Harmattan and Your Pet: Dry Skin, Coughs and Cracked Paws

Harmattan changes the air itself. It becomes dry enough to pull moisture straight out of skin, and it carries fine dust deep into airways. Pets feel that every bit as clearly as we do, and clinics see the same set of problems arrive together each year, almost on schedule.

Nearly all of it is manageable, and a good deal of it is preventable, if you know what is coming.

Dry, flaking skin

The most common complaint of the season. Humidity drops, skin loses moisture faster than it is replaced, and the coat starts shedding visible flakes. Dogs scratch, cats over-groom, and both can break the skin enough to let infection in.

What helps: bathe less often, not more. Every bath strips oils that are already scarce. When you do bathe, use a moisturising, dog-appropriate shampoo and never human products, which are the wrong pH. Brush regularly to spread the natural oils along the coat. A diet with adequate essential fatty acids makes a real difference over several weeks, so ask your vet before adding oils rather than improvising with what is in the kitchen.

When it is not just dryness: flaking with a smell, spots, scabs or hair loss is infection or parasites, not weather. That needs treatment.

Cracked paw pads

Pads dry out and split, particularly on dogs walked on hot, dusty or rough ground. Cracks are painful and bleed, and they let bacteria in.

What helps: check pads weekly, especially between the toes where dust and grass seeds collect. Rinse and dry paws after walks. A pet-specific paw balm works well; petroleum jelly is a reasonable stopgap. Walk on cooler ground early or late in the day. If a crack is deep, bleeding, or the dog is limping, have it seen rather than treated at home.

Coughing and respiratory irritation

Dry, dust-laden air irritates airways. Some animals simply cough; those with existing conditions get noticeably worse. This is also the season when kennel cough spreads readily, helped by irritated airways and by animals gathering indoors.

What helps: keep dusty rooms ventilated but avoid direct draughts onto sleeping pets. Damp-mop rather than sweeping, which just relocates dust into the air. If your dog boards, uses a groomer or meets other dogs regularly, ask your vet whether a kennel cough vaccination makes sense.

See a vet if: the cough persists beyond a few days, sounds wet or productive, comes with fever, appetite loss or lethargy, or if there is any laboured breathing. A honking, persistent cough in a dog that has been around other dogs is likely kennel cough and worth confirming.

Eye irritation

Dust plus dry air means red, watery, or gummy eyes. Flat-faced breeds with prominent eyes suffer most, since there is simply less protection.

What helps: wipe gently with clean damp cotton, outer corner inward, using a fresh piece per eye. Never use human eye drops without veterinary advice.

See a vet if: there is thick or coloured discharge, obvious pain, squinting, cloudiness, or if the animal is rubbing the eye persistently. Corneal damage progresses quickly and is far easier to treat early.

Dehydration, which people miss

Cooler weather makes it easy to forget how dry the air is. Animals lose water steadily through breathing, and many drink less when it feels cold.

What helps: more water bowls than you think you need, refreshed daily. Cats especially drink poorly from a single stale bowl, and wet food adds useful moisture. To check hydration, lift the skin over the shoulders; it should fall straight back. Gums should be moist, not tacky.

Cold nights

Nights fall further than people expect in the north, and thin-coated dogs, puppies, elderly animals and those with arthritis feel it. Arthritic pets are visibly stiffer in cold weather.

What helps: move beds off cold floors and away from draughts. Add bedding. A coat is not indulgence for a short-coated or elderly dog. If an older pet is struggling to rise or reluctant on stairs, that is pain worth treating rather than simply age.

A short seasonal routine

1. Check paws and skin once a week, in good light
2. Brush more often, bathe less often
3. Wipe eyes and face daily on dusty days
4. Refresh water daily and add a second bowl
5. Move sleeping places off cold floors
6. Deal with coughs early rather than waiting them out

Our free seasonal care guide covers the opposite end of the year, when humidity brings its own parasite problems. Between them they cover most of what changes with the weather.

Seasonal complaints share one quality: individually they all look too small to justify a trip to the vet. A bit of flaking, a slight cough, one cracked pad. So they get watched instead of treated, and a fortnight later the cracked pad is infected and the cough has not gone anywhere.

A Skeepy Pet HMO plan covers consultations and treatment at any vet clinic in Nigeria, which is what makes going early for something small a straightforward decision rather than one you talk yourself out of.