Christmas blend

Merry Christmas Eve!

When my son's baby-daddy (We'll call him Matthew) and I co-parented, we lived next door to each other in a tiny town in Georgia where the biggest town nearby was Watkinsville. The next biggest town, at least in my mind, was Athens, Georgia. GO DAWGS RUFF RUFF.

I made this blend for my boy (basset-lab mix, Finley). And every time that I would apply it, Matthew would say that Finley would smelled like a Christmas Tree.

I mixed lavender, clove oil and rosemary.

I got the recipe from this book, The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care: by CJ Puotinen

Insect/Tick Repellent Spray

20 drops rose geranium, palmarosa or opopanax oil
3 drops of citronella
3 drops of rosemary or lavender 
3 drops clove oil
1 Tbsp. bay rum or bay tincture (alcohol base)
1 Tbsp. black walnut hull tincture (alchohol base)

Mix together, then add to 1 cup water, aloe vera gel or a combo of both. The rose geranium and palmarosa or opopanax oil will help repel ticks, citronella repels mosquitos, black walnuts repels flies and fleas and rosemary like lavender and clove, is an all-purpose repellent.

My boy had heart worms as a baby, and had been hospitalized for months over it. So it was important for me to keep the mosquitos off of him for his heart health. The vet told me that he wouldn't survive another heart-worm infection. For this reason, I gave him the heartworm preventative every month. In Oregon now, the vet says we don't need it, but in GA it was necessary. 

As for fleas, he also, at the time, was receiving drops for fleas, as he is allergic and they turn infected and antibiotics become necessary when he is bitten. The same goes out here that he doesn't need the preventative drops, but I do try to use the oils on him if I notice a flea. 


Here he is dancing to the Talking Heads:




Related post: 
Fleas, not my Friend:
http://laurden.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-12-11T10:41:00-08:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false