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Case study 5

Felicity the "emotional" Alpaca

Felicity and her mother Sophia are kept on a farm where they breed Alpacas. Her owners asked me to go and visit them to see if essential oil therapy could help Felicity with an emotionally based problem that had developed since weaning from her Mother. The weaning process was done naturally so it was as gentle and un-traumatic as possible and Felicity was put in with a group of other Alpacas for company. She adapted well and seemed to thrive until, several months later, the groups needed to be moved and her small herd was put in with another that included her Mother. In normal circumstances, this would not be a problem but Felicity went straight back to her Mother, began to suck and brought her back into milk. Sophia was already pregnant and being suckled would prejudice the unborn baby as well as making high-energy demands on Sophia so Felicity was moved to a different group but she didn't settle. She had always been fixated on people and since she was very young she would nibble other people or, most of the time, suck on mouthfuls of hay. This became more pronounced following her second separation from Sophia and she spent too much time and nervous energy doing this. As a result, she started to drop weight dramatically and was generally restless and unsettled and not thriving at all. It was also clear from her apathy when eating that winter fodder didn't suit her and that she would be much happier in the spring when the new grass started growing and she could graze again.

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Fliss sucking on a mouthful of hay

The vet suspected that she might have ulcers as a result of constant stimulation of the digestive system from sucking without actually eating. She was given antacid treatment for this along with a general feed supplement and a dose of wormer but the vet was happy for Felicity's owners to try something different alongside the prescribed treatments.

I made the trip to Worcestershire in mid January 2008 on my way to teach an essential oils workshop in Shropshire and it was immediately obvious upon meeting Felicity that she was very "driven" in her behaviour. Although she wasn't nervous or upset, there was a slightly manic side to the way she picked up hay and sucked on it and when I took it from her mouth to see what she would do, she transferred her attention to my hand and arm and nibbled frantically up and down.

Although I was going to do a full Kinesiology assessment when I got home, I needed to educate her owners how to offer the oils correctly so I decided to allow Felicity to select some oils. I opened the lid of my oils box and she went straight to it. Somehow, she managed to get her mouth into the tray and pick out a tiny 1ml bottle of Neroli (Citrus aurantium) that was tucked right into the corner of the box behind another bottle. I offered it to her to inhale and then diluted it down and she rubbed it into her muzzle and licked it off my hand several times until there wasn't a trace left on my palm.

It was so good to see Felicity demonstrate the principle of self-selection so profoundly, especially as this was the first oil I intended to offer her since it is a really good choice for separation anxiety, shock, nervous/nerve-related conditions and, because it has an anti-spasmodic action, it is also excellent for colic and other digestive issues.

Observing Felicity's behaviour, it was also clear that she had a lot of mental energy sitting around doing nothing and I suggested that perhaps taking her out for regular walks to engage her mind and get her thinking forward again may help as she appeared to be very "stuck" emotionally as well as stuck physically in a dependence on sucking for comfort.

She was halter broken and had already had an outing to the Three Counties Show which she took calmly in her stride and so her owners started to take her out once or twice a week, whenever possible. I did wonder if she would just pick up grass in her mouth to suck on instead but apparently she stayed engaged and interested the whole time and even ended up going for walks with the owners Cocker Spaniel, Daisy!

I carried out a kinesiology assessment for Fliss upon my return home and sure enough, the only oil that was indicated was..Neroli!

From the day I visited, Fliss's owners reported that they hadn't seen her suck on hay, that she was starting to eat and even showed some interest in the Alfalfa pellets that the other Alpacas tucked into with relish. She continued to show intense interest in the Neroli oil and liked to rub her muzzle in it when it was offered.

Fliss finally went off the Neroli in mid February. Her owners went way for a weeks holiday and sent me the following update after visiting her on their return.

" Fliss has made great improvements.  She wasn't interested in the Neroli oil before we went away, but I'll try her once more to see if there's any more interest.  She's much more calm in herself, eating grass constantly (what little there is) and tucking into the alfalfa...she's even pushing her way around the feed trough and not letting anyone bully her out! Her behaviour is more "alpaca like" and she's not craving human attention as much.  None of us have seen her mouth a thing since she started with the oil.  She was having Antepsin for her digestive system twice per day but is now down to once a day.  I think the combination of dealing with a possible ulcer (probably due to emotional issues) and the oil to deal with separating from her mother has helped her tremendously.  She hasn't put much weight on yet, but that's not surprising given the time of year.  Lots of the girls are a little underweight at the moment. We'll see how she goes in the next month or so and if we see any problems, we'd have no hesitation in another assessment.

 You can also be sure that we shall spread Fliss' success story to our various alpaca owning colleagues and highly recommend your services!! "

I have since been in touch with Fliss's owners and she is continuing to do well. She is putting on weight now she is out at grass and has a new role as "boss" to a field of juvenile Alpacas. Sophia, meanwhile, gave birth to a healthy baby who is called Alfie.

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