Coconut Oil For Dogs With Dry Skin

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I’m a dog parent who has discovered the wonders of pure natural coconut oil. A couple of years ago, my dog had a nasty hot spot. He started licking it until it blend.

Thankfully, he only had one of these spots. But it was clearly causing him distress.

From what I understand, hot spots in dogs can be caused by allergies. When pollen counts are high, dogs don’t sniff and sneeze. Instead, they can develop oozing sores on their skin. Then, they tend to aggravate these raw sore areas by constant licking.

Coconut Oil to Treat Dry Skin in Dogs

Unless something is serious or immediate life threatening, I always tend toward natural remedies. Things would have to be very desperate before I took my dog to the vet, for a possible treatment with steroids. These are powerful drugs that can potentially have serious side effects, including depression of the immune system.

Clearly, the small hot spot wasn’t something that didn’t need immediate medical attention. So I decided to attack this problem with natural remedies, which we already have in the house. Pure natural coconut oil is something we always have on hand.

Coconut oil a good remedy for hot spots. It’s also good for dogs with dry skin. Of course, if this didn’t improve things quickly, I wouldn’t have sought professional care. But, fortunately, I didn’t have to.

If your dog has dry skin, one suggestion would be to use organic coconut oil periodically, perhaps once a week. This could be rubbed into the skin, right before a shampoo. (Make sure the shampoo you use is natural, and doesn’t contain harsh ingredients that can cause further irritation.)

If you can’t find organic coconut oil locally, it’s available online.

Organic Coconut Oil

Coconut Oil to Treat Dogs Dry Skin

Some dog owners (myself included) also use a little lavender essential oil when their dog has a skin problem. We added a little of this to some organic coconut oil, before applying it to that nasty-looking hot spot. I don’t know if we were just lucky, or if allergy season was ending, but it only took one application to clear the problem. Here is a recipe very similar to the one that we used.

1 ounce of coconut oil (available here)
1 drop of lavender essential oil (available here)

I only needed to use this once on my dog, before the irritation started to heal. If you plan to use essential oils on your dog, please check with your vet, because I’m not an animal healthcare expert and I can’t give medical advice. Don’t use essential oils on pregnant or nursing females.

Is Coconut Oil Good for Your Dog’s Skin?

Coconut oil has helped us maintain our dog’s skin naturally. As a side note, dogs can eat a little bit of coconut oil. This is a healthy food that contains nutrients that can help the immune system. But, if you do decide to give your dog a little bit of coconut oil, make sure to do it slowly. Last week I overdid it, and, unfortunately, my poor dog developed diarrhea.