# Think back... Did your puppy every have dandruff?



## monomer (Apr 21, 2005)

*Think back... Did your puppy ever have dandruff?*

I have a hypothesis about puppy dandruff... this poll might help me decide whether there is something to it or not.

You can vote multiple answers since many of you have had multiple puppies.


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## timberwolfe (Apr 15, 2005)

I don't recall Clancy ever having any dandruff.


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## charmcitywolf (Dec 7, 2005)

*yes...*

I voted yes, enough to make another puppy but the whole statement wasn't true...it hasn't gone away yet! <sigh>


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

We never had a problem with dandruff either...


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## MegB (Jul 19, 2005)

Woody never had it, and I had never heard of it until this post.

Monomer, what is your hypothesis?


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## monomer (Apr 21, 2005)

Well, so far it doesn't look good for the hypothesis...

It goes something like this... dandruff is nothing more than dead skin cells that flake off... everyone and every dog is constantly shedding dead skin cells. It only gets attention and the name 'dandruff' when a the number of dead skin cells become so numerous and thus the size of the flakes become large enough to be easily noticeable. Well fast growing puppies need to have a high skin cell turn-over rate because, in a sense, they are growing out of their skin. The essential Omega 6 fatty acids cannot be synthesize by certain breeds of dog... both the Golden and the Lab are 2 out of these 6 breeds, according to Dr. Belfield (I hope I spelled his name correctly). And dry kibble has a limit as to how much unsaturated fats they can hold without it 'bleeding out' into the packaging. Well these oils help keep the skin cells elastic longer and keeps them from drying out so quickly. Now combine a very high skin cell turn-over rate with insufficient oils and you get large pieces of skin being flaked off at an alarming rate... in other words, dandruff. On another Golden forum I was on when Sidney was a flaky puppy, I started a couple of threads about his dandruff problem and people just came out of the woodwork to say either they just discovered their puppy has dandruff also or that their adult dog had it when they were a puppy and assured me and others that it just goes away when they grow up. Well Sidney's whole litter had dandruff which wasn't noticeable on most of the puppies until you tried to brush them, then it just 'rained' out of them. The breeder said it was 'walking dandruff', you know, the mite. It's too much to go into now, but later I had reason to question her story and so have always felt maybe there never was a mite problem and a better diet might have been the solution. So in another 'parallel' thread on this forum I was discussing puppy dandruff with someone who has, what else? a puppy with lots of dandruff. I told her what I could and then decided to create this poll just to satisfy my own curiosity.

If this poll have given me more like a 50+% of owners noticed dandruff on their puppies, I would have adjusted my tactics to try and determine if maybe this is a breed characteristic. But it's really looking like the hypothesis is a big, fat 'dud'... thud! Oh well...

Thanks to all who participated... and if you didn't yet you can still vote, I'll keep checking back from time to time.


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## Allie and the Gang =) (Apr 21, 2005)

NO none of my dogs/pups ever had dandruff, and we wouldnt breed a dog that had an allergy like that. Typically Goldens have dander in the form of oils...


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## Goldndust (Jul 30, 2005)

Nope, none that I can recall. 

My brothers setter though this summer had it pretty good, you could see it on that dark coat of the Irish setters. He changed food and I guess that helped.


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## NorCal Andy (Dec 21, 2005)

Cant say Rusty has dandruff. I use T-Gel on him.....


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## ciaraz (Dec 30, 2005)

Casper is still a puppy.

No dandruff.


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## Chloe's Mum (Jan 1, 2006)

Well - Chloe had lots and then some! There would be a trial of the stuff everywhere! My vet gave me a wonderful shampoo and I introduced a very small amount of olive oil to her food. I think Chloe was about 6 months by the time it completely vanished.


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