It is now possible to limit the level of chemicals you use on your dog. The only solution to chemical shampoos is making a shampoo with a lot of love for your pet. Keeping your dog clean is very important to its health. Your dog needs pet grooming, regardless of its hair length. This keeps the coat of your dog clean, and it will be easier for you to check for any parasites or even mats. If your pet has a long hair, you should comb its hair on a daily basis in order to distribute the oils on the skin surface to the roots of the hair.
Many shampoos that are available in the market are full of chemicals that are very harsh on your dog’s skin which might lead to skin irritation. To avoid this, you can opt to make a shampoo by yourself at home. If you choose to make a shampoo for your dog, you will know what you are adding into that shampoo such that you avoid harming your dog.
Recipe For Making A Homemade Dog Shampoo
The recipe for making a homemade dog shampoo is almost the same except that you can make a few changes in the measures of the ingredients here and there to suit your preferences.
You should add a pint of water, a pint of apple cider vinegar, dishwashing soap and four ounces of glycerin. However, make sure that you avoid any dish soaps that have strong scents or other additives. Make sure that you mix all the ingredients thoroughly. You should keep the mixture in an airtight container where you can be able to pour the shampoo easily when you need it. If you do not have a container, you can use an old shampoo bottle to store your homemade shampoo.
If you have more than one dog, you can double the contents of the ingredients that you mix and make it up to the amount that you want.
Oatmeal Homemade Shampoo
Oatmeal has double benefit to your dog. First from inside and outside. Oatmeal has the ability to lower cholesterol which reduces the chances of your dog getting a heart attack. It also has a lot of essential vitamins and minerals. These are the internal benefits of oatmeal to your dog.
You can also use oatmeal to prepare an external application shampoo for the health of your dog.
To make oatmeal shampoo, you will need the following ingredients:
- 6 cups of oatmeal
- 2 cups of whole wheat flour
- 4 eggs
- 1/3 cup of oil and same measure of honey
- 1/4 cup of molasses
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 bananas
Procedure:
Once you have obtained all your ingredients, put them all together into a big bowl and mix them all together. An oatmeal shampoo is very gentle to the skin of your dog hence it will help relieve an itchy skin of your dog and many other skin conditions.
When you are applying the homemade shampoo, ensure that the water you are using is cold or lukewarm such that if there is any skin infection, it will not aggravate the itchiness.
As you can see, making a shampoo at home by yourself is easy and cheap. That is not all; all the ingredients are so natural hence it will not cause any skin reactions to your dog.
Rosemary Infusion Shampoo
To prepare a rosemary infusion shampoo to wash your dog with, you will need 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary and four cups of water. Mix the two ingredients together and boil them. As soon the ingredients boil, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool down.
Once the rosemary water had cooled to tolerable body temperature, you can use it to apply it on your dog’s body so as to make your dog’s hair shine, soft and clean.
Baking Soda Dry Dog Shampoo
Baking soda is alkaline, and so it will not irritate the skin of your dog. Take a half a cup of baking soda and sprinkle it all over your dog and then rub it gently all over. However, ensure that you avoid the baking soda getting into the eyes of your dog.
Baking soda is a very good deodorant to mask unwarranted odours.
Homemade Dog Bath Soap
You can prepare an odourless dog soap at home using simple ingredients. You will require unscented soap, water and vinegar.
Mix 2-3 tablespoons of shredded castle soap into four cups of hot water. Mix then gentle until all the soap dissolves. After dissolving all the soap, add 1 cup of vinegar. Shake the contents well and then store your soap in a bottle.
The good thing about this homemade soap is that it forms a lot of lather easily so a few drops will do for your dog’s bath.
Considerations
When you are preparing a shampoo at home, ensure that you balance the PH such that it will not affect your pet’s skin. The skin PH of each dog is different, one from another. Some dogs have a more acidic PH on their skin than others. In the same way, each of the ingredients that you will use to prepare the shampoo has different PH levels as well. So balancing the PH of the shampoo can be tricky sometimes.
A recommendable PH for dogs ranges between 6.0 – 8.5. If you make your shampoo to have a PH more than 8.5, it is likely to cause skin irritation to your dog.
In order to balance the PH of your Shampoo, you can use an alkaline substance such as baking soda to keep your shampoo’s PH balanced so that it will not affect your dog’s skin.
When it comes to dog shampoo, homemade shampoo is the best option since it is natural, inexpensive and gentle on your dog. But above all, it will ensure that your dog is clean and healthy. When it comes to a holistic approach to your dog’s health, nothing is too difficult or time-consuming. All you need is natural ingredients to prepare the shampoo yourself.