After Bath Irritation

[Melanie]

Jake has had extremely sensitive skin since we adopted him way back. He gets a bath about once a month.
For 2 to 7 days after his bath, Jake is especially skin sensitive. He's raw and itchy and licky. We've tried different shampoos specially formulated for sensitive skin... medicated, oatmeal, etc. We've even tried baby shampoo as recommended by people with their own sensitive skinned dogs. We have a spray we use on him that helps with hot spots and such. We also have a cream the vet recommended when things get really bad. He also takes benadryl.
Jake is a 12 year old Springer Spaniel.
We do not want to stop giving him baths, because he does need them. But we're looking for better products to use for him.

Does anyone out there have suggestions or recommendations for very mild, excellent products to use on a very sensitive dog?

[TDG]

try earthbath. all of the products are very mild, but this one might be best:

[url]http://earthbath.com/clearadvantages_pint.html[/url]

[Horsefeathers!]

One other thought... when you think you've rinsed Jake thoroughly, rinse again. One of the most common things that can contribute to post bath irritation is not rinsing thoroughly. Even a mild shampoo can be problematic if not rinsed very, very, very thoroughly. Lift ears, raise legs, get those armpits, get those groins, raise feet, flush out pads, rinse, rinse, rinse.

I'm kind of a rinse Nazi. :oops:

[imported_Cassie]

[quote]I'm kind of a rinse Nazi[/quote]
At the grooming facility I work at we also are rinse Nazi's :lol:
The worst thing is we do ALOT of big dogs such as Goldens and Newfoundland dogs...it seems to take forever to rinse off the Newf's. We rinse until the water running off the dog is clear. Then after we think we have the dog rinsed completely off, we go over it from head to toe once again. I also feel the dog completely over to feel for any "greasy" spots.

We have a sheltie at our grooming shop which was experiencing all kinds of skin problems. The owner changed the dogs food to a hypo allergenic food, and she substitutes with her own home made diet.
At the grooming shop we used oatmeal shampoo's, furstaid, etc etc. etc. we used all the "best" and natural products on this dog including a hemp shampoo which was VERY expensive.
The owner of the Sheltie brought in a home made shampoo for us to try on her sheltie...it worked :o no more problems. Now with dogs with problem skin and sensitivity we use this shampoo with great success. Its worth a try.
Heres the recipe
1/3 cup glycerin
1 cup palmolive dish soap
1 cup of white vinegar
1 quart of water

It makes up quite a batch which will probably last you a long long time. :wink:

[Melanie]

Wow, thanks for all the great information.
We've improved Jake's diet in case of food allergies -- just like that sheltie you mentioned Cassie.
I'm definitely going to look into everything mentioned, and next bath, you all better believe I've joined the ranks of rinse nazis everywhere! :)

[DogPaddle]

If the others don't work try a quality mild human shampoo and conditioner. I started this after a groomer here (HF maybe?) said the whole dog shampoo only thing was bunk. My boys, paticularly Zaphod used to get a bit itchy after baths but this worked for me. I use Pantine - expensive but its in my shower anyway and their coats are great.

[Melanie]

Thanks DogPaddle.
Last bath, we used Johnson's Baby Shampoo. It still caused the same irritation as the others.

[Gossioii2]

This is a great post and makes me think of where I can fit in. I do a little bit of everything mentioned here and I guess I have to find my competitive advantage.