During these cold winter months, my skin can get super dry and not surprisingly, our dogs often experience the same discomfort.
One of the best ways I’ve found to help my dogs combat that dry, itchy wintertime skin is a nice soothing bath. And there’s really nothing better to use than oatmeal shampoo that nourishes and moisturizes the skin.
Last winter I found this recipe for oatmeal shampoo for dogs, and it’s been a real life-saver for my girls. It’s super simple to make, and it includes just a handful of wholesome ingredients. Just take a look.
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- 1 1/2 cups dry quick cook oats
- 2 cups water
- 1 1/2 T coconut oil
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 cup Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap
- 2 drops lavender essential oil
- 2 drops rosemary essential oil
You’ll also need a funnel and a bottle (a recycled one will work perfectly), and that’s all.
See what I mean? Just a few ingredients, and you’re ready to get started. I love a simple recipe, don’t you?
Healthy and Wholesome
There are a lot of pet products on the market today, and let’s be honest: not all of them are good for our furry friends. They’re often filled with toxic and unnecessary ingredients that our pets simply don’t need to be exposed to, and that’s why I love this recipe.
It uses ingredients that are healthy and wholesome, and none of them are hard to pronounce. That’s how you know they’re safe for your entire family.
I use this shampoo on my dogs once a month throughout the winter, and it really does seem to give them some much needed relief for parched, itchy skin. They feel so much better after a nice bath, and that makes me feel better, too.
- 1 1/2 C dry quick cook oats
- 2 C water
- 1 1/2 T coconut oil
- 1 t lemon juice
- 1 C Dr. Bronner's liquid Castile soap
- 2 drops lavender essential oil
- 2 drops rosemary essential oil
- Recycled bottle
- Funnel
- Combine oats and water in microwave safe bowl.
- Heat in microwave for 2 minutes or until oats are soft.
- Mix in the coconut oil, essential oils, and lemon juice.
- Stir in Castile soap until well combined.
- Use the funnel to add the mixture to your recycled bottle.
- If you have too much shampoo to fit into your bottle, freeze the leftovers until ready to use.
Have you tried this oatmeal shampoo for dogs?
Tell me about it in a comment below, or stop by my private Facebook group for dog moms and join in the conversation there!
I am so going to have to make some for my pups. It seems during the wet rainy months (when its cold) I tend to bathe them more and I have to be careful not to dry out their skin. Thanks for the recipe!! I love natural and DIY and my essential oils!! Saving to make!!
I’m glad this recipe works for your dogs. As you can imagine, cats don’t like baths. My skin gets dry and starts to flake and get itchy in the cold weather when the heat is on. I don’t drink enough water so the only thing that TW could do was get a humidifier for our room. We hope that works.
Where do you store the shampoo? Fridge or cupboard?
My dog seems to get a little bit of dry skin in the winter too. I would love to try this recipe out to see if it helps him at some point throughout the winter. I bet it smells amazing too – I seem to love anything that has oats in it. Thanks for sharing!
These are some great points! I’ve noticed my pup itching a lot more now that its colder out. He usually doesn’t like anything like sprays, but i have never tried this approach for his skin. I’m excited to try this recipe and new technique!
I am learning everyday with the help of these blogs. Thank you for sharing!
Take care,
Lexy
Ooh, that is nice and easy. I love the fact that this shampoo has lavender and rosemary essential oils, those being two of my favorites. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’m going to share it on social media for you. Cheers!
Anything that’s a DIY for dog’s care and health we are all for it! We love that you’ve included essential oils selections – you can really help your pet when the properties of the oils is understood and applied. Thank you and will share with our readers!
This is a great-looking recipe and one that I could even make myself. I don’t usually bathe Henrietta at home because she needs to have her poodly hair cut frequently. Murray, though could use at home baths and I am going to mix this up and use it on him the next time I bathe him. I wonder if it works on cats? My Devon Rex doesn’t mind baths and because of the breed, they do need bathing.
Never thought of making my own …. cool.
I do not have a dog myself, but I loved this recipe! I have a feeling a dog is in my future (so this will absolutely be coming in handy) but I have many friends with dogs I will be passing this along to in the meantime. I love the idea of homemade pet products, I have a cat myself that I try to be very homemade and hands on with 🙂
We have so much shampoo to work through that we won’t need any for a while. I have to say shampoo is one thing I’ve never thought of DIYing.
Thank you for posting this. Max is so itchy and I’ve been looking for a good shampoo to help him out. I feel so bad for my boy. I will have to try this and let you know how it goes.
I always ogle the variety of pet shampoos, and recipes, out there but I literally bathe Chester and Gretel only about 4 times a year. The rest of the year we manage with bath wipes. I have bottles of dog shampoo around my house that I know it would take me 10 years to get through! Ha, ha.
Love those ingredients! I also appreciate how easy this would be to mix. With three dogs I’m sure we wouldn’t have to worry about it expiring after thirty days.
What a great recipe! Our little Beagle suffers from seasonal skin allergies, so I’ll have to save this recipe to give it a try next fall. Thank you!
Hi, do yo use instant oats or quick cook oats or rolled oats?
Hi can I use baby shampoo instead?
Oh! Thank you for sharing the tutorial!! I have never thought about DIY shampoo for dog. Gonna try this DIY before the current shampoo runs out.
I just made this and it is sure to help a lot! I have a blue heeler/pit mix and he has recently been having terrible itchy/raw skin because of fleas and the dryness in these cold months. I followed the recipe for the most part, except I don’t have any essential oils, so the natural scent will have to work for now. I am going to give him a bath tomorrow and see how this goes!