How To Give Your Dog A Medicated Bath

If only bathing a dog was always as simple as pouring some soap on and then rinsing it off. Although this is, of course, the basis of all baths, there are added steps to a medicated bath. If you don’t leave it on long enough or fail to get contact with the skin, the bath won’t work.

In this article, we will be going over what medicated baths are, how they work, and how to give your dog a medicated bath.

What Are Medicated Baths?

A medicated bath is any bath using a shampoo designed to address a health problem in your dog. Anti-itch shampoos, hotspot shampoos, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial shampoos are all examples of shampoo designed for a medicated bath.

Medicated shampoos are unique because they seldom have any actual soap in them. This means that while you get your dog wet and apply it to your pet, it doesn’t clean your pet. If your dog’s coat is greasy or dirty, you should wash your dog in ordinary shampoo first before soaking your dog in a medicated bath.

How They Work

Medicated shampoos contain an ingredient designed to help a specific health condition when applied to the skin. They usually need to be applied for 5-10 minutes to work. If the medicated bath is applied and immediately rinsed off, it will not help the pet.

All medicated shampoos have directions on the bottle stating how much time to leave it on for. If it says “at least” one minute, it means that is the minimum, but more is better. Shampoo should never be left on so long it dries on the dog, as that will cause itchiness in its own right.

Medicated shampoos need to be applied to the dog often to work. A recommended weekly schedule is usually on the bottle, ranging from daily to 2-3 times a week. It’s best to put these in your calendar and adhere to them strictly because it can feel like you just bathed the dog but a week has already sailed by without you realizing it.

How to give your dog a medicated bath

Start off by washing your dog if the coat is very dirty. This will clean the skin and coat and prepare it for the medicated bath. Once the dog is clean (no need to let dry) apply a generous amount of the medicated shampoo to your dog.

Remember, the shampoo only works if it makes contact with your dog’s skin, so there needs to be enough shampoo for it to—well—make contact. Many people don’t use enough shampoo to truly get the most out of the treatment. Your dog should feel slick and soapy all over after applying.

I typically wash everywhere but the face. If you need to wash the face also, be very careful not to get soap into the dog’s eyes as it may cause irritation.

Once the dog is thoroughly lathered, set a timer for the amount of time needed, and spend that time either gently brushing the shampoo through the coat (I use a zoom groom, a thick coated dog like a malamute might benefit from a slicker brush) or feeding your dog treats.

There’s No Need To Make This Miserable

If your dog is like most dogs, baths are not their favorite experience. Most dogs just don’t love baths, and it takes a lot of conditioning to make them feel even neutral about bath time. You can make soaking for a thousand years (I mean, 5 minutes) a little easier by feeding them delicious treats while they are waiting.

If your dog is an escape artist, sticking a licky mat to the wall with a little canned dog food, or even meat based baby food, will go a long way to making them feel better. Even if they don’t eat it the first time, paring the smell of something comforting (yummy treats) with bath time can make it more bearable next time. Don’t give up on the treats even if they don’t eat it the first bath.

If your hands are free, a bowl full of ordinary treats being hand fed to them can be an amazing surprise for your pup.

Small dogs can be wrapped in a towel (soap and all) and held for 5 minutes if that is more comfortable, but the best thing to do is to keep working the soap through the coat and against the skin for the full time.

A Good Rinse

Finally, rinsing all of the shampoo off completely is very important for your pet. Shampoo residue can be very itchy, and can cause new problems for your pet’s vulnerable skin. One trick I use to check whether my dog is completely rinsed or not is to make my hand into a scoop, and scrape my dog’s belly with it. Soap tends to collect down there so it’s the most likely place for soap to be left.

If you see bubbles in your hand, there is still soap on your dog. Keep rinsing! If the water in your hand is clear, it’s likely that the dog is well rinsed.

Yes, You Need A Cone

If your dog is itching to the point a medicated bath is necessary, it’s likely they are damaging their own skin trying to itch. I like to follow up a bath with a good anti-itch spray, and to cone them to prevent them from damaging themselves farther.

If they are scratching with their feet as well as picking, a fitted t-shirt can also help prevent damage to the skin.

Most dogs hate the cone, and most humans try to avoid it. They tell themselves silly little lies like, “I’ll just watch my dog closely.”

Friends, you own a chihuahua. They are masters of sneakiness. Leia goes and hides in the bathroom to pick her hotspots. Sandy sneaks under the bed. They will wait till you are not looking, and they will itch themselves bloody. Use the cone.

I recommend this pillow because it is more comfortable than the plastic cone, and looks hilarious too. We refer to our dogs as “The Orange” or “The Watermelon” for as long as they are in the cone.

Final Thoughts

When your dog is itchy and miserable, it can be miserable for you too. It takes as long as 6-8 weeks for medicated baths to show an improvement. Hang in there, and follow the bathing protocol diligently.

Skin problems suck for everyone, but the baths will help, and cut the misery shorter than what it would be without the baths at all.

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