Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

I have been shyly lurking these forums for several days now!  The knowledge & info here is wonderful & when I think I can't face another mess up,  I come on here & find inspiration and the will to keep at it thanks to all of you.

I have a little old dog, Zenni,  who according to my vet had a 'probably incurable' skin condition. His skin was exzema like, and he was bald with thick blackened skin on his tail and hind legs.  The hair on his back was thinning rapidly & it was losing it's colour.  The vet wanted to put him on several drugs and cortisone cream, but I thought not yet - and decided to try to treat him first myself.  I mixed up a batch of various carrier oils and rubbed them in daily.  A few weeks later hair was sprouting from all the 'dead' skin,  loads of it all new & shiny!  The entire quality of his skin changed from scurfy dry flakiness to a smooth baby pink!. I was so amazed and the vet could not believe the change either.  It was the beginning of many changes for me -  who would have thought just simple carrier oils could have such a dramatic healing effect on my old boy.

I also have a very sensitive skin and I won't bore you all with my own recent bad hair days due to years of using chemical dyes. :-[
In desperation I recently I have adapted some of what I learned during the 'Zenni process' to try to get on top of my own issues as well. I then got carried away and  ambitiously cleared all our shelves of the hyper chemical creams, shampoos etc and have been trying to replace them with homemade toiletries & cosmetics.  My disasters have been numerous and meanwhile the shelves are somewhat bare and the family is somewhat muttering. ::)

So I am trying to put myself on an accelerated learning curve.  I  have soooo many questions.  I'm here to learn and share whatever I can in my own learning process.  Looking forward to getting to know you all better.   

Welcome - you've definitely come to the right place to learn that's for sure! Love the story about your dog, just proves that good stuff suits everyone, wo(man) and animal!!

Don't worry about making mistakes, they're the best learning tool you'll find and there's no soap or cream that can't find some kind of home (as long as it's not dangerous or anything!). 

As to learning more, the more you post here the more areas open up for you and the more you learn so post away! Remember also we LOVE pics!!!

Hi satorijane and welcome!
As Honey stated - it's a great place for learning and hang out with other "cookers".
And did anyone mention that we love pics?  ::)

Hi Satorijane, Congratulations  - you've knocked me off the top of the list as newest person on the forum! I'm interested to know which carrier oils you used as canine hair restorer, it might work on me! :) Regards,
Paul 

Hi SJ,

I am ever so pleased you joined us - a very warm welcome  :)   :buttrf:

As you have probably seen, there are lots of discussions and lots of topics already discussed (lots to get through).  Keep posting though SJ as there are some boards that you can't see just yet and the more you post, the more will open up to you. 

Aw... your poor old boy.  Bless him.  Aren't we all just wappy over our beloved animals  :buttrf:

I look forward to chatting with you more around the boards  :)

Hello Sartorijane, welcome.

If you can't find the information you're looking for then just shout as someone will probably have the answer.

 :hi: SJ
So happy that you helped your dog, that's quite amazing!
Like Paul said, I know someone follically challedged here that could do with some of your secret formula  ;)
Welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for the warm welcome,  I feel at home already. :)

I think if it works for Zenni it might help the human variety too, one never knows!. 

The basic oils are in place but  it's the washing them out that needs working on. Zenni is a greasy boy once oiled up & the oil gets everywhere, like on my pillow, deep joy.  :P   Not much I can do about that short of locking him up for the 2-3 hours soaking time and I just can't do that! 

The real challenge is that washing it out of his coat takes at least 3 shampoo's.  So I am going to experiment with tweaking the formula.  I'm going to try some polysorbate and maybe some red Turkey oil (still need to research if this will be safe on his skin?)  to try to make this easier. Might be more user friendly for the human variety too.

 Once I perfect this - or at least improve it - I'll happily let you in on the 'trade secret', Paul & anyone else who thinks it might get them sprouting!  I'd love to know if it does help anyone.

 I do use a modified Zenni recipe (with a couple of different oils)  on my beaten up hair at the moment and it has helped a lot, but I don't think I have much regrowth (although for me it is just good old damage - not more hair that I need.) Still, it's early days and I find myself still going off on experimental tangents regarding this.  :mwaha:

I'm going off at the end of the week to Croatia for a short break but when I get back,  I'll give getting the oils more water soluble a try.
If it works maybe I can submit it as a recipe, even if it is a simple one?  Are doggie recipes allowed?

An emulsifier like BTMS might work with washing it out...

OT oh Croatia - I was looking into going there next Summer, tell me what you think! Have a great hols!

Welcome.  It is good fun here, but I should warn you that you can lose hours wombling about looking at the various threads!

Honey - that's a great idea!  Thanks.  I have some BTMS in my evergrowing stash & I'll research to see if it is animal safe & give it a try. It'll be a good one for humans tho.  Do you think it would mix directly into the oils or would I need to add water to it first?

 I made a batch of disatrous creams with BTMS.  :-\  I think I might have used too much of it % wise.  I had this lovely fluffy looking cream on day one but it went green overnight!!! :o  Then two days later it made a wee waxy lump.  I still don't know what caused the green change -  I wonder if it might have been the EO's.

I'll tell you all about Croatia when I get back. :)

Suzanne - that is TOO true!  I find I am developing an obsession with having to read each & every forum!

Have a good break in Croatia satorijane, i'm looking forward to hearing the results of the experiments.

I wonder how much the cleaning process and accompanying massage action of getting the oils out, is contributing to the healing process - compared with the direct action of the oils - how would you check that out? Someone must have done that before . . .

Welcome! Nice to hear your success with your dog.
Enjoy reading the boards, there is loads of information. I still haven't got through all the new members boards and now have gone up a level and now there are others to catch up on. Its a hard life.... :mwaha:

The massage would stimulate the sebaceous glands and so produce sebum (natural conditioner).  When I am doing a scalp or Indian head massage without oil, the client often has very oily hair after.  This coupled with improved blood circ and lymph drainage would almost certainly assist with the healing and improved moisturisation.

SJ, have a lovely time on your hols  :buttrf:

P.S.  A recipe would be VERY welcomed - I can add it to the main site if you like (when you are ready  :))

That's really interesting Helen - like Paul I also wondered if all the massage he was getting was not also part of it.  He does also get internal oils, fish oil, borage oil & Vit E although those were introduced only after the carriers ( & very likely the massage ) had worked their magic.   

I always found that my border collie's coat was in superb condition when fed on Vitalin (I bought the Original by the sackful in the local farm stores, there are many more variation (http://He does also get internal oils, fish oil, borage oil & Vit E)s now - pet shops should stock some but a farm stores should be cheaper. If I ran out and couldn't get to the stores for a few days there was a noticable difference in his coat - especially if he had tinned meat and biccies.

Dad always fed his working dogs on Vitalin, codliver oil and raw eggs (he wouldn't feed them meat in any form) - I used to moisten mine with milk and water with codliver oil.

Elaine that sounds like good stuff!   Can you remember what some of the ingredients in it were?

 The old boysie was not just struggling with skin issues - he had a very serious grade 6 heart murmur too which diet among other things has brought down to a grade 4.  So  I'm always on the lookout for possibilities for him -poor little guy is a walking apothecary - but it's working! Fingers crossed. ;D

There's now a Vitalin for Senior dogs (http://www.vitalinpetfood.co.uk/senior.htm) with ingredients listed as:

NGREDIENTS
Fresh Salmon (min 20%), Potato (min 16%), Brown Rice, Corn, Barley, Sugar Beet, Sunflower Oil, Whole Linseed, Salmon Oil, Minerals, Vitamins, Yucca Extract, Chicory Extract, Chondroitin, Glucosamine, MSM, L-Carnitine.
ANALYSIS
Protein 19%, Oil 7.5%, Ash 5%, Fibre 3%, Moisture 12%, Copper (as cupric sulphate) 20 mg/kg, Vitamin A - 20,000 iu/kg, Vitamin D3 - 1,500 iu/kg,Vitamin E - 160 iu/kg (as alpha tocopherol).

This is in pellet form rather than the meusli type form of the original.

(just remembered that it was flaked maize with raw eggs which Dad used for his dogs - just occasionally Vitalin)

Thanks so much for that Elaine, I truly appreciate it. It looks really good & the L- Carnitine will work very well with the taurine he currently gets for the old ticker.  
I'll definitely be getting this for his brekkie - it'll save me time over the dog cooking pot to get on with learning about the creams!  

 :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: :hi: Hi Satorijane

Hello and welcome! What a lovely story about your Zennie :) Very often massage does wonders by stimulating the blood flow to the area and the massage oils used are secondary so keep up the lovely massages! If nothing else it will most likely promote relaxation, stress relief and strengthen the bond between you. I'm sure if we can get stressed our pets can too!
It is great to have you here and I look forward to getting to know you more :)