Who Cut the Cheese? DIY Car Freshener

Super EASY way to make a stinky car smell fantastic.

Since I started cutting out chemical fragrance, I find that now my nose is OFFENDED by the stench of faux ocean breezes and the like. Blegh. Anyone else experience this?

I am now an olfactory snob.

So my trusty Xterra is a mutt cab. There is no way around it. It's perpetually hairy because my fluffy dogs shed like mad and so do I. Not much I can do about that except vacuum it like a madwoman, so I just accept that it's always going to be at least a little furry.

However, I do not accept it constantly smelling like dog farts. I'm amazed at how long I can smell remaining dog funk after a road trip with the windows down! What's a dog loving mutt cab driver to do?

Ahhh, essential oils.

I found some leftover felt and cut/ glued it into a happy flower. You can get creative with this and make all kinds of felt art, but this happened to be something I've made before with my nieces so I just went with it. Next I tied some twine to the masterpiece and dropped a 12 drop combo of lavender and tea tree oil & voila! My car smells great!

DIY Natural Soothing Dog Shampoo

My stinky furbabies have been super itchy as of late. They are indoor pups but we love to play outside, go on road trips, visit our fur cousins, and occasionally trek through the woods and get dirty and smelly.

I recently decided to stop using traditional flea and tick prevention because I'm just not comfortable with a monthly dose of poison nor am I thrilled about the price tag of said poison. Now, my veterinarian brother doesn't know about this yet & I'm not sure what his reaction will be, but I'm hoping he will agree that I carefully weighed the benefits and risks. Do I want my young nieces exposed to pesticides by snuggling up with my pooches?

As of now, we don't have a flea/tick problem. However, we just returned from a road trip where we visited my sister in her new apartment (no telling what kind of chemicals the landlord applied to the carpet prior to her moving in) and my parents' house in SC (where the mosquitoes are already biting).

In the old days I would have gone straight to PetSmart and grabbed an assortment of shampoos, but because my crunchy heart told me to figure out how to treat the itch naturally, I did just that.

Turns out I had all the things I needed already. SCORE!

*This recipe makes enough for two Medium-Largish really fluffy dogs 
(one is a shepherd/chow mix and the other a great pyrenees)

Road Trippin... on the way home, obviously.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups oatmeal- soothes skin
2 cups baking soda- cleanser
1 Tbsp honey- antibacterial
10 drops tea tree oil -antibacterial and stink-fighter
10 drops lavendar oil -antibacterial and stink-fighter
2 1/2 cups water

DIRECTIONS:

1- Grind up that oatmeal. I just threw mine in my cheap blender.
2- Add the water, blend again.
3- Add baking soda, honey, & oils
4- Pour into a mason jar (I used an old tomato sauce jar)
5- Store leftovers in fridge

My dogs HATE baths, so it's like WWE SmackDown when I have to get them in the tub. For this reason I don't use glass when it's time to do the deed... but for storage, definitely use glass.

Anyway the shampoo came out a bit watery but for us that was necessary- too thick and the stuff would have been like paste in their fluffiness. There were little flecks of oatmeal that I couldn't really rinse completely out, but I figured I'd much rather deal with that than the toxic suds I usually can't rinse all the way out. After they were dry I just gave them a good brush and woooooow do they smell great! Also, it's only been a few hours, but there's been no itching!

Success!

Rocko thinks he smells quite nice.

Bear doesn't know what just happened.

Pet Cooties & the Heart Worm Dilemma

I have two dogs and a cat & they're all from the streets. Literally. They all came to live with me flea bitten, half starved, and crawling with cooties.

I'm from the country, so finding a tick doesn't freak me out. I just yank that sucker (hehe) off and flush it. However, I don't want my fur babies to have ticks or itch constantly nor do I want to snuggle up to my sweethearts if I'm going to come away with dozens of bites myself.

I've always had mixed feelings about flea prevention/heart guard. My brother just graduated from Veterinary school and while he isn't the least bit crunchy, his new (also veterinarian) lady friend is .... and I suspect his tune will soon start to change a bit. Anyway, I plan on having a chat with him about the risks/benefits of monthly prevention treatments and alternative cootie repellant.

I'd really like to find a non toxic way to keep my pets healthy. Bear, my recent addition, has tested heart worm positive and I am facing a dilemma with his treatment. My family has had several dogs beat heart worms no problem. We tend to have dogs that live to be 15 + years old. When I was a kid there just wasn't a push to do this monthly treatment like there is today.

Anyway I plan to do some organic pet shampoo shopping. I'll let y'all know how my furbabies do... as of right now, no one has fleas or ticks so our goal is PREVENTION.

Now if I could only find something to keep my car/apartment from smelling like dog farts.....