Herbal Flea & Tick & Insect Repellent Spray For Pets (and people)
Keep your pets safe and happy with this all natural, easy to make insect repellent.
It has the added bonus of smelling rather nice. Insects really bother our dogs and with everything related to good health, prevention is always the best medicine!
I came upon this recipe in an old magazine several years ago and it's been a go-to staple on the homestead to help protect our dogs. In fact, I spray it on myself as well. I've modified the ingredients over the years and this is the formula that we've found to be most effective.
Did you know that plants have built in insecticidal compounds, their own natural defences against plant eating insects? Here's an interesting study on the subject. study
Apply At Least Once Per Month
Provide this treatment to your pets at least once per month as a preventative measure. If your pets are outside all the time like our dogs or if they enjoy wading through bogs of mud like Molly and require frequent baths, you'll need to apply the treatment more often.
All Natural Flea & Tick & Insect Repellent Spray Recipe
Ingredients
6 quarts of water
1 cup fresh rosemary
1 cup fresh peppermint
1/4 cup basil
Directions
Bring six quarts of water to a boil and add one cup of rosemary & one cup of peppermint and 1/4 cup of basil. Steep for five hours. Strain and pour the herbal water into a spray bottle and spray and comb it through your dogs fur. You want to get this spray on their skin and not just on the surface of the coat.
Provide plenty of kisses and cuddles and a few treats to encourage cooperation!
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We use something similar to this now but I may give this a shot with mine. May try to spray it on heavy with a backpack sprayer for my cows also. Never know till you try. Thanks..
I always feel so bad for cows and horses when I go past a field and you can see the bugs attacking them. I just want to stand there swatting for them. Good luck - I hope it helps them!
We also set out dark blue 5 gallon pails sprayed with a product called tangle foot to catch deer flies and other nasties. The dark colour attracts them and the spray makes them stick to the pail. We catch a lot of biters this way without using chemicals. So far it's never caught a bee or friendly bug (this was my biggest worry).
Is it basil or thyme that's the 3rd ingredient? Or can you use both?
For our cows we've found that Jerry Brunetti's Fly Be Gone worked the best here, coupled with careful pasture management. It is merely a careful balance of minerals so it serves triple purpose: fly control, mineralizing the cows, and mineralizing the soil. A win-win-win situation.
its basil (good catch). I do use thyme or basil and my dogs are totally fine with that but some pets can react adversely to thyme. That mineral sounds interesting.