Why Can't You Share Your Shampoo with Your Dog?

When you become a dog owner, you commit to sharing your life with your pooch. Within that big and beautiful connection, you share a great deal of other things with your dog. You'll share your home, maybe your bed, possibly even your food on occasion, but there are some things that shouldn't be shared with your dog, and that's your personal hygiene products. Your soap and shampoo are for you. It has been designed and manufactured for the human body and certainly shouldn't be used to bathe your dog. But can dog hair and skin be cleaned using exactly the same products you use to clean your own hair and skin? 

A Chemical Distinction

Your skin and hair are actually chemically distinctive from your dog's. The alkaline nature of soap and shampoo strips your skin's natural acidity, although this won't harm you. Your skin's acidity will rebalance itself, and many personal hygiene products have various moisturisers added to counterbalance the alkaline properties of the product in question. This isn't the case when it comes to using the same product on your dog.

Natural Acidity

When your soap and shampoo strips the natural acidity from your dog's skin, there are a number of possible complications. At best, your dog will be uncomfortably itchy. At worst, they can be more susceptible to viral and bacterial infections, which can be rather dangerous for your poor pooch. In short, if you regularly use your own soap and shampoo to bathe your dog, you should stop immediately, and you should immediately take them to a vet clinic if their skin is dry and itchy. But what if you have already been doing this regularly, perhaps even as long as you've had your dog?

What to Do Next

Immediately switching to a shampoo designed for dogs will alleviate any minor skin conditions, such as dry, itchy skin. Your dog's skin will return to its natural pH level of its own accord, and no further intervention will be necessary. This is the case for an adult dog with a robust immune system, but if you have a senior dog or a dog with a compromised immune system, you need to be more cautious. Has your dog been displaying signs of a bacterial or viral infection? This would not necessarily be caused by the use of human soap and shampoo, but it can certainly make the infection far worse. 

If you should be concerned about the potential damage done to your dog's skin by the use of alkaline personal hygiene products, then schedule a health check at your vet clinic, allowing any issues to be detected and reversed before they become serious.