Every dog has a scratch now and then. An ear gets an itch. A paw needs a nibble. Then comes the urgent mid-nap scratching situation that cannot wait another second.
Normal dog stuff.
But when scratching becomes frequent, licking turns into a daily habit, or your dog seems permanently preoccupied with one particularly irritating patch, it can be a sign that something else is going on.
August is National Itchy Pet Awareness Month, which is a good excuse to talk about one of the most common frustrations for dogs and their humans: the itch.
And, more importantly, what healthy skin has to do with it.
Why do dogs itch?
There isn’t one simple answer.
Dogs can scratch for all sorts of reasons, from fleas and environmental allergens to sensitivities, dry skin and underlying health conditions. Sometimes the cause is obvious. Sometimes it takes a little more detective work to figure it out.
Persistent or excessive itching should always be discussed with your vet, particularly if you notice redness, broken skin, hair loss, swelling, sores or a sudden change in your dog’s behaviour.
But alongside veterinary care, there’s another part of the picture worth thinking about.
What goes into your dog’s bowl.
Healthy skin starts from within.
We tend to notice the coat first.
It’s shiny. It’s dull. It’s soft. It’s suddenly appearing in impressive quantities across the sofa.
But underneath that coat is your dog’s largest organ: their skin.
The skin barrier has an important job. It helps protect the body from the outside world while retaining moisture within it. Supporting normal skin function therefore isn’t just about helping your dog look good; it’s part of their wider wellbeing.
And nutrition plays an important role in maintaining it.
Protein, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids all contribute to normal skin and coat health. One group of nutrients in particular has become very familiar to dog owners: Omega-3 fatty acids.
So, why can Omega-3 help?
This is where Omega-3 gets particularly interesting (we think so anyway).
Two important Omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, help support healthy skin from within. They play a role in the body’s natural response to inflammation and help support the skin barrier, keeping moisture in and helping protect your dog from the outside world.
And that’s particularly relevant when we’re talking about itching.
Irritated skin can become itchy. Your dog scratches, licks or nibbles because it feels uncomfortable, which can leave already unhappy skin feeling even unhappier.
It’s the dreaded itch-scratch cycle.
Omega-3 isn’t a cure for whatever is causing your dog to itch, and persistent or excessive itching should always be investigated properly. But getting enough EPA and DHA through their diet can help support normal skin function and the body’s natural response to inflammation.
It’s really no different to the daily vitamins and supplements many of us take ourselves. We don’t always wait until something feels wrong; we give our bodies the nutritional support they need as part of looking after ourselves every day. Why should it be any different for them?
And healthy skin tends to show on the outside too.
Think healthy skin, a glossy coat, and everyday nutritional support for dogs prone to itching.
And where do we get ours?
EPA and DHA are often associated with fish oil; we just go a little closer to the source.
Our Omega-3 comes from microalgae, giving us the EPA and DHA we want without relying on wild-caught fish.
So your dog gets the goodness, and the fish can carry on swimming around doing fish things.
Clean Omega. Grown, not caught.
But why wait for the itch?
We usually start paying attention when something changes.
The coat that used to shine looks a little dull. Your dog starts licking their paws more often. The occasional scratch becomes scratch, scratch, scratch… and suddenly skin health is very much on your radar.
But supplementation doesn’t have to start with a problem.
Think about it in the same way as good food, regular exercise or looking after your dog’s teeth. We don’t necessarily wait for something to go wrong before we start taking care of them.
We’d rather help maintain that lovely coat and support healthy skin every day than wait for it to become dull and for the scratching to begin.
And we’d definitely rather avoid the horrendous 2 am itch-scratch soundtrack if we possibly can.
So, can a supplement stop my dog itching?
This is where we need to be sensible.
Itching is a symptom, not a diagnosis. No supplement can tell you why your dog is scratching, and nutrition isn’t a substitute for identifying and treating allergies, parasites, infections or other medical causes.
That’s why, if something doesn’t seem right, your vet should always be part of the conversation.
What good nutrition can do is provide nutrients that help support normal skin function and coat condition as part of your dog’s everyday diet.
That’s the thinking behind our Skin & Coat | Itch Support formula.
Rather than creating something that’s simply about making coats look shinier, we’ve approached Skin & Coat from the skin out: combining carefully selected ingredients in an easy-to-use daily powder designed to support normal skin and coat health.
For dogs whose skin and coat could use some extra nutritional support. And for dogs with a gorgeous, glossy coat you’d quite like to help keep that way.
Because the glossy coat is lovely, but the dog underneath is more important.
And because giving a supplement shouldn’t become a daily battle
We also wanted it to be easy.
No wrestling with capsules. No trying to convince a suspicious dog that the tablet definitely isn’t hiding inside that piece of cheese.
Our supplements come as powders, designed to be scooped onto your dog’s normal food as part of their everyday routine.
Scoop. Sprinkle. Done.
That’s why we created Koning & Ritter: thoughtful everyday supplementation designed to support dogs through what they need today, while making good nutrition today an easy part of looking after them tomorrow.
For the dull coats and the glossy ones. For the scratchers and the non-scratchers.
For them today, and for everything still to come.