Nico has, over the past two or three weeks, developed dry skin. He has scratched a couple of places until they have become very sore and then scabbed over. This is restricted to the line down the centre of his back to the base of his tail. His coat looks very dull and his ears are sore.

Those of you who remember what we went through with Sly will realise why this is such a big deal to me.

It is NOT parasite related. Neither is it mange or hot spots. We haven't changed his food, we don't switch the heating on until there are icicles on our eyelashes when we wake up in the morning and we haven't changed our soap liquid.

So I am at a bit of a loss.

I have ordered more Frontline and he has had a bath in oatmeal shampoo and been rinsed with enough clean water to fill an Olympic sized pool.

So what now?...................

I would like to add some kind of oil to his diet and herein lies my dilemma. I have always given my horses cod liver oil and they look fantastic and until now I have given it to the dogs too BUT I am now told that it is not particularly good for dogs and that salmon oil is better.

Your thoughts guys?

salmon oil is good but so is sardines in sunflower oil, you could give him a bath and use head and shoulders for dry or itchy scalps , that might help, also have you checked his anal glands that can make them itch like hell and nibble their back ends

I saw this on f/b and people swear by it Bev, I have never needed it thank god. but I remember what you went through with sly, sadly I found this after he died. but i bookmarked it just in case some one ever mentioned it again. I hope it helps hun. I will try and find out wich one of my f/b friends used it.
http://www.bobgrass.co.uk/product.html

I always use cod liver oil on my dogs Bev and they all have great coats,

You could try sardines in sunflower oil like Sue suggested Our Brogan loves it and used to suffer with dry skin but it really seems to be helping him he doesn't seem to scratch himself half as much.We also give cod liver

Hope you find something to help him soon

Is it possible he has a zinc deficiency I know we can suffer with itchy skin if we have low zinc. Just a thought

Anal glands? Never thought of that.

My horses have always looked fab on CLO too Karen and I haven't lost one yet but I heard that it is too rich in Vitamin A for dogs.

I doubt that it is dietary at all tbh as nothing has been changed but then anything is worth a try.

Thanks for the link btw Karen

kai has a tablespoon cod liver oil or sardines

I use cod liver oil and sunflower oil although not at the same time... If i run out of one i use the other... if you know what i mean...