Today we have a DIY Flea Repellent Essential Oil Recipe for Dogs. This is a talk in the Summer Survival Tools Series, and it is a great recipe to have for summer. Summer is all over us here and along with the summer heat comes the summer bugs.
As with most things on the farm and in life, we like to try new things. When it comes to “stuff” for our beloved pets, we are always willing to try new products to help them out. We already use a DIY Homemade Natural Flea Powder with Essential Oils, but we decided to give the flea-repellent oil a try as well.
In truth, the oil may make for a bit of an oily dog for a little while but it does soak in after a bit. The power is easy to apply but does get everywhere and chokes the air conditioners and fans. In the winter when we are not using the air, it is not an issue. So there is a give and take here, you will just need to decide which one you like best.
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This is a simple recipe for making DIY Flea Repellent Essential Oil Recipe for Dogs. We use most of these ingredients regularly so we already had them on hand. If you need to buy some of the essential oils, we recommend StarWest Botanicals as always. We have always been very happy with the StarWest essential oil products and have bought other herbal items from them as well.
A. To make DIY Flea Repellent Essential Oil Recipe for Dogs
You will need:
5 drops of Rosemary Essential Oil
5 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil
5 drops of Eucalyptus Essential Oil
5 drops of Citronella Essential Oil
5 drops of Lemon Essential Oil
5 drops of Cedarwood Essential Oil
1 oz. Almond Oil or the carrier oil of your choice
Small dropper, or sprayer bottle
We went with a dropper bottle to make it easier to apply and control when putting the oil directly onto the pet. A sprayer bottle likely will do well if you want to spray the pets bedding and blankets or even the jackets they wear. Your pets may not wear “clothes” but some of ours do.
Again, this is a very quick, simple process. Pretty much you just mix and shake. The general rule is 5 drops of each essential oil to 1 oz. carrier oil. We used almond oil as it is good for the skin and soaks in more quickly than some of the other carrier oils.
B. To mix the DIY Flea Repellent Essential Oil Recipe for Dogs
1.
Fill your bottle most of the way full with the almond oil. Remember to leave enough room for the essential oils. Note, it may be best to either us a funnel or have another hand for this. A large mess was made on the first try here.
2.
Add 5 drops of each essential oil.
And there you are, you have made your own DIY Flea Repellent Essential Oil for your pets.
3.
Be sure you secure the top of the bottle and give it a good shake to mix the oils.
Always remember to label your DIY recipes, you do not want to get them mixed up and use the wrong one.
The almond oil, again, is good for the skin. It helps sooth itching and moisturizes well. The essential oils repel flea and smell good. Your dogs will be smelling like an herbal bath bomb by the time you are done.
Do not let the dog lick or drink this oil mix. One of our dogs liked the smell and was keen to give it a drink. Not sure how bad that would be but at the very least your dog would have intestinal issues. But if taken internally the oils could poison your dog. So no drinking the oil mix.
C. To use the DIY Flea Repellent Essential Oil Recipe for Dogs
1. Give the bottle a good shake to get the oils mixed.
2. Part the dog’s hair.
With the dropper, apply the oil to directly to the dogs skin. It is best to separate the dogs hair so you can get the dropper right down to the skin and avoid getting the oil into the hair. There seems to be a learning curve when it comes to controling dogs hair. If you have a dog with long hair, you may need help.
If you pet suspects you are up to something, you may need 3 people. One to hold the dog, one to control the long hair, and one to apply the oil with the dropper.
Two of our dogs did not mind the oil so it was a quick, non-tramatic application. The third was a bit more complicated.
3. Apply the oil to the dog’s skin.
It also depends on the size of your dog as to how much oil to apply at one time. We suggest you start small and work your way up to what works for your specific dog.
For our small chihuahua, ChickPea, we used one dropper full and that seems to be working well for her. As she has short hair, it was nothing to pet her and apply the oil. She did not even seem to notice we did it.
For the larger dog we used 3 droppers full of oil. Again, the dog stood while we petted him and put the oil on. He did not seem to notice at all.
The small long-haired dog, Ivan, was a different story. He had a chronic skin infection when he came to us so he has been treated with everything for a long time. This fellow knows all the tricks we use to treat him and he has skills when it comes to getting out of treatment.
We had to have one to hold and one to apply the oil. We separated his long hair and used the dropper to drip the oil down on his skin. We used 2 dropper of oil on him. All was going well until we put him down. He then shook like a violent storm and got oil all over his hair. It seems we should have held him a bit longer to let the oil spread though the hair folicles and absorb into the skin.
This was not, however, the disaster you might have expected. Yes, the dogs hair was oily but within a couple of hours, the almond oil had absorbed into the dogs skin and hair. This left the dog non-sticky and with a very nice, soft, shinny coat. So over all, it worked well. We just may need to think of a longer hold time before releasing a dog with long hair next time.
Try petting your dog and putting the oil on first. See how the dog reacts before you use any restraint. The oil does not seem to offend the dog’s nose like so many flea treatments do. So the dog many not even realize he has been treated. That is a great thing for both you and the dog. No more traumatizing the both of you, fighting to get the flea meds on your beloved.
4. Massage the oil into the dog’s skin and hair. We used our fingertips to gently massage the oil mix into the dog’s skin and hair. Be sure you get oil all over the dog but avoid the eyes. You can massage a bit of oil into the ear flaps but do not put it directly down into the ear cannal.
You can use a brush, cloth, or spung to spread the oil if you like.
As a side note, the oil that we got on us from the long haired dog, made our hands very soft and gave off a pleasant scent for some time.
Of course, you will need to re-apply this oil after baths, rain or swims. So far, we have only had to re-apply about once a week or so. But we do live in the country so buggy pests are common.
As with all new things, it is best to check for any allergic reactions before using. If you know you or a family member are allergic to one of these essential oils, do not add it to your mix. You would not want to get rid of the fleas on your pet but then be unable to hug, love on, or even pet them.
We are not sure if this can be used on cats, so far we have not found any research that says it is safe for cats. So we do not recommend use on cats at this time.
We hope you will try this DIY Flea Repellent Essential Oil Recipe for Dogs on your dogs and see great results.
If you are interested in other talks similar to this, please check out the ones below.
For Pets:
DIY Homemade Dog Ear Flush Cleaner Recipe
3 Ingredients Summer Frozen Dog Treat Recipe
For People:
Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.
Great alternative to harsh chemicals