Spring into Spring - How To Manage Your Dog’s Skin Health With Antinol Plus
As spring gets into gear, if you’ve been following this series of skin health articles, you’ll know the issues it can cause for your dog and the problems they can face with their skin. We have learnt how the skin works, what allergic skin disease is and why spring is a problem. We’ve looked at the importance of a healthy coat, and we have considered other skin health issues your dog could be facing.
This week, we’ll look at how you can help your dog stay comfortable in their skin, look at how Antinol Plus helps, and what you can do at home. So, let’s kick off with the approach to healthy skin.
A Holistic Approach To Healthy Skin For Your Dog
So many factors feed into your dog’s skin health, from medication to diet and environmental issues. So managing their skin health isn't a “one size fits all” answer. You’ll probably need to try multiple different things and employ various options simultaneously before you reach the point where your dog’s skin is consistently healthy.
Things You Can Do To Support Your Dog’s Skin And Coat Health
Talk to your vet about your dog’s skinThis should always be your first step if you’re worried. They will guide you and suggest the best course of action. This may involve medication or may initially involve medication with the ambition of moving off when the condition is more under control.
Although dietary allergies only make up 10% of skin issues, your dog’s diet has an impact on their skin health regardless of whether they have a food allergy or not. If you suspect a food allergy, it is important to discuss this with your vet and run an “elimination diet” to work out what your dog is allergic to. However, if it isn’t a food allergy, then considering the quality of your dog’s diet will support their overall skin health. Improving the gut microbiome (the population of microbes that live in their gut) not only impact’s your dog’s ability to digest food but also strengthens their immune system, enabling them to better handle attacks from the outside.
Give them a supplement which supports their skin health
We’ll get into the details later, but adding a high-quality supplement to their daily routine will support their healthy skin and have an impact during more difficult times.
Manage your dog’s parasite control
Don’t forget to regularly worm and treat your dog for external parasites such as fleas and ticks, which will cause itching and scratching that no one wants…especially not in the house.
Keep them clean…but not too clean
If your dog has had fleas, it’s important to wash them after they have been treated, as irritating saliva from the fleas can stay on their skin long after they are gone. But…don’t wash them too much as it can dry their skin or even encourage skin infections.
Reduce environmental allergensRegularly washing their bedding, vacuuming your house, and even considering an air purifier will hugely reduce the potential allergens hanging around your home—hopefully reducing your dog’s contact with pollens, dust and other environmental allergens.
How Does Antinol Plus Support Your Dog’s Skin Health
The main function of Antinol Plus in the skin is to support the body's normal inflammatory responses and promote healthy skin function.
The skin requires essential and non-essential fatty acids to function normally (which you can learn more about here). Antinol contains over 90 different fatty acids, all of which play an important role in a dog’s health and well-being, including a range of compounds shown to have anti-inflammatory properties. They are known as LOX and COX modulators.
COX pro-inflammatory pathways (ways in which inflammation occurs) are involved in many inflammatory skin conditions, and Antinol interrupts these pathways to decrease inflammation and soothe skin.
Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are the two main functional groups of fatty acids. In general, omega-3 fatty acids are involved in the anti-inflammatory processes. Omega 6 fatty acids are incorporated in the cell membranes within the skin's epidermis and dermis. They support the skin's natural ability to hold water by strengthening the skin's barrier function — protecting the skin from external influences (like allergens) and preventing water loss. This results in nourished skin rather than dry, flaky skin.
Antinol And Skin Allergy Medication
You may not have considered medication for your dog’s skin condition yet, and we would always recommend consulting with your vet.
Medications have their place in this multi-faceted approach to managing allergies. However, one of the problems with certain medications for skin conditions is that keeping your dog on a high dose for long periods isn’t appropriate, thanks to some unpleasant side effects. However, as you taper or reduce reliance on these medications, your dog is likely to experience a flare-up, or “rebound”, and you may see an increase in their uncomfortable skin symptoms.
Antinol Plus can help here. If you’re ready to reduce your dog’s reliance on medication, studies have shown that Antinol can reduce the likelihood of rebound symptoms, enabling you to reduce your dog’s medication dosage without the uncomfortable side effects.
Other benefits of Antinol Plus
Antinol Plus was originally developed to support dogs with joint conditions. And it is still primarily used for these older, stiff dogs. However, its uses are wide-ranging and we are more commonly seeing it used in skin here. But here are a few other things it can support for your dog.
- Joint health
- Healthy skin
- Normal urinary and kidney function
- Supports brain health
- Maintains a beautiful coat
- Supports a strong immune system
- Maintains heart health
Many pet parents use Antinol Plus to help keep their dogs looking and feeling healthy throughout their lives for overall wellness.
When should you start giving Antinol Plus to your dog?
Whether you are already struggling with your dog’s skin this spring, they have other issues you are concerned about, or you are being proactive and want to give your dog all the help and support they can get, you can get started with Antinol Plus today. Giving them the loading amount for the first 15 days gets them off to the best start, and we would love to hear the differences you see in your dog. Check out our FAQs if you have any questions.
Try Antinol for your dog this spring!
