Thursday, June 10, 2004
Notes from Valerie's Grooming Table
When trimming a dog's face, centering the eyes vertically in the trimmed face gives the dog an appealing, puppyish look. Too much beard and the dog looks depressed.
Don't mess with the head after Valerie is finished grooming it! It may have to be re-scissored, and that pisses her OFF.
Product Notes
If a dog has hot, red skin, it's a sign of bacterial infection. Dog should be bathed in products containing tea tree oil, peroxide, chlorhexadine, or sulfur.
If the skin is just red but not hot, and has a funky-socks smell, it's more likely fungal. Chlorhexadine shampoo, maybe tea tree oil shampoo. If it's extra-stinky, a capful of Listerine per gallon of water will make a nice rinse. Vinegar will also remove odor, but will leave the dog smelling like a salad. :-)
If the dog has fleas or ticks, citrus shampoo will help kill the fleas. Don't think it'll work to kill ticks, but at least the nasty fuckers will smell better. Dawn will also work.
Cats can't be washed with citrus shampoo, so it's Dawn for them.
General run of the mill dogs can be washed with general run of the mill shampoo. I'm going to be defaulting to the cherry-scented for a while, and leave the melon-scented for Valerie. Not too keen on melon, myself, but I loathe banana and coconut.
Rinses
Any dog that needs undercoat removal should have Refurbish conditioner. The undercoat just flies off with that. Idiot Trainee also thinks that she recalls Valerie saying to use it on severely tangled dogs. Maybe it has silicones in it to help the HV dryer get rid of the knots?
Greasy coated dogs, such as Yorkies, and cats in general should get conditioned with Cowboy Magic. I was alarmed at the 'hydrolyzed silk' listed in the ingredients, but Valerie says that the hydrolysis attenuates the protein. We tested it on my arm, and I used it on a Yorkie without any bad results, so I'm cautiously optimistic, as the saying goes.
A chat-buddy of mine, who has a Ph. D in Organic Chemistry, explained it to me thusly:
"Silk is a natural material and it is very likely that you're allergy is to a very specific protein which may or may not be present in the product you were using .... also, yes ... hydrolyzing anything is a process of breaking it down thus rendering it different ... also product claiming to have these "exotic" additives usually only have them in exceedingly small quantities ... any of these factors could have been the reason for your lack of reaction." It seems to me that if the hydrolysis process changes the protein from silk into something else, they shouldn't put silk on the label at all. What do you think?
Don't mess with the head after Valerie is finished grooming it! It may have to be re-scissored, and that pisses her OFF.
Product Notes
If a dog has hot, red skin, it's a sign of bacterial infection. Dog should be bathed in products containing tea tree oil, peroxide, chlorhexadine, or sulfur.
If the skin is just red but not hot, and has a funky-socks smell, it's more likely fungal. Chlorhexadine shampoo, maybe tea tree oil shampoo. If it's extra-stinky, a capful of Listerine per gallon of water will make a nice rinse. Vinegar will also remove odor, but will leave the dog smelling like a salad. :-)
If the dog has fleas or ticks, citrus shampoo will help kill the fleas. Don't think it'll work to kill ticks, but at least the nasty fuckers will smell better. Dawn will also work.
Cats can't be washed with citrus shampoo, so it's Dawn for them.
General run of the mill dogs can be washed with general run of the mill shampoo. I'm going to be defaulting to the cherry-scented for a while, and leave the melon-scented for Valerie. Not too keen on melon, myself, but I loathe banana and coconut.
Rinses
Any dog that needs undercoat removal should have Refurbish conditioner. The undercoat just flies off with that. Idiot Trainee also thinks that she recalls Valerie saying to use it on severely tangled dogs. Maybe it has silicones in it to help the HV dryer get rid of the knots?
Greasy coated dogs, such as Yorkies, and cats in general should get conditioned with Cowboy Magic. I was alarmed at the 'hydrolyzed silk' listed in the ingredients, but Valerie says that the hydrolysis attenuates the protein. We tested it on my arm, and I used it on a Yorkie without any bad results, so I'm cautiously optimistic, as the saying goes.
A chat-buddy of mine, who has a Ph. D in Organic Chemistry, explained it to me thusly:
"Silk is a natural material and it is very likely that you're allergy is to a very specific protein which may or may not be present in the product you were using .... also, yes ... hydrolyzing anything is a process of breaking it down thus rendering it different ... also product claiming to have these "exotic" additives usually only have them in exceedingly small quantities ... any of these factors could have been the reason for your lack of reaction." It seems to me that if the hydrolysis process changes the protein from silk into something else, they shouldn't put silk on the label at all. What do you think?
