Yes, they are different in ingredients, although the same in production. The difference comes from the skin type, here are the main features of pet shampoo:
- Neutral PH: The PH value of pet skin is different from that of humans. For example, the normal pH of dogs is between 6.2 and 7.4, while human skin has a pH of 5.5 – 5.6, which is acidic. This means that your pet’s shampoo must be neutral in pH, otherwise, it will upset the skin’s balance.
- More gentle: Pets’ skin is actually more sensitive than ours. We have 10-15 layers of skin cells, while dogs have only 3-5 layers. Human skin is much thicker and cell renewal is slower.
Therefore, pet shampoo must be gentler, with fewer additives and lighter fragrances, because most fruit or flower extracts contain allergens that pets may unknowingly be allergic to. - Tear-free: Pet baths are generally easier to touch the eyes, most human bath products are caused by eye irritation, which is obviously not appropriate for pets. The ingredients of pet shampoo will be more on the side of gentle plant-based, formulated to be tear-free, and will not cause discomfort even if they enter the eyes less often.
- functionality: pets have lice, fleas, mites, etc., and the use of human body wash is not removed, must add special lice and mite components to make pets really clean up.
Now we have noted that human shampoo is not suitable for use on pets. But you may wonder: I also use my shampoo to bathe my dog, and nothing bad happened. It is not visible in the short term, but over a long time, it may disrupt the pH balance of the skin, leading them to parasites, viruses, and bacteria, thus excessive scratching causes dryness, itching, pain, and even inflammation.
Another interesting question is, can humans use pet shampoo? Considering the pet’s bath cleaning strength does not meet the human cleaning needs, human skin over-cleaning is easy to wash away the skin surface barrier, and it may be dry and itchy, so it is still recommended that human and pet baths are used separately. In addition, pet shampoos may contain pyrethroids that will paralyze insects that come into contact with them, making them helpful in controlling pet insects, but they may cause rashes and breathing difficulties in humans.
