Scratchy dog? Try this home remedy

I wanted to share this great remedy I used on Lalee last year.

I don’t know about other cities, but the Mumbai monsoon is peculiarly harmful for dogs. (Itchy skin is the least of the problems really – licking rainwater often seems to push the poor things into an extremely virulent kind of bloody diarrhoea).

Anyway, last year Lalee started scratching a lot and actually made small cuts all over her body. The doctor told me to mix these three things: equal parts powdered camphor and haldi (turmeric), and enough coconut oil to make a smooth thick liquid. I applied this mixture all over her, muzzled her and kept her on the balcony for 30 minutes. (At the end of that time the balcony walls were all yellow, but at least the new colour scheme hadn’t been spread to the rest of the house). I then led a highly indignant Lalee to the bathroom, leaving a trail of yellow paw prints, and bathed her with Margo soap, which seems to be a really good neem soap. (And yes, the bathroom also turned yellow).

Her scratching reduced by at least 95% with just this treatment and she soon had her beautiful coat back. For those interested in unimportant details, the walls were also restored to their former beauty after a bit of scrubbing.

If your dog has a really serious skin problem, for instance with pus or some other symptom, please DON”T try this without first checking with your vet. If he suffers from allergies, DON’T try this. But in simpler cases I don’t think it could do any harm as long as the dog doesn’t lick the mixture. If your dog is white, perhaps he will retain a yellowish hue for a while after this treatment – but it certainly won’t be permanent. Anyway, isn’t that a very small price to pay for a no-longer-scratchy dog?