Recently kennel cough has been in conversations. A disease that is hugely distressing to dogs, costly and a problem to many shelters. However Wood Green Animal Shelter is having great results in keeping kennel cough under control. Tracy Challis has done a lot of work in this area and has written up some very encouraging results.
"Here at the shelter we often see Kennel cough due to the high stress levels and poor health of some of the animals that come in. To alleviate this problem and the congestion associated with the illness I began to work with oils that I felt could help. Eucalyptus being my first port of call and bergamot being another due to its airborne anti bacterial properties. I found that dogs with symptoms of kc have really wanted these oils both together and separately and that their symptoms reduce within 48 hours and the majority have then not required pharmaceutical drugs to treat it. This has meant that they are then back to full health within a very short time frame and training can begin or they can be re homed."
Since this first report the dogs coming in from Ireland are now exposed to the oils during their time in issolation. Before this practice approx 38 dogs from a batch of 40 would come down with kennel cough at a cost of approximately £60 per dog to the kennels. However since working with the oils, only approx 1 out of 40 come down with it and the ones that do, display very reduced symptoms. The oils are put outside the enclosure, although close enough for the aroma to disperse into the air. The cost of the oils £30.00 to cover all 40 dogs .
"Here at the shelter we often see Kennel cough due to the high stress levels and poor health of some of the animals that come in. To alleviate this problem and the congestion associated with the illness I began to work with oils that I felt could help. Eucalyptus being my first port of call and bergamot being another due to its airborne anti bacterial properties. I found that dogs with symptoms of kc have really wanted these oils both together and separately and that their symptoms reduce within 48 hours and the majority have then not required pharmaceutical drugs to treat it. This has meant that they are then back to full health within a very short time frame and training can begin or they can be re homed."
Since this first report the dogs coming in from Ireland are now exposed to the oils during their time in issolation. Before this practice approx 38 dogs from a batch of 40 would come down with kennel cough at a cost of approximately £60 per dog to the kennels. However since working with the oils, only approx 1 out of 40 come down with it and the ones that do, display very reduced symptoms. The oils are put outside the enclosure, although close enough for the aroma to disperse into the air. The cost of the oils £30.00 to cover all 40 dogs .
Essential Oils vs. Airbourne Bacteria
It was not until the nineteenth century that microorganisms were identified as the cause of much disease. This led to the first laboratory test on the anit-bacterial properties of essential oils. In 1887 studies were published in France showing that microorganisms of glandular fever and yellow fever were easily killed when exposed to a selection of essential oils. A prominent French chemist, Rene Maurice Gattefosse, coined the name "aromatherapy" in 1937, on discovering that the volatile nature of certain oils enabled them to disinfect the air. He used the name aromatherapy as the title for his book, published that same year, which was chiefly concerned with the anti-microbial effect of the oils. From 1887-1937 over one hundred journal articles had been published on this subject but neither these nor clinical trials did anything to persuade the medical profession that essential oils had any real use other than as flavouring agents. At one time essential oils were difused in French hospitals wards to disinfect the the air. It maybe therefore be desirable to use essential oils such as Bergamot in areas such as veterinary waiting areas or kennels where airborne disease may be prevalent.
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