Aromatherapy for Dogs: Get Rid of the Smell

One more post on aromatherapy for dogs before I move to a new topic. When your dog becomes a bit smelly, you can use essential oil sprays to freshen him up a bit. Here's the base recipe:

1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
1/2 ounce grain alcohol or vodka
1 teaspoon sulfated castor oil
1 ounce aloe vera
10 drops grapefruit extract
6 ounces distilled water

Mix ingredients in a dark or opaque mister bottle. Then add desired essential oils. Shake before use. Avoid spraying the dog's eyes, nose, or genitals.

Suggested essential oil blends:

Minty: 6 drops spearmint and 6 drops peppermint.

Spicy: 4 drops cinnamon leaf, 3 drops caraway, 3 drops black pepper, and 5 drops bay leaf.

Floral: 4 drops lavender, 2 drops ylang ylang, 4 drops rose, 6 drops petitgrain.

Woodsy: 6 drops atlas cedarwood, 4 drops rosemary, 2 drops patchouli, 3 drops vetiver.

Source: Holistic Aromatherapy for Animals: A Comprehensive Guide to the Use of Essential Oils & Hydrosols with Animals, a book I highly recommend if you want to use essential oils with dogs or other animals.

Click here for safety guidelines for aromatherapy for dogs.

Aromatherapy for Dogs: Tick and Flea Control

Using aromatherapy for dogs as a method of tick and flea control is nearly as effective as toxic sprays and powders. You can try these oils: peppermint, citronella, lavender, eucalyptus, lemon, geranium, bay, and myrrh.

Make your own flea and tick spray by combining about 25 drops of any of the suggested oils into eight ounces of water. Shake the mixture well and spray it on your pet, being careful to avoid the eyes. You can also spray this mixture anywhere that you think bugs may be breeding.

To repel fleas, Holistic Aromatherapy for Animals: A Comprehensive Guide to the Use of Essential Oils & Hydrosols with Animals recommends

1/2 ounce hazelnut or almond oil
4 drops clary sage essential oil
1 drop citronella essential oil
7 drops peppermint essential oil
3 drops lemon essential oil

Blend oils in a dark glass bottle. Apply 2 to 4 drops of the blend to your dog's neck, chest, legs, and base of tail.

For ticks:

1/2 ounce hazelnut or almond oil
2 drops geranium essential oil
2 drops rosewood essential oil
3 drops lavender essential oil
2 drops myrhh essential oil
2 drops opoponax essential oil
1 drop bay leaf essential oil

Blend oils in a dark glass bottle. Apply 2 to 4 drops of the blend to your dog's neck, chest, legs, and base of tail.

Another article on natural flea control.

Click here for safety guidelines for aromatherapy for dogs.

Aromatherapy for Dogs: Essential Oils for the Dog's Bath

Kristen Leigh Bell, who specialized in aromatherapy for dogs for over ten years, lists 52 safe essential oils for dogs in her book Holistic Aromatherapy for Animals: A Comprehensive Guide to the Use of Essential Oils & Hydrosols with Animals. Here are some of the more common essential oils safe for a dog's bath:

• Lavender essential oil is good for skin conditions and is also calming.
• Carrot Seed essential oil is useful for dogs with dry, flaky skin that is sensitive to allergens and prone to infection.
• Geranium essential oil is beneficial for skin ailments and yeast overgrowth.
• Myrrh essential oil may help relieve inflammation, fight viruses, and repel ticks.
• Rosewood essential oil is good for skin conditions and may help repel ticks.
• Roman chamomile essential oil helps relieve cramps, spasms, and muscle pains.
• Sweet orange essential oil is good for calming, deodorizing, and helping repel fleas.
• Sweet marjoram essential oil is calming and also useful for wound care.
• Valerian essential oil is good for dogs with separation anxiety or who are fearful of loud noises.

To add a single essential oil to the dog's bath, dilute it first in a carrier oil – no more than 10 drops of essential oil in one tablespoon of carrier oil. Use less for smaller dogs.

Essential Oil Dog Shampoo Blends

For a shampoo to repel fleas, add 4 drops clary sage, 2 drops citronella, 8 drops peppermint, and 4 drops lemon to 8 ounces of an all-natural shampoo.

For a puppy shampoo, add 2 drops rose, 2 drops ylang ylang, 5 drops geranium, 2 drops Roman chamomile, and 5 drops petitgrain to 8 ounces of an all-natural shampoo.

For a relaxing dog shampoo, add 3 drops valerian, 2 drops vetiver, 4 drops petitgrain, 3 drops sweet marjoram, and 2 drops sweet orange to 8 ounces of an all-natural shampoo.

Aromatherapy for Dogs Safety Guidelines

Do not use essential oils on medium/large breed puppies until they are 8 weeks old or on small breed puppies until they are 10 weeks old.

Use less essential oil for small dogs than for larger dogs.

Use only the highest quality essential oils and all-natural shampoos for your blends.

If your dog shows any signs of distress (whining, panting, drooling, etc.) around an essential oil, stop using it.

Another article on aromatherapy for dogs.

Essential Oils for Fibroids

You can use essential oils for fibroids in a compress, in a sitz bath, or for abdominal massage to promote blood circulation to your pelvic area and potentially promote healing.

The first recommendations from the Essential Oils Desk Reference are cistus or lavender essential oil used in a warm compress on you lower abdomen daily. You can also try frankincense, Idado tansy, oregano, pine, or helichrysum essential oil.

Other recommendations include ginger, marjoram, rose, rosemary, or juniper essential oil. How do you choose an essential oil for fibroids? Understand the properties of the essential oil, understand your body and what's going on with it, and experiment using caution. Working with a healthcare professional trained in essential oils is also a good idea.

In Herbal Therapy for Uterine Fibroids, a naturopath describes how to use a sitz bath for fibroids. You can add several drops of essential oils to the sitz bath to stimulate pelvic circulation. Also, Uterine Fibroids – How You Can Help Yourself provides a Chinese Medicine view, which includes essential oils in your bath.

You can also add any of the recommended essential oils to a massage oil for abdominal massage. Here's a video of a simple abdominal massage.

Aromatherapy News

Today's post is a list of links to some interesting aromatherapy news and essential oils information I've come across recently.

Dr. Mehmet Oz (from the Oprah Show) recommends essential oils as an alternative medicine option.

From the Clinical Journal of Pain: A Novel Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia Using Peppermint Oil

If you are interested in astrology: Mercury Retrograde Essential Oils to Use by KG Stiles.

Feng Shui and Aromatherapy

12 Oils of Ancient Scripture: Cedarwood by Gary Young, founder of Young Living Essential Oils.

Articles about aromatherapy from Positive Health Online.