Our favorite essential oils for dogs

 

Our favorite essential oils for dogs might not be the same ones other people and their dogs like. There are tons of them out there, single or in combination that I couldn’t possibly mention them all. Some essential oils can be pricey, so choosing which ones to keep on hand becomes even more important. Plus, It’s important to note that not all of them are good for your dog. This post from AKC has more important information to be aware of.

We have mostly Young Living essential oils on hand but do use DoTerra and others from time to time. Whatever essential oils you use, be sure that they are of good quality and therapeutic grade. Other oils can be ineffective or outright harmful if they aren’t made with quality ingredients.

What are essential oils?

Briefly, essential oils are compounds that come from parts of various plants. The plants are distilled or otherwise broken down to the oils that are considered essential oils. These oils are then used for the unique therapeutic properties that are attributed to them. They can be used aromatically (inhaled), topically (on the skin), or internally, depending on the oil and the purpose it’s being used. Learn more here.

Here are our favorite essential oils for dogs

Peace and Calming/Stress Away

This is a combination made by Young Living. You can find similar combinations or use some of the individual oils and mix them yourself. This oil includes Lime, vanilla, copaiba, lavender, cedarwood, and ocotea.

We infuse it throughout the day, a couple of minutes at a time. As the name implies, it’s helpful in stressful situations like car rides, thunderstorms, separation anxiety, etc. You can FEEL the stress melt away, and everybody gets along so much better when not stressed out. If you don’t have an infuser handy, you can put a couple of drops in the palms of your hand, rub them together, and let your dog sniff as needed.

Lavender

This multipurpose, popular essential oil is known for its relaxing scent. However, besides smelling nice, it also helps with anxiety, skin health and wound healing, repelling bugs, and easing motion sickness. We keep this one always on hand too.

Our most frequent use is topical, mixed with vegetable or olive oil. It works really well on bug bites, rashes, or other skin irritations. This is definitely on the favorite essential oil for dogs list.

Valor

Another Young Living blend, this oil is helpful to dogs who are anxious or nervous. Since it’s calming, this oil can help build confidence. This oil contains geranium, blue spruce, frankincense, and blue tansy essential oils.

We’ve also used it with a dog who had seizures with some effectiveness. When she would start seizing, I’d let her smell it in my palm. We believe it helped her have shorter recovery times, although I can’t prove it.

Frankincense

Frankincense is one of the most popular and effective essential oils, used alone or in combination for many different issues. It’s best known for calming anxiety, reducing inflammation and pain, decreasing GI discomfort, and has strong anti-inflammatory properties.

We use this one sometimes when one of our dogs has greater than usual issues with pain. It’s best when mixed with vegetable or olive oil and then rubbed sparingly on the painful area.

Peppermint

This is another essential oil that we won’t do without. It is great for calming upset stomachs or easing joint pain in arthritic dogs.

We mostly use this one topically, mixed with vegetable or olive oil, on arthritic or painful joints. If we use it for stomach issues, it’s usually inhaled from the palm of my hand.

Why we’ll keep our favorite essential oils for dogs on hand

Dogs, like people, have all kinds of issues from time to time. While there are pills, creams, or other commercial products available for most issues, we often don’t use them. Whether it’s because we don’t have whatever it is, it isn’t beneficial for the given condition, or we want to keep our dogs’ treatment as natural as possible, essential oils will always have a place in our home.

A trip to the vet and going by their prescribed treatment is still necessary from time to time. In more serious circumstances or with new and undiagnosed conditions, I recommend it first. However, having the option of relieving discomfort at home with essential oils has its benefits. We can keep them on hand. They usually have multiple uses. And they smell great!

Do you have any favorite essential oils for dogs?

As long as we allow our dogs to refuse as needed and we’re careful to avoid the oils that are toxic to dogs, we haven’t had any problems. Have you used essential oils with your dogs? Tell me about it in the comments below.