74: 10 Ways to Use Hydrosols for Pet Care

In this episode, Liz takes you into the world of hydrosols and their incredible versatility for pet care. From wound healing to soothing anxiety, and even oral hygiene, there's a hydrosol solution for nearly every topical ailment. Join Liz as she uncovers tips and stories. Let's embark on this aromatic journey together!

Transcript

Liz Fulcher [00:00:00]:
You're listening to the Aromatic Wisdom podcast, episode number 74. In today's show, I'm going to talk about hydrosols. Specifically, I'm going to give you 10 creative practical ways that you can use hydrosols for your pets at home.

Speaker B [00:00:16]:
You're listening to the Aromatic Wisdom podcast with your host, Liz Fulcher. If you're interested in learning about essential oils, hearing interviews with industry experts, and discovering ways to grow your own aromatherapy business, this is the podcast for you. For more information and show notes, visit the website at aromaticwisdominstitute.com. Now sit back, relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy as Liz shares a dose of aromatic wisdom.

Liz Fulcher [00:00:49]:
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the podcast. I'm Liz Fulcher. I'm your host for the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast, and I've been working in aromatics for 33 years. And I'm only 20. How does that even happen? Thank you so much for everyone, who's listening right now and today and always, and I deeply appreciate your just giving me a little bit of your precious time. Before I get started on today's show, which I love animals and it's about animals and I just love the all the little furry and scaly and feathery creatures of the world. So I love hydrosaurs, I love animals, so this is a really close to my heart topic. Before I get there though, I want to acknowledge and thank and welcome 2 new patrons.

Liz Fulcher [00:01:35]:
So the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast is supported by Patreon, and I have 2 new members. They are Alex Ford and Rosemarie Williams. Welcome, and thanks again for supporting the podcast and all of you who have been patrons for some time. Always, always deeply appreciated, really. Alright. Let's jump into today's topic. Again, I have a real affinity for both animals and hydrosols, and putting the 2 together is just magnificent for me. They really, do well together, and I'll explain why in this episode.

Liz Fulcher [00:02:12]:
So let's get started. I have recorded and published a number of episodes of this podcast about hydrosols, and I've written blog posts, and I even have a couple of courses. Hydrosols are a big part of my life. I do distillation, and actually, I'm very knowledgeable on hydrosols in terms of their therapeutic properties and what to do with them. So I do like to talk about them. I'll go ahead and put some links in the show notes so you can learn more about hydrosols, but I will start with the definition because I love to do that. And there may be those of you who have not yet heard my other episodes. A hydrosol is a product that is produced during steam inhalation of botanical material.

Liz Fulcher [00:03:01]:
So for example, if you were to put lavender flowers, lavender plants into a copper still, and add water and do a distillation, you will receive 2 products. 1 will be the essential oil of lavender, the other will be a water portion called lavender hydrosol. Hydrosols are incredibly therapeutic, but they're also very, very gentle and safe to use. You can drink them, you can use them with infants, you can use them with animals. The reason I said that hydrosols are great with animals is because, like infants, I would not use essential oils on animals, specifically on their body. Now I have 3 cats, I have had a dog, and I have no problem distilling or not distilling diffusing essential oils in the room with my cats there or with my dog there. And the reason is because I give them a way out. If you're going to diffuse essential oils in the room with animals, just make sure they have an egress.

Liz Fulcher [00:04:03]:
That if it gets overpowering or they don't like the smell, they can leave. Animals will tell you if they don't like what you're diffusing or if they don't like your smell. So just give them a way out. I personally have not found any danger with diffusing around animals. Again, we're talking essential oils. I would never, however, use essential oils on the body of animals. I would use hydrosols. If I'm using an aromatic on the body of an animal, on their person, it's for a therapeutic reason.

Liz Fulcher [00:04:36]:
It's usually going to be like a hot spot or wound care or something like that, in which case hydrosols are absolutely perfect. They are therapeutically effective, and they're so, so gentle. There's no danger to the animal. Now, in a minute, I'm going to give you a list of 10 different ways that you can use hydrosols with animals. First, I just want to clarify that the focus of this particular episode is on small domestic pets, like cats and dogs and birds, even reptiles. You can even use hydrosols with lizards and iguanas and snakes. Now in full transparency, I have never used a hydrosol on a snake, but I wouldn't hesitate to do so if I had one. A snake is not an animal I would own.

Liz Fulcher [00:05:25]:
I don't mind snakes at all. I actually have very few animals I don't like. I actually have to say, I think there's 0 animals I don't like. There are plenty of animals that are dangerous and I would stay away from, but I can't say there are any animals that I don't like. However, I wouldn't own a snake because personally, I like an animal that is cuddly and affectionate and warm and fuzzy. Now I'm probably gonna get emails saying, but I have a snake and she's very affectionate. Excellent. I'm so happy for you.

Liz Fulcher [00:05:50]:
I like furry beings, cats and dogs. And though the focus is on smaller animals, there's absolutely no reason why you cannot use hydrosols for horses and other large animals. So here are 10 ways that you can use hydrosols with your pets at home. Number 1. Skin irritations and wounds. This is number 1 for a reason. This is probably the way that I have used hydrosols the most for any sort of topical boo boos. I have 3 cats.

Liz Fulcher [00:06:21]:
Sometimes they'll tussle and one will get scratched, and I will apply a little bit of hydrosol to that wound. My cats now are indoor cats, but at one point, I did let them go out for a while until my cat, Karate, was attacked by a neighbor cat and ended up with quite a large wound on his front paw, his front leg, I mean. It was really bad. I mean, he had to go to the vet and he it swelled up and he had to take antibiotics. However, before I took him to the vet, I rinsed it with hydrosol. I cleaned it and continued to clean it. Even though he was taking the antibiotics, I continued to clean it with hydrosol. He is no longer an outdoor cat, I can tell you.

Liz Fulcher [00:07:03]:
Sometimes an animal will have a broken toenail, or dogs in particular could step on a piece of glass or step on something where it's not really bad enough to take them to the vet, you wanna kind of care for it at home, that is a perfect opportunity to use hydrosols. Now, if they and if they lick it, it's okay, other than they're removing the hydrosol. What I would probably do if it were a paw, I would bathe it in a hydrosol and then wrap it up at least for a little bit. But honestly, even if you don't wrap it, if you are just applying the hydrosol 2, 3 times a day, it'll heal very fast. It's really quite remarkable, the healing capabilities of these aromatic waters. In terms of which hydrosols, pretty much anyone that you have will work. Lavender hydrosol is always a great one to keep around the house. It is like lavender essential oils, almost a panacea.

Liz Fulcher [00:07:54]:
So good for everything. Lavender hydrosol is great. For wound care, very specifically, I like to use helichrysum hydrosol or German chamomile hydrosol. It's also good for for some inflammation. The German chamomile is also good for inflammation. In the same vein of wound care are hot spots, which very often animals will get. My little sassy, my pug had hot spots. And depending on where it is on their bodies, washing it with a little bit of hydrosol will really cool down, particularly like a peppermint hydrosol.

Liz Fulcher [00:08:27]:
Cucumber hydrosol is fabulous for cooling any sort of a hot area, as is German chamomile hydrosol. In terms of application for a topical situation, I would be very careful about spraying or even misting if you have a small 1 ounce bottle. It depends where it is, depends on the animal. Just stop and think about a child. Would a child want to be sprayed or misted on? It may be fine. Depends on where it is, again, on the animal. I like to use those round cotton pads that are flat. They're good for taking off makeup.

Liz Fulcher [00:09:01]:
Those are really nice to soak in a hydrosol and press on the area. I really tend to just kind of pour it right on the spot and then maybe dab it a little bit to keep the extra you know, to soak up the extra. Okay. All that was number 1, wound care and skin irritations. Moving into number 2, ear cleaning. A gentle hydrosol like chamomile, German chamomile or even Roman chamomile, witch hazel, these can be used to clean your ear your ears. Yeah. Actually, it can be used to clean your ears, but they can be used to clean your animal's ears.

Liz Fulcher [00:09:41]:
You, the way I did it with my pug, I used hydrosols a lot with my pug because pugs are wrinkly, their face gets dirty, their ears get dirty. I guess all dogs' ears get dirty. I don't know. And, so and with her mouth and teeth cleaning and breath and all that, which I'll talk about, but I would clean her ears regularly with a very gentle hydrosol. I think I primarily used chamomile, and, I would simply wet the cotton ball and very gently go in and clean the ears. It doesn't have to be a big deal. It's just a lovely way to clean the ears. You know, hydrosols can also be antiseptic, so it's a way to kind of not only keep them clean and it smells good, but also help keep any kind of infections at bay.

Liz Fulcher [00:10:30]:
Number 3 is oral care. So going back to my pug, I would use peppermint hydrosol because peppermint is great for mouthwash for humans or animals. And you can also use spearmint, that's another nice one. So what I would do again with Sassy, my pug, is I would take a wet, warm washcloth. I would run it under the sink, get it with hot water so that the washcloth was wet and warm. Then I would put my peppermint or spearmint hydrosol on the washcloth. The whole point I'm trying to make here is if it's warm, it's more comfortable. Just, again, think about yourself.

Liz Fulcher [00:11:10]:
Would you wanna have something cold in your mouth or something warm? Then what I would do is hold her on my lap, put my arms sort of around her, put my, put the washcloth around my finger, and just very gently go back and forth around her teeth. And it was a great way to clean her teeth, and then sometimes I would like rub it along her tongue, which she hated. And, but honestly, it helps so much with their breath. Now, I do know people who put it in their drinking water. That's fine, but any time you're ingesting a hydrosol, whether it's you or for your animal, make sure it is clean, vibrant, no preservatives, fresh hydrosol, and then just put a few drops in the water. You really don't need very much at all. Number 4 is face cleaning, not unlike ear cleaning. You just want to be really careful around the eyes.

Liz Fulcher [00:12:08]:
I'm gonna talk about the eyes for number 5. But again, cleaning the face, you can use a soft piece of a cotton pad. A piece of flannel is really nice. Now in the UK, if I'm not mistaken, flannel is what we call cotton balls. And I believe that in the UK, they call those flannels. What I'm referring to is a soft, fuzzy fabric that we in the United States call flannel. A lot of men wear flannel, t shirts, even women. And, I love to get, like, a flannel baby blanket and cut it up and use that for face cleaning.

Liz Fulcher [00:12:43]:
Again, wet it with warm water, put a little hydrosol on there, and clean all around the face. You can do the face and the ears at the same time. That's, you know, that's easy. Number 5 is eyes. So I'm gonna talk about cleaning the eyes. You wanna be super, super careful about making sure that you're only using the best, cleanest, vibrant hydrosol for the eye cleaning, just as you would for yourself. I would use cornflour hydrosol. And again, how to clean the eyes is just kind of get the wet cloth and just wipe it through the eyes.

Liz Fulcher [00:13:17]:
I'll tell you when I found Hydrosol terrific. My son, Davide, for almost 17 years had a chihuahua named Andy. I don't know in if this is something unique I don't know if this is something unique to chihuahuas, but Andy used to get a lot of crusties on in the inner corners of his eyes, and they would get really hard to remove. And I was always afraid of sort of removing them and hurting him, and it would tear with the fur. And so I would take cornflour hydrosol or, honestly, sometimes just even warm water at first, and then use that to soften the eye, eye boogers, as we called it, and remove it. And then use a little hydrosol just to make sure the area was sort of sanitized and wouldn't get infected. You wanna be super careful around the puppy's eyes or kitty's eyes or horse's eyes, whatever animal you're using hydrosols with. Just be super careful around the eyes, just as you would, again, for yourself or your infant.

Liz Fulcher [00:14:20]:
I'll often put animals and infants in the same category of safety, protection, and care. So now I've completely lost track of what number I'm on. Number 1, skin irritations and wounds. Number 2 is ear cleaning. Number 3 was oral care. Number 4 was face cleaning. Number 5 is eye care. Number 6 is paw care.

Liz Fulcher [00:14:40]:
Again, sounds repetitive, but be mindful of things like after a walk. You might wanna use a hydrosol like calendula, lavender. Lavender is also is fabulous for this. To clean and soothe the pet's paws, especially if the paw is cracked or irritated from rough terrain. Lavender hydrosol in the summertime is very nice on a, if you've taken a dog for a walk and the sidewalk is very hot, first of all, be very mindful of that before you even take the dog out. If it's too hot for their, if it would be too hot for you to be barefoot, it's too hot for them. But if they've walked on warm, concrete or asphalt, asphalt in particular can get really hot, you might wanna just rinse their feet with a gentle lavender hydrosol after the walk. But the same thing with kitty cats.

Liz Fulcher [00:15:31]:
If their feet are dirty from the litter box or who knows what. I have cats, they're pretty clean animals. But I wouldn't hesitate to use a hydrosol just specifically to clean their feet, again, with a with a washcloth. Number 7, I'm gonna call it a bath additive. So adding a calming hydrosol like lavender or rose hydrosol is fabulous. Add it to your, animal's bath water, and that can really help soothe the skin, relax the pet during their bath, and it just makes the experience really nice for both of you. Number 8 is along the same lines as, what I was mentioning with the bath additive for calming. You can use a hydrosol literally to calm anxiety.

Liz Fulcher [00:16:18]:
So if you spray a little bit of lavender or rose in your pet's bedding area, it will help calm, reduce anxiety. The other thing that I actually do for my son, Davide, has a dog, a little Yorkie now named Kiwi. Isn't that cute? She's such a sweet little thing. My husband calls her Little Fruit. Kiwi is precious. She's probably one of the nicest dogs they've ever met, and she gets carsick. So one of the things I will do, before if I'm around and she's going on a trip, I'll spray peppermint hydrosol on a cloth and put it near her to kind of help soothe her, nausea. So you could, this sort of category I was calling calming anxiety, but let's call it calming anxiety and nausea or motion sickness.

Liz Fulcher [00:17:08]:
So just spraying a little bit of hydrosol in the pet's bedding area for the effect that you want. Calm the anxiety. Soothe the nausea. If it's something that you use a lot with them at home, it can make them feel calm and comforted comforted when you're not there. And, actually, I just this second remembered a story that was, shared with me by one of my students in my Hydrosols for Health online course. And her name is Amy DeLong. She's actually specializes in animal care, and she's fantastic if you want to, get in touch with her. I'm gonna put her information in the show notes because off the top of my head, I cannot remember it.

Liz Fulcher [00:17:54]:
But she is a great person who works natural therapies with animals, Amy DeLong. Amy has a parrot or parakeet and shared a story how she used neroli hydrosol and just very gently misted it around the bird to to calm and soothe the anxiety of her bird. So there you go. You can also use them with birds. And neroli hydrosol is fabulous for anxiety for animals or people. Now that that puts us at number 9, which I'm calling environmental freshener, sort of along the same lines of the nope. I'm not gonna say it. Boop.

Liz Fulcher [00:18:35]:
K. That is number 9 I'm going to call environmental freshener. Spraying a hydrosol like rosemary, peppermint, spearmint in areas where the pet spends a lot of time can help neutralize any odors, create a fresh environment. It can enhance their living space and your living space. I wouldn't hesitate to even mist in a cage or in a crate. On their bedding, it can sometimes get funky. Now, be mindful that when you do that, that it dries before the animal lays on it, because sometimes when you mist fabric, it takes a few minutes to dry. So, I mean, it wouldn't hurt them, it just might not be comfortable.

Liz Fulcher [00:19:20]:
So that's environmental freshener, and that brings us to number 10, digestive aid. You can add a small amount, and I mean a teaspoon, of fennel or ginger hydrosol to an animal's drinking water to help with digestion. It can help soothe an upset stomach, and it just kind of helps with the overall digestive health of the animal. I have done that with myself and with my grandson, so I would have no problems doing that with my animal, provided they're pretty healthy. But if they're having some digestive issues, adding a teeny bit, I'd probably go with ginger first. Tiny bit of ginger hydrosol in a very, very small quantity to their drinking water. And, that that may help settle their tummies. Those are the 10 ways that you can use hydrosol for your domestic animals.

Liz Fulcher [00:20:15]:
I would like to add one that I don't believe will work. I have read that you can use hydrosols for flea and tick repellent, and I'm gonna say no. People recommend eucalyptus or cedarwood to spray on the coat to repel fleas and ticks. I just don't think it it works. Fleas and ticks are pretty tough. And if you have found a natural remedy to keep ticks and fleas away from animals that go outdoors, please let me know because I have not. I use the medicine from my vet. I might it might be revolution.

Liz Fulcher [00:20:50]:
I'm not sure. To keep away flicks. Flicks? Flicks and fleas. Flicks and teas. Flick. Oh my gosh. Ticks and fleas. There we go.

Liz Fulcher [00:21:01]:
I'm leaving that blooper in. So as you can see, hydrosols are a versatile and safe option for animal care. Again, I know I would sound like a broken record, but I don't care. Always ensure you're using high quality hydrosols. Obviously, if you have any concerns about the pet specific health conditions, please consult with your vet. That's it for the main portion of episode number 73, ways to hydrosols for animals. I hope that you found these tips helpful and inspiring. Remember, you can always contact me if you have questions.

Liz Fulcher [00:21:40]:
You can go, through Patreon. I will always answer the questions to my members, patreon.comforward/aromaticwisdom. You can go to my website, aromaticwisdominstitute.comforward/contact. Okay. How about we take a minute to smell my life? Uh-huh. I have 3 cats, and I have 3 litter boxes. I try to make sure to clean out the litter box twice a day. If I forget even, like, in the evening, by the morning, there's already an unpleasant smell.

Liz Fulcher [00:22:20]:
It is down in the basement, but from the hallway above the basement, I can sometimes smell the litter box. So I try to be really careful to keep the smell, you know, nice, and so that I don't smell the litter box. And what I did this past week was I actually put a diffuser in the basement near the litter box. I was in a thrift store and saw this beautiful diffuser for sale, and by the way, you can often find really nice diffusers, at least in the States, at thrift stores. People get them, they get tired of them, they don't understand how to use them, and they get rid of them, and you can get a 15, 20, $25 diffuser sometimes for a dollar, and that was what happened with me. I don't know the brand. It looks like vava. It's quite large and it works beautifully.

Liz Fulcher [00:23:11]:
It puts out a really pumps out a nice bunch of mist. I put that in the basement with lemongrass essential oil to help cover the aroma of the cat box. And it it works it works great. When I'm upstairs, I can smell the lemongrass. Now do not misunderstand me. Please don't put lemongrass or any essential oils in the litter. Not a good idea. Not good for the animals.

Liz Fulcher [00:23:36]:
Dangerous. Waste of oils. Use a diffuser. Keep it near the litter box, but also make sure that the animals have a way out of the room if they don't like the smell. That's so important. Always give animals an egress if you're using a diffuser, regardless of cat, dog, whatever. So that was how I used essential oils this week. I was very pleased with the results.

Liz Fulcher [00:23:59]:
Lemongrass essential oil in a diffuser, probably about 2 feet away from the litter boxes, but sort of pointing up toward the steps. There you go. That was smell my life for this week. That, my dear sweet friends, is a wrap for Aromatic Wisdom podcast, episode number 74, hydrosols for pets. If you'd like to leave a review of the podcast that really helps people find it, you can go to aromatic wisdom podcast.com, and you'll see the word review, on the navigation menu. You can hit that and leave a review. I love that. It helps people find the podcast, and, of course, it it makes me feel really good when people leave a nice review.

Liz Fulcher [00:24:41]:
I think in my next episode, I'm gonna talk about how to make a pumpkin spice diffuser blend. This will be something I'm gonna try. I'll let you know how it goes. And as always, be happy, be well.