Healing Your Pets with Essential Oils

Using essential oils with your pets is a great way to manage your pet’s health more naturally and holistically. Essential oils help with tons of things, from managing pain to helping with anxiety, insects, and more. Here are some things to keep in mind when you use essential oils with your pets.

Cautions:

Small, sick, pregnant, young, and old animals need well diluted, small amounts of any essential oil.  When you are using essential oils with pregnant animals please remember that these oils can have hormonal properties that may be detrimental to the pregnancy. Discontinue using essential oils if your pet becomes distressed, drools, pants, whines, or in any way acts uncomfortable. Contact a vet if symptoms of distress don’t improve within 30 minutes or symptoms get worse.

Here is a list of essential oils that may not be safe for your pet: Anise, Birch, Calamus, Camphor, Cassia, Cloves, Garlic, Hyssop, Juniper (except Juniper Berries), Mugwort, Mustard, Oregano, Pennyroyal, Rue, Santolina, Sassafras, Savory, Tansy, Tea Tree, Thyme (white or red), Thuja, Wintergreen, and Wormwood.

Most animals are more sensitive to essential oils than people are. Always respect your animal if he/she backs away from an essential oil, and consider choosing another one. They may welcome a different essential oil. You could also allow your pet to choose the essential oil by allowing them to sniff the bottle. You may find that they seem to favor one over the others.  Take care to not to apply essential oil close to your pet’s eyes, or to the nose, and never apply to the genital or anal areas. Always keep your essential oils out of reach of pets and children.  Please keep in mind that animals metabolize and react differently to essential oils so it is very important to know about species-specific differences before using essential oils.

Another important aspect of using essential oils safely around your pets is making sure to only use high quality therapeutic grade essential oils.  Never put something on your pet that you wouldn’t put on yourself.

Animal Sizes Matter

When you are using essential oils with your pets- Size Matters!! Here is a good general rule of thumb:

Cats/Small Pets: 1:2 (1 drop of Essential Oil to 2 TBSP. of Carrier)

Small Dog under 15 lbs: 1:2 (1 drop of Essential oil to 2 TBSP. of Carrier)

Medium/Large Dogs: 1:1 (1 drop of Essential oil to 1 TBSP. of Carrier)

Horses/Cattle: 5-10 drops. You do not need to dilute, however using a carrier oil adds its own unique therapeutic properties depending on the carrier you choose. Carrier oils help make your essential oils go further by spreading the essential oil over a greater area, and they also preserve the high notes of your essential oil. Placing your essential oil along the spine is the recommended way to apply essential oils to your horse or cattle.

Fish: Never put essential oils in fish tanks, and don’t use your diffuser near your fish tank.

Birds and Reptiles require extreme caution when using or being around essential oils. Please consider using hydrosols instead.  Keep your diffuser away from your bird/reptile.  Research any essential oils you are planning on using and use a toothpick to measure essential oil.

Cautions just for your Cats:

Always use caution when using essential oils around/on cats. Yes, you need to be careful using some essential oils around cats, which includes diffusing, applying an essential oil to yourself and then petting your cat etc.  Cat’s lack an enzyme needed to break down and process essential oils, so the essential oil can build up in the liver of your cat and cause toxicity over time. Research carefully any essential oil you plan to use on your cat and DILUTE! DILUTE! DILUTE!  Always DILUTE!!

Cats cannot handle essentials oils high in Phenol such as Cinnamon, Clove, Thyme, Oregano, and Savory. Essential oils containing Monoterpene Hydrocarbons such as Cajeput, Fir, Pine and Petigrain are toxic to cats. Limonene, which is a very common constituent in the citrus oils, is known to be toxic to cats. Citrus Essential Oils are popular for cleaning your home with, but your cat may not appreciate the lemony fresh aroma and it could possibly make them sick.  Tea Tree and members of the Melaleuca family are toxic to cats, and should be avoided.

Toxic Essential Oils for Cats

Here is a list of essential oils that are known to be toxic to cats: Bergamot, Birch, Bitter Almond, Cajeput, Calamus, Camphor, Cassia, Cinnamon, Clove, Cypress, Fir, Garlic, Grapefruit, Juniper, Lemon, Lime, Mandarin, Mustard, Neroli, Orange, Oregano, Peppermint, Petigrain, Pine, Rue, Sassafras, Savory, Spruce, Tangerine, Tansy, Tea Tree, and Thyme.

Please note that I have tried to include every essential oil that I can find which is toxic to cats but I may have missed some, (as a side note some people feel that peppermint is fine while others think it’s toxic.) You are responsible for keeping your pet safe. If in doubt do some research before applying, and/or limit use around your cat until you are sure it is safe for them. Keep in mind I have listed some blends below for use with animals that contain essential oils that are toxic to cats, so do your research on blends before applying them to your cat and when in doubt use a known “safe” essential oil.  Hydrosols are an excellent alternative for use with cats. Flower Essences are another great resource for cats and all animals, without the worry of toxicity. For more information on flower essences see www.flowersociety.org/Animals.htm

How to Use Essential Oils:

When diffusing in your home it is best to allow your pets to leave the area if the essential oil is too strong for them.  Place essential oils on your palms and rub down pet’s spine or area of concern. Place drops on bedding, collars, kennels, around horse corrals and stalls. Apply to your pet’s paws or on the back which hits the pet’s chakras. Add essential oils to a salve for wounds, or to a poultice.  Every animal is different, so start carefully and slowly, when using essential oils. Be sure that you carefully watch your animal to see how they react to being around an essential oil BEFORE you apply it to them. You might rub a small amount on your hand and observe your pet. They will get the benefits of the aroma of the essential oil and you can monitor how they react to it.

Healing Your Pets with Essential Oils

This list contains some essential oils that you may consider for your pet, however it may contain essential oils that are toxic to cats or other species. Always do your research for your pet.

Butterfly Blend Oils

^LeAspire is useful for respiratory conditions, will de-congest, and clear respiratory passages.   For lung complaints dilute using Mullein Carrier Oil. Mullein is great for any respiratory condition in which the lungs need “drying out”.

^LeBegone is great for keeping fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, and no-see-ums away. It also helps support gentle lymph drainage as it stimulates movement of lymph waste products through the kidneys.  Several of the oils in this blend act on the nervous system so your pets may find it calming.

^LeBreezey is helpful for the respiratory system. Helps build the immune system.  Great for relaxing tired, sore muscles.

^LeDeeper is anti-inflammatory, pain relieving, and  great for helping nerve damage.

^LeDeliverance strengthens the immune system, fights infections, and boosts the lymphatic system.  A very potent antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-fungal blend.   Great for disinfecting wounds, and cuts.  Use to disinfect kennels, crates, stalls, and cages.

^LeInsideOut for upset stomachs, motion sickness, diarrhea, stomach cramps and flatulence. Improves the function of the digestion system.

^LeJulia has an affinity for the digestive system. As a blend, it is calming and soothing. It helps with colic, flatulence and upset tummy that is usually caused by fear or over-excitement.

^LeMelaPlus great for applying topically to insect bites and stings. Strongly antiseptic, making it useful for disinfecting cuts, scrapes, and wounds. It will prevent the growth of bacteria, fungus, and other infectious agents.

^LeMillenia aligns all body structures, and energy/electrical systems. Therefore it is great for instilling courage, and confidence. Calming and relaxing at the same time. Great after any kind of trauma to get body systems/structures back in place.
^LeTranquility very calming and relaxing blend. Useful for anxiety and phobias. Promotes emotional stability, reduces tension and stress, and aids circulation.

Single Oils

Carrot Seed  good for skin care, particularly animals with dry, flaky skin that is sensitive to allergens. Great for first aid as it is very rejuvenating and will stimulate tissue regeneration.  Helps with scarring.

Cedarwood increases circulation, and stimulates the release of toxins. Conditioning for the skin and coat. Discourage fleas from moving in.

Chamomile Roman is intensely calming and antispasmodic, making it valuable for soothing the central nervous system. Relieves cramps, spasms, and muscle pains.

Helichrysum has incredible therapeutic value. Renown for its use in rejuvenation of skin and muscle. Stops bleeding, drains congestion, and reestablishes blood flow to traumatized areas.  Helpful for pain management and arthritis.

Lavender can be used for first aid applications, skin conditions, and healing purposes. It acts as a central nervous system sedative so it is very calming.  Lavender is antibacterial, anti-itch, and has powerful regenerative properties making it a must have essential oil.

Peppermint stimulates circulation so it is an excellent addition to massage oils for strains, sprains, arthritis, and dysplasia. It is great for motion sickness. Peppermint repels fleas, ticks, flies, and mosquitoes. It is great for respiratory problems.

Yarrow Blue  Applied topically to a cut, even a very deep one, yarrow will pull the edges together and help the cut to heal almost miraculously.  Yarrow’s antiseptic properties are strong enough to prevent infection, and stop bleeding. Small pets should not consume yarrow. Pets would have to consume an extremely large amount of yarrow to be poisoned by the plant. Caution and common sense are needed when using this essential oil on your pets. Dilute and watch closely to make sure your pet doesn’t lick the yarrow off.