The Summer Cool: skin problems and signals you shouldn’t Ignore!

Long trees and pools—it’s time for the summer cool! Summer is one of the most beloved seasons of the year. The reason? Hey, it’s vacation time. Not just for humans, summer is the kind of season loved by all, including our furry friends. Pets get to spend more time with their favourite humans, run around, and probably sometimes hop on the backseat and go on a mini getaway with their family. With the bundle of happiness comes another smaller yet significant bundle of responsibilities. Due to ongoing climate change, the summer temperature has been at an all-time high. Due to excess heat and humidity, pets tend to suffer considerably due to the strength at which the sun shines. Yes, it’s all fun and games until it gets humid and irritates with scratching and itching. Let us understand what precautions you must take to keep your pets’ health super cool and fine this summer.

The Fur Factor:

Our pets are often loved and adored for their lustrous coats and fur quality. Fur also tends to reflect any ailments your pet may suffer internally. The correlation here is that the skin is the body’s biggest organ, and the skin and fur quality depends upon certain vitamins and minerals or macro and micronutrients.

Whenever pets’ are suffering from any ailment, such as an infection, the body’s immunity falls, which causes infectious agents to attack, thereby causing the skin to be more prone to secondary infections, reflecting vividly on the skin and fur quality. While fur is an excellent insulator and protects the body from all odds, it is also an indicator of your dog’s health status.

While it does add to the beauty of a dog, it is also a good reflective mirror, which can give you an idea of an underlying issue. Your pet might experience fur loss, a rough coat, dull color, loss of luster, etc. While there are many biological conditions that are at play apart from infectious reasons, from nutritional imbalances to hormonal harmony to seasonal shedding changes, summers can play a role in skin problem flare-ups. Let us understand how.

It’s hot and humid: humidity that causes double trouble.

Due to an increase in moisture content, the atmosphere becomes extremely gloomy and irritating, both for humans and pets. Yeasts and secondary bacterial infections are extremely common in dogs, especially pets with excessive skin folds, such as pugs.

Naturally, the skin harbors a variety of microflora, which are technically in close symbiotic association with the body. They help guard the body and fight pathogens that are potentially harmful to it. What happens here is that, due to excessive humidity and heat, there may be an overgrowth of yeast and similar infectious agents that end up causing your pets to itch and scratch; thereby, these infections manifest themselves as the typical signs and symptoms that you may observe.

The Rash Drive: Heat and Rashes

Some pets may have sensitive skin, and that may reflect very vividly. After exposure to the summer heat, some pets end up itching and scratching themselves excessively. This is commonly referred to as heat rash. The skin condition may aggravate partly due to repeated exposure to heat and partly due to excessive scratching and itching. Certain pets end up hurting themselves even more by violently scratching themselves and itching excessively.

Shed, do not fret: shedding season or summer heat?

There is nothing to worry about if you see greater fur loss than usual during shedding season, even though the majority of dogs shed their fur at least once or twice a year. Because damaged fur occasionally sheds, old fur must be let go in order for new fur to develop. When fresh fur needs to grow, there is some shearing. Additionally, shedding is influenced by the time of year, one’s health, and one’s age.

The hot, humid weather tends to happen during or just before the summer, although it can also happen more frequently in June and July. You shouldn’t be concerned because this is a completely normal and natural behaviour seen in dogs and cats. However, if you observe any other concurrent health conditions or skin infections, you might need to give your vet a visit to ensure safety, as “prevention is always better than cure’. Skin infections and issues should not be taken lightly, as they might be secondary to some other health issue.

The ABCs of Allergy: What Exactly Causes Itching?

Not all skin-related problems are due to infections caused by bacteria or fungi; some skin-related issues flare up time and again due to allergens. Some pets are sensitive to gluten found in rotis and chapatis, which may aggravate skin itching and related symptoms.

Other items that may cause allergies in your pet include dust, pollen, certain types of weeds, grasses, etc. Exposure to these items may cause itching, sneezing, and other symptoms, hinting toward an allergen-induced dermatitis etiology.

Here’s what you can do:

Bathe your pet at regular intervals.
Anti-tick and flea shampoos should be spot-on, and medicines should be used at prescribed intervals.
A proper vaccination and deworming schedule must be followed.
Do not try to self-medicate with any anti-histaminic drugs, etc.
Apply the ointments specified for skin rashes, etc., as prescribed.
Pat your pet dry after every bath.

Check for the following spots on a regular basis:

Nail Bed.
All four paws.
Near tail.
Near the neck and ears, check for any ticks or fleas around these regions.

The Clues And The Puzzle: Diagnosing And Treating Skin Infections

While skin infections are one of the most tedious kinds of infections to cure, an apt diagnosis helps in treating the root cause of the infection effectively. Here are a couple of steps your veterinarian will take to help your pet:

Skin scraping tests: through this test, mange-associated mites can be observed under the microscope. Besides skin scraping tests for mites, certain dyes can help diagnose fungal or bacterial agents.

History taking: History taking plays an important role in figuring out the root cause of any disease. This also helps in understanding the allergic causes of coat-fur-related problems, if any.

Deworming schedule: routine deworming is extremely important to prevent any secondary infections, coat-related problems, etc.

Flea and tick control: fleas and ticks are extremely vicious. They affect the external fur coat and skin and store infectious agents such as tapeworms and tick-fever-associated agents like Babesia, Anaplasma, etc.

Homeopathic Solution For All Skin Issues in Dogs and Cats

Dermisule homeopathic remedy for skin infection in dogs and cats

DERMISULE For All Kinds of Skin Issues in Pets:

DERMISULE for pets is the best remedy for dogs suffering from different skin conditions like eczema, allergies, rashes, lesions with hair loss, redness, dry, scaly, pus, or bloody discharge. Specific or general lesions or spots as in Mange disease can also be improved.

Me & My SKIN & COAT Pet Supplement for skin infection in pets

ME and MY SKIN AND COAT Homeopathic Supplement

Me & My SKIN & COAT Pet Supplement is a peerless medicine for our pet’s skin and coat. It helps reattain natural skin and coat after injuries, chaps, cracks, scaly eruptions, or any acute skin lesion in pets. It is highly recommended to treat hair fall for any reason.

Me & My IMMUNITY Pet Supplement for boosting immunity

ME and MY IMMUNITY Homeopathic Supplement

Me & My IMMUNITY Pet Supplement is a unique formula of valuable supplements for Dogs & Cats which help in maintaining and raising the IMMUNITY of your lovable pets. It is made for weak and old pets as it improves immunity, helps better utilization of food, and allay minor ailments or complaints of non-specific nature. It also gives strength to the body’s mechanism for fighting against germs of all kinds.

GOHEAL SPRAY FOR Injury, FMD, and Burns

GOHEAL SPRAY is the best Homeopathic Veterinary Medicine for external use only to treat animal wounds caused due to any injury, FMD, burns, etc. It can also be used for mouth ulcers and cuts or burns on sensitive parts of the body. GOHEAL SPRAY works very fast to stop bleeding and start healing immediately.

Submit a Comment

1 thought on “The Summer Cool: skin problems and signals you shouldn’t Ignore!”

Unravelling the Enigma of Skin Infections in Dogs: Understanding, Treatment, and Prevention - Goel Vet Pharma Pvt. Ltd.
August 10, 2023

[…] and comforting purrs. Our cherished pets might get distressed and uncomfortable due to bacterial skin infections, which are a common foe. In order to protect our animals against this sneaky threat, it is our […]

Log in to Reply