My dogs nails seem dry, brittle and are peeling, any reason why??

not enough nutrition... :)My dogs nails seem dry, brittle and are peeling, any reason why??
The answer to this question depends on exactly what is happening with


the nails.





If you are seeing dry nails that crumble easily when they are trimmed,


but are not sloughing off, not causing pain or other discernible problems,


then there are lots of anecdotal recommendations for treatment. I am not


aware of any studies that show that any of these things actually work, but


anecdotally they are recommended:





Gelatin administration is a common recommendation for treatment of


brittle nails. I have seen a fairly wide range of recommendations for the


amount of gelatin to give. For an 85 lbs. dog the total dosages would be 2 to 5


packages per day (Knox Gelatin (tm) is the most commonly recommended


brand name). I suspect that this is rarely helpful but haven't seen any


reports of it being harmful.





Some sources recommend supplementing biotin when nails are brittle. I


can't recall whether I have seen a study in dogs but I know that in horses


there have been studies that haven't shown much benefit for hoof care, which


should be similar. The recommended dosage is around 5mg/kg (about 200mg


for your dog) of biotin per day, if you want to try this.





Zinc supplementation helps in some dogs. The usual dosage is zinc


gluconate 5mg/kg daily. This probably only works when there is a zinc deficiency,


although some dogs just seem to need more zinc. I don't think of this


as a really common problem but we have seen at least a couple of cases of


zinc deficiency in our practice over the years.





The best bet is probably to supplement with omega n3 fatty acids. This


is usually done using fish oil (3V Capsules tm) and giving 180mg/10lbs of


body weight per day, which is a pretty high dosage. For just dry nails a


lower dosage might be helpful but for the condition discussed next you would


need the higher dosage.





If the nails are actually cracking back to the nail bed, if they are


falling off or if they are deformed, it is likely that there is a


medical cause for the problem. The most likely cause would be lupoid


onchodystrophy, followed by food allergies or other allergies,


ringworm, bacterial infections and immune mediated diseases. Except for the


ringworm and bacterial infections all of these conditions might respond to the


high end dosages of 3V Capsules. It is likely that your vet can give you


some idea of the possibility of an infectious cause following an


examination.My dogs nails seem dry, brittle and are peeling, any reason why??
poor nutrition