By Carrie Hyde, The Spaw Pet Life Coach | March 29, 2022
Approach the average vet with a pet suffering from dry skin, skin allergies, fungal infection, or fleas, and you’ll often get the same answer: Your pet needs a medicated shampoo.
Medicated shampoos certainly have their place in the world of pet healthcare–just ask any dog who’s dealt with full-body mange. But are these products really as useful for the average pet as many veterinarians make them out to be?
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the skin’s microbiome and discuss how medicated shampoos can mess with balance and potentially cause more problems than they solve. We’ll also tell you how to help your suffering pup without resorting to what is, at best, a last resort.
Skin Has Its Own Microbiome
It has long been understood that the epidermis and subdermis of animals and humans host a microbiome similar to that found in the gut. But the complexity, variability, and sheer number of bacterial and fungal species present in healthy skin are only now being realized.
DNA testing of skin swabs has proven that both dogs and cats have complex microbiomes on their skin. The makeup of this biome varies greatly among individuals with predictable differences seen between healthy pets, pets with allergies, and those with ongoing dermatological infections(source).
Like the complex effects of microbiota in the gut, this skin biome is believed to play a large role in disease prevention, skin health, and the overall health of the individual.
When the balance and makeup of the skin biome are compromised, we see many of the same side effects common to gut imbalance. These include increased allergic reactivity, increased risk of disease and infection, and a noticeable decrease in overall skin and coat health.
Just as taking antibiotics can lead to disruptions in the gut biome and even deeper into the body system, using medicated shampoos can have a significant impact on the skin biome. Because of this, the potential benefits of using medicated shampoos should be weighed against the potential for systemic imbalance.
The Problems with Medicated Shampoo
But the issues of using medicated shampoo go far beyond the effect they have on the skin microbiome. These specialized skincare products often contain harmful ingredients, can kill off good bacteria at the same rate as bad, and are very likely to dry out the skin.
Often Contain Irritating or Toxic Ingredients
The list of ingredients present in medicated shampoos is extensive. The most common options include ingredients like:
- Ketoconazole – A once common ingredient in human antifungals, since regulated due to its endocrine system disrupting effects. It is banned in many countries for human use but is still often found in medicated shampoos for pets.
- Miconazole nitrate – A common antifungal that can accumulate in the body with repeated use, potentially causing organ damage.
- DMDM Hydantoin – A preservative and antimicrobial known to be an immune toxicant, common allergen, and formaldehyde releaser.
- Cocamidopropyl betaine – A known skin irritant that often causes allergic dermatitis.
- Polyethylene glycol – A penetration enhancer relatively safe on its own, but often contaminated with 1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide, both known to cause cancer.
While only some of the ingredients used in medicated shampoos are known to be toxic in higher amounts, almost all active ingredients are linked to skin irritation. Inflamed skin is at a higher risk of infection than healthy skin. This is one of many reasons that medicated shampoo use can cause a cycle of repeating infections.
Kill the Bad as Well as the Good
Many of the antimicrobial and antifungal ingredients used in medicated shampoos are nonspecific. This means that they are just as likely to kill the bad microfauna as they are the good.
Without the natural microbiome intact, the skin is at increased risk of infection by pathogenic microbes. It is also more likely to suffer from hyperactive immune responses, excessive dryness, and cell breakdown.
Even if the medicated shampoo is used sparingly or over a short period, it can take months for the biome to recover. Since many skin issues requiring medicated shampoo are caused by an imbalance of the microbiome in the first place, the damage to the microbiome can be insurmountable without focused support.
Dries Out the Skin
Many ingredients in medicated shampoos cause the skin to die and dry out. In fact, this is the intended effect of many antifungal shampoos as a means to kill off fungi that live in moist environments.
Unfortunately, dead skin is the perfect place for bad bacteria to multiply. This is why, so often, medicated baths are followed by secondary bacterial infections seemingly unrelated to the initial infection.
Dry skin also adds to the slow recovery of the skin’s microbiome. Good bacteria thrive on healthy skin. When the skin is covered in layers of dead, dried-out cells, good bacteria simply can’t compete with pathogenic bacteria that thrive in those environments.
How to Fight Skin Problems by Supporting the Skin’s Microbiome
Often, minor to moderate skin problems and infections can be addressed without the use of harsh medicated shampoos.
Ozone treatments, probiotic shampoos, and a quality diet provide powerful support to the skin’s natural microbiome while targeting only pathogenic bacteria, yeast, and parasites.
Ozone Treatment
Ozone treatment is quickly gaining popularity as a holistic, safer approach to skin ailments in people and pets alike.
Ozone, an unstable form of oxygen, is highly reactive with living cells. Humans and animal bodies have developed effective ways of dealing with the free radicals associated with low-dose ozone. Single-celled bacteria and fungi are not equipped with these defenses and thus are very sensitive to the effects of ozone.
In addition to being highly effective in treating bacterial and fungal infections, ozone is also beneficial for wound healing and immunologic conditions, including the hyperactivity associated with allergic dermatitis(source).
Probiotic Shampoos
Dogs’ skin is naturally more alkaline than human skin. Many of the harsh chemicals used in medicated shampoos tend to be more acidic than basic, which can lead to pH changes on the surface of the skin.
These changes can lead to rapid die-off of the microbiome your pet needs to stay healthy. Additionally, many pathogenic bacteria and most single-celled yeast, thrive in more acidic conditions. This means that using harsh chemical shampoos that aren’t tailored to your pets’ natural skin condition can plunge them into an endless cycle of repeating skin problems caused by the treatment being used.
A better approach to skin ailments is to choose a pH-balanced probiotic shampoo. Not only are these shampoos created to maintain a healthy pH balance (or return your pet’s overly acidic skin to a more normal pH), but they’re also loaded with probiotics to help rebuild the microbiome. These products are usually made with natural, soothing ingredients, not harsh chemicals.
Feed for Skin Health
Good skin health isn’t just about what you put on your pet. What goes into their body also plays a key role in helping them overcome skin issues.
If your pet’s diet is lacking protein, the first place you’ll notice symptoms is in the condition of their coat and skin. That’s because one-quarter of the protein your dog eats is used by the skin(source). Without enough quality protein from animal sources, your pet can’t maintain the optimal conditions to support a healthy skin biome.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially omega fatty acids, are also key to coat health. Unfortunately, these fats happen to be scarce in most commercial pet foods. Omegas are also highly prone to oxidation, which means that even if your pet’s food claims to contain omegas, they’ve likely already gone rancid by the time they hit your pet’s bowl.
Additionally, any allergens present in your pet’s diet are guaranteed to cause long-term skin issues. Mast cells, the part of the immune system that reacts to allergens, are highest in number on dogs’ skin and in their intestinal tract. If your pet happens to be allergic to any of the ingredients in their diet, the first place you’re likely to notice symptoms is on the skin.
Whether your pet suffers from repeated skin conditions or is experiencing their first ailment, the first thing you should do is evaluate their diet. Balanced home-prepared or commercial raw and dehydrated diets, or home-cooked diets, give you the most control over the meat quality, total protein amount, and the specific ingredients used. Adding whole-food sources of omega fatty acids directly to your pet’s bowl is also highly recommended.
Whether your dog is on a traditional diet or a home-prepared diet, it is important to supplement with skin-healthy additions such as raw goat’s milk, raw eggs, whole sardines, and organ meat. All of these options provide healthy fats, protein, and skin-specific nutrients.
Fight Infection While Supporting Healthy Skin
So, do medicated baths really work?
Yes, they can, and may even be necessary in extreme circumstances. But, the long-term effects of medicated shampoos practically guarantee your dog will continue to suffer from skin issues long after the shampoo knocks out the original infection.
Instead of choosing a treatment that will hurt the skin as much as the infection, opt for a gentler alternative. Ozone treatments, probiotic shampoos, and a quality high-protein, high-omega diet can help your pet overcome skin issues by healing the root of the problem and restoring a natural, healthy microbiome.
By Carrie Hyde, The Spaw Pet Life Coach | March 29, 2022 | Written for The Spaw by Sara Seitz, Professional Freelance Writer and Novelist with Pen and Post
Carrie Hyde is the founder, owner, and Pet Life Coach of The Spaw in Tustin, CA. Carrie’s extensive experience and understanding of pet nutrition and coaching enabled her to create The Spawdcast, a podcast dedicated to educating pet parents and pet industry professionals on ALL the options available to their pets. Her mission is to open pet-owner’s eyes to the questions they may not even know to ask, to shine a light on the many myths that have been part of pet care for decades, and to offer whole solutions for their pets. Carrie Hyde is a certified pet nutritionist with the goal of helping pet parents & pet professionals with a new understanding of how to care for pets in a “whole and natural” way.
