Caring for Dog Lips: Tips for Maintaining Healthy Lips

Caring for Dog Lips. Dogs’ lips dry for many reasons, creating cracks and crusts. It creates discomfort, and they end up licking their lips even more. You may even notice redness around their lips and mouth. The significant reasons are allergies, irritants, autoimmune disorders, and skin infections.

You will need products that can moisturize your dog’s lips and heal them with anti-inflammatory properties. You can treat your dog’s lips at home, but make sure you take the proper steps by consulting the vet.

Sometimes, owners try to keep their dogs’ mouths free from problems, infections, and diseases by regularly brushing their teeth. They even confuse lip fold dermatitis smell with mouth smell but may not figure it out because they are unaware. So, knowing about your dog and what it is going through is very important.

What Causes Dry Dog Lips?

There are many reasons why dogs develop dry lips. Some of those reasons include health conditions such as dermatitis and hyperkeratosis. You may even see your dog’s lips cracking because of the lack of humidity around it.

Your dog may have specific allergies that cause dry lips. If your dog has any jute toys, you need to know that jute can also cause dryness on your dog’s lips. However, if your dog’s lips are dry from the inside or the corner of the mouth, it is a sign of vitamin deficiencies and dehydration.

If you cannot find out why your dog has dry lips, take it to a vet. The vet can then determine the cause and provide the best possible solutions and treatments.

How To Treat Dry Dog Lips?

If you want to try a home remedy to treat your dog’s dry lips, then you need to add some oil to your dog’s food. You can add any of the oils from below, but make sure to add just a teaspoon of oil to its food:

• Coconut oil
• Krill oil
• Fish oil
• Flaxseed oil

In this way, your dog’s requirement of essential fatty acids will help replenish the moisture in its skin, and its lips will no longer get dry. You can also ask your vet for natural solutions to help remove dry dog lips.

Can You Use Vaseline On Dry Dog Lips?

Vaseline is not a good product for dogs because it is essential to use it externally. However, if you apply it on your dog’s lips, it may end up licking and ingesting it. It will be very toxic for its stomach, and your dog will start vomiting or even get diarrhoea. The same applies to products like Aquaphor, which are made for other body parts.

It is best to look for natural lip balms made up of natural ingredients that will not affect your dog’s health. However, if you are unsure if a product will benefit your dog, you can consult the vet.

What Is Lip Fold Dermatitis In Dogs?

If your dog’s lips are red, swollen, or painful, or if it has any other signs of illness, such as fever or lethargy, it is essential to take it to the veterinarian immediately.

Floppy, loose lips in dogs tend to be more in contact with saliva, causing lip fold dermatitis. The areas on your dog’s body where the air reach is limited may trap moisture inside. It is skin inflammation on the lips fold.

The bacteria from food or saliva on that lip fold grows, creating too much lousy odour you can smell from afar. If you let the food particles or moisture stay on its lip fold and do not notice it for long, it will develop dermatitis. Dogs that are most likely to have lip fold dermatitis are:

• Bloodhounds
• English Bulldogs
• Cocker Spaniels
• Pugs
• Pekingese
• Basset Hounds
• Shih Tzu
• Shar Pei
• Saint Bernards

Other causes of lip fold dermatitis include warm weather conditions, which increase saliva production. It can also occur if your dog takes antibiotics for different reasons. If your dog had it before, it may happen again.

Symptoms Of Lip Fold Dermatitis

If your dog has a foul odour, inflammation, or skin redness, it is an obvious sign that it may have lip fold dermatitis. Other symptoms can be discolouration of hair around the mouth area, rubbing, pawing, scratching, and pain whenever you clean your dog’s mouth or touch it.

Keep your dog’s lip fold clean and dry to prevent lip fold dermatitis. Brush your dog’s teeth regularly and clean the area around its mouth. Be calm and patient with your dog, and do not show any signs of anger or irritation.

Make it fun and easy, and avoid yelling at your dog. Cleaning needs to be regular, and if you scare your dog, it will make it difficult to clean its mouth and lips.

You can also clip the hair around your dog’s mouth so that it cannot store bacteria, and you can also see clearly if any problems occur. Or you can also get lip fold surgery to prevent it from returning.

Conclusion

Caring for a dog’s lips is very important because if you do not notice or care for them, they may get too dry and develop problems like lip fold dermatitis. Keeping your dog’s mouth and lips clean is also very important so they don’t generate any issues leading to bad smells.

If you take your dog to a professional, they will treat all the problems it might face around its mouth area, especially on the lips. The veterinarian will suggest natural and medicinal solutions to keep your dog’s lips moist and moist. They will also suggest ways to prevent conditions like lip fold dermatitis.

Thank you for reading the article to the end. Your reading contribution was significant to us.

Affiliate Disclosure: we want to be transparent with our readers. Some links in this article may be affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost, we may earn a small commission if you purchase through these links. Rest assured, we only recommend products and services we believe will add value to your journey as a new pet parent.