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1 cup warm distilled or filtered water
1 teaspoon calendula tincture
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Combine the water, calendula, and salt in a glass. With an ear syringe or dropper, gently and quickly squeeze some of the liquid into your pet’s ear, holding the syringe at the entrance to the ear canal, not inside it. Avoid making squirting sounds, which might scare the animal. After instilling some liquid into the ear, gently rub it, then stand back and let your pet shake its head. Then do the other ear. Your pet may even begin to look forward to this treatment.

After-Swim Flush

This flush is especially suitable for floppy-eared dogs that love the water. Use it once a week during swimming season, more often if your pet swims daily.

Mix the juice of half a lemon in 1 cup of warm water. Syringe the ears as described for the Calendula Flush, blot the excess moisture from the inside ear, and gently swab out just inside the ear opening with a cotton swab.

Mite Buster

Ear mites are tiny, annoying pests that invade pets’ ears and cause them to scratch incessantly. One way to prevent them from taking up residence is to thoroughly shampoo its head, ears, and tail at least once a week. If mites haved already moved in, yellow dock, an astringent, may kill them.

Dilute 3 drops of yellow dock tincture in 1 tablespoon of distilled or filtered water. Instill 1/2 dropperful in the ear canal and massage gently. Let the animal shake its head, then blot the opening with cotton swabs. Repeat the treatment once every 3 days for as long as 3 weeks.

SKIN DISORDERS

Skin irritations are common in both cats and dogs. You may notice small white scales, large brown flakes, or red patches underneath the fur. Scabs, crustiness, even pimples or blisters between toes can show up. Skin problems may be caused by a poor diet, an invasive parasite, exposure to pest-control chemicals, or an allergy.

Red blotches: Acutely inflamed, irritated patches of skin, or hot spots, have a variety of causes, including moisture. To soothe them, clip away the hair, then give your pet a bath with a nonirritating soap about once a week. Dry the skin thoroughly with a towel, then dab the affected area with tea; it contains tannic acid, which helps dry up moisture.

Between baths, you can smear the afflicted area two or three times a day with the gel from a piece of fresh aloe vera leaf. Stop if your pet objects or persists in licking it off. Commercial preparations of aloe vera gel are available in health-food stores.

COLDS

Just as in humans, infections of dogs’ and cats’ upper respiratory tract cause runny noses, sneezes, sore throats, and coughing. The two that infect cats, however—feline viral rhino­tracheitis and the similar but less serious feline calcivirus—require a veterinarian’s care.

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