I’ve recently become extremely interested in essential oils as one of the few effective treatments for MRSA, and other antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. I really believe one of our last resorts to successfully treat these horrible, many times drug-resistant, infections lie with essential oils. I came across a discussion between Dr. Karen Becker (holistic vet) and Dr. Shelton on this subject.
Dr. Shelton, a holistic vet says that she “has MRSA patients who have responded to essential oils when nothing else worked.
“The beauty of essential oils is plants change, and so every single distillation of essential oils is slightly different from its predecessor. This is a benefit we don’t receive from pharmaceutical drugs. Every batch of a medical drug must by law be identical to the batch that preceded it. Plants, on the other hand, adapt and change with the tiniest variable in their environment, for example, a change in the water supply. So essential oils, created from ever-adapting plants, never reach a point where pathogens become resistant to them. They stay at least one step ahead – which makes them much smarter than anything we can create in a laboratory,” says Dr. Becker
Dr. Shelton (DVM) says she’s reached the point with essential oils where she thinks, “Boy, if somebody tries to take them away from me, I don’t know if I’d want to practice veterinary medicine anymore.” She compared it to how we view the issue of nutrition and diet in animal health. They are both immensely important in the lives of our family pets. Many holistic vets like Dr. Becker and Dr. Shelton find it frustrating when the pet owner is resistant to modifying the pet’s diet as part of the overall healing protocol.
Dr. Shelton sees them as a pair, diet, and essential oils. She, like myself, always starts with the diet. This is also something I address FIRST thing when I do nutritional/wellness counseling with my clients. To me, this is going to the “root cause” and not just throwing a “band-aid” at the symptom. If I can’t convince a pet owner to make necessary dietary changes and they are also resistant to using even one essential oil blend, it sort of leaves me feeling helpless. Sometimes they just want a supplement…and I’m happy to recommend that as well (and highly encourage pet parents to build their pet’s immune system this way!), but I still feel I’m doing them a disservice if I don’t make sure the pet is also getting a species-appropriate diet to enable their body to heal itself. I also recommend a high quality, daily probiotic. There is one particular food that contains guaranteed live probiotics (most, when tested don’t survive long enough to be active once the food hits your cupboard). If you are feeding a raw/paleo diet, you are already getting your dog living enzymes…so you are already ahead of the game when it comes to gut health, but a daily or weekly dose of guaranteed live probiotic is still high on my list of “must have’s” if you own a pet if you are not feeding a dog food with probiotics in it.
You can either keep paying each month for band-aid products like antibiotics, supplements, and even essential oil blends…not to mention all of the veterinarian costs, or you can simply invest in a high quality, true raw/paleo diet for your pet. Although we encourage using essential oil blends occasionally and to treat minor wounds, scrapes, to bathe in and prevent flea/ticks, and such, yet we feel that a change in diet is the best long-term method you can apply to your dog. Not only will you see your expenses for unnecessary issues that arise, but your pet will live a much longer life. Europeans and Australians are SO far ahead of us when it comes to species-appropriate diet. They expect their dogs to live into their TWENTIES!! Gee, that alone was enough for me to become a believer! How many of us bemoan the idea that our pets never live long enough and wish they could live longer? I’ve fed raw now for almost 10 years…and whereas my dogs use to start showing their age at age 9-11, they now look and act like they are 5 years old.
I’ve also gotten to the point where ear infections are totally in my rearview mirror–and I have Labradors, and they are one of the most common breeds to suffer from this affliction. Essential Oils worked so well for us, along with raw/paleo eating, that I formulated “Ear Blend.“ (Click on Products above, and choose “I have a ____? (dog, cat, horse) and then all the products will come up.
Now you have the knowledge. With knowledge comes responsibility, and with responsibility comes action. If you are a “clean living” and “clean eating” person yourself, doesn’t your pet deserve the same?
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