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How can I keep my pet’s coat healthy and shiny?

Hi, I’m Dr. Sean McPeck I’m the CEO and owner of Tier 1 Veterinary Medical Center. One of the biggest things that we see is, especially up here in some of the Arctic temperatures is we get really dry coats and they can get a lot of dandruff, both cat and dog.

There’s some common things that we recommend that are very easy to do. Obviously, grooming, taking a brush or a comb and grooming your pet helps to remove some of the underlying finer hair in that coat and helps to remove some of the oils or move some of the oils from the skin surface out through the different layers of the coat. That’s very beneficial.

The other thing is whether or not the coats are clean, how often do we need to bathe the pet. We don’t want to over bathe them because then now we’re causing the coat to dry out. But bathing once a month, twice a month is usually a good recommendation, especially if it’s an indoor mainly pet.

Cats can be a little bit more difficult, but even going to a professional groomer and then we can go down the rabbit hole, the different types of shampoos that they have. But oatmeal shampoos tend to have really good anti-inflammatory properties. A sensitive skin type shampoos are really beneficial.

Now the other aspect of it is are we feeding a good diet If we kind of get the generic lower bottom shelf brands of food, sometimes we can get some inflammatory reactions with our pets. And one of the things to look at is how is the G.I. tract of your pet? We know that 70% of the immune system is in the GI tract, and so if we have a healthy GI tract, then systemically we’re going to see a much healthier pet. So adding probiotics, a higher quality food, can be very beneficial systemically, but even going a little bit further and adding in omega fatty acids, fish oils are phenomenal.

Now we can get a little misled by some of the marketing that is done on foods because I’ve had clients come in and be like well the food has fish oils in it. That’s what it says on the bag. But when you look at it, there is very little to no, I don’t say, but not enough to actually make a difference. Just if I was that tell you to take ibuprofen for a headache if you took ten milligrams, it’s not going to do anything. If we take 600 milligrams, that’s going to probably possibly help and give anti-inflammatory properties. And the same thing with fish oils. We’ve got to get to that 80 mgs per kig a day dosing to have an anti-inflammatory properties. Systemically, we can really start to see the benefits then in the coat.

So providing fish oils is phenomenal. Providing omega fatty acids is phenomenal. I don’t have a lot of experience with coconut oil, but I’ve heard a lot of pet owners that say they have benefits with coconut oil. But there’s also aspects of parasite prevention. Are we using a parasite prevention? Do your dogs or cats have some type of external parasite that is causing them to damage their skin, that is causing the hair not to come in nicely?

So being on top of your parasite prevention is key to a healthy coat. But there’s only so much we can do, right? Genetics also plays a part in that. And so if you have spoken to your veterinarian and they’ve gone through different supplements, they’ve gone through different bathing and shampoos and they’ve gone through diets, and you’re still having a reaction that maybe there’s a genetic component to that. And do we have allergies? Allergy testing may be very beneficial if we have chronic inflammation. And you’ve gone through different food trials. Talk to your veterinarian about doing an allergy test. We can talk about stress.

We can talk about anxiety, especially for cats. Are they in an area where they’re able to access higher elevations? We know that cats have a massive reduction in stress hormones if they’re able to climb to get to higher areas, behavior, analyzing behavior, analyzing stress that we can see that systemically in the coat. Excessive shedding is another thing that we can see if your dog has a lot of anxiety or stress or they’re systemically inflamed. So those are some of the basics.

Make sure they’re clean, make sure they’re groomed, providing a high quality diet, good genetics, providing supplements that are beneficial to the coat quality omega fatty acids. And then there’s other topicals that you rub on to the skin surface to help give a luster and shine and hydration to the coat. If you like the video, leave a LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for future content and let us know what you think.

A 2010 Graduate of Colorado State College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Dr. Sean McPeck developed his leadership as a Sniper Team Leader and Veterinarian with the US Army Special Operations, 75th Ranger Regiment.

Dr. McPeck has multiple combat deployments, totaling almost 2 years in combat theaters of operation.

He is the recipient of the Combat Action Badge, and is Ranger, Sniper, and Airborne qualified. While serving as an officer in Special Operations, Dr. McPeck was repeatedly recognized for his Honor, Integrity, Courage and Selfless Service in the name of the United States. He was recognized with not one, but two, Meritorious Service Medals.

Under his leadership, Dr. McPeck worked with Working Dog handlers, and canine units, to detain and seize enemy combatants. The canines that Dr. McPeck worked with are credited with savings thousands of United States soldiers deployed in combat areas.

Dr. McPeck authored The RCAP, Ranger Canine Athletic Program, which was the 1st comprehensive Military canine conditioning program.

His specific training and certification classes for Dog handlers to be proficient in Canine Tactical- Combat Casualty Care, and knowledge of current medical equipment and procedures, which led to the successful life saving interventions by handlers in real world operations.

Dr. SaraRose McPeck graduated from Mississippi State College of Veterinary Medicine in 2010. A Massachusetts native who attended Becker College for her undergrad, Dr. McPeck has lived and worked around the country and even the world. She served four years in the United States Army as a Veterinary Officer, during which she was stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia, and completed a 12-month tour in Afghanistan.

Her time serving in the Army provided her the experience as the primary veterinarian for over 350 Military Working Dogs, in which she provided all emergency, trauma, surgical, critical, and primary care. In addition to caring for animals, she trained, mentored, and led six Non-Commissioned Officers and twelve junior enlisted Soldiers, giving her not only impressive veterinary experience but also exceptional interpersonal and leadership skills.

As a Veterinary Corp Officer, she received a variety of awards, including a Bronze Star, a NATO Medal, a GWOT Medal, two Army Accommodation Medals, among many others. She gained experiences in which she exemplified impressive leadership skills and the ability to adapt to both clinical and combat support situations. Her years of experience serving our country and in veterinary medicine have equipped her with the knowledge and skills to provide exceptional care to our patients.