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[Hysssss-teria]

Our senior Labrador Retriever has developed a summertime skin condition over the past three years. Big dry, itchy, scaly patches with hair falling out of them. Yuck -- poor dog!!!

And yes -- it ONLY occurs during the warm months. His skin perfectly normal during the rest of the year.

Here’s the soothing homebrew shampoo that I whip up for our poor, itchy doggie. It seems to bring him so much relief that we treat him weekly with it. (He only gets bathed every 2 or 3 months otherwise.)

You’ll need 1 cup of oatmeal powder. Simply grind uncooked oatmeal up as finely as you can in the blender or a coffee grinder.

Pour 1 cup of hot water into a clean, repurposed 1-qt. plastic jar. Dump in the oatmeal powder. Cap the jar tightly and shake very well to combine.

Add 2 Tablespoons of PURE aloe vera gel if you have it. Shake well.
(DON’T use the commercial “Pure aloe lotion” preparations -- they contain alcohol, which will burn sensitive skin.)

Funnel the mixture into a 1-gal. plastic jug. Add ½ cup liquid Castile soap. Agitate the container gently to mix. Add up to 3 cups warm water and shake well.

Apply to the wet dog’s coat immediately.
(You will find that it doesn’t make much lather, but lather isn’t what cleans, anyway.)

Shake the container often to keep the oatmeal from settling while you’re getting the shampoo onto the dog. Try to leave it on your pet for at least 5 minutes (lots o‘luck, LOL).

Rinse VERY well.
This is gentle enough to use weekly, if you must.
　
TIPS:

You can add 1 cup of baking soda for a smelly dog. I tried it on Toby, but found that it seemed to cause even drier skin for him. It seemed to make him even more itchy, so I don’t use it anymore.

A cup of apple cider vinegar added is good for smelly dogs, too, but it burns Toby because he often has raw areas caused by the skin condition.

Some people like adding ½ cup glycerin. But keep in mind that it will reduce the already minimal sudsing action of your shampoo.

[dconklin]

Not sure how well it would work, but you could probably use this on human hair too.  Some shampoos have oatmeal in them.  I do not have a dog to try this out on and I can barely get my cat to look at water let alone get her in the water.