CASE STUDY 3- Harley

Harley is approx 2 years old, Staffie X Greyhound  who was rescued by his owners 6 months ago. Benign tumour on left shoulder has been needle aspirated to be sure that it is benign, vets wanted to surgically remove it, because they said it was fast growing. It had only taken 5 days to get to this size and was expected to double within a couple of weeks. The vets said if it didn’t grow, there might be a chance that it could shrink and go away in a couple of months, but they advised surgery as the only definite way of ensuring that the tumour went away. The owner declined surgery and called me and wondered if I could help. Harley also had very itchy skin, there was no cause for this as far as the vets were concerned

Consultation – Harley was brought to me for a consultation, and after letting him explore the room and calm down I began to work with him. I offered him several different remedies and watched his reaction very closely. I then sent him home with the following.

• 30ml aloe vera with 20 drops of Sandalwood
• Bergamot – Good for skin disorders, tumours/ sarcoids and growths, it is an immune stimulant and it balances body and mind
• Myrrh – Myrrh is good for separation anxiety and for wounds that are weepy. Although Harley’s issue is a tumour not a wound, it does weep excessively
• Sandalwood – Great for soothing, comforting and calming animals, helps to calm obsessive worry and fear and can help with dry flaky skin. Good for emotional based skin disorders
 

Summary of Harley’s diary for the first 2 weeks - The owner was very attentive and intuitive and worked well with Harley.

Harley showed consistent interest in all of the above oils that I sent him home with. He had a sketchy relationship with the Bergamot, some days really excited to be offered it, and other days showed little interest.  He stayed consistent on a daily basis with the Myrrh, which he really seemed to like. The biggest reaction was to the Sandalwood, Harley showed a lot of interest in this oil, trancing, lots of quick sniffs, facial gestures, eye flicking and whining were a regular repertoire of behaviours seen. Everyday Harley was asked whether he wanted the aloe and sandalwood gel applied to his tumour and everyday he clearly indicated to his owner that it was ok.

Second consultation – Harley came back for a second consultation because he had shown so much interest in numerous remedies on the first consult, that I wanted to see whether he had settled a bit and would therefore be clearer on his choices. I sent him home with the following

• 30ml aloe vera with 20 drops of Sandalwood
• Bergamot – Good for skin disorders, tumours/ sarcoids and growths, it is an immune stimulant and it balances body and mind
• Myrrh – Myrrh is good for separation anxiety and for wounds that are weepy. The tumour is still weeping excessively
• Sandalwood – Great for soothing, comforting and calming animals, helps to calm obsessive worry and fear and can help with dry flaky skin. Good for emotional based skin disorders
• Seaweed – Great for the immune system, good for clearing blocked emotions.
• Roman Chamomile – Great for animals with an anxious nervous temperament and skin disorder of an anxious origin.
• Jasmine – I chose jasmine because it is deeply calming and comforting, good for tense and nervous behaviour and for male dominant behaviour
• Watery aloe with Roman Chamomile and Peppermint Wash
 

Summary of the 2 weeks working with the above - The main favourite oil of this period was the seaweed, lots of sniffing and often returning to sniff more.

He began to go off the sandalwood fairly quickly and soon was just giving a very quick sniff, but nothing more.

The Roman Chamomile and Peppermint wash in aloe was very well received, Harley loved having it rubbed through his coat and often spent a lot of time sniffing at the gel wash both in the bottle and once it was on his coat.

With the Bergamot and the Myrrh Harley’s interest began to decrease steadily and soon were totally refused.

Harley stayed working with the Jasmine for quite a few days, and seemed to have quite a few reactions like deep breathing, blinking a lot and a lot of stillness around the bottle

Conclusion – Below are  before and after picture of Harley’s tumour. This took 28 days. Harley has almost completely stopped scratching, he is generally much calmer and more relaxed than before.  .Harley’s separation anxiety has also greatly improved.

 BEFORE                                            AFTER

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