While you are whipping up handmade skin care goodies for yourself, why not take some time to treat your best friend to something special as well? Doggies don't know it, but they can benefit greatly from going natural when it comes to their grooming. Commercial dog shampoos and powders are often packed with artificial ingredients such as detergents and fragrances. These ingredients can irritate sensitive skin, causing dandruff, scratching, or even hair loss. To learn more about natural pet care, check out this article from Beauty by the Batch.
Natural ingredients, such as Carrier Oils, Essential Oils, or Vegetable Butters can be used to create Liquid Dog Shampoos, Dog Shampoo Bars, and Skin Care Serums, Salves, or Balms. When choosing natural ingredients for pet care products make sure that the ingredients are dog safe. Just like food, certain ingredients that are safe for humans can be extremely harmful, or even deadly to dogs. If you are uncertain about the safety of a particular ingredient, be sure to check with your dog's veterinarian before using it. It is especially important to keep this in mind when using Essential Oils. Dogs can be very sensitive to these ingredients, and since their bodies are smaller, and work differently from humans, their tolerance levels can be much lower than humans. Be sure to dilute any Essential Oils very well when adding them to a dog care product. In case you were wondering, recipes created for dogs should NEVER be used on cats. Dogs and cats have very different systems. An ingredient that is safe for a dog could be deadly if used on a cat.
Carrier Oils
Sweet Almond Oil – This is a very versatile ingredient to have on hand for pet care. It is a light, yet moisturizing oil that can be used for almost any application that calls for a Carrier Oil.
Olive Oil – Olive Oil is highly moisturizing, and is often fed to dogs as a dietary supplement in order to increase the shine, and decrease the shedding of their coats. It makes an excellent shampoo base either in liquid or bar form.
Neem Oil – This pungent oil is great for dog care. That is, if you don't mind the aroma. Neem has healing properties that can help with hot spots, and minor skin irritations. Due to its bitter flavor, most dogs won't try to lick Neem off after it is applied. However, some dogs might just find it to be delicious! You never do know.
Vegetable Butters
Cupuacu Butter – This healing, moisturizing butter from the Amazon boasts superior conditioning and restorative properties. It has a soft, spreadable texture, and a mild, fruity aroma. Cupuacu Butter is ideal for salves and balms, but can also be used to make solid shampoo bars and other pet products.
Kokum Butter – Kokum is a hard textured Butter often used for human foot care products. Its ability to heal and sooth callused feet makes it ideal for paw pad ointments and cleansers.
Shea Butter – Just as in human skin and hair care, Shea Butter can be used to create a variety of formulations. Its moisturizing properties make it a great ingredient for shampoo bars, salves, balms, or just about any formula.
Essential Oils
Before using any Essential Oil in a pet care recipe, double check with your vet to make sure it will be safe for your pet. Just like people, health needs and limitations can vary from dog to dog. These are some basic suggestions for pet care recipes, but they should always be double checked with your vet before use.
Lavender Essential Oil – Great for use in shampoos, Lavender has a knack for soothing minor skin irritations and itchiness. As an added bonus, most bugs don't care for the scent of lavender. Lavender can also be used in skin soothing balms or salves.
Chamomile – Chamomile has natural anti-inflammatory properties, making it great for shampoos meant for dogs with sensitive skin. Chamomile can also be used in soothing rubs or balms to help alleviate mild skin irritations or itching.
Peppermint – A great natural insect repellent, Peppermint can also help increase your dog's circulation, making it a great shampoo for a dog with arthritis or sore joints.
Niaouli – A close relative to Tea Tree, Niaouli is a little more gentle on the skin, making it a better choice for dog care. Niaouli has strong antiseptic and antibacterial properties, making it an excellent ingredient for healing salves and balms. Niaouli also repels insects, making it a nice addition to natural dog shampoos.
How to Make a Simple Liquid Dog Shampoo
Combine 16 ounces of Organic Liquid Castile with 10 – 20 ml of your chosen Essential Oils. (For example, try equal parts of the Essential Oils mentioned above.) Mix well and transfer to a bottle.
How to Make a Simple Healing Balm
Combine 1 ounce of Beeswax, 1/2 ounce of Kokum Butter, and 1/2 ounce of Cupuacu Butter in a double boiler. Heat the Butters and Wax gently until they are fully melted. Add 1/2 ounce of Neem Oil and 1/2 ounce of Olive Oil and stir well to combine. Remove the mixture from heat and add 1 – 5 ml of your chosen Essential Oils. (For example, try adding equal parts of the Lavender, Chamomile, and Niaouli Essential Oils.) Stir the mixture well, then carefully pour it into containers. Allow the containers to cool completely before handling them.
Thanks, Emmy! It’s like you read my mind! I was just thinking about making something for my little Lily, was showing someone your blog and, poof! an article with instructions! I’ll let you know how Lily likes it!
Hi Mary!!
I hope Lily enjoys her handmade spa day! If you snap any pictures of her enjoying her tub time please share! Shes awfully cute dry. I can only imagine shes even cuter covered in bubbles.
Emmy Gabriel
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Hi Mary!!
I hope Lily enjoys her handmade spa day! If you snap any pictures of her enjoying her tub time please share! Shes awfully cute dry. I can only imagine shes even cuter covered in bubbles.
Thank you so much for such great information. I have been looking for a site such as this for some time now. 🙂
Im glad you found us, and enjoyed our article on natural dog shampoos. If you have any questions about lathering up your pooch, please let us know.
Hi There,
Great article, any chance you would be able to do one for cats? I know they are super sensitive and have two beautiful cats that I would love to be able to make safe products for.
Thanks!
Erin
Hi Erin. I am not an expert on natural pet care, but from what I understand there are pretty much no essential oils that are safe for cats. Since their systems cant metabolize or expel many of the chemicals contained in essential oils. To make a cat-safe natural shampoo, try using a little Liquid Castile Soap and water. Ill look into putting together a similar article on cat care in the future.
Can’t wait to try the dog shampoo… Thanks
Hi. I would like to make an all natural dog shampoo and have been looking for the right ingredients. Is the Castile soap suggested above ok to use? It seems like the ph is too high for a dog. What do you think? Thanks. Robin
Castile is a good choice for pet care as it is all natural, and fairly gentle. It is usually recommended that you add Apple Cider Vinegar to the soap, which will help it rinse away, and should adjust the ph slightly.
Hi. Would it be alright to also add Aloe Vera to the Castile Soap? If so, how much? Thanks!!
Hi. I like your ingredients for a healing balm a lot. What would it be used for? Itchy skin or hot spots or cuts? What is it intended for? Thanks very much! Robin
Hi Robin. Im glad you enjoyed this article. The balm would be great for hot spots, sore paw pads, or minor scrapes and rashes.
You can certainly add Aloe to Castile Soap. There are a few different ways to do so. The best way, in my opinion, would be to use our Spray Dried Aloe Vera Powder. This is a water soluble powder, so it can be mixed with a tiny bit of soap before being added to the rest of your batch. This product is ideal because it doesnt introduce additional liquid to your soap, which is already quite thin. Alternatively, you could try adding other Aloe ingredients such as Aloe Vera Gel or Aloe Vera Oil. These would both thin out the soap though.
Heres a link to our Aloe Vera Spray Dried Powder: http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/product.asp?product_id=ORGTPALOESD100searchflag=1
Hi again. Sorry for all the questions.. but I wondered if I could substitute aloe butter for the 2 other butters in the healing balm.
Hi Robin. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you like! We love getting comments. You can definitely sub Aloe Butter for another butter. Aloe Butter is great for dog care.
Great! Thanks so much! 2 more questions then…. I wanted to use Chamomile EO in both my dog shampoo and the healing balm, but it’s so expensive. Could I use Chamomile tea instead? And I’m using Aloe in the shampoo..would it be better to use Aloe butter or a liquid Aloe?
I’m going to use 100% olive oil Castile soap for the dog shampoo. Could I add Coconut Oil to it to increase the amount of suds and lather? How much Aloe Butter, Coconut oil, and Essential oils would I add to the Castile soap?
Hi Robin,
Actually, any fats or oils you add will decrease the lather. When fats are added to finished soap, they can increase the moisturizing property, but they never fully bond with the soap the way that they would if they were added during saponification. I would add a small amount of extra oil and/or butter to keep the soap from getting too oily. Try adding about 1 tablespoon of extra oil or butter (or a mix of both) to every 16 ounces of liquid soap. As for Essential Oil, its best to use a low amount of essential oils when working with dogs. I would recommend adding 1 – 2% essential oil to the mixture.
Thanks so much for all your help!
Would it be a good idea to add a vitamin E capsule to the shampoo and healing balm?
Youre welcome, Robin. Adding Vitamin E to both or either of the formulations is a great idea. Vitamin E Oil is very moisturizing, and helpful to the skin and hair.
Hi there. I was told by my vet recently that olive oil makes dogs vomit, so not sure if this is the best choice. I have recently made up a concoction that I spray on my dog (he has sensitive pink skin) for flea prevention. Soak one thinly cut up lemon and one 6″ sprig of rosemary in 2 cups of boiling water overnight. Add a few drops of teatree oil and some aloe vera pulp and put in a spray bottle. Spray dog twice a week. My dog doesn’t like it, but I give him a treat to cope with it, and touch wood it is working so far. I spray his bedding with it too.
confused on the ingredients needed to make liquid soaps. My min pin’s has fall allergies for some reason and her skin is real dry. Commerical soaps are not assisting. I just want to make a simple recipe to help calm her skin. then maybe later add other ingredients. Please Help
Bill W.
Hi Bill. The best way to formulate a super-easy liquid soap would be to use a pre-made Liquid Castile soap base. You can purchase plain Liquid Castile through our website, or you can sometimes find it locally at health food stores. Castile is an olive oil based soap, that is very pure and gentle, containing no extra detergents or drying additives. The soap can be used as-is, or it can be enhanced with herbal extracts or essential oils. Liquid soap can also be made from scratch, but it is a fairly complicated process, so might not be something you want to take on right away.
Heres a link to our Liquid Castile Soap Base: http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/soap/product.asp?product_id=orgliqcastile
Actually there ARE essential oils safe for cats, very few… some experts argue with but two definite’s our holistic vet said we could use are lavender and cedarwood, but these MUST be much more diluted, ie for a whole bottle of shampoo I’d only put two drops of each in. Also apple cider vinegar is a great rinse as a conditioner and to get the natural soap washed out well, just one capful in a 2 ltr tub of lukewarm water and pour over the cat after bathing, apple cider vinegar is often the base of cat friendly natural home made flea sprays along with lavender and cedarwood. For my dog after using my own recipe home made bar soap shampoo I use 3 capfuls apple cider vinegar in a 5 litre empty water bottle, fill with luke warm water and use this as the 3rd rinse.
Hi Nell. Thank you for sharing your tips. Apple Cider Vinegar is a great ingredient for pet care! It sounds like youve found some great uses for it for your own pets. Some vets do use essential oils with cats, but as you said, with very specific oils in very diluted forms. Id definitely advise anyone to consult their own veterinarian before trying out an essential oil with a cat, just because they can be so sensitive. It sounds like you have found a knowledgeable vet to help you with your homemade recipes. Thats great.
Our holistic vet says although chamomile and lavender are safe for dogs 0ver 10 drops of each is way too much for one bottle of shampoo! Also please note if you have a dry flaky dog Rosemary oil is good for this and all oils MUST be grade A therapeutic oils.
How much apple cider vinegar do you add to the castile soap to make the pH better?
Thank you for the interesting info!!
Hi Annette. Vinegar is sometimes added to liquid soap to bring down its pH, but it doesnt always react well. It can cause a reaction that unsaponifies some of the soap, creating a separation. A better practice would be to follow the soap shampoo with an apple cider vinegar hair rinse. Mix Apple Cider Vinegar with an equal portion of water to create a simple rinse.
Tea tree oil is toxic to dogs.
Hi Caz. Thanks for the tip. Youll noticed that we didnt recommend tea tree in this article. Niaouli is a great alternative to tea tree.
Yes, I was writing in response to Susan who said her vet suggested a remedy that included tea tree.
Also, cupacua and kokum butters say “not for ingestion” on the packaging – if unsafe for humans would they be safe for dogs who like to lick?
I don’t find the neem oil smelly – mine smells a bit like coffee. Definitely not offensive at all.
While you wouldnt want your pet to chow down on an entire container of
vegetable butter, I believe most vegetable butters are safe enough for a
little licking. Of course, it can never hurt to double check with your
veterinarian.