bathing/water
by Chuin
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
How often should a Maltese be bathed? I know a friend whose Maltese gets a bath once every day AND enjoys it. I've been told that once every three weeks is "normal." I've also met pet-keepers who bath their dogs once every 3 years. My former dog, a Doberman, had a bath once every week.
Also, could bathing dry a Maltese's skin and perhaps cause some skin irritation?
Another question: how much should a puppy drink a day? This puppy drinks quite a bit and wees quite a bit. I don't know if he's over-doing it.
DISCUSSION:
Welcome to MalteseOnly Chuin. Congratulations on your new baby. I have a 14 month old Maltese, Buster. I bathe him every 2 weeks. I use a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner on him. I think everyday is a little too much! Ha! Yes it can dry a dogs skin out. You have to be careful. I think some people bathe their dogs weekly also. You didn't say how old your Maltese is. As far as drinking water Buster drinks alot too. I'm not sure what you mean by alot.
Libby & Buster
Chico gets a bath every week, he NEEDS it! Even though he stays in the apartment, and I clean regularily, he is very adept at finding the smallest amount of dirt and spreading it all over his fur! Being white, it's really noticable when these little fellas get dirty! As for drying out the skin...I think as long as you make sure that you rinse the shampoo out thoroughly, you shouldn't have any problems. Chico seems to be fine.
Can't help you on the water problem...Chico drinks very little even though his water is changed often.
Dean and Chico
As for drinking, if your baby is used to a bottle with a roller tip, like the ones that attach to the side of a crate, a bowl of water is a real treat for them. They'll drink like they can't get enough. According to our vet, that's fine and they'll get used to it. Just take them out a lot in the meantime. Yes, some shampoos can dry out a furbaby's skin. I'd recommend a "gentle" dog shampoo. Even baby shampoo can be drying to them. A previous discussion mentions using Pantene Pro-V, and they seemed to love it. We bathe Sunshine every week, just to keep his white coat clean. With the long haired dogs, you have to bathe them rather frequenly. Short haired breeds can go a longer time without bathing because the fur drops out (sheds) when it gets long, and doesn't hold dirt as much. Enjoy the puppy! What's his name?
Bob
Thanks for all your replies! My puppy is almost 4 months old (birthday was June 9, 1998), and his name's Mika. I've been bathing him twice a week because his fur (underside and paws) gets rather grey and grubby from all his prancing about on the newspaper (I'm paper-training him). I'm using a gentle puppy shampoo, but I THINK it's drying his skin because Mika scratches quite often and I know it isn't fleas. So, I'm not sure exactly what I should do now. I don't have one of those roller-tip water bottles for Mika. I leave a bowl out for him when I'm at work. When I'm home, and during weekends, the bowl gets put away, and what Mika does is, he'd sit by the sink and look at me if he wants a drink. It's just hilarious, because he'd do that every hour or so. And he wees so much! The pet store from which I get Mika's wee wee pads from was stunned that Mika goes through 1 - 2 wee wee pads a day! I've only had one other dog before Mika. He was a Doberman and I had him for 12 years. As such, I'm completely new to Malteses, but I love Mika already! He now knows how to play the "stick-my-tongue-out-at-Mommy" game! Whenever I stick my tongue out at Mika, he does the same back without fail! It's just hysterical!
Chuin
How often your Maltese needs a bath depends a lot on his environment. Do you live near an airport as I do? Lots of black grease in the air results from that, gets on everything including the dogs. Do you have a dirt road nearby? Things like that. Human shampoos will strip the natural oils from any dogs coat so use a good quality dog shampoo and one of the human creme rinses like the Pantene. Washing once a week will not damage the Maltese if the drying and blowing dry are done properly with the correct type brushes. When I wasn't showing one I did about every 3 weeks. If you have some product on the coat after the bath it will collect dirt more quickly.
One thing that will irritate a Maltese skin for sure is if he is clippered, their skin cannot tolerate a Poodle type clip job. For that use at least a #7 blade. Once a day is too much bathing but sometimes puppies need their butt wash twice a day. Be sure to trim a small area around the anus to help keep the butt hair clean. A dabb of vaseline in that area can also help. Don't trim ALL the butt hair off, just a small circle. I found this very helpful because of all the hair that grows over that area. \
I believe in giving my dogs a small bowl of water, not a water bottle, for every day. The water bottles often don't give the dogs enough at a time to sustain health, especially in hot water. I use the bottles only sometimes, like traveling, so do teach yours to use it. If the weather is warm or your home is heated in winter and as a result very dry then your Maltese will drink more. If he urinates too often and not completely or shows very dark urine or even red stains then get him to a vet. as he may have an infection in the bladder. Or he could be affected with diabetes, although rare, causing him to drink more. Or he could be completely healthy, just running around a lot and needing more fluids and not taking the time to drink enough at one time! Next trip discuss this with your Vet to make sure.
Mary Lou
Bailey and Buddy go to the groomer every four weeks for "the works", then I usually bathe them once in between appointments.
Keep an eye on how much water your puppy takes in. When I first got Buddy, he drank A LOT and wet A LOT because he had a urinary infection and a fever. (Poor little guy!) Antibiotics cleared it up in about a week.
Ellyn
My husband bathes our dogs every two weeks. I told him some MO people were using Pantene conditioner on their dogs so he tried some of mine (Pantene Pro-V Deep Fortifying Treatment)the last two times. It's too early to tell for sure but we think it works better than any dog conditioner we've tried so far. The dogs' hair feels very silky and seems to stay fluffier longer.
Alice
Katie drinks very little but it must be enough for her. She is very healthy, happy, and playful. She also does her share of wetting despite the fact that I don't think she drinks much water.
Julie & Katie
Hello, you could probably try some conditioner and some kind of hair oil to add to his coat after bathes and in between bathes. Not to sound like a commercial. But I use Silk by Pet Silk. I'm sure there are other oils out there that are made for dogs. And also, so that you don't have to bathe him twice a week, maybe you could just wash his paws when they get dirty. Lastly, when they are puppies I hear it's natural they pee a lot the first few months. I guess because their bladder is so small and they can't hold it. You'll notice as he gets older he'll start to hold it for longer periods. Don't worry it's normal. Have fun!!
Charlynn
Chuin - My five month old puppy, Tucker, seems to drink and pee a lot, too. He's so active though, that it makes sense to me. I'd sure be thirsty too if I ran around, barked and played as much as he does.
I've been giving Tucker a bath every week to ten days. I think when they're puppies they seem to get dirtier more. They are into EVERYTHING! And Tucker is such a little boy. He loves to roll in every stinky smell he finds in the yard. He has no concept that he's supposed to be a fluffy little lap dog. In his mind he's a beagle or a lab.
Beth
No, I don't live near an airport. Mika's underside and paws get grey mainly because of the ink from the newspaper. I've been placing a layer of "inkless" paper over the newspaper. That helps a lot.
I'll certainly keep in mind Pantene. Right now, I'm using Lambert Kay's Tearless Puppy Shampoo. It's supposed to be mild, but I still think it possible that Mika's skin is sensitive to bath products generally.
And all your puppies' "pee frequency/experiences" sound familiar. I think Mika's doing fine. Thanks for all your responses!
Chuin
| Please bear in mind when reading topics pertaining to health issues, that most of these questions were answered by helpful Maltese owners with no formal education in veterinary medicine. When in doubt seek a professionals advise. |
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