Massage Oils & Therapy Bath for Dogs

Therapy baths and massage oils aren't just for people. You can give your dogs all of the benefits of essential oils that you use for yourself. Making your own shampoo for that hard working dog, or just one who likes to play like it's work, will help keep their muscles supple, and their skin and coat healthy.

  1. What are Essential Oils?

    • You can buy or make your own essential oils from natural substances like plants and trees. To get the oil you must boil the various parts of the plant or tree such as the leaves, stems, buds or roots until the oil leeches out. Oil and water will not combine so it is easy to separate. Simply strain the resulting liquid from the plant matter. It's easier to buy essential oils for your dog's therapy because it takes a lot of plant matter to make a few drops of oil. At the same time, it does not take a lot of the essential oil to make a soothing bath, or massage oils. The oil used for massages and baths is a dilution of essential oil. Mixing essential oil with a rubbing compound like KY gel, or plain massage oil, creates a therapeutic oil or bath mix.

    Types

    • The most commonly used massage and therapy oils are lavender, carrot seed, myrrh, geranium, Roman chamomile, sweet marjoram, and sweet orange. A single drop to a few oz of massage oil, or into the bathwater is enough to create a luxurious and healing mixture.

    Uses

    • Therapy baths work well to relax muscles from strenuous activities. If you train your dog for sports such as flyball, agility, schutzhund or SAR (search and rescue), relax him with soothing baths regularly to avoid over-straining.

    Preparations

    • Oils work well mixed with plain massage oil for rubbing into tender muscles--for dogs, they work best as a bath therapy additive. The oils work to relax muscles, get rid of fleas, hot spots or other medical reasons, and even make a good puppy shampoo. Mix a shampoo of a few drops each of valerian, vetiver, petitgrain, sweet marjoram and sweet orange with 8 oz of natural dog shampoo, for soothing sore muscles. For a medical therapy bath to get rid of fleas use 4 drops of clary sage, 2 citronella, and 8 peppermint with 4 drops of lemon oil along with 8 oz of natural dog shampoo. For a mild puppy shampoo for regular use mix 2 drops rose extract, 5 drops of geranium, 2 ylang, 2 drops of chamomile, 5 petitgrain, added to 8 oz natural dog shampoo.

    Caution

    • Don't use oil mixtures on small- or medium-breed dogs less than 8 weeks old. Avoid using any oil mixtures on small-breed dogs younger than 10 weeks. Stop using any oil if your dog pants, drools or exhibits other distress signals.