Here is a little tip for helping our beloved four legged friends.
One of my 6 rescue dogs have the very common here in Antigua “demodex mange” (Demodectic Mange) the one that makes the dog smell It is contracted from the mother and stays in the animal blood for all their lives and gets passed on if the animal has puppies. I have started adding to her morning food a combination of a tea spoon or spoon according to size of dog of cod liver oil and apple cyder vinegar diluted in water (a great alkalizing agent that my husband and I drink regularly as well). Her mange has cleared completely now for months and I have been able to stop completely the Ivomectin, a quite strong drug which eventually kills their livers (as most chemical drugs do in humans), like it it did for another dear rescue dog called Freckle that I had a few years ago.
Also coconut oil is a great addition to their food…just a little bit more expensive… In fact I am giving this three natural remedies to all the other dogs as well, and it has helped with other ailments like eyes and ears infections. I have also stopped giving them rice or any sort of grains as I realized that there is already so much corn and grains in the regular pedigree biscuits.
SEA BATHS
I have also found that a regular sea bath where I rub the dogs fur thoroughly like I am shampooing it vigourously with invisible shampoo – under arm pits, tail and especially thick fur areas – gets rid of all sorts of flaky skin, fleas, thin patchy fur grows back gleaming (I started when both dogs started looking a bit dull and patchy and one was smelly too, but no mange detected by Fiona, she just thought one had sensitive skin and the other one (a rescue) had a bit of inherited mange for which he had been treated with Ivomectin earlier). I don’t rinse them with fresh water. Now their fur is lush, shiny and they dont smell. One of them dislikes the sea so I have to carry her in (she’s big, its tough!) but i cuddle her with one arm and ‘shampoo’ her with the other and she just relaxes there and stops trying to thrash and swim! I have to face her out to sea, if she sees the land she struggles impossibly and I get scratched to bits.
NEEMS TEA BATHS
We also give our dogs a weekly bath of neem tea to keep the fleas etc away and to soothe any irritation they might have. Boil a big pot of water (approx 5L), turn off the heat and throw 4-5 twigs of leaves (about an arms length each one) into the water. Submerge them all then when it cools down, an hour or so later poor it over them as a cool down rinse
from Dina DeBrozzi
