The 10 Best Puppy Shampoo Selections for Healthy Fur and Skin


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Did you bring home a puppy recently? If so, you are probably spending your time researching all the best quality products for your puppy. Today, we will discuss the best puppy shampoo for your new four-legged friend. In the sections below, we will discuss what to look for in a quality puppy shampoo and how to determine the best in a sea of product marketing. We will also give you a detailed description of each of the puppy shampoos featured on our list, and at the end, we’ll share with you which shampoo we thought was the best of the best.

Best Puppy Shampoo Product FAQ

1. What Is Puppy Shampoo?

The simple answer is that puppy shampoo is shampoo made especially for puppies. However, there is a more complicated formula for it.

Puppy shampoo is specially formulated to protect the pH balance of a puppy’s skin and hair. Every animal operates on a pH balance. If you stray outside of their typical balance, issues can arise. These include itchy skin, brittle hair, and even bald patches or hot spots.

2. What Ingredients Should Be Avoided in Puppy Shampoo?

The best puppy shampoos won’t contain ingredients harmful to your new fur baby. However, you probably aren’t a veterinarian, and knowing what ingredients to avoid isn’t common knowledge. Below are some ingredients to avoid when choosing a shampoo for your puppy.

Isopropyl Alcohol

Alcohol is a cheap ingredient that is often used in discount puppy shampoos as a break-down agent for dirt and staining. Unfortunately, it is also a harsh chemical that not only burns puppy skin but also dries it out and can lead to a damaged pH balance.



Mineral Oil

Mineral oil is another budget ingredient that is often used because of the minimal cost in producing the shampoo. Mineral oil is the byproduct left after gasoline and crude oils are burned. While it will be marketed as an ingredient that adds shine to the coat of your puppy, it will coat your puppy’s fur with a thick waxy buildup, which will keep it from ever being clean.

Cocamide DEA

This one is tricky because cocamide DEA is derived from coconut, which disguises it as a helpful additive. While coconut has wonderful natural enhancement qualities for your puppy’s coat and skin, cocamide DEA has been chemically altered to a point where it is no longer helpful. Cocamide DEA has even been linked to cancer.

Anything You Can’t Pronounce

Ingredients with overly complex and hard-to-pronounce names almost always signify a man-made chemical. These chemicals are often too harsh and can cause health obstacles for your puppy with the risks compounding at every exposure. Avoiding these ingredients will help ensure that your puppy is healthy and looking their best between baths. The right ingredients will ensure that bath time is enjoyable and results in a feeling of refreshment for your puppy, inspiring them to become an excellent bather for the rest of their life.

3. How Often Should I Use Puppy Shampoo?

Your puppy should be bathed once a week for the first six months of life and then once a month thereon. Puppies often get dirtier than mature dogs, requiring more frequent baths. After that, it is more important to let their bodies naturally balance pH, so baths should be decreased. These are loose guidelines and you will probably have to stray from them from time to time (mud is fun, after all).

Now that we have tackled some of the most pressing puppy bathing questions, it is time to move on to our comparison of today’s best puppy shampoos.

How We Reviewed the Best Puppy Shampoos

We reviewed the best puppy shampoos based on ingredients, price, quality, and customer satisfaction. By comparing these qualities between the top brands, we have been able to narrow our list to ten puppy shampoos that beat the rest.

Overall Price Range

The best puppy shampoos range in price from $5 a bottle to around $50 a bottle. The products on our list range from $5 to $30. Puppy shampoos with more well-known brand names and those with higher-quality ingredients will be at the higher end of the price scale.

What We Reviewed

  • Sentry Flea & Tick Shampoo with Oatmeal for Dogs and Puppies
  • PET CARE Sciences Dog Shampoo Range
  • Nature’s Miracle Supreme Odor Control Puppy Shampoo
  • Perfect Coat Pampered Puppy Shampoo, Baby Powder Scent
  • Oster Oatmeal Essentials Shampoo
  • Veterinary Formula Solutions Puppy Love Extra Gentle Tearless Shampoo
  • Colloidal Oatmeal Dog Shampoo with Pure Lavender Essential Oils
  • Wahl Gentle Puppy Shampoo for Pets, Cornflower & Aloe
  • Natural Oatmeal Dog-Shampoo and Conditioner
  • Burt’s Bees for Puppies Tearless 2 in 1 Shampoo and Conditioner with Buttermilk and Linseed Oil

Sentry Flea & Tick Shampoo With Oatmeal for Dogs and Puppies

Features

Using oatmeal and ginger, this shampoo uses natural ingredients to leave the smallest chemical footprint possible. It kills fleas and ticks, making it a suitable choice for puppies that are too young for flea drops and other preventatives.

Price $$

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/SENTRY-Oatmeal-Shampoo-Hawaiian-Ginger/dp/B001VIY6GO/?tag=petresults-20

PET CARE Sciences Dog Shampoo Range

Features

This puppy shampoo is marketed as a naturally derived formula that is shampoo and conditioner in one. While this product has several great reviews, many pet owners reported a film that doesn’t wash away. This is a concern when balancing puppy pH.

Price $$

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Sensitive-Conditioner-DeodoriserMoisturiser/dp/B01KVWIKHG?tag=petresults-20

Nature’s Miracle Supreme Odor Control Puppy Shampoo

Features

Nature’s Miracle is a name trusted by many pet owners, and they offer great pet products, including stain removal formulas, vitamins, wipes, and even scented calming spray for anxious pets. We had a hunch their puppy shampoo would also be great, and we were not disappointed. The shampoo has a nice lather and rinses easily, leaving behind nothing but a pleasant scent.

Price $

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Miracle-Supreme-Control-Shampoo/dp/B00KMWBDS4?tag=petresults-20

Perfect Coat Shampoo

Features

This shampoo offers mild and tearless ingredients that not only clean but also protect your puppy’s delicate skin. The shampoo rinses off well and leaves behind a gentle, natural smell. Because of the milk protein additive, your puppy’s fur will also feel soft and appear shiny between baths.

Price $

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Coat-Shampoo-16-Ounce-I618EA/dp/B0002DHNSM?tag=petresults-20

Oster Oatmeal Essentials Shampoo

Features

Oster is a trusted brand in dog grooming supplies. Known for creating quality clippers, nail trimmers, and other trimming tools, you can bet there has been adequate research put into their shampoo formulas too. The lather on this shampoo is not as nice as others on our list, but we love the natural ingredients and that the shampoo is free of dyes, parabens, and alcohol.  

Price $

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/Oster-Oatmeal-Naturals-wholesome-ingredients/dp/B008RH3IKW?tag=petresults-20

Veterinary Formula Solutions Puppy Love Extra Gentle Tearless Shampoo

Features

This shampoo is made with natural ingredients and is extra gentle. The tearless formula has a delightful baby powder scent and it can be used on puppies as young as six weeks. The formula is gentle enough for frequent bathing, and it won’t wash away topical flea and tick treatments. This shampoo and a nice lather and it rinsed easily. If we had to complain about one thing, it would be that the baby powder scent didn’t last very long.

Price $$

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/SynergyLabs-Veterinary-Formula-Solutions-TearlessShampoo/dp/B002CZNC4C?tag=petresults-20

Colloidal Oatmeal Dog Shampoo With Pure Lavender Essential Oils

Features

Colloidal Oatmeal Dog Shampoo with Pure Lavender Essential Oils is made with essential oils and other natural ingredients, including colloidal oatmeal and jojoba oil.This formula is designed for dogs with sensitive and dry skin and seems to work well for most pups with these skin problems. However, some pet owners reported the development of itchy rashes after using this shampoo on their dogs. Upon further investigation, we discovered “coconut derivatives” in the ingredient list, which may contain chemicals that aren’t as natural as they would appear.

Overall, we thought this shampoo was great; it smells like a dream and seems to soothe skin irritation in most cases. However, we would caution pet owners to test it on a small area of their pup’s skin before doing a whole bath—just in case.

Price $$$

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/Colloidal-Oatmeal-Shampoo-Lavender-Essential/dp/B01L9HE4KE/?tag=petresults-20

Wahl Gentle Puppy Shampoo for Pets, Cornflower & Aloe

Features

Wahl is another trusted name in the dog grooming industry. This product uses cornflower and aloe; the cornflower provides a lovely scent, and the aloe helps to soothe itchy or irritated skin. This shampoo will leave your puppy’s coat feeling soft and looking shiny for long periods between baths. The scent may be considered too strong by some, so if you have allergies or sensitivities to fragrances, consider a different puppy shampoo. This shampoo uses some great natural ingredients, but the ingredient list also contains several hard-to-pronounce chemical names.

Price $

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/Wahl-Gentle-Puppy-Shampoo-820002T/dp/B005CUTY7I/?tag=petresults-20

Natural Oatmeal Dog-Shampoo and Conditioner

Features

By now, you may have noticed that many of the best puppy shampoos use oatmeal, and this one is no exception. Oatmeal is a natural ingredient with a great reputation for healing and maintaining hair health in both people and animals. This oatmeal-based shampoo will soothe itchy skin while also softening your puppy’s coat.

The downside of this product is that the ingredient list also features many chemicals with hard-to-say names, despite the claims that this is an all-natural product. While these ingredients might be derived from natural ingredients, the names suggest they have been chemically altered. This is not necessarily bad, but it is enough to spark concerns about pH and chemical exposure for your new baby.

Price $$

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/Paws-Pals-Natural-Dog-Shampoo-Conditioner/dp/B0167AVKCI?tag=petresults-20

Burt’s Bees for Puppies Tearless 2 in 1 Shampoo and Conditioner With Buttermilk and Linseed Oil

Features

Burt’s Bees is known for quality products with all-natural ingredients. Typically, we see their name associated with natural products for human babies, but they haven’t forgotten about fur babies! Burt’s Bees for Puppies leaves puppy coats feeling soft and clean with a pleasant scent remaining. While we love this product and that it is budget-friendly, the low price means they make it with less-expensive ingredients. It may not be as effective as other puppy shampoos on this list.

Price $

Where to Buy

https://www.amazon.com/Burts-Bees-Tearless-Shampoo-Conditioner/dp/B00CVTRO48?tag=petresults-20

The Verdict

We believe that Perfect Coat Shampoo is the best puppy shampoo of those reviewed in this list. Thanks to its all-natural ingredients, easy-rinse formula, and tear- and itch-free promise, it is not only the gentlest option but the most effective. The listed ingredients were easy to pronounce and derived from healthy and eco-friendly sources, and pet owners love this product.

We hope our list has provided you with valuable insight on what shampoo to buy for your precious new puppy; we know how important these decisions can be. We wish you the best of luck with your new addition and your bathing endeavors!

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