Essential oils for pets?
One of the most misunderstood treatments in holistic veterinary medicine is essential oil therapy. I have faced all kinds of opinions and situations from people applying large amounts of undiluted tea tree oil to infected ears in a dog, to people so panicky about safety that they refuse to even consider using well-diluted lavender oil for their cats.
In all of this it can be hard to sort out the truth. I recently attended a series of lectures on essential oil use in pets. You can read more about that here. After that experience I was moved to find a reasonably priced supplier of high quality, easily available essential oils. Now, that’s a lot of boxes to tick, but after some looking I found the right company.
After significant hemming and hawing, I chose to become an independent consultant with DoTerra. Quality was paramount in my decision as a majority of my practice at the moment is with cats. Cats are excruciatingly sensitive to any essential oils, and some oils can even be very dangerous for cats. The danger is significantly lessened when the oils are very pure and are from the right species of plants, and even more so when they are diluted in a quality carrier oil.
Obviously I believe that essential oils, when used judiciously, can be very safe for animals. Despite the high quality of DoTerra’s oils and the fact that many of them are perfectly safe for humans and human children to use undiluted, I would not recommend using them this way in pets. Maybe in a horse, but not in cats or dogs. Cats in particular have difficulty metabolizing some oils, for example, even with a high quality oil I would never chose to use tea tree oil on a cat. Some oils like lavender can be very safe once diluted, and others, like eucalyptus, can be safe if the right type of eucalyptus (eucalyptus radiata) is used and it is diluted well in a carrier oil.
These oils are not only safe, but can help to heal health problems in pets and ourselves. Certain very safe oils can also be used to support wellbeing when diluted.
Right now I am working on producing a lecture regarding the safe at-home use of essential oils for first aid and wellness support in pets. I will be giving this lecture as a webinar so that all of my readers regardless of location can enjoy it. I am also working on producing a few safe blends for general uses such as calming or digestive support.
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