Angela (Birmingham, Al) on 04/12/2011:
Warning
My 5 year old Shitzhu recently began itching and biting at her fur to the point some of it was coming out. After researching some possible remedies, I treated her hot spots and irritation with Tea Tree Oil. Luckily, my dog is also like my shadow and she always has my attention. Within 6 hours of treating her with Tea Tree Oil (applied with a Cotton ball) I noticed she was not herself, she was not as energetic, did not want to use her back legs, did not use the bathroom, etc.
I immediately took her to the vet where I was informed that Tea Tree Oil is poisonous to dogs. Depending on the size/weight it can also be fatal. Thankfully, she is ok, but she received a round of fluids and charcoal pills to absorb the poison along with 6 baths to get the remaining oil off of her skin. Please see this as a warning. I would not want this to happen to anyone else and I am happy that she just received a small dose. TEA TREE OIL IS POISONOUS TO DOGS!!! Good luck and God Bless. Angela from Alabama
Big Tuna (Park Ridge, Llinois, Usa) on 06/29/2010:
My dog would get a hot spot(licking & biting on a spot) on her paws every summer. The Vet thought it was an allergy & gave us some ointment to apply. We also gave her Benadryl. Well after half a tube of ointment was applied over the course of a week we saw no results. She still had no fur & the skin was red & raw looking. We had been using Tea Tree Oil on ourselves for various cuts, scrapes & insect bites & I thought that it might help my dog. We could see that she was miserable & constantly at her paw. I applied 1 drop to her affected area & rubbed it in gently. At first she wanted to lick her paw, but I stopped her. It is not safe for humans to ingest the oil & I won't give my dog anything I can't eat myself. Well, in just a few minutes my dog fell asleep! Remarkable. When she woke up, she didn't even look at her paw. In a weeks time the skin was healed & I could see her fur starting to poke up through the skin. We continued to apply the oil once a day until the fur was again covering her paw.From then on when we would see her at her paw or some other spot we applied the oil & told the Vet to stuff the $35.00 tube of ointment.
Big Tuna
