HERB - Herbs for pets

[Sersen, Tara (BVI)]

Hello, all.  I am the person from whom Jadwiga forwarded a pet herbal
question yesterday.  After she sent it on to you, I realized that I shoulda
just hopped on here myself... (flat-forhead syndrome at work.)  I've been
meaning to join this list anyway, but get so swamped with other lists that I
just hadn't gotten to it yet.

Anyway, thank you all for the advise on valerian and kava.  I did buy an
herbal preperation from PetSmart, called Pet-EZE.  It containes "Valerian
4X", which I assume meant it was a homeopathic preperation, and therefore I
wasn't sure if I would see any effects from it.  It also has passionflower
and hops.  I tried it last night on my 11-pound cat and 58-lb dog, and it
seemed to work a little bit with no ill effects.  I would still be
interested in finding more information, though, on proper dosages of plain
ol' valerian.

The book that I started with is "Emerging Therapies, Using Herbs and
Nutraceutical Supplements for Small Animals" by Susan G. Wynn, DVM.  It is a
veterinary publication (publisher: American Animal Hospital Association.)
So, when it said that valerian is safe with no contraindications or adverse
effects, I believed it.  But, it just listed dosage as "proportional".  So,
my problem remains, proportional to *what*?  (Well, obviously weight, but
what is the benchmark?)  For protocols for anxiety syndromes, it specifies
kava, hops, skullcap, valerian and passionflower.  For kava, it listed no
contraindications, and the only adverse effects stated were for prolonged
useage.  I prefer valerian, obviously.

While I'm introducing myself, well, I might as well introduce myself!  Yes,
I'm in the SCA.  I've been kind of on the fringes of herbalism for years,
learning slowly.  My company, (www.biovalidity.com) compiles databases of
scientific journal studies on health supplements for humans and pets.  We've
been selling this data to vitamin and herb companies for consumer use (we
have kiosks at GNC), to food industry for research for "functional foods",
and on a subscription basis to alt med practicioners.  So, although I'm a
techie and not a content person, I have all this peer-reviewed and
scientifically tested info at my fingertips, and I'm learning lots of neat
stuff here!  It's also making me a snob, though, for scientific validity in
claims.  So, this may be the source of a lot of the assertions that I
make...  We also get a lot of dietitian, veterinary, alt med and similar
industry mags.  I've been especially interested in the pet literature
lately, so I am currently a fount of useless information on pet health ;)
Two great things that I've learned recently: not only does garlic *not*
prevent fleas in pets, it is potentially dangerous to them; And, Christmas
plants (holly, mistletoe and poinsettia) are not dangerous to our pets.  All
are very mildly poisonous, but your pet (or child) couldn't physically eat
enough to get more than a tummy ache and a good lesson.  I found that
extremely relieving!!

By the way, aspirin is not dangerous to dogs - in fact, it is recommended by
vets for the same things that humans use it for.  We gave an arthritic Irish
Wolfound aspirin daily on the advice of our vet, and it worked well for
years.  Decongestants and antihistimines, however, can be very iffy - I
would be very worried about giving any of them to my pets. 

Thanks again!
Magdalena vander Brugghe

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
 Tara Sersen Boroson
 Director of Systems Management
 BioValidity
 811 West 5th Street, Suite 1
 Lansdale, PA 19446
 
  phone  215.393.8299
    fax  215.393.3114
 e-mail  tsersen at biovalidity.com
    www.BioValidity.com
 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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