Why Regular Brushing Matters for Your Dog's Coat and Skin

Do you know the importance of grooming and brushing your dog's coat?

There are many, many reasons that grooming and brushing are an important step in looking after your pet's coat.

Daily grooming of short haired dogs is important on the fact that it helps remove the undercoat, dead hairs, dead skin and cells.

Daily grooming of long hair dogs removes the surplus hairs and the undercoat. It stops matting and dreading that can happen near the skin.

Without regular grooming and brushing, hairs remain trapped against the skin, which can cause further problems and irritation. This situation is extremely uncomfortable for a dog, as the accumulation of loose hairs, skin cells and debris can block the pores, leading the dog to itch and scratch for relief. Such irritation can then develop into more serious issues, such as itchy skin conditions. Although our Eezapet balm is great for the itchy skin we want to stop the itches in the first place.

Regular Brushing = Early Detection 

Grooming is an important step in managing hot spots too.

Dogs with thick, long coats may have issues that go unnoticed, though persistent scratching usually signals a problem.

Regular brushing and grooming allows for early detection of potential issues, it helps remove dead hair, and reduces the likelihood of matting, all of which can help prevent irritation and hot spots. Read more on Hot Spots

By grooming regularly you:

1. release the dead hairs
2. help release the oils (sebum) which makes for healthy hair
3. remove irritants 
4. inhibit matting and dreading
5. make the skin healthy

Protect the Hair

Traditional advice, often referred to as 'old wives tales' sometimes have practical reasoning behind them. Ever heard your grandmother say "brush your hair 100 times before bed"? Well brushing your hair one hundred times a day helps distribute natural oils from the scalp to the ends of the hair, contributing to hair health.

Same principle for our pets - brushing promotes healthy hair by releasing the oils called sebum an important step in keeping your pet’s fur healthy. Sebum coats the hairs – this is what keeps them clean, healthy and protected. Protected hairs can ward off irritants, bacteria and dirt. Unhealthy hair is left open – open hairs attract and hang on to dirt and debris creating an unhealthy environment.

Hair is the skin's protection - and the first defence/barrier for the skin

Different Breeds = Different Hair 

Different breeds have different hair types with different functionality.  That's why sometimes there is a problem with various cross-breeds that should not have had their coats crossed. With dogs sebum is produced: 

• in large quantities in some breeds,
• in various quantities in other breeds,
• and in various areas in some breeds

for example: Schnauzers produce more sebum down their back than other breeds (for the protection needed for their 'breeds' job). Mix these guys up with a non-compatible hair type and you can have unhealthy hair, non-functioning hair which can no longer protect the skin. The skin is now open and along comes itchy dog.

Brush Now, Shed Less 

Grooming daily means you will have less hairs all over your house - now that's a bonus! 

We always do our brushing outside - brushing inside the house would just release dead cells, skin and hair all over the house - and guess what loves to feed on skin, cells and hairs? Dust mites! - that's their prefect environment which is not so great for the dog with the dust mite allergy (which is extremely common btw). If you suspect your dog might have a dust mite allergy you can learn more on dust mites here

Knowledge is key

Taking your dog to the groomer is more important  than you think. You may think that your groomer is just about keeping your dogs fur/hair short but it really is about keeping your dog's hair and skin healthy and protected.  Your groomer needs the knowledge of the hair and skin to do their job effectively. They should know the science and that is the difference between a groomer that just cuts hair and one that makes hair healthy

With Eezapet Petcare being a member of the National Groomers Association of NZ I attend various events that we sponsor. At on of these events I met Dr Cliff Favar who is a specialist in his field of hair and skin. He was telling me that vets train on skin for about 15 minutes - not much in a 4+ year training and not much considering the skin is the largest organ in the body. And equally not much considering itchy skin is in the top three reasons we visit our vet.

Dr Favar possesses a wealth of knowledge and understands that comprehending hair and skin is essential for managing allergies. He stepped away from traditional veterinary practices, dedicated himself to studying hair and skin health, and now educates others about its importance.

Groom, Brush, Groom

There are a variety of grooming tools available, including routine visits to a professional groomer and at-home brushing. Each dog has unique coat requirements, and the most suitable grooming apparatus—be it a brush, comb, hand-stripping or grooming glove—depends on the individual dog's coat.

So whichever dog you have - short coat, long coat or triple coat, or whichever tool you use - brush, comb, glove – just groom, brush and groom to make their hair healthy and in turn make for healthy skin.

Happy brushing

If you are needing a product to stop the itches then Eezapet is the balm for you.

Learn more at eezapet.com

Brought to you by Eezapet

because happy dogs make happy owners