My first ever experience with treating one of my pets was during my time living on the island of Cyprus.

I had rescued a big ginger furball (or did he rescue me?!) the characteristic mountain flora in my garden high above the sea in Paphos, were made up of many kinds of wild grasses and even more kinds of wild-life!!!

It's not uncommon in Cyprus to have ticks on your furry friends  due to the long grasses which they love to hunt in  and also for them to develop Lyme disease as a result.

One such critter buried itself in my boy's skin and after being plucked out, had left a nasty wound on the side of his face.

Mouse (a fabulous name for a cat!!) had scratched at the sore making it worse and it developed further into a localised infection which resulted in hair loss and his discomfort. 

At this time, I was still partly in the mindset of conventional synthetic treatments (not to disrespect those) and off we trotted to the vets.

I applied (with many a fur flying fight) the vets cream, which caused much stress between Mouse and I and which had him running for the hills whenever I approached him, he had become increasingly wary of my applying the cream to his sore patch. 

Ultimately, this stressed him out and resulted in him breaking out of his daily r outine and staying out for days in 'stand-off mode' whilst he sulked and avoided me like the plague.

After several days of attempting to catch him to apply the cream, which then had to be lathered and spread around the wound and which glued his fur and was, imaginably foul-tasting when he groomed.  I  took further advice from the vet who suggested I give him a break for a few days as the stress was probably adding to the issue of the outbreak.

During this time I recalled my affinity with Aromatherapy Oil use for my family and the quick healing results they brought and ta-dah, dug out my Lavender Oil.

Lavender!! 

We've all heard of Lavender right? 

Only good for the scented flowery underwear drawer bags that granny makes at her sewing circle for birthdays!

N ot so!

Amongst other properties, Lavender is antifungal, anti-infectious, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antiseptic and because of its consistency, there was no need to 'catch, lather and smear' I simply dripped the oil neat (Lavender is one of a handful of oils which can be used neat on the skin) as my boy ate from his food bowl and he never felt a thing!

Within the magical three days, the redness had subsided, there was scabbing, indicative of healing and most importantly he did not 'hot-foot' it away whenever he saw me approach! 

After seven days the hair had started to grow back and all was eventually well, phew!  

Namaste x

(Please always seek medical advice for one's pets and follow manufacturing contraindications)