How to reduce shedding in dogs naturally

You can't stop a healthy dog shedding, but you can cut how much hair ends up on your floor. Brush several times a week with a tool that suits the coat, wash with a dog shampoo every month or two, feed a complete food, keep up flea control and give it about six weeks before judging any change. Omega-3 oil has the best evidence of the supplements.

Bald patches, sore or red skin, constant scratching or a sudden heavy loss of hair are a vet visit, not a supplement question. A coat that is coming out with no bare skin underneath is usually just the hair cycle doing its job.

How to reduce dog shedding at home

• Brush a double coat most days during a coat blow and two or three times a week the rest of the year. Dead hair caught on a brush never reaches the furniture.
• Match the tool to the coat. An undercoat rake suits huskies and German Shepherds, and a slicker brush suits longer hair. Short coats like Labradors and Boxers do well with a rubber curry brush.
• Bathe every month or two with a dog shampoo, then rinse well. Human shampoo and very frequent baths dry the skin, and dry skin flakes and sheds.
• Book a professional grooming session to de-shed in spring and autumn if the undercoat is more than you can manage.
• Keep flea, tick and mite treatment up to date, because scratching pulls out hair.
• Keep fresh water down and feed a complete food. A vacuum with a pet brush and an air purifier deal with the dog hair and dander you miss around the house.

When excessive shedding needs a vet

Book an appointment if you see any of these. Each one points to something a change of food or a powder won't sort out.

• Bald spots, patchy thinning or hair loss that matches on both sides of the body
• Red, sore, scabby or smelly skin, or a lot of dandruff
• Constant itching, licking or chewing
• Hair coming out suddenly in clumps
• Shedding along with weight gain, tiredness, drinking much more or a change in appetite

Fleas, mange, ringworm, skin infections, allergies, an underactive thyroid and Cushing's disease can all look like too much shedding at first. An underactive thyroid, known as hypothyroidism, is usually caused by the immune system damaging the gland, or by the gland wasting away, according to the 2023 AAHA endocrine guidelines. It needs a blood test and prescribed treatment. Adding iodine from kelp is not a fix for it, and our seaweed products aren't recommended for dogs with thyroid issues.

The scores in this chart are our own illustrative ranking, not measurements.

Why dogs shed

Hair grows, rests and falls out in cycles. Longer days in spring prompt double-coated breeds to drop their thick winter undercoat, and they go through a smaller moult in autumn. Dogs that live mostly indoors, under steady light and heating, often shed a little all year instead.

Breed sets the baseline. Huskies and Labradors are heavy shedders, while Poodles and other curly coats drop very little because their hair keeps growing for much longer. No routine will turn a Labrador into a Poodle.

Hormones play a part too, and females often shed more after a season or after a litter. Stress can release a burst of loose hair within minutes, which is why you find fur all over the table at the vet. Adrenaline is the suspected cause. A calm routine and plenty of exercise help a nervous dog, and so does a quiet place to retreat to.

Food and omega-3

Hair is mostly protein, so a poor diet shows in the coat first, as dull, dry fur that breaks and falls easily. If your dog is on a budget food and the coat looks tired, improving the food is the first thing to try. True deficiencies are now uncommon on complete and balanced foods (Watson, 1998, Journal of Nutrition), so a dog already on a good diet is unlikely to change much from more vitamins alone. Too much vitamin A, vitamin D or iodine does harm, so don't add them on top of a complete food without asking your vet.

Omega-3 fatty acids are where the evidence is strongest. In a double-blind crossover study of 16 dogs with itchy skin disease, a daily marine oil capsule containing 180 mg EPA and 120 mg DHA per 4.55 kg of body weight improved itching, hair loss and coat character compared with corn oil over 6 weeks (Logas and Kunkle, 1994, Veterinary Dermatology). Those were dogs with skin disease, so it tells us more about itchy dogs than about a healthy Labrador in May.

Plant seeds are less impressive. When 18 healthy dogs were given flax or sunflower seed, their coats scored better for a while, but the gain didn't last beyond 28 days (Rees and colleagues, 2001, Veterinary Dermatology). Choose a fish or algal oil made for dogs, follow its dose and tell your vet if your dog is on medication. Fish oil can loosen stools at high doses, and it adds calories.

Does seaweed or spirulina help with shedding

Seaweed and microalgae supply trace minerals and protein, and a few of our reviewers mention a better coat. What they can't do is switch off a moult. We know of no controlled trial that has measured seaweed against shedding in dogs.

The closest thing we have is for spirulina for dogs. In a 2023 study of 60 dogs given spirulina tablets for 6 weeks, 52 of them finishing, the share of owners calling their dog's coat "optimal and shiny" rose from 26.6% to 50.0% (Stefanutti and colleagues, Animals). There was no placebo group and the change in dogs wasn't statistically significant (p = 0.112), so it's an encouraging signal and nothing firmer.

Our own reviews tell the same story. In a sample of 382 published Judge.me reviews for Canident, Egg Shell Membrane and Stoolrite, collected in November 2026, 11 mention the coat and none mention shedding. Owners talk about shine and softness. "His skin and coat feel and look much better now," wrote one Egg Shell Membrane buyer on 18 August 2023. Another, the same day, wrote "My dog coat is so soft and shiny!!". We'd expect a nicer coat from these products and wouldn't promise a cleaner carpet.

Our products for skin and coat

If you want to add one, pick by what else your dog needs. Give a single seaweed product at its pack dose and start with a small amount. Doubling up on seaweed products raises iodine with no added benefit.

Product	What it is	Who it suits
Irish Kelp for Pets	Three Irish brown seaweeds. Under 10 kg 1 scoop (2 g), 10 to 20 kg 1 to 2 scoops, over 20 kg 2 scoops daily	Dogs who need a plain mineral top-up
Skin and Coat+	Chlorella, spirulina, Nannochloropsis, Ascophyllum nodosum, Ulva and eggshell membrane	Dogs whose main problem is dry skin or a dull coat
Spirulina	European-grown Spirulina platensis powder	Owners who want a microalga and no seaweed
Microalgae Blend for Mature Dogs	Chlorella and Nannochloropsis, a microalga with omega-3 EPA	Older dogs with a dull coat
Canident or Dental+	Brown seaweed powders for teeth. Canident is 0.5 to 1 scoop (2 g) per 10 kg daily	Dogs with plaque or bad breath
Stoolrite	Dried, milled Ulvophyceae seaweed, a fibre source	Dogs with soft stools or anal gland trouble

Kelp for dogs is the simplest place to start. Ours is dried at low temperatures and milled, and it comes with a 2 g scoop.

Skin and Coat+ is the only one of our products made with the coat as its main job.

The Microalgae Blend is the one to look at for older dogs. It contains no seaweed, but it's still a new food, so introduce it slowly and ask your vet first if your dog has a thyroid condition.

Canident and Dental+ are dental products first. If your dog needs a dog dental powder anyway, you get the minerals as a side benefit, and Borvo Dental+ adds microalgae. Each has a 15-week money-back guarantee, which applies to teeth results and needs your order number and before and after photos.

Stoolrite is a stool former for gut and anal gland problems. A dog with loose stools can have a poor coat for the same underlying reason, but buy it for the stools. Its 5-week guarantee covers those results and needs your order number and before and after photos. Egg Shell Membrane is sold for joints, and the reviews above suggest the coat improved for some of those reviewers as well. None of our products carries a guarantee for shedding.

What to look for in any coat supplement

Read the label for the full ingredient list with amounts, and be wary of a "proprietary blend" that hides them. Seaweed products should come from clean water, with batch testing for iodine and heavy metals such as arsenic. Fish oil should be made for dogs and tested for contaminants. Add one new product at a time, so that if your dog gets an upset stomach or starts itching you'll know which one to stop.

Questions owners ask

Can I stop my dog shedding completely?

No. Shedding is how a dog replaces old hair, and a shed-free dog of a shedding breed doesn't exist. You can remove loose hair before it falls and fix any health problem that's adding to it.

What can I give my dog for shedding?

Start with a good complete food and an omega-3 oil made for dogs. Seaweed and microalgae can help the look of the coat, but the evidence that they reduce shedding is thin.

How long until I see a difference?

Brushing works the same day. Food and supplements are slower because hair grows in cycles, so give them about 6 weeks, the length of the omega-3 and spirulina studies above.

Is kelp good for a dog with a thyroid problem?

No. Our kelp and seaweed products aren't recommended for dogs with any thyroid issue because of their natural iodine. Speak to your vet, and keep giving any thyroid medication as prescribed.

Why is my dog shedding so much in winter?

Dry air from central heating and more time under indoor light can keep hair falling through the colder months. If there's any bare or sore skin, see your vet.

References

• Logas D, Kunkle GA (1994). Double-blinded crossover study with marine oil supplementation containing high-dose icosapentaenoic acid for the treatment of canine pruritic skin disease. Veterinary Dermatology.
• Rees CA and colleagues (2001). Effects of dietary flax seed and sunflower seed supplementation on normal canine serum polyunsaturated fatty acids and skin and hair coat condition scores. Veterinary Dermatology.
• Stefanutti D and colleagues (2023). Oral palatability and owners' perception of the effect of increasing amounts of spirulina in the diet of a cohort of healthy dogs and cats. Animals 13(8), 1275.
• Watson TD (1998). Diet and skin disease in dogs and cats. Journal of Nutrition 128(12 Suppl).
• American Animal Hospital Association (2023). AAHA selected endocrinopathies of dogs and cats guidelines.