Everyone jumped on the essential oil bandwagon a while ago, and I watched, skeptically, from afar. I was given many opportunities to try them, and had zero interest. Then, along came Padfoot.
We got Padfoot and Sharky at 4 weeks old. Before the haters start, we were told they were ready to go. Yes, we know 4 weeks is MUCH too young, we actually took them to a vet the day we got them to make sure they were healthy (Padfoot was not, but the vet just blamed it on being a chunky puppy, so his bronchitis wasn’t caught for about 3 more weeks :[..) and we bottle fed, taught them to lap, got them on solids, and they are doing great. So, now that that’s out of the way, we got them at 4 weeks, and as they were so young we let them stay together all the time. As they got older we split them into their own crates, and Padfoot just lost it. He would cry/scream, literally all night long, unless he was with Sharky. This went on, every night, for over a week. We tried it all, putting their crates by each other, putting them in separate rooms, then on separate floors, putting his crate in our room, covering his crate, uncovering his crate, scolding him, cuddling him, and we were going insane. We would maybe get 45 minutes of sleep a night, and could barely function at our jobs, so I finally posted asking for advice online, and someone suggested using lavender essential oils, mixed with coconut oil, and massaging it on him before bed.
I definitely didn’t pick up the oil lightly, as $32 for a small bottle seemed like an insanely high amount to me, but I was desperate. I finally got it, melted some coconut oil, added about 15-20 drops of lavender oil, and went to massaging. I wasn’t immediately impressed, I massaged him, nothing magic happened, he was normal. I went and put him in his crate when it was bed time, cuddling him first as usual, and he whimpered. I was sure I’d wasted my money. 5 minutes later I went to check on him (worried, as I’d heard both good and bad things about using oils on dogs) and he was out cold. It was MAGIC.
I was sold. I ordered a starter kit from Young Living, got a diffuser, and jumped in. The plan was to just diffuse the lavender at night to help the pups calm down, but I had K (the husband) rub the lavender and coconut mixture on Padfoot one night, and within minutes K was headbobbing, then lightly snoring, before he even finished massaging it onto Padfoot, so diffusing was out.
Young Living has a line for pets too, and we use it constantly. Puri Clean and Infect Away are used constantly, to keep them healthy, and keep our house from smelling like dogs. Thieves and Purification are two other ones we use all the time. I know people that use essential for cooking, make their own household cleaners, use them for laundry, and many more things. I learn a little more each day, and love the way they’ve enriched our lives, particularly in the sleep department. I’m still learning, and taking it slow since oils are expensive, but, for us, we’ve found they are worth it.
Padfoot doesn’t need lavender at night anymore, it only took about a week to get him ok with having his own crate, and to where he’d stop whining at night. It definitely has helped K and I feel better about putting him in there, and his anxiety about it is completely gone.
We have 3 diffusers at our house, and will probably end up with more. One in the kitchen, our bedroom, and one downstairs. Weekly I use our pet line of essential oils to keep our house not smelling like dog, and to keep the air clean for us and the pups, and I do that downstairs as well since they sleep down there. In our bedroom I diffuse thieves and energy oils, as with us working so much we can’t risk getting sick, and well, we are tired!
If you want to try some out or order some I’d love to help you out, but there’s no pressure there. I have a few books that help me figure out how to use them for K and I, and I picked up this book to help me make sure I’m using them safely on our pups.
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