Flakey Skin Behind Ears

[RiverStar-Aura]

For the past couple of days when I've been brushing Kirah, I've noticed white flakey skin coming off from behind her ear -- it resembles soap flakes. Just wondering if anyone has experienced this and how to go about treating it. The skin doesn't appear red, sore or itchy and not scaly either so I'm not sure what's causing it. It only seems to be at the base of the ear where it connects to the skull/head.

Weird.

[Erny]

Are you talking about "scurf" ? Does it have a bit of a greasy feel? And are you sure that this is not occurring anywhere else on the body at all?

Candida was one thing that came to my mind. But hard to tell without seeing.

Rinse/wash over with a brew of Calendula Tea and see if that settles it down. If it doesn't go away or returns, you might need to look a bit deeper.

[Florise]

Try using anti dandruff shampoo on the area(Selsun or such), and add some good oil to the diet (if you don't already.

[Erny]

Gotta be careful of shampoos - medicated or otherwise. Can send the skin into an over-reactive cycle that becomes self perpetuating.

[Florise]

Sorry, I should have suggested calendula tea then..

[Erny]

It's one of the best and kindest 'first-starts' in my book, rather than jumping to other things that can have a spin-off affect.

[BC Crazy]

Sorry don't mean to hijack your thread RSA but was wondering how you apply Calendula Tea Erny? I was going to buy some to put in my first aid kit that I am making up to take away. Thanks in advance.

[Erny]

Hi BC Crazy. Great stuff to have in your first aid kit.

Purchase from a Health Food Store or on-line. "World-par-tea" is one on-line shop who I have spoken with to ensure what they sell is organic and free from artificial colouring.

Generally speaking, I use a good couple of what would equate to tablespoons full. If anything, I'm more on the generous side. I purposely make it strong when something is really irritated, sore and/or threatening/becoming infected. Then I back it off to the usual one or two tablespoons full until the affected area is healed.

You make it as you would any tea - i.e., pour on hot water and allow to brew. I let it brew until the boiling water has cooled to tepid or less. I use a single serve coffee plunger for the purpose.

Or - for bigger areas, I pack the toe of a stocking with the Calendula Tea and tie off the stocking. I run the hottest water possible into the bath tub to a depth of about 4 inches. My dog is a large breed. I let the CT stocking bob around in this until the water has cooled to tepid. Make sure the plug is in tight - I did this once only to find all the water had leaked out and I had to start again. Then I put dog into the tub and used the CT stuffed stocking as I might a sponge and wet my dog down with it, making sure to soak through to the skin.

Leave on. Don't rinse. Pat dry areas to absorb excess water, but essentially, let the tea dry on the skin.

Hope that helps. Great idea to include it in your first aid kit. It can be used for so many things. And it can be used orally if necessary.

[RiverStar-Aura]

Thanks for all the replies. I had another good look and comb through and couldn't see any skin flakes so it may just have been dead skin (scurf -- had to google this word). I know it was coming from behind her ears because I use a flea comb on her coat and the flakes only appeared when combing behind her ears and nowhere else.

I had bathed her not too long ago as well so I'm wondering if I can factor that into the equation too. I will keep an eye on this in case it does get worse, but I also didn't notice any red inflamed or angry looking skin anywhere, which is why the flakes had me stumped.

No worries for hijacking the thread BCC; calendula tea is fantastic to keep on hand. I use it on Zeus's armpits and belly when he gets really itchy insect bites so I have much kudos for Erny for sharing this little secret!!

[BC Crazy]

Hi BC Crazy. Great stuff to have in your first aid kit.

Purchase from a Health Food Store or on-line. "World-par-tea" is one on-line shop who I have spoken with to ensure what they sell is organic and free from artificial colouring.

Generally speaking, I use a good couple of what would equate to tablespoons full. If anything, I'm more on the generous side. I purposely make it strong when something is really irritated, sore and/or threatening/becoming infected. Then I back it off to the usual one or two tablespoons full until the affected area is healed.

You make it as you would any tea - i.e., pour on hot water and allow to brew. I let it brew until the boiling water has cooled to tepid or less. I use a single serve coffee plunger for the purpose.

Or - for bigger areas, I pack the toe of a stocking with the Calendula Tea and tie off the stocking. I run the hottest water possible into the bath tub to a depth of about 4 inches. My dog is a large breed. I let the CT stocking bob around in this until the water has cooled to tepid. Make sure the plug is in tight - I did this once only to find all the water had leaked out and I had to start again. Then I put dog into the tub and used the CT stuffed stocking as I might a sponge and wet my dog down with it, making sure to soak through to the skin.

Leave on. Don't rinse. Pat dry areas to absorb excess water, but essentially, let the tea dry on the skin.

Hope that helps. Great idea to include it in your first aid kit. It can be used for so many things. And it can be used orally if necessary.

Thanks so much for taking the to reply Erny. Very informative & interesting. What a great natural healer this product is :)

[essentialdog]

Yes calendula is amazing and has alot of healing properties. You may find using a sulphate free dog shampoo will also reduce the issue. Sulphates are pretty harsh especially for dogs and can cause skin flaking.

[LisaCC]

My last boy would get flaky skin from a certain medication. When it was really bad our vet gave us a home made recipe for an oatmeal "mask" to put all over the dry skin on his stomach, he would just lay on his back getting pats for 30minutes until I washed it off. From memory it was buttermilk oatmeal and a few other things, would of been completely edible It worked well.