My Experience Using Essential Oils with my Cat

A Wound Healed, Infection Alleviated, & Costly Veterinary Care Avoided —

I’ve been using essential oils and supplements from Young Living personally since 2005 when I experienced MASSIVE results in my health.   NingXia Red gave me 90% of my health back within 1 week after SIX YEARS of being partially-disabled, Thyromin helped me get off Synthroid, and Peace & Calming and valerian oils helped me get off sleeping medications my body was addicted to.

I began learning all I could about therapeutic-grade essential oils and teaching others what I discovered.  But no matter how confident I became in teaching people how to use the oils on themselves, their children, babies, and even the elderly, I was always hesitant to use the oils on my cat.

I was aware that cats can’t metabolize the oils like humans (and dogs and horses) can, and didn’t want to risk anything.  It wasn’t until earlier this year when I came across the extensive work of Dr. Melissa Shelton DVM with essential oils and animals.  This was at a time when my cat started having some health issues.  Dr. Shelton’s work gave me the confidence I needed to get over my apprehensions in using oils on my cat.  And I am so grateful!

Over the last week and a half have been using the oils and other Young Living products for a horrible, gaping wound I found on my cat, Tigerlily.  I had some experience in using the oils on Tigerlily earlier this year for less serious issues, so I decided to see what I could do for her over the last week and a half.

Help for Tigerlily’s Wound

Day 1 –

On Wednesday, October 24 I found gaping wound on my cat’s hind end.  She was licking the wound profusely and was clearly in a lot of pain.  I didn’t know what caused it — an abscess that burst, a bite from one of the neighborhood cats, or something else.  Here’s a picture I took of the wound that day.  It was bleeding and oozing pus.  I was very upset!

Using a plastic syringe from the drug store, I irrigated Tigerlily’s wound with salt water with a couple of drops of lavender oil added.

A bit later I used a drop of Melrose and frankincense oils directly in wound, followed by Animal Scents ointment  and continued with this 2-3x/day.  Both of these oils are antibacterial.  I chose not to use Thieves or oregano because they are too strong for kitty.

I had to keep Tigerlily in her carrier because when she would sit down her wound was in direct contact with the floor and not only was she getting dirt in her wound but also getting blood on things.  She licked everything off that I put on her wound, was miserable in her cat carrier, and presumably in a lot of pain.  I was very distressed and almost took her to the vet.

I made sure to put about 1 tsp. of NingXia Red in her food 2x/day as well as an herbal antibiotic I had for her UTI a couple of months earlier.

That night I got really serious.   Tigerlily’s wound looked red and swollen.  Her hindquarters were warm.  She was unhappy.  I knew I had to do something pretty drastic in order to help her out and also to avoid the vet.  I decided on a mineral soak in the kitchen sink, something I had done for her a couple of months ago when she had a UTI.

I took a bowl with about 1/4 c. of sea salt, added 3-4 drops of lavender oil, mixed with my hand, and dumped it in the kitchen sink which was filled with warm water.  I completely submerged Tigerlily’s hind end in the mineral bath for about 10 minutes.  She relaxed into it quite nicely.  Note — the first time I gave my cat a mineral soak she STRONGLY objected.

At the end of the bath, I had my husband hold her over the sink while I again gently irrigated her wound with the lavender salt water.  I wrapped her in some towels and took her into the front room.  I applied a drop each of Melrose and frankincense directly in the wound and gently packed the wound with Animal Scents ointment.  My husband did some energy healing on her.  I held her in a towel, used the blow dryer on her, and kept her in my arms for about an hour to make sure the oils and ointments penetrated deeply before she could wipe much of it off.  If there was any way I could have bandaged her wound, I would have.

We put a plastic collar on her to prevent her from licking everything off her wound.

About an hour after all of this, Tigerlily was purring, rubbing against me, and looking at me lovingly.  She was obviously feeling much better!  The heat in her hindquarters was greatly diminished, the swelling was down, and the wound looked much better.  I confined Tigerlily to my office with food and water and a small cat box overnight.  I needed to make sure she could defecate without difficulty as she hadn’t done so since before I found the wound.

Days 2 -5 –

Tigerlily was still acting much happier, even with the annoying plastic collar around her neck!  I continued to put more oils and ointment on the wound.  The wound was pretty gunky from the ointment, but appeared to be progressing well.  I didn’t use lavender oil directly on the wound yet because I didn’t want the wound to close up and heal too quickly.  I needed to make sure the infection was gone before it closed up.

During this time I did warm compresses on the wound a few times with a warm, wet washcloth treated with a drop of Melrose.   I did another mineral soak on Day 3 or 4 because Tigerlily’s hind end was pretty dirty.  I continued with the NingXia Red in her food.   At one point after her second mineral soak I carefully trimmed some of the fur around the wound since it was getting matted with the ointment.  We tried to bandage her but found it impossible.  Since she was able to defecate by the end of Day 2, the wound was healing, and Tigerlily was acting normally, I decided taking her to the vet was unnecessary.

Day 6 –

By Day 6, Tigerlily’s wound was completely scabbed over so I removed her collar.  Much to my chagrin, she ended up ripping her wound open trying to clean it out.  The collar went back on.  I continued with oils and warm compresses 1-2x/day.  I started using Melrose and lavender along with a little Miracle II gel.

Day 8 –

I took Tigerlily’s collar off on Day 7 because she had learned how to lick her rear end with it on anyway.  She cleaned up all the scab and what was left was just a surface wound.  It was a little raw, probably at least partially from her fastidious cleaning of it!  I continued with lavender and Miracle II gel.

Day 12 –

I didn’t do much for Tigerlily’s wound since Day 8 as it seemed to be doing fine all by itself.  Here is a picture of her wound that I took today.  All that remains from a deep, infected gash is a small scab.  Hallelujah!!!

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Even though Tigerlily is out of the woods with her wound, and I couldn’t be happier, I have a few ongoing concerns.  For one, I wonder what caused this wound and if there may be some underlying condition that caused this and could cause future problems for her.   I may take Tigerlily in for an exam soon just to see what they have to say — maybe there is something going on with her that I should know about.  In any case, I will continue to use grain-free cat food with NingXia Red added and enjoy my almost 15-year-old cat for as long as she can live a happy, healthy life!

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Note – use therapeutic-grade essential oils ONLY on your cat.  Even still, cats have a hard time metabolizing certain oils high in phenols, such as oregano and thyme.

My policy with using natural remedies for wounds and other potentially serious conditions is this — unless the issue is acute and the person or animal is in serious danger, I try my oils and natural remedies first.  I get quite aggressive with them for situations that could get out of hand.  I closely monitor the situation and if it doesn’t significantly improve quickly, I seriously consider the doctor or veterinarian.  Side note – with this policy I have not seen a Western doctor since 2006.  Since using this policy with my cat we have been able to avoid the vet twice and in my opinion, we got even better results than I would have expected with costly veterinary care.

Lastly, I am not a veterinarian and cannot give veterinary advice by law.  But I can share my experience with you in hopes of helping you learn about some tools that could help you help your pet in an emergency situation or if funds are lacking for veterinary care.

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Statements made about the essential oils that come in the Essential Oil Survival Kit and other products offered by Essential Survival have not been evaluated by the FDA.  These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.  Anyone suffering from disease or injury should consult with a physician.

Last updated by Julie Behling-Hovdal at January 11, 2013.