Over the years I have become more and more impressed with the ways you can use essential oils for all of the things in life. With my kids – “Got an owie? No problem! Put some lavender and tea tree oil on it!” “Have a stomachache? Peppermint oil for the win!” I can tell you that Young Living’s blend Stress Away has gotten me through more than one super stressful presentation or situation and the BeeYOUtiful ProMiSe oil blend is one we use on a very regular basis.

Some of you may be absolute pros at essential oils, others may not be familiar with the term at all, so here’s a quick definition: Essential oils are the oils that are extracted from plants using pressing or distilling. These oils, or magical plant juices, can be used to treat a wide variety of ailments and concerns from the common to the bizarre. They should not replace the role of an expert medical practitioner or prescriptions when need be.

I have gone from thinking essential oils are a snake oil scam to recognizing that these oils can be used for much good – like the time my husband upset a nest of wasps while weed-eating and received a half-dozen stings as they swarmed around him. I used an essential oil sting blend (10 drops lavender, 20 drops thyme, 5 drops eucalyptus, 5 drops oregano); almost immediately the pain disappeared and there was no swelling an hour later!

As much as essential oils have become my go-to for human needs, I have been far less experimental about using essential oils on the animals because those little plant juices are potent and powerful! Basically, we’ve used lavender in a carrier oil on rabbit ear mites and added orange oil to our stain remover to improve the scent. But mostly… we’ve played it very safe.

However, recently I have added two resources to our animal wellness toolkit that give me more confidence in using essential oils with our livestock: The Essential Oils Desk Reference for Animals (published by Life Science Publishing & Products) and Essential Oils for Animals: A Complete Guide to Animal Wellness using Essential Oils, Hydrosols, and Herbal Oils by Nayana Morag.

I’ve learned that they are not planning to reprint this resource, so when it’s gone, it’s gone. It might be worth adding this to your reference library sooner rather than later.

There hasn’t been a ton of research done on using essential oils for animals, nor have there been a lot of breeders using them consistently to treat the animals, so I am appreciative of these resources! These, combined with exhaustive internet searching, are ways that we will test ideas before we start using oils with our animals.

A few things I’ve learned as I research:

Always start with the oil diluted. Animal skin reacts to things differently than human skin, so using the oil within a carrier oil is very important.

Keep oils out of the nostrils and eyes. Basically, if it would give you grief as a human, avoid placing it in that location for an animal.

Generally, the following oils are considered safe for rabbits: lavender, lemon, orange, fennel, peppermint, eucalyptus.

And these oils are generally NOT safe for rabbits: anise, clove, oregano, tea tree, wintergreen.

Another oil that is the number one I’d have in my animal toolkit? MANUKA. This is a powerful healer for all sorts of cuts and scrapes.

People are always asking about which brands of essential oils to use. I have been one who tries a lot of different brands (I’ve been known to buy the same oil of three brands and then sniff and try them to compare and contrast. I’m that person.) As I’ve explored over the years I find that I favor Young Living oils the most, followed by BeeYOUtiful. Both companies offer excellent quality oils and have proprietary blends that we use on a daily basis.

I’m a big believer in using referrals to help others if you can when you shop, so I’m going to provide the referral links I have just in case you have a similar philosophy to me! If you’re not already affiliated with a team, I’d invite you to join the team I’m on – the focus is high on education and I’ve learned an amazing amount within this team. My Young Living referral link is: My Young Living Referral Link.

As we continue to work through the things that come up and use essential oils, I’ll keep sharing!

Tagged: animal wellness, essential oils, rabbits