Now that I have my dog back (thank you married housing), I am going to tackle the issue of her skin problems.  I still believe she has a flea bite allergy, ie her skin is hypersensitive to flea saliva so even when she has flea preventative, the bite will make her scratch.

Dogs, especially German Shepherds with their dry skin, will often get “hot spots” where they scratch off all the fur in a spot.  

I used to bathe her every two weeks as directed with an amino acid/ oatmeal shampoo and that seemed to help.  While living at my parents’ house the last 2 years, Moira had a flea free yard and wasn’t on any chemical topical flea preventative.  

Now on the East Coast, the flea population dies off from the freeze every year, unlike Texas.  I’m taking the opportunity to try and get Moira’s fur in good health.

My little fotolog is about as scientific as this study will get, since I’m combining factors- weather change, new oatmeal soap, and salmon oil added to her diet.

RE: oatmeal soaps- I compared ingredients in the leading (expensive) dog shampoos with Aveeno.  As it turns out the PH in Aveeno’s baby soaps and shampoos are in the same range as high end dog shampoos for about a 1/4 of the price.  I am using Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Creamy Wash made for babies with eczema.  It has the highest amount of colloidal oatmeal.  First wash went great- her fur is very soft and she hasn’t been scratching her legs today.

RE: salmon oil supplements- while there are a lot of high quality wild salmon oil supplements for dogs out there, I chose “Bear” Treats Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil for Dogs because reviews said the smell didn’t linger in the house or on the dog’s breath like others.  I can confirm this.  Plus my dog NEVER and I mean NEVER eats plan kibble (Blue Buffalo).  But with this salmon oil she happily eats the dry food.  Money saver to me and hopefully a skin help to her. I will be taking photos weekly to see how her skin recovers with these changes in environment, food, and bathing routine.