Dry skin and Quantity of Food

[amt15811]

Max has a tendency to get dry skin in his ears and currently has it on his back. Any suggestions for this? Before we used Goodwinol on his ears, so maybe trying that again?

Also, Max is 1 year and 4 months old and weighs 60 pounds. We feed him 3 cups of food 2x a day. He woofs it down in 2 seconds, should we be feeding him more? How much food do you feed your boxer?

 

[VTbxrFan]

There are lots of supplements available with good oils that help a lot with dry skin. The one I use is called 3V caps, but you can find information about others using the search feature or even just browsing the pet store.

As far as food, the amount of food depends a lot on the type of food because some have a more nutrients and calories per cup than others. It really varies a lot. It also depends on the activity level of the dog and their metabolism. (Just like people!) 3 cups twice a day (so you mean 6 cups total, right?) sounds like a lot to me, but again it all depends - it's not too much for your dog if he's not overweight! I would not use the fact that he woolfs it down as an indication that he needs more, though. (most dogs do that)Base the amount you feed him on his weight - if he seems too skinny, increase the amount a little bit.

To answer your specific question, I feed mine a total of two cups a day (split into two meals). That's probably on the low end, but it's a very high quality food and he's not as energetic as some boxers (and as I mentioned, I'm working on getting weight off of him, so I've recently cut back a little bit on the amount of food.) Mine is 4 years old and on the small side for a male.

 

[Cami]

I am feeding my Boxer (nearly 10 months old), 3 cups per day split between two meals. Dinner has slightly less dry but I add a small amount of Wellness canned (for flavor). It's a premium kibble, (eagle pack holistic select), and she also gets many healthy treats thru-out the day, frozen banannas, carrots, all natural biscuits etc... She is 52lbs and not fat or skinny. She expends ALOT of energy.....I am sure that if I kept adding food to her bowl she would glady eat it.

As far as the dry skin problem, I have read that you can help this problem by adding certain items to their food. Eggs, flax or fish oils, etc... Perhaps even changing foods. I was also told by the vet that in certain climates a humidifier helps with dry itchy skin. I see that you are in Columbus, Ohio (I am in Westerville), and my furnace is running constantly. My skin is extremely dry now too and I am thinking about that humidifier.....could use the dog as an excuse.......!!!

Susi & Cami

 

[Albie]

I thought Goodwinol ointment was used to treat mange. If that's the case, I think it would be especially drying since it probably contains some sort of pesticide. I feed Lacy a raw diet so I don't have any suggestions concerning the amount of food, but I do add salmon oil and flax seed oil to Lacy's meals several times a week. The salmon oil I use is a liquid gel cap, I pierce the end with a large safety pin and squeeze it over her food. I also add flax seed oil to her meals. Right now, I am using flax oil from GNC and I add one tablespoon, but I have also used 1000 mg flax oil gel caps. The gel caps seem cheaper to me and I haven't really noticed a difference between using the capsule form over the bottles of oil. Lacy has a beautiful, silky coat, with no dry skin at all.