What is Seborrheic Dermatitis and Dog Seborrheic dermatitis is a more severe type of dermatitis and exhibits the following characteristics: red hot spots, excessive flaking, and excessive scratching. While this type of dermatitis does occur in dogs it is not as common as it is in humans. Luckily this is easy to treat and manage. Seborrheic dermatitis is typically caused when a microorganism on the dogs skin is over active and essentially feeds on to much skin causing excessive build up of dead skin cells and hence bacteria. In humans Coal Tar shampoo is often used as a treatment. In dogs, the coal tar can be too aggressive and actually cause more damage than good. As a result it is recommended to use a treatment better suited for dogs such as a medicated dog shampoo that contains zinc pca which is very effective at treating dog dermatitis. Is dermatitis the same thing as dandruff in dogs? Dog dermatitis is indeed dandruff, but dog dandruff is not always dermatitis. In other words dandruff (which is flaking and dander) is also caused by other conditions. In the end however, they are essentially the same as dogs that experience excessive dandruff flaking shed their skin cells much faster than normal. This is because fungus on the skin causes skin cells to shed at a much faster rate. This fungus is called Malassezia and feeds on a dogs skin oil which is naturally produced. If you notice small white dog dandruff flakes, not larger ones, then chances are that your dog simply has dry skin. Dog dry skin is characterized by smaller flakes that are very white. You will also not notice any oily build up under the hair (on the skin level) of your dog. Dry skin is best treated with a moisturizing shampoo that contains a small amount of zinc-pca. The moisturizing agents will promote repair of the dry skin and the zinc will help eliminate any minor dermatitis that is most likely forming as a result of the dandruff.