Saturday, June 25, 2016

Things That Work: Petal & Twig Organics

Flies are a fact of summer.  We had issues with them in Albuquerque and we have issues with them here in Colorado.

The flies really like Porkchop's ears and Gunnar's nose.

We initially used Neosporin on Porkchop's ears with little benefit.  Then when Gunnar's nose was being affected we started using Swat for both which helped a lot.

However, Gunnar does not like having ointment on his nose.  No matter how much we rub it in, he wipes it off .... with his foot, the ground, the side of the loafing shed, the fence or even the side of his food bowl... basically anything he can use to get ointment off his nose he does.  Which ultimately causes a gash that the flies like even more than his sweet, soft, velvety nose.


So last weekend I asked one of the Farmer's Market vendors if she had anything that might help.  She suggested that we try her bug spray and said that she uses it on her Great Dane.  I have bought other products from her over the years, so I decided to give the bug spray a try.

Well, just a week into it so far, I am happy to say that it appears to be working.
  • First, and foremost: Gunnar doesn't hate it!  It might help that I spray it on myself before I put it on him.  As I mentioned, he's not crazy about me rubbing stuff on his nose, but he does not run from me like he did with the Neosporin and Swat.
  • Secondly: It smells good. It's made with all kinds of lovely essential oils.  It has a pleasant, subtle smell which I like, a lot.
  • Finally, as a wonderful side-effect of using the dogs' bug spray, I also have fewer bug bites.  ;-)
Gunnar's nose looking much better than last week

I plan to get another bottle to take to the day job, so I can apply it before our lunch time walks near the marsh.  I also think we'll be using it on all of the dogs and alpacas.

Porkchop's ears looking great

Petal & Twig Organic Bug Spray is definitely worth a try.

1 comment:

Ruth said...

So glad you found something! We're having a HUGE issue this summer with Deer flies. We always have SOME, but this year has been nuts. Oddly enough they don't seem to bother Apollo's nose or ears, and otherwise don't appear to be able to get at his skin. They drive shorter coated Arty nuts though, and I can't stand the things. I picked up a bottle of a "horse and rider fly repellent" and it seems to MOSTLY work, if I re-apply it 5 times during the day *sigh*. Damn flies!