Try adding a small pinch of cayenne pepper your animal’s
all-natural ointment, say Erin Harwood and Eloyce O’Connor. The cayenne has healing properties of its own,
as well as a slightly unpleasant taste for the animal, when used in a low dose.
The mother-daughter team spoke at the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup on Saturday; I’ve
loved that the fair is a great place to collect tips like this, as well as more
Harwood and O’Connor, from Garden Delights CSA and Herb
Farm, extolled the virtues–and relative ease–of making your own healing herbal
medicines for your pets when they spoke on The Herb Companion Stage. The
cayenne tip is to keep the animals from licking off the fragrant, sometimes
delicious herb-rich ointments. Harwood and O’Connor pointed out that it should
not be spicy enough to harm or upset the animal, but just enough to make
licking the ointment slightly unpleasant and discourage the behavior.
