Pickles has very dry skin

[nsweezie]

Hello everyone!
I'm hoping for a bit of advice.
We have a lovely tuxedo cat, named Pickles. He is about 2 years old, and we have had him for a year.
Pickles was badly injured, with a broken jaw and tail. He was dumped at our local RSPCA, where luckily they nursed him back to health.
He has come so far in the year we have had him. He was so scared when he first arrived but he has come out of his shell and will now approach visitors to our house (though it does take him a while to work up his courage!)
Anyways, Pickles has a lot of dandruff, particularly around his tail and back legs. We brush him daily but it doesn't seem to do any good. And his fur isn't dry, rather it is lovely and silky. I'm hesitant to take him to the vet if there is a simple solution, because Pickles gets VERY upset when we take him outside of the house. Much more so than is normal. For his last annual check up Pickles was hyperventilating, and days later he lost clumps of fur from the stress.
Is there anything likely to be missing from his diet, or does anyone have any suggestions?
I've attached a picture of this special boy, he send his thanks in advance!
Louise

[Catty1]

What are you feeding him these days? :)

[Freedom]

My goodness, he has been through so much!

Have you noticed if this is a seasonal thing? This time of year, you keep windows closed, the heat is on, and the indoor air gets dryer than it is at other times of the year.

Have you tried giving him a little canned food daily? Not so much taht he gains weight, but just to increase his fluid intake? Sometimes that works.

And you can add some oil to his food and see if that helps. A little olive oil, drizzle it over his dry kibble. Maybe about one tablespoon per day. Not a lot. It won't harm him, and it may give him more moisture.

Those are the only things I can think of right now. Good luck!
Sandra

[Catty1]

I keep a dropper bottle of canola oil in the fridge, and each of my two cats gets a bit of wet food in the morning (Royal Canin S/O, a vet food), and ONE drop each of the oil mixed in.

Results in several days!

Is your cat scratching a lot?

Also, my vet told me that the bit just in front of the tail - where you see a lot of the dandruff - is where cats have a hard time cleaning properly. So you will see more of it there.

What a beautiful cat - after his awful start, it's so good to know he feels secure and loved with you. :)

[jennielynn1970]

I was just going to mention the grooming issue. If he was injured and has a hard time reaching that area, the dander builds up. It happens a lot in over weight cats as well, and it much more noticeable in black cats because of their dark fur. We have a cat at the shelter, Beaner, who is a large, voluptuous woman, lol, and she has horrible dander around her hips and back end area. She adores brushing, which of course loosens all the dander and looks horrible, but you know she feels so much better when it gets all loose and isn't itching her skin as much anymore.

By the way, your Pickles is absolutely gorgeous!! I love that mark on his nose! He's adorable!!!

[nsweezie]

Thanks so much for the suggestions- I will start with the olive oil today. Pickles has a good appetite (perhaps too good as he has to be fed seperately from the rest of the cats or he steals their dinners too!) so I think that will work well.
I never thought of the fact that he was injured being a reason for the dry skin- but that makes so much sense! The dry skin is mostly by his tail and with his broken jaw, which has healed but not perfectly, this may be the cause of his problems. He is such a clean cat, always licking his paws and whiskers, but he doesn't seem to do his back as much. He's also forever licking the other cats, but they don't reciprocate, which is too bad, they could help him out!
I'll let everyone know how he does, he is such a special little chap, and I am SO proud of how far he has come in the year we have had him. It always amazes me when a cat learns to trust again.
Louise

[columbine]

My cat also has very dry skin, especially in the winter! He used to scratch huge patches off of his neck and get bloody mats in his fur. I asked the vet about it, and she gave him some 3V Caps (a vitamin you can order online from a bunch of places). I puncture one and squeeze the oil into his canned food twice a day. He's gotten much better, and he thinks it tastes fantastic!

I also have very dry skin and bad sinuses, so I boil a pan of water on the stove to get some moisture into the air in the winter. That seems to help Smudge's itching too. And, of course, I brush his lovely fur! His favorite is the "slicker brush," which helps me catch the dry-skin flakes before they nucleate tangles, and he thinks it feels "prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

Love, Columbine