils and corn oil.