PetScentials

19/09/2026

Introducing a cat to a high prey-drive dog!😬

A few weeks after Daisy arrived at the end of April, a cat that used to live with us needed to be rehomed. She had grown up with my other dog Zaira and they were best buddies, so I didn't hesitate to ask if she could come back to us. Flora is a very 'balanced' cat and used to being around a dog - but Daisy has a very high prey drive.

So before Flora arrived, I did all the usual stuff - bringing in items that smelled of her to get the dogs used to her scent, making sure there were high areas for her in every room, and barriers (lots of barriers).

Over the first few weeks Daisy would fixate on Flora, whenever she could see her - she would watch until Flora moved and then if she could would chase. Needless to say, Flora wasn't impressed! I did a self-selection with Daisy for oils to help with accepting another animal in the home, with a focus on managing excitement. It just so happened that she selected the only oil that Flora likes. After a chat with the The Healthful Doctor (with her behaviourist hat on!) we developed a plan to increase the exposure of both animals to the other's scent in combination with the oil, particularly at times when they were nice and relaxed.

What happened was really interesting. Not much change with Daisy but Flora started to become much more confident and claim her rightful place as 'queen of the house'. She started moving onto lower surfaces, coming and having meals with the dogs and generally being 'about' more. As a result Daisy is very gradually getting more relaxed with her.

Flora now comes down to get all her meals with the dogs - her choice! And comes to visit us when we are relaxing on the sofa of an evening - Daisy is on my lap and just watches Flora strutting around the room even when she come over for strokes. We do still have the odd chase and the barriers are all still in place but things are definitely moving in the right direction.

09/08/2026

A few weeks ago I as asked to go and see a household with 4 cats, one of whom was bullying one of the others. A couple of days before I was due to visit the owner messaged me saying that when she had looked into essential oils all the information she got back said that they are toxic to cats. I was really pleased, firstly that she was trying to find out before going ahead and using essential oils on her animals and secondly that she had started the conversation without believing everything that is online.

There is some truth in the information she found
1) Some essential oils can be toxic to cats - it's important to know which ones are safe and which are not.
2) Oil products that are widely available are often not 100% pure essential oil. That means that any of the (often numerous and unknown) other ingredients can be the real problem. When using essential oils it is really important to use ones that are certified pure and of high-quality.
3) 100% pure essential oils are very potent, so they generally need to be diluted properly before being used.
4) We can use essential oils in different ways and it is important to know the most appropriate way to suit both the animal and the situation.

When caring for our animals, it is so important to make sure we are fully informed about anything we may use with them. The problem with the animal aromatherapy field is that there is a wealth of incorrect or partly correct information out there.

I spent over a year training with the Essential Oil Vet and am part of the Essential Oil Vet Network - a really big part of that training was making sure that we know how to use essential oils safely. If you have any questions about using essential oils or oil products with your animals, feel free to get in touch 🙂

21/07/2026

Meet Daisy our new rescue dog! Daisy was rescued from the wildfires in Greece last summer by Pointers in Need and had been in kennels ever since. I wasn't properly looking for another dog but when I heard her story, just had to bring her home.

She travelled from Greece at the end of April - 3 days in a van. I went to pick her up from Manchester and the little girl that was carried out of the van was pretty much shut down. When put on the ground she made herself as small as possible, froze and the only movement she made was to try and crawl under the van.

The lovely transport guys had said it might be worth trying to get her to toilet before starting on the 4 hour journey home - not happening! They also said she had been given food that morning but hadn't eaten all day.

So I carried her to my van where I had some of my oils. I fished out a lovely calming blend and put a little on her bed and on my hand and offered it to her. As soon as she took a sniff she visibly relaxed and came straight to me for reassurance 🥰 So I put her some food and she wolfed it straight down. And that was us bonded! She still didn't toilet for another 12 hours!!!

We got home and after having that night and the morning to settle in she met Zaira - and that couldn't have gone better! So she's now home! She is still scared of pretty much everything outside of home - but we are working on that!

11/07/2026

A great way of supporting a fabulous charity

I have just registered for the Do Your Own Fundraising Why not join me...

11/07/2026

First post in a while, as there has been a lot going on in the PetScentials household over the last few months. One of the main ones involves this little lady, Zaira. My girl who loves to run, it really is her favourite thing - or was. Zaira suffered a knee injury when she was a pup, it seemingly recovered and for the past couple of years was doing great - she was my amazing canicross dog. However, towards the end of last year I started noticing her limping on it - and the long/short is that she has been diagnosed with luxating patella (where her kneecap pops out of place periodically). At the moment it is grade 1 but is likely to worsen over time and also runs the risk of her developing arthritis.

My main priority is to preserve the function of the knee joint for as long as possible, so no more canicross or obedience training (slippy floor) or even Saturday morning walks with her buddies (she just can't not run when she's with her friends). But there's lots that I can and am doing to help - using anti-inflammatory oils, ligament support oils, bone broth, collagen and red light therapy to support the joint.

I also started to notice that when her knee was bad, it impacted on her other legs. I think she may have 'loose' joints as I have noticed the other kneecap pop out too (though the vet can't see a problem with it) and her limping briefly on her front legs when she's done too much. So I'm also using acupressure massage to support both the bad knee and her other legs. This has been making a big difference.

We've also taken up a gentler activity - mantrailing (Pawprints Erskine dog training), which she loves. It gives us something we can enjoy together and keeps her active.

Hopefully we can maintain the knee at grade 1 for some time - if it starts to worsen we're looking at surgery.

06/07/2026

Had a fabulous day yesterday at Barklove. Met lots of lovely people keen to find ways to support their dog's health and wellbeing. And even caught up with some people I'd not seen in ages 😊

03/07/2026

PetScentials is going to be at Barklove this weekend. Hopefully see you there😃

If you're interested in joining us, tickets are on sale here https://www.universe.com/events/barklove-tickets-1C3HFZ

21/02/2026

At the end of last summer someone contacted me to find out if essential oils might help her dog with separation anxiety. The dog is a lovely golden retriever who would bark and howl and pant/salivate excessively (enough to steam up the large floor to ceiling window next to the door) when his owner went out. He lives with another younger goldie who does not have a problem with separation. The issue had been going on for a few years and the (very experienced) owner had run out of things to try.

I went along and did self-selection with the dog - dogs are great at knowing what they need! He gave a lovely clear selection on two oils, which the owner then started diffusing throughout the day. About a week after starting oils the owners daughter was over and instantly noticed that the dog was much calmer. It wasn't an instant fix but gave the owner room to work with training tools to help the dog be calm while she was out.

When we caught up just before Christmas the dog was doing much better - he wasn't completely over his separation issues but was progressing. However, the owner was now concerned about the other dog who had become extremely anxious when her young grandchildren had come over a week or so before. He had got really distressed with the noise and movement to the point of producing a lot of gas 🤢, shaking, and almost shutting down. He had calmed when things quietened down but the owner wanted to see if anything could be done to help him cope better in the future.

So I went along and did self-selection with the second dog - he chose two different oils. The owner started diffusing both sets of oils at once. Before I left we noticed that the second dog had laid down next to the owner, completely chilled out - the last time I was there he got into 'super-excited cos there's a visitor' mode!

A week later when we spoke the owner said that within an hour the gas had stopped (she realised it had not actually gone away after the children visited)! Both dogs were much now calmer and the separation anxiety in the first had completely gone. AND when the children came round neither dog showed any distress.

Working with these two lovely dogs taught me so much 😀
- self-selection is so important, and the needs of one animal may be very different to those of another even within the same household
- animals can really hold onto anxiety and the signs may be so subtle that they are hard to spot
- reducing the anxiety in one animal can have beneficial effects on others they live with and across the whole household.

If you'd like to see if essential oils can help you pet, please get in touch

09/11/2025

I recently was asked to go back see if I could help one of the first dogs I worked with back in 2023. Rosie is a lovely friendly collie but tends to get scared if around loud noises, and this had led to her being afraid to go out on walks. When I first met her she very clearly selected her oils and within a week was already much calmer and coping better on walks. Over the next couple of months Rosie got better and better on walks and people who knew her started commenting on how much calmer she was. By then bonfire night was looming and so we put a strategy in place to help her cope with fireworks - though she was scared at times she coped much better than in previous years.

Two years later and Rosie's owners contacted me as they were having problems with her on walks again - she had been struggling with the noise of motorbikes revving and tearing up and down the street. This was a couple of weeks before bonfire night and so I was keen to see Rosie as quickly as possible to see if we could help her through it. Rosie selected different oils to the previous time and so we started diffusing them around her, while continuing some of the other oils that had helped her before. She coped well with bonfire night - was scared but able to be coaxed and reassured. "Rosie fairly calm despite all the fireworks. Just some loud music and the essential oils, thanks Julie Eastgate for the advice on the oils. What a difference!🐕🐕🐕"

And now when asked if she wants to go for a walk, she has started going to the front door rather than being scared of going out😃

05/10/2025

https://www.thehealthfuldoctor.com/events/2025/10/16/menopause-belly-fat-blaster-workshop/?fbclid=IwY2xjawNPCIJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF6eUY2aWtpNFpwQ3BjV3V4AR6guMpzKbU-K9hDXnL9Xd-SgJXhG9CCUbhJIJyQwNiJ6EkG0HrkB1q2YMGKpg_aem_P6uHaT2Qym3lnstUu0BdTg

Anyone interested - message me 🙂

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