Aromatherapy & Essential Oils

LOVE YOUR PETS? WANT TO MAKE SURE THEY'RE HAPPY, HEALTHY & SAFE?

 
So do I! I help people support their pets' health and well-being naturally and holistically. 

I'm always looking to provide my pets and my wildlife patients with the best possible care, so when I began using essential oils I chose to learn from the best - Dr. Janet Roark, aka The Essential Oil Vet. 

I was taught, certified and mentored by veterinarian Dr. Roark so that I could clear through the misinformation and understand the science behind the safe and effective use of essential oils with animals. 

All of the advice I provide is based on scientific research, clinical use and Dr. Roark's own protocols for both effectiveness and safety. As an Animal Aromatherapy Consultant for Dr. Roark, I meet with her weekly to discuss animal cases. 

I can tell you that using essential oils has literally saved the lives of animals I work with and has been a game changer for my own pets. 

Benefits of Using Essential Oils for Your Pets

Physical
Essential oils can support every body system and issues related to them: digestive, musculoskeletal, nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, skin hair & nails, urinary, endocrine, and reproductive systems. 

Emotional
Essential oils can help pets feel better who occasionally feel nervous, anxious, sad, restless, fearful, unsettled, overwhelmed, confused... to name a few. 

Behavioral
Essential oils can help address underlying reasons for unwanted behavioral issues. Often times when an animal is "acting out," there is a physical or emotional reason. 

Why is there so much confusion about aromatherapy and pets?

 When I first started using essential oils for myself and my family, I made sure I kept them away from my animals - especially my cats.  Thankfully, I learned about Dr. Roark and I wanted to know what a doctor of veterinarian medicine, one who uses essential oils in her practice and with her own animals, had to say.  My mind was blown because not only are the correct essential oils and the correct dilutions safe for animals, they are therapeutic and beneficial. Then I learned that there are thousands of veterinarians trained in the use of essential oils and use them with their pets and their patients. 

So, why the misconceptions and confusion? 

  • Most essential oils on the market are adulterated with synthetic chemicals that can be harmful to us and to our pets. Even essential oils that claim to be pure and therapeutic are not necessarily so. In fact, there are only a handful of trustworthy essential oil brands on the market. The labels will not list adulterated chemicals added to the product label. I personally love and use DoTerra.

  • In addition to using adulterated oils, pet owners use too much and that can irritate the noses and eyes of our pets. 

  • Click Bate on social platforms. Many posts circulating by "concerned" pet owners are actually click bate from major companies who are gathering information about social users. 

  • Concerned pet owners who heard about this or that (usually from an unreliable source) regarding essential oils and pets - especially cats. 

  • Veterinarians who do not use or are not educated in the use of essential oils, so they are cautionary, as they should be because they cannot speak about it from a place of research, experience or knowledge. 

  • Cats! People who think cats cannot be around any essential oils misunderstand where the root of this thought comes from. I'm going to get a little scientific here for a minute... Cats lack an enzyme called glucuronyl transferase. This is important for the Cytochrome p450 liver metabolism pathway. This makes cats very susceptible to ALL kinds of toxicity, including different plants, NSAIDS (like aspirin or ibuprofen), Tylenol, chocolate and caffeine (methylxanthines), lead, zinc, many types of pesticides, and many other things. For cats, there are many  essential oils (pure and therapeutic grade only) that are safe to use and have beneficial therapeutic effects. As with all animals, stay away from adulterated oils that have toxic and harmful synthetic chemicals that can hurt cats. And by the way, while we are at it, using anything with synthetic fragrance, such as scented candles, wall plug-ins, certain cleaning products, dryer sheets, laundry detergent, perfumes, air fresheners, etc. are bad for our cats (and other pets). I strongly suggest eliminating these harmful products from your home. 

How to figure out what essential oils are safe for your pets

There are a few reputable brands, such as DoTerra and Young Living. I personally have chosen to use DoTerra for many reasons. Most brands on the market, even if they say they are pure and therapeutic, are not. In short, plants need to be grown where they thrive best, they need to be harvested at certain lifecycles and at certain times of day and in specific ways. Once the farmer harvests the plants, they need to be distilled carefully and stored carefully. Unfortunately, many farmers are approached by unethical buyers who then take the harvest, pay a minimal amount to the farmer, and distill the plants in comparable ways and add synthetic fragrances to it to create more yield and therefore more money for them. They sell the distilled product to companies who bottle them and distribute them, and often label them as pure and therapeutic, neither of which is correct. 

Essential oil brands need to guarantee the efficacy and safety of their product by forming relationships with their growers across the world where the plants thrive best, they need to know how the plants are grown and harvested, and they need to be in control of the distillation process and storage after distillation to assure best practices and that there is no adulteration of other harmful chemicals being added to the essential oils, and even then the batches should be tested for purity and contaminants.  Those test results need to be made public so that the buyers know exactly what is in their bottle of essential oil. It's a complicated and complex process, and it's a lot to ask many essential oil companies to do, and that's why there are only a few brands on the market we can trust for use with our pets. 

Want to Learn More?

I personally trust and use doTerra Essential Oils because they are science-based and have elevated their process to create pharmaceutical-grade essential oils.  If you would like to learn more about doTERRA essential oils, how to use essential oils safely and effectively for your pets, or how to order doTERRA essential oils, please email me at carrie@carriepurcell.com or visit my doTerra page at my.doterra.com/carriepurcell1.  I encourage you to take my Aromatherapy for Pets Class, which covers all the essentials you'll need to use aromatherapy safely and effectively for your pets. You can learn more about that class here: