The 5 minute coat check, printable

The 5 minute coat check. Once a month, in good light. Nothing but your hands and your nose. Works whoever you buy from, including nobody.

1. The shine

Palm from neck to tail, with the coat. Even sheen, springs back.
Dull, brittle or greasy? Not a diagnosis. Look harder at 2 to 5.

Compare your dog to your dog last month, not to a dog on the internet. Ten vets scoring the same dogs agreed on glossiness barely better than chance. The same person scoring over time is the part that works.

2. The skin underneath

Part the fur in three places: shoulders, base of tail, one flank.
Calm, even coloured skin. Note redness, scabs, dark patches, heavy flake.
Does the flake move? That is a mite, not dandruff. Vet, not shampoo.

3. The smell

Cup your hands into the coat, somewhere they cannot lick. Smell your hands.
Strong greasy smell back within a day or two of a bath, plus redness or scratching? Worth a vet.

Ears, teeth and anal glands cause odour too. Only a vet looking at cells under a microscope can tell you which.

4. The shedding

Think about what you have hoovered lately. More in spring and autumn is normal.
Coin sized bald patches, or matching thin patches both sides? Not a moult.

5. The behaviour

For one evening, count: scratching, paw licking, face rubbing.
Same spot repeatedly, licking that breaks sleep, paws stained from chewing?

Grain free does not mean allergy free. The most commonly reported food allergens in dogs are beef, dairy and chicken. Wheat is fourth.

The vet comes first. No supplement, from us or anyone, is a treatment for skin disease. If your dog seems uncomfortable, this sheet is what you take with you, not what you use instead.
Checked on:   ....... / .......    ....... / .......    ....... / .......    ....... / .......    ....... / .......    ....... / .......

Myrven, a British skin and coat brand. myrven.co.uk. General education, not veterinary advice.

To print this: use your browser's print option and it fits on one page. On a phone, the share button usually has a print or "save to PDF" option.

The full explanation behind each check, with the sources, is on the coat check page.