Tilly has lived in her present home with her litter sister Daisy since she was eight weeks old. Despite being a little overweight she is a healthy, contented cat. However, she had previously suffered two bouts of cystitis and was showing symptoms again. She was agitated and struggling to urinate, spending a long time in her litter tray yet only passing small amounts of strong smelling urine with some crystals and blood present. Antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed by a vet had relieved these symptoms in the past but not stopped them recurring. I decided to treat Tilly with essential oils. Muscle testing indicated weak kidneys but no other energy imbalances.

Tilly was offered all these oils and self-selected lemon, lemon grass and carrot seed. She appeared to enjoy these oils and whilst inhaling from the bottles she would flick her tail and purr. I offered her the oils, twice a day, for two days and her symptoms stopped. She continued to want carrot seed for another four days. Eight months later and Tilly hasn’t had another attack of cystitis.

At 28 years old Laddie is fit and healthy. However, he has never had very strong hooves, they have always been prone to being crumbley and sometimes he looses shoes. A few years ago he had a very bad case of thrush and eversince his hooves have not been at all strong. There were times that they could not even get a shoe on him as they are so crumbley.This wasn’t helped by a muddy field and he had to be moved to a concreted area near his stable. Laddie selected carrot seed, lavender, carrot macerated oil and dried rosehips all of which he took orally. The carrot seed essential oil was also added to the carrot macerated to make a hoof oil. Laddie’s interest in lavender soon waned but he continued to want the other remedies and his hooves slowly started to improve. Laddie then had a visit from the vet who recommended the use of a conventional hoof formula, unfortunately the oils were stopped and his hooves soon started to deteriorate. As a result his owner decided to resume the use of his oils. and his hooves are now in good condition, however she is still using the hoof oil that I make up and sher keeps him away from muddy fields. He continues to have his remedies occasionally.

Equinox is a seven year old, thoroughbred horse. Although healthy and successfully competing in point-to-points she unexpectedly had several nose bleeds. The vet could find nothing wrong and thought she may have suffered a knock on her nose. I was going on holiday and had no time to offer oils to Equinox or try muscle testing so I posted carrot seed essential oil, seaweed extract, rosehip extract and carrot macerated oil to her. Equinox selected carrot seed essential oil and seaweed extract. She was interested in them both for three day and has not had a nose bleed since.

Billie lives with his companion Merry in a large parrot cage with room to fly around and lots of toys. They’re both happy, playful birds. Billie’s owner noticed that he had an open wound on his shoulder that had suddenly appeared, she thought the family cat might have caught him through the bars of his cage. I asked for one of his feathers so that I could muscle test using a surrogate. His right shoulder was very weak but it strengthened to lavender essential oil, lavender hydrolat and yarrow. I added 5 drops of lavender to 10ml of water and asked the owner to leave it in the cage for ten minutes at a time. As the cage is large I was happy that Billie could retreat from the remedy if he needed to. I added 10 drops of yarrow to 50ml of lavender hydrolat and put the remedy in a spray bottle. I advised the owner to spray some into the cage to see Billie’s reaction. The next day the owner rang me to say she was amazed. She had sprayed once into the cage and when she returned later in the day to spray again both the birds had seen the bottle and had flown to their usual showering perch. Billie turned his wounded shoulder towards the treatment. The results were excellent. Billie’s shoulder wound closed up after two days of using the spray. After ten days it was completely healed and new feathers were beginning to grow.

The dogs that participated in the trial were 100 German Shepherd work dogs that lived outside. They were all examined by a vet before the trial. Oils chosen by the dogs were peppermint, birch, wintergreen, juniper and yarrow, also selected but not as frequently were ginger and carrot seed. Plain gel was always chosen. In most cases the dogs selected the same oils.
It was noticed that when the oil was taken orally the affect was longer lasting than when the remedy was applied topically. Wintergreen and birch posed some concern to the vet who was aware of the warnings associated with these oils. Many of the dogs wanted them orally on a plate but only 10 were allowed to take the oils this way. These dogs were monitored every 24 hours. There were no notable changes in their observation, with the exception of one dog which experienced rapid breathing and an increased heart beat, however when yarrow was offered and licked from a plate his bodily function normalised.
Result: The majrity of the dogs took the oils for two weeks, with significant improvement. After that the oils were taken intermittently or with the recurrence of the condition such as in cold / damp weather. The vet believes that he has approximately 25% less referrals for lameness (sick leave for the dog) in a month. The dogs general demeanour and well-being was noticeably improved. Unit handlers requested more oils and are finding the dogs more biddable and willing to carry out their duties. Dogs facing retirement could be re-homed as they were not on medication. In all it was considered a success.

This study was conducted before I began working with remedies such as comfrey, arnica and marigold macerated oils. There selection would have been interesting should they have been included in the trial.

Jay is a long haired German Shepard dog who has had a severe skin problem since the age of 10 weeks, our vet has done every thing he could think of, special diets, flea treatments, antibiotics, herbal treatments and we have also seen three different skin specialists, the third one did all the normal skin tests and also skin scrapes plus blood tests all of which showed nothing. He gave Jay powerful antibiotics which worked for 15 months until he seemed to become immune to them and all the scratching and hair loss started again with bleeding spots that made his life a misery, he has also been on steroids all of his life.

We then tried acupuncture which made it much worse, due to the increased blood flow to his skin. We were wondering if it was the end for Jay as he had put up with it for long enough and was getting worse. I then saw an article about Caroline Ingraham in a dog magazine so I phoned her and told her about Jay. She asked me to send a sample of hair and a detailed case history on Jay including his temperament.

The oils that Jay had responded to were carrot seed and yarrow. Both were offered to Jay which he chose to take orally. A gel was also made up which was applied to the sore areas on his skin. After two weeks the results were dramatic, with the skin healing and signs of new hair growth after four weeks. He has now a healthy coat of hair and has gone from four steroid tablets a day to 1. He has been on treatment for almost a year and is still wanting the oils.(This is longer than what I usually experience in a treatment, normally it is between 3 days to 6 months) He now has a better life than he has had for the last seven years, my vet is amazed and wants to know more about the oils.

I am hoping that soon he will no longer need the last steroid, so I sent some more of his hair to be retested. This time he responded to: Sandalwood, German Chamomile and carrot seed. He absolutely loves his new oils and is keen to lick them all on a daily basis.