★★★★☆
I just got my June/July issue of Mother Earth News and in their reader-reported tips section, someone wrote in about an old-time remedy for ticks. Apparently if you drink a quart of buttermilk every day the ticks will leave you alone. The change in smell of perspiration repels them. Not sure how anyone would manage a quart of buttermilk a day, but perhaps a lesser amount would work. Maybe this is an effective remedy for the doggies in our lives too. Thought I would mention it for the folks in the Lyme disease areas.
★★★★★
Borax Bath, ACV remedies -- I have two dogs; both are less than 5 lbs. One has itchy skin so I started using the borax solution bath on both dogs. In about 3 hours after the bath, the one with itchy skin was scratching again. I didn't know what to do at that point so I rubbed dry baking soda over her whole body. While I had her on her back applying the soda under her legs, she went to sleep. It was that comforting to her. Anytime she starts scratching and it seems it won't quit and I don't have time to do a bath, I have been using the baking soda. She seems to love it and her skin stops itching for at least 3 days.
While she was in her comfort zone of no itching, she was walking better, running and playing and wasn't so scared all the time. So the itching was causing some social behavior problems too. I have tried both recipes of borax and peroxide and then I've done borax and ACV, Her skin still itches after each but she does seem a lot better then before, not quite as much scratching going on. One question though.
Do you think if I added some baking soda to the solution that would help her since the dry soda does wonders for her? They do not have mange or fleas. Also I have been putting a teaspoon of ACV in their drinking water all summer. Their water bowl holds 2 & 3/4 cups water. I do add about 1/16 teaspoon of baking soda to the vinegar. For a couple years I was putting the medicine on their backs for fleas and ticks. Ticks are the worst problem here. I decided to put the ACV in their water and I then stopped the spot on- medicine. They have gone the whole summer without getting one tick on them. We live in a heavily wooded area with lots of tall grasses where ticks love to wait for a host to walk by so they can latch onto them. Both dogs play in the woods a lot because they are always looking for something to chase Using the ACV water instead of the medicine has saved me a bunch of money and made both dogs a lot healthier.
