Our pet's skin is delicate and yet extremely resilient. But it needs to be cared for in order to retain its health.

Good skin condition is not down to chance.
A combination of factors will affect it, including:

• disease
• illness
• poor nutrition
• medication
• everyday scrapes and injuries.

These all need to be managed to avoid causing skin ill-health.

Pet Skin Care Tips

Bathing

Now to help keep our dogs and other pets clean many of us will give them a bath. But they don't usually need to be bathed that often. It's important to keep baths to a minimum.

This is because bathing can increase the chance of developing dry, flaky skin, through the removal of natural oils.

If you're not sure how often your pet needs to be bathed, speak to your Veterinary Surgeon for advice. Particularly if your animal has a skin condition - you could inadvertently make it worse.

When you bathe your pet:

• Use warm water;
• Bathe in a warm place - not on cold day outside, or your pet could get a chill and is unlikely to enjoy the experience!
• Use a mild shampoo - and as natural as possible with ingredients kind to your animal's skin.

Pet Grooming Product Tip:
You don't necessarily need to use a shampoo that is branded as being for dogs, horses, cattle (or whatever your animal is). For instance my favourite shampoo's are the Aloe Liquid Soap or Aloe Jojoba Shampoo in my Forever aloe range. (Please email me for ordering information!).

How To Dry Your Pet After Bathing?

Don't use a blow dryer - it's easy to have it too hot or too noisy for your animal, and also many won't like it - a bath should be an enjoyable experience, not a trauma!

Some professional showing producers will use blow dryers on horses or cattle tails, to get a "show-finish", but if it's a warm day then your animal will dry of quickly. & you can always brush tails afterwards to get them full and flowing!

After washing your horse or other livestock, putting a fleece or sweat rug will help them dry off without catching a chill.

Your dog can be dried gently with a clean towel.

Grooming Your Pet

Brush your animal regularly. Brushing improves circulation. And clean, unmatted fur will help your animal to regulate his/her temperature. Generally making him/her feel good and healthy.

Brushing also helps distribute the skin's oils around your animal's coat, and help promote a healthy shiny coat.

Trimming or clipping an animal's coat can be essential (e.g. for a horse being exercised in winter, a clip can help prevent chills developing through getting too hot and sweaty). But don't trim/clip more than you need to.

To help your animal's coat to be at the right length/thickness, there's nothing better than a good groom with a high quality brush, it will remove hair and should leave a healthy shiny coat.

If you're unsure about clipping/trimming, speak to a professional groom or your Veterinary Surgeon.

Massaging Your Pet As Part Of Grooming

Massaging your pet is an excellent way to help promote circulation and a healthy coat. If you're not sure how to safely massage your pet. Or the best techniques why not attend a massage for pet owners course. There are many short-courses for dog or horse owners, for instance.

Some brushes are promoted as having "massaging effect" but massage can be far more than this, so treat your animal to a proper massage - it's also great for bonding.

Find out more about massage and other natural animal therapies here at Taranet. Or read other articles in this Natural Pet Health Blog. Take a look at the sitemap here to explore!

About the Author

Suzanne Harris is founder of this Taranet website at www.taranet.co.uk, and also provides business coaching to horse and dog care and veterinary professionals.