What Makes a Good Quality Dog Shampoo?
There are a gazillion different brands of dog shampoo. How can determine the best? There are several indicators that will help you weed out the not so great shampoo. This guide can also help you find the best dog conditioner too!
The first indicator of a good quality dog shampoo will also be the easiest to find. Any company that has a registered name along with unique registered products will usually be better quality. If you see ® which is a universal sign for commercial companies indicates that the chances of the product being good quality are high.
Another good indicator is the dilution scale. If the dilution scale is not on the bottle then don't buy it! The product without a dilution ratio is usually going to be 1:1 meaning it's already diluted to almost all water. A dilution scale of 10:1 means you only need 1 oz. of dog shampoo or conditioner for every 10 oz. of water. You don't have to dilute the shampoo unless indicated. Using full concentrated shampoo is common because there are the dogs that might want to jump in a big pool of mud at the park!
One of the best indicators of a good dog shampoo or conditioner is a short ingredient label. A lot of dog shampoo manufacturers put their ingredients on the shampoo bottles even though it isn't required by law because of it being an animal product. If you can make out most of the ingredients names with a few being hard to understand, then you probably found a good quality shampoo. Be careful -- not all ingredients are listed since there is no law requiring the company to list ingredients in topical pet products. Ingredients should be listed in order of percentage in the formula. The more ingredients you understand higher up on the ingredients list the better the shampoo. If you come across a ingredient label filled with 20 chemicals you can't pronounce then you might want to reconsider. There are a lot of very helpful ingredients below that are typically the safest.
Here Is a Short List of Cat and Dog Shampoo Ingredients:
| SENSITIVITY | GROUP | INGREDIENTS | DESCRIPTION | SAFE FOR CATS? |
| INSECTICIDAL | Generally used to fight against parasite infestations |
Always Check Label |
||
| Pyrethrin | Kills Fleas & Ticks | NO | ||
| Pyrethroids | Synthetic Pyrethrin | NO | ||
| Carbaryl | NO | |||
| ANTISEBORREHIC | Used for pet with scaled or those with excessively oily coats. Meant to treat or prevent seborrhea oleosa, a condition characterized by excess oils. | Always Check Label | ||
| Salicylic Acid | NO | |||
| Refined Tar | NO | |||
| Sulfur | NO | |||
| Selenium Sulfide | NO | |||
| Benzoyl Peroxide | NO | |||
| ANTIBACTERIAL | Used to treat bacterial infections. | |||
| Benzoyl Peroxide |
NO |
|||
| Chlorhexidine | NO | |||
| Povidone Iodine | NO | |||
| Triclosan | NO | |||
| Ethyl Lactate | NO | |||
| Sulfur | NO | |||
| ANTIFUNGAL | Used to treat Yeast or Ringworm infections. | |||
| Miconazole | NO | |||
| Chlorhexidine | NO | |||
| Providone Iodine | NO | |||
| Ketoconazole | NO | |||
| Selenium Sulfide | NO | |||
| ANTIPRURITIC | Intended to provide relief of itching due to conditions such as atopy and other allergies. These ingredients are used to reduce inflammation, help cure the condition and ease the symptoms all while providing comfort to the troubled areas. | |||
| Colloidal Oatmeal | YES | |||
| Hydro-cortisone | NO | |||
| Aloe Vera | YES | |||
| Pramoxine Hydrochloride | NO | |||
| Menthol | NO | |||
| Diphenhydramine | NO | |||
| Sulfur | NO | |||
| Salicylic Acid | NO | |||
| EMOLLIENT | Efficient in adding oils to the skin and relieving the symptoms of a dry and itchy skin. The emollient shampoos are typically used with emulsifiers as they help distribute the active ingredients. | |||
| Almond Oil | YES | |||
| Corn Oil | YES | |||
| Cottonseed Oil | YES | |||
| Coconut Oil | YES | |||
| Olive Oil | YES | |||
| Peanut Oil | YES | |||
| Safflower Oil | YES | |||
| Sesame Oil | YES | |||
| Lanolin Oil | YES | |||
| Mineral Oil | YES | |||
| Paraffin Oil | NO | |||
| EMULSIFIERS | ||||
| Cetyl Alcohol | Any number of additives that encourage the suspension of one liquid in another typically used for mixing oil and water. | |||
| Laureth-5 | YES | |||
| Lecithin | YES | |||
| PEG-4 | YES | |||
| Stearic Acid | YES | |||
| Carboxylic Acid | YES | |||
| Lactic Acid | YES | |||
| Urea | YES | |||
| Sodium Lactate | YES | |||
| Propylene Glycol | Controversial | |||
| Glycerin | YES | |||