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Case Studies of Oils With Animals

When living on a farm with 100+ animals, you quickly start thinking about alternative therapies to help the animals, to offset the vet charges. Because essential oils can do so much for people, I knew that they could be of great use to me with the animals. This paper is about the ways I have used them to help animals. We shall start with DOGS:

Dogs

tasha

Tasha

Tasha was a wonderful black lab. She was with us for 6 years, after being left by her previous owner. She had a little excess weight on her but was full of love and joy. A couple of years ago she started with some limping and having a little trouble when she first got up. The vet diagnosed her with the start of arthritis and recommended several different meds for her. One of which was prednisone. I was not too excited about that so decided to try some essential oils. I mixed two different bottles: one with jojoba oil and helichrysum and one with jojoba oil and peppermint. I applied drops of the helichrysum on her paws and massaged them in every morning and every evening. Tasha did very well with this and was able to get back to running and playing and enjoying her life. Sadly, age crept up on her and she started having other issues. The biggest one was just simply old age, trouble breathing, restlessness, and just plain being uncomfortable. Here I went to the peppermint for more help with the arthritis, her blood circulation, and helping her to just feel good. Once in a while if she was having an extremely hard time with restlessness, I would spray some lavender around her to help her calm down. Tasha passed away last fall but I know she was comfortable in leaving us.

drea

Drea

As I belong to the Collie rescue, I was the closest one to the humane society which took in a collie. I received the call and went to see what I could do to help. Drea was very small for a collie. She had been taken in with a Rottweiler. Apparently, that had been the 3rd placement for her. After long research hours, I found that Drea had been abused, was scared to death of males, and had an awful issue of barking. She was wonderful with me and would do anything for me and was constantly at my side. Eventually she did settle down with the other dogs and one little poodle mix was her favorite. But to deal with her other issues, I mixed some tangerine, orange and a touch of ylang ylang together with jojoba oil. I applied this to her paws daily, and if she was having a rough spell would add a drop to the tips of her ears. This combination seemed to work very well with her. I also noticed at night she had the tendency to pace a lot. So at night where she slept and on her pace route I sprayed a little lavender, which seemed to cut the pacing time down to a minimal amount.

calamity jane

Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane came to live with us as a puppy of 10 weeks old. She grew into a lovely dog and a great friend. One day I noticed she was chewing on her hind end, so I cleaned the area and shaved around it so I could see what the issue was. I found a small, red knob that was not movable. The vet said it was some kind of cyst/tumor, which may be nothing and go away on its own. If there was any severe change, it would have to be removed. I decided on trying some frankincense and lavender in jojoba oil to keep it at bay. I applied this twice a day and this seemed to contain it and Calamity did not chew on it anymore. Sadly, Calamity started having seizures. At first just once in a while, and then they got worse. As the seizures got worse so did the site of the sore. I increased the mixture on the sore and started her on lavender on the tips of her ears and a few drops on a Kleenex for her to smell. This worked very well for several months and then things got worse. Calamity had some tests done which showed this was a very fast moving cancer and had already spread to her right side, including the lung and the brain. I will not let any animal suffer and I know enough about cancer to know this is not a nice disease. I chose to have Calamity cross the rainbow bridge so she could have a life on luxury and be pain free.

sami

Sami, Peabody and Beetle

All the dogs that live here have access to the outdoors at all times. That means fleas and ticks. I had to give flea baths every few days so decided to mix something in the way of a shampoo for them. I used a little olive oil, aloe vera and mixed in citronella, lemongrass and lavender. All my dogs here get baths with this shampoo and keep the fleas at bay.

Victoria

Victoria is a great dane and her guardian is a man that I work with.

My directions to Jake were as follows: to spray the wound with helichrysum and then a few minutes later spray the wound with a mixture of lemongrass, lavender, tea tree and rosemary. Then a few hours later I asked Jake to spray the wound with a mixture of tea tree, rosemary and clove and let that dry and then put an ointment on it. The ointment consisted of: aloe vera, tea tree, myrrh and a touch of rosewood. I asked Jake to do this 3 times a day for 2 days, and then cut down to twice a day. This meant cleaning it each time and applying new ointment.

Here is his story:

Victoria, our Blue Merle Great Dane, was three weeks into whelping her litter of ten puppies, when we discovered that the puppies started to grow teeth. Naturally, mother stopped nursing, and within the next week to ten days I realized that Victoria had an enlarged gland. With some research on the internet, and with an appointment with her vet to confirm what I thought, she was diagnosed with mastitis.

Warm compresses were prescribed by the vet, twice a day, to allow drainage. It should start to get better in a few days is what I heard. After a few days I made a follow up call to the vet to inform him that there was no improvement. The vet told me to give it more time. The following day the mastitis had ulcerated. I met the vet at the door of their office as soon as they opened up. They took Victoria in for the day, put her under, and examined and cleaned the ulcer. Upon picking her up that afternoon, I was told that things needed to run its course. Discouraged, I returned home with Victoria. Having found an appreciation for aromatherapy I knew what my next move was going to be. I got in touch with Gail S.

She asked me what it was I thought that she could do for Victoria. I told her that I had lost all faith in the

vet and I was looking for an alternative. Gail respectfully reminded me that she was not a vet and I assured her that I knew she would be able to do right by Victoria. Not long after this conversation Gail presented me with a bag of lotions and oils and a list of directions. With instructions to be followed to the letter, I began to see results immediately. Within the next three days, four at the most, the ulcer had healed completely. All that remained was a white colored spot, on her gray colored flesh -- almost not visible unless you knew where to look for it. Having been very satisfied with this outcome, I admit that I had lost track of time before noticing that the original white spot no longer existed and in its place was flesh in its natural appearance.

Jacob Fox

dozer

Dozer

Dozer is a new puppy that a friend of mine purchased. A few days after getting him home she noticed him starting with some rashes. At a trip to the vet he was diagnosed with a type of mange. The meds for this were extreme. Susan approached me on it and I suggested starting Dozer on some astragalus root to build his immune system and some ointment to help with the skin issues: the itching, the sores, and red spots. I suggested using the ointment 3 times a day especially at night when he would be resting and not at the sores. The ointment was pretty much the same as Jake had used on his dog. It consisted of aloe vera, tea tree, myrrh and a touch of rosewood. Here is Susan’s story:

My puppy was diagnosed with Generalized Mange which is a severe skin condition. I talked with Gail about the problem with the puppy so she recommended that I try the animal ointment. I was a bit hesitant at first, but I followed the directions as she said and within a week or two I started to notice improvements with our dog. I continue to use it as a precaution until we are told from our vet that the mange has gone away. Enclosed you will find photos of my dog before and after. I would recommend anyone to try this product that has an animal with any skin condition.

Thank You,
Susan Walker

HORSES

zena

Zena and Boomer

Zena and Boomer are miniature horses in the Personal Ponies program, but live here with me. They are very energetic ponies that are here for work on manners. As they are always on the go it was very easy to notice that they both seemed to be a little standoffish and really not eating as well as they usually did. We had just been through an ice storm and had no power for 5 days. That meant that the automatic waterers they usually drank from were not working and that meant lugging water for everyone. I just knew that they were going into a colic from it being so cold, snowing and not enough water. I put them in an area by themselves and separated them to work with each one of them. I made sure they had plenty of water, actually 2 buckets, one bucket with plain water and the other one was molasses and water. I then did a mixture of ginger, peppermint, lemongrass and fennel. I put this into jojoba oil and applied it to the bands on their hooves, flanks, sides, and the underneath of their stomachs, 4 times a day. I also did an enema using olive oil. The enema I only did once and the oil mixture took a little over a day to start working. Once it started working, I continued it for another day and started them back on a regular diet. By the 3rd day everyone was back to normal and normal eating habits. These 2 ponies have never had another bout with colic.

raffles

Raffles Riff Raff

Raffles is a palomino quarter horse at the lovely age of 29. I took him in over 20 years ago when he was taken in as an abused horse. He has been my best friend ever since. About 4 years ago I noticed a white spot on the inside of his eye. I kept his eye clean and put a fly mask on him to keep the bugs away. This spot grew larger and larger and the vet said he had a tumor. The vet highly recommended it being taken out to see if it was malignant and before it grew any larger. So Raffles had his eye taken out. The test results came back clean and all the area surrounding the tumor was clean. It was thought all had been gotten. However, 4 years later we are here again with the same issue. At the age of 29 and having lived a wonderful life, I could not put him through another surgery or a different life. I have been treating him with frankincense oil. I make a pack of aloe vera oil with frankincense in it and put it on the areas that are troubled. Every other day I will put some frankincense on a Kleenex and let him smell it. Raffles is very comfortable and I pray the frankincense will kill this disease, but right now it is just a wait and see.

sonny and gabby

Sonny and Gabby

A lot of horses on this farm have a hard time when the farrier comes to trim their feet. Some horses adjust to it being done better than others. Some never get over it. Some are okay and can be redirected, and others are just hard to get down. I have used lavender in this case -- a mixture of jojoba oil and the lavender and then apply some to the coronary band on their feet, a drop to the tip of their ears, and a drop at the base of their tail. This has usually worked very well. I do, however, have a couple that I have taken in that are just awful because they have never had their legs worked on. With these I also will put a few drops of lavender on a tissue and allow them to sniff it. I wait a few minutes and can tell when they have settled down enough to have their feet trimmed.

Goats

tucker

Tucker

Tucker was the 3rd born of triplets. She was small but had the energy and spirit of any sized goat. The triplets were all named with a T: Tucker, Thistle and Thyme. Around the age of 6 years old I noticed that Tucker did not seem herself and was spending time alone in the barn. Her gums were a little pale. She did not seem to have a lot of energy and slept a lot. I did start her on some vitamin boosters and called the vet. It was determined that Tucker was having an issue with the flow of blood to her heart. It was just not right. There are no known treatments for this in the animal world so all that could be done was to make her comfortable and let her eat as she chose. Tucker was made her very own little room in the barn with access to food, water, and salt at all times. She could get up and walk out into the yard to see her friends but was still in containment. I would use a lavender mixture on Tucker to help keep her calm and relaxed. I applied this to her feet. If she was really anxious because of not being able to go out then I would also apply a drop to the tip of one of her ears or a drop at the top of her tail. Tucker passed away very quietly and calmly, and I know she is at peace, happy, and breathing just fine.

This is pretty much my uses of oils with my animals. My intent is to go farther with the use of oils on animals and help any of them that I can, however I can. I believe the use of essential oils on animals is not only easier on the pocketbook but better for the animals in the way of them not having all those medicines in their bodies doing things we don’t know about.

Disclaimer: Alternative therapies are not meant to replace the care your veterinarian can provide. Alternative therapies is a tool to help in the healing process. All have a choice and a path on this earth and not all will choose to heal. It is absolutely THEIR choice and wishes. There is no guarantee of success in any of the healing arenas.