232 - Too funked up to blog

My grandma always has different dogs every time I visit. Strays wander into her yard, or people dump them there, and she feeds them. I must have inherited my empathy toward animals from her. Unfortunately, she doesn't do anything more than feed these animals... no vaccinations... no medical care... no spaying or neutering... Usually the dogs live there for a couple of years and either wander off, get hit by cars or whatever... something happens to them, because they're usually not around the next time I visit. It's sad.

But these last two dogs were a serious problem for me. They have really depressed me.

They were both dumped at her house, and they have red mange. One of them was either curled into a tight ball, spending all day either sleeping or wandering aimlessly about the yard in a daze. The other had large patches of fur missing (and it was really cold outside while we were there), and green stuff oozing from one eye, but it was cognizant and wanted someone to pet it sooooooooooo bad... it would come up to us and whine for attention, but it kept its distance and didn't jump on us... it broke my damn heart. You can tell it's a good dog, but no one, including me, would pet it because of the mange. The plumber who came out to fix grandma's pipes wanted to shoot it to put it out of its misery...

Today I got curious, and I looked mange up on the internet. I don't know if this works or not, but it sounds like it might, and in a harmless way versus all the chemicals and treatments the dog would otherwise be subjected to... slather mayo on the dog. It supposedly suffocates the mites that have taken up residence in the hair follicles. They try to climb out, and they get trapped in the mayo... I guess you leave it on for 20 minutes or so? Then you wash the dog with Head and Shoulders, and rinse it off with vinegar and water. I would probably let the dog's coat dry and then also spritz it with lavendar oil and water, because lavendar oil has anti-microbial properties and it's soothing. So I told my cousin about it. Hopefully she'll do it, or get her boyfriend to do it (she lives next door to grandma). Thinking about those dogs has really got me down... It might be too late for one of them, but the other seems healthy. Seeing animals suffer kills me...

I can't think of much to blog about, so I'll keep it about pests...

Another thing I learned, because Gracie can not handle flea medication (she drooled and acted lethargic and even shit on the floor)... lavendar oil repels fleas. I spritz it on the bedding and anywhere the cats hang out... smells good and has a function. For something stronger, cedar oil kills fleas and mosquitos and mites and bed bugs, etc. You can apparently apply it directly to yourself, animals (even young ones), children, what have you... it smells like a bad smoky bar for a little while, but the smell fades quickly. I bought some Nature's Defender last year and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it eradicated my problem. At $35 it may seem expensive, but it's about the same as buying flea meds from the vet and lasts a lot longer. I also heard that feeding garlic to dogs or cats will repel fleas, but didn't think my cats would eat it. In the case of those dogs, I would probably toss a couple of cloves in with their food, because aside from repelling fleas, enough raw garlic works like an anti-biotic.

So there's all I know about getting rid of critters on your animals without using harsh chemicals. I didn't realize that flea medication was so harsh, but my vet said he's had cats die from it... I am so glad that Gracie didn't, and I vowed I'd never do that to her again. I really hope those dogs get better... it would cheer me up immensely to hear that they were making a recovery.