Dog Shampoo & Cat Shampoo

Pet Shampoo

Shampoos for dogs and cats are not the same as shampoos for people.

1. Pet skin is not as acidic as human skin.
2. Pet skin is thinner than human skin.
3. Pet skin doesn’t have sweat glands, except in the footpads.

Human shampoos Human shampoos are designed for a more acidic skin with many sweat glands and are often too harsh for pet skin. Inexpensive, harsh, or detergent-type shampoos harm delicate pet skin and strip essential skin oils. These human shampoos were designed to remove dirt and “products” like hair spray and mousse from human hair. Occasionally using an expensive, moisturizing human shampoo is fine for pets, but using human shampoos consistently can make pet skin unhealthy. Rather than using human shampoos routinely, use a product engineered to benefit pet skin. 1-800-PetMeds Oatmeal & Aloe Shampoo is one of the best pet shampoos.

Soothing pet shampoos
Soothing pet shampoos remove grease and odors from the pet’s skin without stripping skin oils. These pet shampoos ease skin irritation and leave flea and tick topical medications intact because they are formulated with special ingredients, including emollients. Emollients increase the moisture in the skin so that skin and hair remain soft and flexible. Among the ingredients used in soothing shampoos are oatmeal, aloe vera, Vitamin E, and fatty acids. Some soothing shampoos are also medicated shampoos. For example, Dermagard Medicated is a soothing medicated shampoo that contains hydrocortisone to relieve itching.

Examples of soothing shampoos are 1-800-PetMeds Oatmeal & Aloe, Botanical Extract, Dermagard Medicated, Relief, Tea Tree Oil, HyLyt Essential Fatty Acid, Allermyl, and EpiSoothe.

Medicated shampoo

Examples of medicated shampoos are Allermyl, Botanical Extract, ChlorhexiDerm 2% and ChlorhexiDerm 4% (Rx), Corti-Care, Dermagard Medicated, Etiderm, KetoChlor (Rx), Malaseb, NuSal-T, Oatmeal and Tea Tree Oil Infuser, Relief, Tea Tree Oil, and Vet Solutions Universal Medicated.

Dog flea shampoo and flea & tick shampoos

Long-term flea prevention doesn’t come from shampoos but from oral and topical flea treatments. For pets with flea and tick problems, use K9 Advantix, Advantage, Frontline Plus, Frontline Top Spot, Revolution, Program, or Sentinel.

Best pet shampoos to use with topical flea medications
Most topical flea treatments work by combining with oils in the skin. Gentle pet shampoos contain essential fatty acids or aloe vera that don’t strip away skin oils or flea treatments. Gentle shampoos include 1-800 PetMeds Oatmeal & Aloe, Allermyl, and HyLyt Essential Fatty Acid Shampoo.

After bathing with a shampoo, allow 24-48 hours before applying topical flea medications (Advantage, K9 Advantix, Frontline, and Frontline Plus). This time allows the natural oils to spread over the skin so the topical product can bind the oils. If you’ve just put a topical flea product on your pet, wait 24-48 hours before bathing it with shampoo.

Some medicated shampoos, such as those with tea tree oil or benzoyl peroxide, remove skin oils and topical flea treatments. For pets bathed regularly with medicated shampoos use Program, or Sentinel, Capstar, or a flea spray for protection against fleas.

Tearless pet shampoos
There are two approaches to creating a tearless shampoo: include no harsh stinging ingredients or add an ingredient that works as a topical anesthetic. Regardless of which method is used to make the shampoo, pets appreciate not having a stinging shampoo in their eyes. These are tearless shampoos: DVM Tearless, Foaming Waterless, and Blue Aloe Gel Shampoo.

Cream rinses and conditioners
Cream rinses and conditioners make it easier to comb out dog’s hair. With conditioners and cream rinses, the hair shafts become smoother so the hairs slide rather than tangle. It’s easy to think of shampoos as being for your pet’s skin but the rinses or conditioner is for the hair itself. Even with cream rinse or conditioner, matted hair is not easy to comb through, so cut matted hair out before bathing the pet.

Examples of cream rinses and conditioners are 1-800-PetMeds Conditioner, Botanical Extract Conditioner, Botanical Extract Conditioner
EpiSoothe Oatmeal Cream Rinse, and Oatmeal Protein Conditioner

The articles here were answered by a variety of pharmacists and veterinarians   Date Category Topic 12/15/06  Skin Care  SKIN PROBLEMS 12/14/06  Other  BLACK STUFF GROWING ON SKIN SURFACES 12/13/06  Allergy  DANDRUFF & SORES UNDER NECK 12/13/06  Skin Care  BUMPS AND HAIR LOSS 12/11/06  Allergy  WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP HER? 12/05/06  Skin Care  SCRATCHING 12/04/06  Allergy  LEAKY SCABY SKIN 11/30/06  Skin Care  SCRATCHING ALL THE TIME 11/29/06  Skin Care  SCRATCHING 11/25/06  Other  MANGE 11/23/06  Other  REDISH AREA WITH OOZING AND ODOR 11/21/06  Skin Care  SKIN ALLERGIED 11/19/06  Allergy  SKIN DISCOLORATION 11/18/06  Flea & Tick  FLEA CONTROL FOR 8 WEEK OLD PUPPY 11/17/06  Shampoo/Conditioner  DOG SHEDS A LOT GRERMAN SHEPARD IS NORMAL FOR THIS BREED 1 2 3 4 5 »»

 

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