Pregnancy - skin changes? Dry skin? - Page 1

Hello.  Does canine pregnancy predispose an animal to dry skin or dandruff?  Does fur loss increase during pregnancy ?

I believe it does since the pregnant female is using more nutrition for the babies. The female that I have that just had a litter of 11 looks great. I use a supplement from K9 Power called PUPPY GOLD.  It really helps the mom. As for the fur loss she will loose some on her belly about a week or so before the litter is born.
Hope this helps.

My female just had her litter (9) yesterday.  She is on a combo of TOTW/raw & gets regular fish oil supplement. Her coat & skin started getting drier/itchy about 30 days into the pregnancy. She also had a couple small hot spots, which she'd never gotten before.
I doubled her daily fish oil supp. & bathed her with witch hazel once a week. If she was really itchy, I'd dabb the witch hazel onto those spots. The vet did say I could give her 25mg of Benadryl twice a day on the really bad days.
Good luck, it sucks watching your dog going crazy ;)

witchhazel?  Do you dilute it - or what strength do yyou use? 

I was lucky my female kept a VERY nice coat during the whole pregancy. The only thing I had her on was her kibble, fish oils tabs and kelp. About two weeks before she had the pups I started her on the Puppy Gold from www.K9power.com and she remained looking great. I still have her on the Puppy Gold and will keep her on it until the pups are weaned. Before I bred her I started her on Show Stopper too. After the pups are weaned I am going to put her back on the Show Stopper.
Since this is a BIG litter...12 pups, but one was still born..so she has 11 live pups. She is produceing milk good for all of them.

One of the "signs" of pregnancy is hair loss on the belly.  The bitch will lose some fur on her belly to allow for easier access to the nipples once the pups arrive.  I have seen this quite clearly on previous litters, usually a few weeks before whelping.  For the rest, the bitch should keep a pretty good coat throughout her pregnancy.

- Eleni

luvdemdogs,
If it's just a itchy spot, but no open/broken skin I use it(witch hazel) full strength then dab a little gold bond medicated powder over it. If I'm bathing the dog, I just mix some w/ water about 50/50, then soak the dog for a couple minutes before drying thoroughly.
The witch hazel is noncaustic & helps cool the area. It's used for new (human) moms that tear badly, to help with the sting/itch "down there".
I've never had a dog have a bad reaction to it & my vet assured me it was fine to use.