Say you are about to give your dog his wash session but suddenly discover you are out of dog-friendly shampoo.
Of course, you could always take a short trip to the store, or you may be wondering if you could use any cleaning product on hand, say Dawn’s dish soap.
Dawn’s dish soap is an excellent option for cleaning away oils and dirt. You may have spotted the cute duckling pictures on Dawn bottles or the ad campaign showcasing how Dawn helps clean up animals caught in oil spills.
While this is true since the chemicals in dawn dish soap will break up oil and grease, allowing it to be washed away by water, is dawn dish soap safe for dogs? Can you use it as dog soap? Does Dawn kill fleas?
Read on to find out!
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Quick Links:
Can You Wash Your Dog With Dawn For Fleas?Will Dawn Soap Dry Your Dog’s Skin and Fur?
Can You Wash Puppy With Dawn Soap?
Is It Safe To Use Dish Soap On Dogs? Can I Use Dawn To Wash My Dog?
Can You Clean Dog Urine With Dawn?
What Can I Use As A Substitute For Dog Shampoo?
Can I Use My Body Wash On My Dog?
Can I Use Human Lotion On My Dog?
Can We Wash Our Dog With Human Shampoo?
Want An Easier & Safer Shampoo Option?
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Can You Wash Your Dog With Dawn For Fleas?
If you are dealing with a flea infestation, you may want to try some home remedies. Dawn dish soap is a popular option for clearing away dog fleas, but it is not safe. Find out why below.
Will Dawn Soap Dry Your Dog’s Skin and Fur?
While dawn soap will help remove fleas from your dog’s coat, it is by no means safe. This is because dawn soap leaches away all the oils from your dog’s coat and fur, which can dry out his skin very quickly. This is even more dangerous if you use this soap frequently to wash your dog.
If your dog is suffering from an extreme flea infestation, his skin may already be irritated from excessive flea bites. In such cases, using dawn soap may worsen the citation.
It is best to consider that dawn soap will only eradicate adult fleas; it won’t do any good for getting rid of flea eggs. So it would be better to call it a temporary solution instead of a cure.
Dawn isn’t made to be a flea-repellant. Considering that it isn’t a practical solution and may harm your dog’s skin, you should avoid it; instead, go for a pet-safe medication.
Can You Wash Puppy With Dawn Soap?
Like most cleaning products, dawn dish soap can harm your dog’s skin since it tends to dry it out. Furthermore, you want to ensure your dog doesn’t ingest this soap by accident, as it can be harmful, causing gastrointestinal damage.
If you think your dog ingested dawn soap, you should call a veterinarian immediately. However, you also need to consider that there’s no real way to tell if your dog ingested soap or not! This makes the entire thing even riskier.
That’s not all; your dog’s skin has a very different pH level than humans. If you have ever exposed your skin to dish soap, you know how drying it can be. This level of dryness exacerbates among dogs, especially puppies.
Excessive dryness can sometimes lead to inflammation or irritation. What dawn soap does is strip away all oils from your dog’s skin and coat, and this includes natural oils that your dog needs.
This is why it is never recommended to use dawn soap to wash your puppy’s skin. Instead, go for a puppy-friendly shampoo.
Is It Safe To Use Dish Soap On Dogs? Can I Use Dawn To Wash My Dog?
The short answer is no; using dish soap on your dog is not safe. This includes dawn dish soap. Using dish soap on your dog’s skin can be incredibly drying. In extreme cases, this can easily lead to the development of skin infections.
Skin infections can be very painful for your dog. If your pup already suffers from fleas, this can make matters much worse. You will then have to take your dog to a qualified veterinarian to have him treated.
Instead of putting your pet through the pain of having itchy skin and dealing with the associated costs, you should invest in a quality dog-friendly shampoo.
It would help if you also considered that every dog’s needs are different. For example, for some dogs, the dish soap may not do too much harm, but dish soap is a complete no-no for others with dry skin or damaged coats.
In short, keep things simple and use a puppy-friendly shampoo.
Can You Clean Dog Urine With Dawn?
You can take your time to clean away pet fur and fluff from the floor, but what about urine? That’s the sort of mess you need to clean right away.
You may be wondering if you can clean dog urine with dawn soap. Luckily, you can! Since you won’t be using this soap on your dog’s skin or near his eyes, it’s safe to use it. And it can be pretty effective at cleaning away stains and removing odors.
Here Is How You Can Use It:
- Mix half a cup of hydrogen peroxide with half a cup of dawn dish soap (or equal ratios according to your needs). Combining dawn wish soap with hydrogen peroxide will help break down the stains, making it easier to remove them.
- First, you will want to use a towel to remove any excess urine or feces from the area.
- Then add the dawn soap mix you created to a spray bottle and thoroughly spray the affected area.
- Leave it for around a minute before you begin scrubbing.
- Once you scrub away the stain, use water to clear it away. (You may want to be careful using this hydrogen peroxide on darker carpets, however, since it may have a bleaching effect).
What Can I Use As A Substitute For Dog Shampoo?
If dawn dish soap isn’t safe, what other substitutes are available for your dog’s shampoo?
Can you use baby Shampoo? Since baby shampoo is much gentler than regular adult shampoo, it is generally okay to use this. However, you won’t want to use this all the time since it may still dry out your dog’s skin.
You can also use baby wipes to clean his fur if your dog isn’t too dirty. They tend to be gentle on the skin and won’t easily irritate; however, be sure to avoid the areas around his eye.
Can I Use My Body Wash On My Dog?
Another item you have lying around is your body wash; you may be compelled to use this as a dog shampoo substitute. But is it safe?
This entirely depends on the type of body wash you have. For instance, an organic body shower gel that contains natural ingredients, little to no additives, and a simple formulation may be safe for your dog’s skin.
However, if you have a harsh body wash filled with additives and abrasive chemicals, it may not be the best choice.
Can I Use Human Lotion On My Dog?
No, you should never apply human lotion or moisturizers to your dog’s skin. This is because many pets have a habit of licking their coats, and if you use human lotion on their skin, they may be at risk of ingesting them. Excessive ingestion may lead to vomiting or diarrhea.
Moreover, the formulation used for human lotions is not ideal for dogs. Many lotions contain harmful chemicals and ingredients that do more harm than good. Some ingredients you want to avoid are zinc oxide, diclofenac, calcipotriene, lidocaine, or hydrocortisone.
You will easily find puppy-friendly products in the market that safely treat dry and itchy skin. So it’s best to rely on them.
Can We Wash Our Dog With Human Shampoo?
No, you should avoid washing your dog with human shampoo. This is because human shampoo is made especially for the acid mantle of humans, the topmost layer of your skin that protects you from viruses and bacteria.
Human shampoos maintain the proper pH level of your skin (5.5-5.6), so your acid mantle can renew itself if washed away from the shampoo’s chemical effects. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for your dog since their normal pH falls on the neutral side, 6.2-7.4.
A human shampoo on dogs can be far more damaging to the acid mantle of dogs’ skin, leaving them open to infection from parasites, bacteria, and viruses. This is why you should avoid using human shampoo on your dog’s skin.
There you go; now you know that while dawn soap is a good dish soap for humans, it may not be suitable for dogs as it can dry out their skin and fur and cause other issues.
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