Do Probiotics Help Dogs with Itchy Skin?
Until recently, people viewed probiotics as oral supplements only used to maintain a healthy digestive tract. Pet owners have realized that regular probiotics use also helps improve their pet’s skin by preventing skin infections and reducing itchiness. Dogs with itchy skin may portray discomfort signs such as vigorous scratching, which is not any dog parent’s best moment.
To help your dog overcome this itchiness, consider adding probiotic supplements to your dog’s diet. This article enables you to understand why your dog may be itchy, explains what probiotics supplements are, answers the question of whether probiotics help dogs with itchy skin and guides you on the best place to purchase probiotics for your dog.
Why Dogs Experience Itchiness in Skin?
You will likely ask yourself this question whenever your dog expresses itchiness signs as the first step in trying to solve the problem for your canine friend. The answer is that your dog may be feeling itchy for many reasons, and it is up to you to determine the most likely cause.
You may also visit your veterinarian to help determine the cause and help treat your dog as soon as possible since persistent itchiness may result in worse skin conditions. Below are the most common causes of dog itchiness.
1. Food or shampoo allergies
Allergies are the main reason most dogs experience this awful feeling. If your canine friend seems irritated after a bath, you may consider changing their shampoo or conditioner.
Food allergies may also result in skin itchiness. Some dogs are allergic to chicken, dairy products, or beef. If your dog has any kind of skin irritation, look for itchy signs around his belly, paws, face, and armpits to see if he has an allergy to something in his diet.
2. Environmental allergies
Most dogs experience allergy symptoms when exposed to environmental allergens such as mold spores, pollens, or dust mites, but some dogs develop these conditions year-round. Environmental allergies may cause your dog to itch, scratch, sneeze, cough, wheeze, and even vomit.
These allergies may be seasonal, so they tend to occur during certain times of the year. They may also be triggered by exposure to specific environments such as carpeting, bedding, furniture, or air conditioning vents.
3. Flea bites
Flea bites may cause pain, inflammation and extreme itchiness on your dog's skin. Mostly, fleas are found around the hind legs, rear end, or tail base. Remember, you do not have to locate a flea since the slightest bite from a flea or other parasites may cause massive skin itchiness, even if they are not attached to the skin for a long time.
4. Bacterial skin infections
Dog skin infections cause irritation and inflammation, resulting in dog itchy skin. The common cause of bacterial skin infections in dogs is a bacteria known as Staphylococcus sp. To determine if your dog’s itchy skin results from bacterial skin infections, look out for signs such as hair loss, skin inflammation, and a strong stench. Consider visiting your veterinarian and adding helpful supplements to your dog’s diet to help them overcome this irritating experience.
How can you help your Dog Overcome Skin Itchiness?
Follow these tips to help your dog overcome itchy skin:
1. Visit your veterinarian
By witnessing the aggression itchy dogs go through, you can agree that this is a serious condition that requires immediate attention. Consider reaching out to your dog's veterinarian for medical attention to help relieve your dog of this awful feeling.
2. Use CBD products for your dog
In addition to using probiotics, consider adding CBD nutrients to your dog’s diet. You may acquire CBD nutrients from CBD oils for dogs or CBD treats for dogs, both of which contain cannabinoid which helps enhance different systems in the body.
CBD oils for dogs are also known to prevent itchiness, pain and inflammation, and you may use these as sources of relief for your dog during hard itchy times. Try CBD oils and treats for dogs from Honest Paws and watch your dog overcome allergies, inflammation, pain and discomfort from itchy skin.
3. Apply home remedies to soothe your dog
You may still need to use additional soothing techniques even after visiting their veterinarian or adding supplements to your dog’s diet. These techniques will help make it easier for your dog to recover.
Some remedies you may apply may include skipping shampoo during bathtime, feeding your dog moist foods for easier hydration, avoiding hot blow dryers and ensuring your dog receives enough rest in a cozy place.
4. Offer your Dog Probiotics
You may wonder how probiotics made explicitly for your dog's digestive system got to do with skin allergies and itchiness. Well, here is the answer. Probiotics occur in different types and are effective supplements that you may consider for your dog's internal and external health.
Probiotics are designed to cater for internal health benefits such as digestion and the immune system and external benefits such as protecting your dog's skin from infections and reducing inflammation and itchiness. In addition to oral supplements, probiotics are also found in shampoos, conditioners, and itchiness preventive sprays.
If your dog’s skin itches from allergies, the Honest Paws Pre+Probiotics is here to save the day. These supplements will not only help your dog's general wellness and gastrointestinal upset but will also help maintain healthy skin free of irritation and other conditions for your dog.
What are Dog Probiotics?
While certain bacteria are harmful to our health, others, like probiotics, are helpful to our bodies and our pets’ bodies. Probiotics are live microorganisms designed to help improve your dogs' digestion. Unlike the bad bacteria that affect your dog’s health, probiotics are natural bacteria that assist with vitamin production and disease-causing cell destruction.
Probiotics also help nourish and promote the growth of good bacteria already in your dog’s body, aiding digestion and modulation of the immune system. Recently, pet parents have realized that probiotics are a great source of nutrients that help improve, strengthen and protect their dog’s skin from infections and other harmful effects. These skin probiotics may appear as shampoos, conditioners, or sprays.
Do Probiotics Help Dogs With Itchy Skin?
Yes. Probiotics help dogs with itchy skin overcome this awful feeling by offering relief from pain, inflammation and other underlying conditions that cause dogs' itchy skin. When applied topically, probiotics may also help prevent the itchy skin rash from forming by killing the bacteria that cause these rashes using their antimicrobial properties.
Probiotics also prevent itchiness by blocking skin cells against recognizing the bad bacteria that cause rashes and itchiness. Since probiotics also enhance the immune system, your dog will likely fight the bad bacteria better, resulting in shorter recovery periods. In other circumstances, probiotics reduce skin sensitivity toward bad bacteria, minimizing skin rash and itchiness.
How do Probiotics Help Dogs With Itchy Skin?
In addition to blocking skin cells against recognizing the bad bacteria, probiotics may also help dogs with itchy skin through.
1. Probiotic mechanism
Probiotic mechanism refers to how probiotics operate in your dog’s body. Given that allergies result from an overactive immune system, probiotics operate by reducing the sensitivity of cells in the body.
Probiotics can reduce the level of IgE in your dog, a protein that is a key indicator of allergy. By reducing this protein, probiotics may expose your dog to numerous bacteria, reducing allergic responses. In some instances, probiotics digest certain proteins that would otherwise cause an allergic reaction in your dog.
2. Reducing Atopic Dermatitis
Atopic dermatitis refers to allergies resulting from a dog's genetics, flea bites, or environmental conditions. Probiotics help reduce itchiness resulting from atopic dermatitis by decreasing the sensitivity of allergen-specific IgE.
This is like communicating to your dog's system that there is nothing to worry about and, therefore, no need to react. With this, the immune system does not become overactive, which reduces itchiness or the chances that itchiness will occur.
3. Enhancing Skin Microbiome
Skin microbiome refers to a community of microorganisms that live inside human and animal bodies. Far from the common belief that bacteria can only cause harm to the body, the microbiome helps ensure your dog's skin remains healthy and blemish-free.
Allergic dogs may have a lesser number of microbiomes, explaining the continued allergic attacks, which mostly result in itchiness. Probiotics help enhance the skin microbiome by replenishing these depleted levels in allergic dogs, helping to reduce skin allergies and reactions to these allergies.
4. Reducing Gut Problems
Scientists relate gut problems to disorders such as atopic dermatitis. Consider using probiotics for dogs whenever you suspect your dog is suffering from gut problems. These supplements will help alter the gut microbiota helping your dog overcome the gut problem without experiencing allergy-like symptoms that might cause itchiness.
Again, probiotics alter the normal functioning of the immune system to help it fight different allergic reactions without much effect on the body.
5. Soothing and Alleviating Symptoms
If allergies have already occurred, leading to skin irritation and itchiness, probiotics may help soothe or alleviate symptoms. Like most other supplements, the probiotics help improve the immune system and reduce the chances that it will overreact, causing further allergic reactions from the environment, food or shampoos and conditioners. These supplements may also help your dog relax as they recover from skin itchiness.
Where to Get the Best Probiotics Supplements
Any pet parent would be lying if they said they could give their pets any supplement without first scanning for the best in the market. All pet parents, like human parents, wish the best for their pets, which means digging deeper to get the right supplements in the market.
Lucky for you, this article brings this information right at your doorstep. It introduces Honest Paws, a company known for its reliable supplements for cats and dogs, including probiotics.
Depending on your pet's type and needs, you can choose the best probiotic supplement at Honest Paws from the comfort of your couch. This company offers probiotics for cats and dogs and clear instructions on how to use these supplements.
For dogs, consider trying the Well Pre+Probiotics supplements with chicken flavor. These supplements are easy to administer since they are in the form of sticks. You may offer one stick per day to your dog to ensure they benefit fully from this probiotics' goodness. Below are the benefits of using this supplement on your dog's skin and overall health:
- It helps your dog overcome seasonal allergies, therefore, reducing dog itchiness.
- It supports healthy digestion, ensuring your dog can digest even foods it was previously allergic to without any problem.
- This probiotic ensures a healthy gut flora, reducing chances for atopic dermatitis, which may later result in skin irritation and inflammation.
- The supplement helps support the immune system and develop the cognitive system.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are probiotics for dogs?
Probiotics are living bacteria designed to boost one's body functioning upon digestion or application. Contrary to the belief that bacteria can only cause harm, probiotics enhance normal body functioning and ensure your dog's skin remains healthy and robust. They may appear as oral supplements or be added to dog shampoos or conditioners to ensure direct contact with your dog's skin.
2. Is it okay to give probiotics to your dog every day?
Yes. There is no harm in giving probiotics to your dog every day. Giving the right amount of probiotics to your dog every day helps the supplements accumulate in your dog's body, allowing your dog to benefit fully from the goodness of these supplements. If you purchase the Honest Paws Well Pre+Probiotics for dogs, ensure you administer one stick per day to your dog to ensure they receive the full benefits of these supplements.
3. Do probiotics help dogs with itchy skin?
Yes. Probiotics help dogs with itchy skin overcome this awful feeling by interacting with your dog's immune system and skin cells to change how they interpret attacks from allergic reactions.
Since allergies are the main reasons why most dogs' skin itch, reducing these allergic effects helps relieve your dog from itchiness. Probiotics also enhance the skin microbiome, which ensures your dog's skin remains strong and healthy, leading to more skin infections and itchiness resistance.
Probiotics are beneficial for dogs because they reduce skin itchiness. Different brands offer different benefits, so it is important for owners to know what kind of probiotic works best for their pet.
Honest Paws offers the best probiotics and other CBD products to improve your cats' overall health and wellness. Visit our store to find out what products we offer. If you have any concerns or questions regarding a particular product, please do not hesitate to contact us today!
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