dry skin in cats

kathy5 · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:55 pm Post subject: dry skin in cats

hello everyone it has been to long

taz & emily are doing great!

I have a question about dry skin in older cats

the other day I had to cut a few matts from taz's fur
he is 13 & I guess not cleaning as well as he used to.
anyways I noticed that after I cut the matts out that he had a lot of skin dander I mean a lot no fleas just dry skin
I did a search online & found a few things that it could be

food
grooming
& more serious stuff like lives & thyroide desise

any thoughts on things I can do?
I would take him to the groomers but he is getting older I do not want to stress him out even tho he is an angel at the groomers

any Idears would be great

as for food what is a good food for a 13 year old cat & a 2 year old cat that will help with the fur
Kathy

Mary_NH · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:49 pm Post subject:

matts can sometimes be a gathering place for dandruff cause the cat can't clean.
Ever try bathing him?
You can get really good gentle shampooes that'll help. When Dixie Chick first got here she had dandruff so bad it literally fell off her when she walked. I got a good shampoo and gave her a couple of baths. Dandruff problem cleared right up.
The siamese she came in with had matts which were cut off and she also had dandruff bad. She got a bath (I felt HORRIBLE bathing a poor blind kitty who didn't know what was going on). Helped her too.

kathy5 · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 3:17 pm Post subject:

thanks
what type of shampooh do you use?
kathy

faeriedust1127 · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject:

you could try a moisturizing oatmeal shampoo. Sometimes skin problems can be the result of allergies to certain ingredients in your cats food. Now that your kitty is older, he is probably not as resiliant as he used to be so more suseptible(sp?) to that sort of thing. Does the food you feed contain a lot of grain in it? You could try feeding a high quality food in an allergy formula. Natural Balance makes one with Venison and green peas that my cat really likes. I'm sure there are plenty of others, but thats just one suggestion. You could also try giving him a brewers yeast tablet daily as it is supposed to help with skin issues and excess shedding. Also brushing daily is good to help evenly distribute your cat's natural skin oils and prevent dry patches. One other thing you can try is finding a fish oil supplement or make sure that the food you feed has a decent amount of omega 3's. hope that helps!

Mary_NH · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:10 pm Post subject:

I have Virback animal health Allergroom.
Can be used on normal or dry skin for dogs and cats
hypoallergenic, emollient, restoring, antiseborrheic
stuff works great.
not sure where it came from cause it was given to be when MaiTai and Dixie were brought up by a siamese rescue volunteer. This woman shows cats and she uses it all the time. I follow up the rinse with a 2nd rinse of 1/4 of white vinegar mixed with 2 cups of warm water to make sure I get all the soap residue off. Works well.

Mary_NH · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:16 pm Post subject:

this is basically the same thing
http://www.1800petmeds.com/pdetail.asp?SK=10529&SP=cat