Hello!

Today we used Thieves essential oil blend diluted with olive oil with a dropper on Hero's hoof. He is a mini with a maxi attitude!  And he had a problem hoof.  When the farrier trimmed his hooves, he purposely cut a small chunk in one in order to open it up and to let it heal from a bit of an infection.  There had been a small crack and with all the rain lately it just never really got to dry out good.  So the hope is that the infection will heal and after the hoof grows out more the next trim will get rid of the chunked out spot and leave him with smooth, healthy hooves! Hero was compliant and did not make a fuss.  This is a credit to my daughter, Christina who has spent many patient hours since we "adopted" Hero from a rescue farm.   He has come a long way baby!

Tonight we tackled a problem with our oldest dog, Zoe.  She is not very active these days and her claws grow very quickly.  She has gotten more growly in her old age (she may not be the only one but I'm not naming any names), so the kids assigned to trim her claws didn't always get them all or get them frequently enough.  Upon learning she had one curled under and digging into her pad we knew we had a problem.  

I used Clove neat (without a carrier oil) on a cotton swab on her pad all around where the nail had made it pink, tender, inflamed and hoped it would lessen her pain.  We waited a bit.  Since the regular nail clippers wouldn't work,  I marked a white cutting line with a chalk marker on the black claw for my husband to cut it with his Dremel tool.  

Mission accomplished! Turns out the damage to her pad was not bad after all, but happy we got it done before it went into the pad.

Happy Oiling!

~Dawn