Tea Tree Oil
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Lately Kananga has started chewing on some furniture. Nothing very damaging, but it's a start of a bad behavior. I thought it'd be best to find something he despises to prevent him from chewing further since he's doing this while i'm away.
He has plenty of toys out to chew, so that's not the problem.
I read on here that tea tree oil works really well with deterring basenjis. I had my doubts….
Put some on a q-tip to see how he'd react... wow... I've never seen him react to anything that way before. Instantly curled his lips and shook his head walking away. He wanted nothing to do with that. So I took the q-tips and rubbed the oil over the chair leg he had started to chew and the corner of the couch that he sometimes gnaws on. He would not go near either.
Hopefully this is all the chewing he'll do, but now I know how to prevent a bad habit from getting worse. :D
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As an FYI, Odoban makes a spray containing tea tree oil. It works but I don't like it. The sprayer aerosolizes the spray so much that I usually get the taste in my mouth. Ick!
http://cleancontrol.com/OdoBanRetail/Pet_Bitter_Barrier.html
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FYI If you have cats, be very careful about using Tea Tree oil. (But it is great stuff!)
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I put a little on my hands and stroke Shaye's coat when we are camping - keeps mosquitoes off
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Make sure it's the real stuff. It's a bit expensive up here, but well worth it-a little goes a long way! Sometimes to further it I will mix a bit of olive oil in as well.
It's the real stuff - I send off for it, and it is about $11 an ounce - good idea to thin it with olive oil - speaking of which, one time when my dog would not eat, I put a drop of olive oil in her food and mixed it up - somehow she thought she was getting ambrosia! Didn't have to do that next time, guess she thought it was still in there…...
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@Shaye's:
It's the real stuff - I send off for it, and it is about $11 an ounce - good idea to thin it with olive oil - speaking of which, one time when my dog would not eat, I put a drop of olive oil in her food and mixed it up - somehow she thought she was getting ambrosia! Didn't have to do that next time, guess she thought it was still in there…...
About what I paid as well.
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Heh, well he started chewing on the other chair leg.
So I coated every single chair leg in my dining room with the tee tree oil (not completely, but enough for him to not want to chew chairs anymore).
We'll see how well it works. I figure the oil should soak right into the wood and he'll taste/smell it as soon as he gets close. He certainly stopped chewing the first chair leg.
My whole place smells of this oil now.
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I love Tea Tree oil. Sells for about $24 for a bottle (1 oz?) of the essential oil up here. My mother in law bought us a bottle as a gift about a year & a half ago and it's still over 3/4 full. It's good for many things; I use it all the time….and a little dab'll do ya!
I also bought a no-chew spray with tea tree oil in it; I think it's the same Odo-Ban product. Maroon bottle? It sounds like the same stuff- I sprayed it once and had it in my mouth & nose and kept tasting it for hours....yeccccch!! They ought to market it as a diet aid; my food tasted foul for the rest of the day & I didn't want to eat. :)
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Well… unfortunately that only deterred him from chewing on the areas he showed interest in previously. He decided to chew on the couch in another spot.
I'm trying to figure out what provoked this behavior. He has been fine for the last handful of months. This probably started within the last week. He has numerous toys out for him to chew on. The areas he's chewing on furniture are spots he usually likes to sit. I don't want to start crating him as he has a decent amount of crate anxiety. I fear he might hurt himself chewing/pawing at the metal wires constantly.
Any thoughts?
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I also use it in a combination of Lavender oil and citronella oil for tick and mosquito repellent!
I just tried this today and I have to say Ruby wasn't thrilled with the smell of the citronella oil :D:D:D:D. It kept the bugs off great though. Great tip!
