When it comes to complementary medicine, four legged types can benefit just as much as two legged ones.
But while essential oils are well documented and garner growing attention for their health and wellbeing benefits, they still come under heated debate in the world of vet medicine.
Knowing how to safely use essential oils with animals certainly demands respect, as it does with us humans. Once you start experiencing essential oils first hand, you quickly learn to appreciate how potent they are.
Holistic veterinarian Dr Melissa Shelton has dedicated herself in recent years towards uncovering the truth behind toxicity reports in animals — and successfully works with therapeutic grade essential oils in her own practice. (The Animal Desk Reference is her authoritative practical usage guide if you’d like to learn more.)
And she’s not alone in seeing the possibilities when it comes to essential oils and our furry friends — whether pets or the farmyard variety.
In mainstream medicine, concern over antibiotic resistance continues to grow, as does momentum worldwide to reduce the use of antibiotics in animals destined for the food chain. (And thank goodness for that!)
This push is one of the motivators for researchers at Charles Sturt University investigating the possibilities of essential oils as a viable natural alternative to the use of costly and sometimes ineffective antibiotics for the treatment of mastitis in dairy cows.
According to Vet Practice magazine (July 2014), CSU PhD student Lynne Appleby is working with CSU researchers Drs Nigel Urwin, Jan Lievaart and Professor Heather Cavanagh in this area. Lynne Appleby is initially testing the impact of essential oils on bacteria grown in milk in the laboratory, narrowing down from her initial selection of 40 different oils to a handful: thyme, oregano, clove leaf, lemon-scented tea tree (sometimes used as a natural flavouring for boutique teas) and rosalina.
“Previous research has shown that many essential oils of plants contain compounds that may be useful in controlling or killing many bacteria including one of the key causes of mastitis in cows, Staphylococcus aureus…
… Essential oils are steam distilled from various parts of the plant; they are concentrated and usually very aromatic. They are also generally regarded as safe and are often used in both the food and cosmetic industry.”
It’s only early days, but as the effects of essential oils on cows are studied and observed and the best ways to use them are determined, it will be fascinating to see how this unfolds.
I suspect it will lead to much more contented cows!
Enjoy the good oil daily.
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