Is Your Dog's Shedding Under Control?

by Deb Dempsey
Co-Owner of Mouthful's Pet Boutique

Are you fed up with your dog's shedding? As the weather warms, this is a problem we hear in our store on a daily basis. Rather than offering a tool to remove the dead, shedding undercoat, we instead start out by asking what type of food the dog is eating.  

Usually, a dog that sheds excessively all the time (rather than seasonally) is eating a poor-quality dog food. In our opinion, dogs that have been eating grocery-store foods like Iams (chicken by-product meal, brewers rice, corn meal, etc.) are missing out on valuable high-quality proteins. Instead, look for foods that include whole meat sources or meals from specific meat sources (i.e. chicken meal, duck meal). Just a few of our better options include Canidae, Pin ­nacle and Mulligan Stew.  

Once making the switch, I generally recommend giving it a month or so to see how much of a difference the food will make. Many people come to me af ­ter one bag of food to tell me how much better their dog's coat looks and how much the shedding has decreased. They are absolutely amazed, although I'm al ­ways quick to remind them how bad our skin looks after a month of fast food!  

By popular request, searched a product called Shed Stop by Farnam Products. Because I won't car ­ry anything in my store that I wouldn't give to my own dogs, I experimented on my Basset before I agreed to bring it in. This is a palatable liquid that is added to a dog's food daily. Much to my amaze ­ment, this product, heavy in balanced omega supplements, nearly eliminated her shedding. I was completely sold and heartily endorse this product al ­most daily.

Finally, for seasonal shedders, if you haven't heard of the Furminator, you should really give it a try. This handy shedding tool removes a ton of the dead, shedding undercoat in just one session. I always recommend doing this outside on a dry dog because you'll gather a grocery sack of hair from your shedding Labrador. You can also utilize their shampoo during shedding season, customers take advantage of their service every shedding sea ­son. It's a great idea to keep a Furminator on hand for the seasonally shed ­ding dog. If all else fails, there's always a Dyson vacuum!

For more information
www.mouthfuls.net
www.furminator.com
www.farnampet.com