Nutrition Management for Dermatology - Part 1: Key Factors for Healthy Skin & Coat

Summary

Dr. Shaiyod Tanrathana explains how nutrition supports healthy skin and coats in dogs and cats. Although the talk’s outline also mentions nutritional skin disease and food allergy, this section focuses mainly on basic nutritional factors, protein, and essential fatty acids.

Key principles

• Nutrition is the foundation of skin and coat health. Diets should be balanced, meet each animal’s needs, and provide sufficient energy.
• Grooming—such as brushing, ear cleaning, and bathing—and skin or coat supplements can provide additional support, but do not replace appropriate nutrition.
• Take a thorough diet history before diagnosing a skin problem.

Protein and amino acids

• Hair is described as being about 95% protein, so adequate dietary protein supports skin and coat structure and function.
• The speaker gives approximate protein figures for different coat types: about 10% of dietary protein for short-haired dogs and about 30% for long-haired dogs.
• Protein deficiency may be associated with changes such as skin darkening or hair-coat depigmentation.
• Phenylalanine and tyrosine contribute to hair pigmentation and are involved in thyroid and adrenal gland function. They support the production of:
  • Pheomelanin, associated with yellow-to-red pigments.
  • Eumelanin, associated with brown-to-black pigments.
• In dark- or black-coated animals, insufficient amounts may cause the coat to become reddish.

Essential fatty acids and skin-barrier health

• Omega-3 fatty acids are discussed primarily for their anti-inflammatory effects. The speaker highlights EPA and DHA for skin patients.
• Omega-6 fatty acids support coat condition and the skin barrier. They are important components of the lipids between skin cells.
• Too little omega-6 may be associated with irritated, flaky, or scaly skin and a dull coat.
• A well-organized layer of lipids between skin cells helps maintain the skin barrier. When that barrier is deficient, the skin may be more vulnerable to:
  • Allergens entering deeper layers and triggering allergic reactions.
  • Secondary infections, including bacterial or yeast infections.
• Atopic dogs may have skin-barrier defects even when lesions are not visible. The speaker’s illustrations contrast an intact lipid arrangement with the disrupted arrangement described in atopic skin.
• The talk reports that topical essential fatty acids can help restore the skin barrier. In practice, the speaker says omega-6 may be used topically or orally.

Use of fatty acids in skin patients

• The speaker gives doses of 40–80 per kg per day for EPA/DHA and 10 per kg per day for gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). The units are unclear in the autogenerated subtitles, so these figures should be checked against the original presentation before use.
• Clinical effects may take about eight weeks to appear, including reduced inflammation or itching.
• Fatty-acid supplementation may allow reductions in anti-inflammatory medication in some cases. The speaker cites a report in which omega-3 supplementation alongside cyclosporine treatment for atopic patients reduced the cyclosporine dose by about 20–30%.

Speakers and sources

• Dr. Shaiyod Tanrathana — dermatologist specialist from Thailand and the presenter.
• Royal Canin Indonesia — video channel and source.