Pet Wellness - DIY Holistic Flea Shampoo

I rarely use anything other than a holistic approach when it comes to my pets health needs. It’ s natural remedies and holistic approaches as much as possible for my pets and my family. Pet wellness isn’t just making sure they get regular exercise and healthy food to eat, it also means keeping them on as much of natures path as possible and this means using natural remedies and holistic medicine for their happiness and well being.

Pet owners really do not need to use the harsh chemicals found in flea shampoos, to get rid of fleas and in fact, as powerful as those chemicals are, often times a dog needs to be flea dipped more than once for the treatment to be effective. Ouch! Not only do these harsh chemicals damage your dogs skin, causing itchiness and often hot spots, but it is unhealthy for you, your dog, and your children to inhale the fumes, even if it’s not directly from the bottle. And, yes, these chemicals are known to seep through your dogs skin and into his blood stream, which is one of the reasons these harsh flea shampoos cannot be used on dogs under one year, and that is really cutting it close.

Pet wellness observers have high hopes that the world will come to it’s senses and begin using holistic approaches to their pets health and well being. One good place to start is with at home recipes whether it be flea shampoo, dry skin splashes, or homemade dog food and treats. Of course holistic pet medicine projects into many many more areas than just these.

Here is a Do It Yourself Holistic Flea Shampoo that will do the job gently, naturally, healthfully and successfully.

Ingredients

- 2 cups distilled water – boiled
It is important to use distilled water for it’s better ability to clean over filtered water.

- 1 1/2 Tbls dried Soapwort root

If using a whole soapwort then chopping it up is preferably for the release of necessary compounds.

- 20 drops organic essential oil of the following: cedar, citronella, citrus, eucalyptus, lavender, lemongrass, mint or rosemary.
These particular scents have natural flea fighting qualities so these are the ones you want to use. You can use just one or combine them all into 20 drops.

- Muslin Cloth

Directions


1. Bring the 2 cups of water to a boil.

2. Add the soapwort.

3. Turn down the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Continue to simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Remove pot from the stove and allow to cool completely. About one hour in a cool place.

5. Once cooled place muslin over a jar or bowl and slowly pour the soapwort mixture into the jar or bowl. Discard the soapwort. You want to use a jar that has a tight fitting lid for storage and no spilling.


6. Add the essential oil to the soapwort liquid, close the jar tightly and shake to combine the ingredients.

7. Store in the fridge until ready to use.


This shampoo will last up to 2 weeks in the fridge.


It is important for pet owners and pet wellness observers to note that if your dog is heavily infested with fleas it may require more than one flea dip. The same remains true if you use the chemical approach. However, it is massively safer and more protective to your dogs skin to use a holistic flea dip as opposed to a chemical one. The other plus point of using a holistic flea dip is that you can leave it on your pet longer than you can a chemical dip, which gives you very clear instructions to leave the dip on no more than a certain time frame and to be sure to rinse it completely off your dog. Another important point is that many dogs will have a bad reaction to chemical flea dip, in turn causing you a vet bill and much discomfort and your pet a lot of discomfort and illness.  If your pet has allergies then a chemical flea dip is definitely not the way to go.

If you have a dog or cat with dry, irritated skin or hot spots try this homemade herbal rinse to help cool the skin and help with itching. I have a Saluki and they are very prone to dry skin. My poor puppy was itching terribly when I brought him home from the sanctuary and the above herbal rinse was a real light at the end of puppy’s itching tunnel. Not to mention he seemed to really enjoy the cool rinse being poured over him.

When it comes to an all around healthy, happy pet – pet wellness is the way to go, using natural holistic ingredients for cures, illnesses and help with getting pests off you pet.