# Best food for a good coat



## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

There isn't really a great answer to this. The best food for your dog is the one he does best on. I feed Pro Plan - my dog was on Adult Chicken and Rice, and doing great, her coat was very nice. I switched her to the Sport formula because she is super active, and to be honest, her coat was awful during that year. No idea why - and there are scores of dogs on Pro Plan Sport who have beautiful coats. I went back to the Chicken and Rice, and her coat was beautiful again. Switched her about a year ago to the Sensitive Skin and Stomach formula, simply because I wanted the salmon-based food, and her coat is the best it's ever been.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

Pretty typical for a new mom to have thin, dry, brittle coat. My girl with a 12 week old litter looks like a greyhound with a bad coat right now.

I would make sure she is free of worms (the stress of pregnancy and whelping can cause an outbreak) and, assuming she’s been on a good food without peas/lentils/legumes/potatoes, just continue feeding her what she has been fed. You certainly can change her food but understand that it is going to take time for her coat to recover. I have had it take up to a year for a full show coat and as little as 6 months for a decent coat.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

And you can certainly bathe her more than once a month, as long as you use a good shampoo and conditioner.

I feed ProPlan Sport 30/20 or 26/16, depending on activity level. If I wasn’t breeding I would look at the Sensitive Skin formula.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

Any good food should balance the Omega 6 and 3 fatty acids properly for a good skin and coat. What you're looking for is a 4/1 or 5/1 Omega 6 to 3 ratio. To close a ratio will lead to an oily skin and coat and the lack of enough Omega 3's like 7/1 ratio will lead to a dry skin and coat.

The skin is the key. The coat that grows out of good or corrected skin is the when the coat difference happens. Long hair dog's like Golden's take 3-5 months to see the full corrected coat. It gets better as you go buy the skin can take 4-6 weeks to change to what the food does for it.


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## cgott42 (May 15, 2012)

thanks - I decided to try the Royal Canin for Goldens I'll see how she responds to it. (as mentioned I liked what it does for my long hair ragdoll cat)
re: bathing/shampooing - good to know I use earthbath brightening shampoo it says to only use 1x/month - are you sure it's ok to use more often?


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

cgott42 said:


> thanks - I decided to try the Royal Canin for Goldens I'll see how she responds to it. (as mentioned I liked what it does for my long hair ragdoll cat)
> re: bathing/shampooing - good to know I use earthbath brightening shampoo it says to only use 1x/month - are you sure it's ok to use more often?



Earthbath, Tropiclean and other soap and detergent free shampoos are fine more often then once a month as they don't strip the oils off the skin nearly as much so it helps not to dry out your dogs skin. I personally wouldn't bathe a dog more often then once every 2 weeks though.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

cgott42 said:


> thanks - I decided to try the Royal Canin for Goldens I'll see how she responds to it. (as mentioned I liked what it does for my long hair ragdoll cat)
> re: bathing/shampooing - good to know I use earthbath brightening shampoo it says to only use 1x/month - are you sure it's ok to use more often?


I don’t know about that Earthbath product and what it does. Perhaps it is harsher because of the brightening portion.

Show dogs are often bathed every week, and sometimes even more often when being shown. I’ve always been told by my handlers that if you want to improve coat, it must be clean.

I generally use Isle of Dogs or Plush Puppy products.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I just think that health comes from the inside out.... and be careful about what foods you feed your dog, because they absolutely DO do better on some foods vs the others. And there's sometimes no visible reason when comparing the ingredients lists. 

I was feeding my guys Nutrisource for a couple years and was pretty happy with the food - except I noticed that my Jacks coat was getting really crappy while eating that food. It was dull and dry feeling.

I switched both dogs back to Nutro Ultra and was pretty darn happy to see the coats come back - on both dogs. With the bonus of Bertie eating all his food. 

My pup is on PP puppy food and will be on PP for another month or so before I begin switching him onto PP Performance and then PP Performance and Nutro half and half. 

Long schpeel short - I do think it matters what you feed the dogs. And I'm saying that as somebody who really feels strongly that different things going on in the dog world right now is causing people to get hysterical about what they feed the dogs even before they even know if the food is even the problem. 

Frequent baths don't necessarily cause a problem.... but your WATER might cause problems if it's too "hard" or there's something wrong with the pipes. Also the thickness/texture of the dogs coats can cause skin infections if the dog is bathed in the evening and not dry before bedtime. It means their bedding gets damp and you get fungi/molds growing in the bedding + in their coats. 

Show dogs get bathed frequently and sometimes it's ALL about growing coat (not using warm water even sometimes because warm water causes them to blow coat).... but they are always dried within 40-60 minutes of being bathed. They might also be using different conditioners to aid the health of the coat - pretty expensive shampoos and conditioners compared to the stuff you buy in pet stores. 

The stuff I use on my dogs costs about $20 a bottle. Which is cheap compared to some stuff out there used by pros.... for dog show prep, I'll use 2 different shampoos mixed together + a conditioner. 

I'm heading to a dog show this week... and because of personal stuff (I just lost my Jacks), I'm not really into everything right now. So just doing the one day and have not even gotten him up on a table to groom him yet. My heart's just not there right now and I don't expect to win (not hyped up about the judges and there's like 20 dogs in our class).... My game plan is trimming nails and bottoms of feet tomorrow morning and just doing the rest on Fri morning after his bath. He just needs feet to be shaped better and ears cleaned up - about 10-20 minutes work - which is about as much work I want to do since we are showing one day and I don't expect to win. 

But typically I would have entered 2 days of showing, bathed and groomed my dog today.... and completely bathed him both days we show. Show dogs are typically bathed every show day. 

Not saying don't bathe your dog every 2-3 weeks. Nor am I saying you SHOULD bathe every week.... I'm just saying if you are going to do that - do it the right way. 

But start with feeding a better food - and giving it a month. And bathe at least once a month. 

She also probably just got spayed - which is another reason for her coat to be crap right now. Anesthesia during surgery will do that. 

One of our dogs (Arthur) was neutered just a few weeks before we brought him home. It caused a heavy shed + the coat was dull and dry looking. Took a few months for it to come back.


ETA - golden retrievers should not have silky coats. It's tough to describe what they do feel like because it isn't coarse either....


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## Mirinde (Jun 8, 2011)

Not quite a food suggestion, but I think I've determined water intake is a pretty big deal?

Iorek is kind of a crappy drinker, and when it's really bad, you can see it in his coat. He's quite lethargic these days and I can tell when he hasn't even been bothering to get up and drink because his coat gets real dingy and dehydrated looking. I think because it's not as plump at the roots? Who knows. Anyway, this is kind of weird but when we add wet food or more moisture to his diet in general, it really does seem to help his coat condition. I'm not sure if this is a "thing", just my observation.


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

Congrats on your new family member! 

I'd be thinking that her coat is likely scraggly because of recently having the litter and also being spayed. The hormone shifts can cause them to blow their coats. But her coat shouldn't be silky. Not silky like a yorkie. It has some texture to it. 

In terms of the food--I use Pro Plan SSS and Piper's coat has never looked better. I would consider supplementing with fish oil if you aren't already!

Piper blew her coat really badly after a recent surgery--and she blows her coat twice a year. Her coat looks scraggly afterwards. The past two times I've considered giving her Dogzymes and their Gro-Hair product, but just haven't. 

I've used Earthbath products before and like them--I like the oatmeal ones best. They are generally pretty safe for the coat. But I've never used the brightening shampoo. The brightening shampoo is classically used for actual white coats--the optical brighteners help reflect more blue light, making coats appear whiter. Laundry detergents formulated for "whites" also have optical brighteners in them. If there's a reason that its only reported to use once a month, it might be to prevent skin sensitivity given the brighteners and/or lavender oil. But there's a difference between "Use once a month for a clean, bright coat" and "Do not use more than monthly." 

I do find earthbath shampoos/conditioners to be pretty concentrated for bathing--the shampoos get quite sudsy even though they are sulfate free, so I dilute them because they can be hard to rinse completely.


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

I don't know about certain foods being able to improve a coat, but I do have a shampoo recommendation. I'm a professional groomer and use Trophy Line Mane-ly Long Hair products. They have a shampoo, conditioner, and a polisher/detangler. I've seen these products take a Maltese's coat that was short, thin, and scraggly to long, thicker, and gorgeous. My own dog has a very nice coat using these products. I also use them on my horses with great results. As a groomer, I've tried dozens of products and nothing is as good as this. It is a bit more pricey, but a little bit goes a long way. (I would guess that with 1 dog using it once a week the largest size would probably last about a year.) The shampoo can be diluted (I usually do about 10 parts water to 1 part shampoo). The conditioner could be diluted too, but I usually just put a small amount in my hands and work it through the coat. After I get them towel dried, I put a small amount of the polisher in my hands and work that through the coat. You can use these products as often as you want without drying out the coat because the conditioner and the polisher work well to restore moisture. Also, the polisher doesn't leave any residue or weigh down the coat. If you go to their facebook page, they currently have a 10% off coupon code for first time buyers.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

cgott42 said:


> re: bathing/shampooing - good to know I use earthbath brightening shampoo it says to only use 1x/month - are you sure it's ok to use more often?



I think that one is for white dogs, isn't it? I would guess it might be a little harsher than some of the other formulas. I use Earthbath Oatmeal and Aloe with vanilla and almond. It is definitely a gentle, conditioning formula. Isle of Dog is also very nice - makes my dog's fur very silky and soft. 



ETA - I see that formula is for all coat colours, but I'd still maybe go with a more gentle one. Worth trying.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

cgott42 said:


> We just got our 4 y.o. 65lb golden (retired breeder, just had a litter 3 months ago), her fur is very stringy and not smooth , soft, silky at all. I shampoo'd her (says only 1x month) . What food would you recommend. I found that for my cat (a rag doll) when I switched her to Royal Canin it made a huge difference. Has anyone had experience with their food for goldens or recommend a different brand.





Simply put it takes time for a girl to recover after a litter. So be patient, feed a good quality diet and wait. As previously mentioned it might take a year for things to turn around completely. Angel had her last litter in June of 2017 and she's just completed recovering her full coat and furnishings about a month ago. 

Keep in mind that as females recover from a litter, the absolute last thing to come back is coat and furnishings. Everything else comes first.


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## cgott42 (May 15, 2012)

thanks.
I've noticed some difference in the hair being smoother - guess the food is helping, please recovery after litter
also - FWIW, I bought the manely shampoo + conditioner and used that this past Sunday - see if that helps...


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## GoldenCamper (Dec 21, 2009)

I've adopted 2 breeder girls in the past (7 and 8 yrs old) and yes, their coat is crap after having a litter. It's normal.

It will resolve on its own. My tip is to stay away from any fixation on a new food or something magical to bathe them with.


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