Both me and my girl are prone to skin (and/or fur ) dryness in the winter, which is a bit of a nightmare with a Maine Coon! Sometimes I’ll be petting her and her fur will move up to meet my hand because a mild static field has formed! Not to mention poor girl’s tendency to dandruff (I’ve had her checked by a vet, and she’s all clear health wise. She just doesn’t tolerate dryness super well) :<
I do quite a lot to manage though heater season (mainly because her skin DOES get so dry in winter), including:
- Humidifiers turned on in every room we spend any amount of time in
- Daily brushing with good amount of Groomer’s Goop 5 in 1 spray to help hydrate her skin
- Baths once a month (with every 2nd or 3rd month being with our usual pro groomer) with Iv San Bernard’s Fruit of the Groomer (I use orange or passion fruit on the recommendation of her groomer)
- Twice monthly ocean caught oily fish or fish oil to help her maintain her coat and skin
It took a few weeks for me to settle into the routine after heaters had to be turned on last year, but while static will still be somewhat of an issue for the rest of the cold season, it’s much less so. Most importantly, her dandruff is gone ^^
humidity is supposed to be between 30 and 40 percent in the winter, it also helps with the transmission of viruses too, they spread much easier when it is dry. Humidity is often in the teens in the winter. Get those 'sonic' humidifiers that put out a mist, they have no expensive filters to buy. Or you can do it the old fashioned way and simmer water on the stove all day. Distilled or reverse osmosis water is the best, it doesn't ruin your pan. just make sure to watch it periodically so it doesn't burn dry.
I have a small ultrasonic humidifier in addition to one on the furnace. The furnace doesn't run long enough to allow its humidifier to do the job adequately. The little one takes a lot of the humidifier load, but even though the humidity got better, it didn't entirely cure the problem.
I used to have sparking cats on the bed. The big difficulty was that the blankets were all synthetic. Changing to blankets having more natural fibers took care of the rest of the sparking problem.