Herbs for Pets Book Review

Hi, this is Rita Hogan and welcome to the Dogs are Individuals podcast. I'm a clinical canine herbalist and I've been practicing for over 20 years. This podcast is all about your dog through an herbal lens. So let's get to it and dive right in. Happy spring everyone. I hope your life is coming up Roses and rose hips, which are excellent rosehips powder that's sifted to get the hairs out. Rosehips powder is what I would call the cooling turmeric. A lot of people know about turmeric, but do you know the powerful aspirations of rose hips? It definitely wants to be a good anti inflammatory and it is. And roses are so beautiful and they're cooling and they're lovely and they help the nervous system. And rose hips are a good way to give your dog a good anti inflammatory. Especially for dogs that are warm or hot and dry, it's really, I mean, sorry, warm hop and damp, you know, get hot spots. They're really kind of hot in their constitution. Rose hips are lovely for that. My little roses have buds on them right now and rose hips, flower essence is lovely. It calms the nervous system. It just brings about happiness and calms restlessness down and irritation. I love rose flower essence. So here we are. We are going to do another little book review. We are going to review Greg Tilford and Mary Wolf's book Herbs for Pets. And I love this book and a lot of people have written into the podcast about, you know, what kind of books can I get to get my feet wet in herbalism? You know, what can I, how can I learn more about herbs? And we did go over Dr. Kidd's guide to the Herbal Dog Care. Love that one. And we went over to the Modern Dog Parent Handbook. We went over that book as well. Not so much about herbalism, but feeding. But I want to share with you this lovely book and it's been published twice. I have the big huge hardcover book and that one's. It's a commitment because it's so heavy. I've discovered that one In Black Mountain, North Carolina, eons ago, more than 20 years ago in a little holistic dog store fighting the good fight out there near Asheville. And then it was published again, I believe via Barnes and Noble in Fox Chapel Publishing. And that was in 2009. Now if you are interested in herbalism and I think you are seeing that you're here, I would definitely have this book on your shelf. It is a wonderful, wonderful book to get an idea of the herbs out there that can work with your pet so chapter one is called Principles and practices of Herbalism. Greg and Mary go over using herbs naturally, the many faces of herbal medicine, a few words about toxicity. I love that, Greg. I would definitely consider Greg a major mentor in my life. When to take your pet to the vet. Love that one. Basics of herbal preparations, the connection between herbs and diet, using nutritive herbs as dietary supplements, and ethical uses of herbs. So what I think we're gonna do is we're just gonna go right in to this book and check it out together, because why not, right? I definitely would order this book. And you'll see by the end of this review, if you really want to. So Greg talks about using herbs naturally. He goes over the holistic philosophy of using herbs. These are Western medicine herbs, not to be confused with, like, Western Western medicine. This is Western herbalism. He goes over everything, like how the body is viewed from a biological perspective and the totality of the individual. So the holistic use of herbs. He has some great tables. Some great tables. You know, I wish I had more room in my book that's coming out for tables, but I do not. But he has lists of abbreviations. He's got herbs frequently used as substitutes for conventional drugs. I like that one. He has herbal actions and specific affinities. Herbs as alternative to conventional medicines. He has a great table, full color. A basic startup apothecary for veterinary applications. So we have alfalfa and burdock and red clover and gotu kola, licorice. Oregon grape, which is endangered, not here in the Pacific Northwest. It's growing everywhere, but it does not grow like this in other places. And so you can grow it yourself. Devil's claw, yucca, echinacea, Oregon grape. Again, sage, marshmallow, yarrow, raspberry leaf, nettle, plantain, slippery elm, hawthorn, ginkgo, cayenne, yarrow, fennel, dill, peppermint, chamomile. So when you're looking at a garden, I like to grow my burdock root in huge bags because it's really hard to get the root out. But you can grow burdock root or it might be growing wild near you. Red clover, easy to grow. Oregon grape, you can grow that as well. Echinacea, sage, marshmallow root. Just beautiful, beautiful plant. Yarrow, Love growing. Yarrow, raspberry leaf. You. You can grow those in bags too, so they do not spread nettle. Another thing you can grow in bags so they do not spread all over the place. Plantain, that's probably right out in your yard somewhere. Hawthorn, cayenne, yarrow, you can grow all of that except for hawthorn. You want to see? You know, there's this great app online called the Neighborhood App. I put it out. Hey, does anyone know where there's a good hawthorn tree? Like recently it was a dogwood tree and a crabapple. So ask, ask questions you wouldn't believe. The people that will are willing to help you. And all you have to do is get some good sources of this and you can. Wildcraft and fennel you can grow at home. Dill you can grow at home. Peppermint you can grow at home. Grow it in a bag, so keep it from getting all over the place. Chamomile, definitely you can grow at home. And he just goes through these lovely plants, what they're for, you know, basically covering so much. Diuretics, immunotonics, lymphatics, nerves and sedatives, nutritives, vulinaries. That's for basically promoting healing internally and externally. He covers corn silk, shepherd's purse, astralagus, cleavers, which is one of my favorite plants. Passionflower, St. John's wort, oat straw. That's like milky oats. It's the green milky tops of the oat plant. You definitely want that to be organic. Aloe vera, have a whole bunch of those in the house. Comfrey, lots of that in the garden. Gotta be careful with that one. But he goes through that and then he talks about dosage. Dosage is so personal, right? It's so personal. And I love hearing so many different herbalists view of dosage. I have my own and it works for me and a lot of times it works for my clients. Sometimes I have to increase it, but I always start out low and slow. And then he talks about toxicity. Toxicity is dose dependent relative to the rate of absorption in the individual's ability to assimilate and eliminate an excess. Just wonderful. And he goes on to talk about that when to take your pet to the vet, cautions, contraindications and potential side effects. And he goes through certain constituent groups that you need to be careful with. Kudos to you, Greg. Basic herbal preparations to. He talks about dried bulk herb material, fresh herbs, herbs capsules, alcohol extracts or tinctures. He tells how they're made. And he talks about glycerin extract, water infusions, decoctions, oil infusions, pulse assists, salves and ointments, fomentations or rinses, standardized extracts, the connection between herbs and diet. I mean, and I'm only on page 40, I mean this is a great book. He does talk about ethical guidelines for harvesting wild plants. Definitely. We always want to talk about that as herbalists, no matter what we're doing, just to remind people. And then he starts his Materia Medica. And that is basically information about each herb. An A to Z guide to herbs for animals. And in his Materia Medica, he talks about habitat and range cycle and bloom season. So when you can pick it and why parts used, medicinal activities, strongest affinities. That means that this plant has a gravitation towards that structure in the body or system. It's been known to do that. What preparations are good, common uses, availability, how to harvest it, alternatives to that herb, cautions and comments and then some references if he has them, like studies and stuff. So he goes over. He goes over alfalfa, he goes over aloe. He let's just go the plants that he deals with. Okay, so aloe, astralagus, bee balm, black walnut. Now that's one you got to be careful with. And he goes over that. I love that borage. Borage is a beautiful plant. It's. Oh, God, it's almost like it's a bluish purple and it has this unique sparkle to kind of like just seeds itself in places and comes up inconspicuously and says hello. And I love it. It's all over in my garden. Bugle weed. That's good thyroid remedy for hypothyroid, but a lot of other things, you know, it definitely slows thyroid function, but it calms the nerves. And it's a good cough suppressant that you can use acutely not worrying about the thyroid. And then he looks at burdock root, one of my faves, Calendula catnip cayenne. That's one that you got to be careful with and know how to use. Chamomile, chaparral, chickweed, Love chickweed cleavers. Again, one of my faves, coltsfoot. Coltsfoot is a beautiful flower. Comfrey needs care, but you can still use it with your dog. Corn silk, conch grass, dandelion. Just can't get enough right for all you Depeche Mode listeners out there. Just can't get enough of little dandelion. And you know, they're up right now and if your dog is not allergic to them causing sneezing or something like that, itchiness. They are the most beautiful anti inflammatory. And the flowers don't get talked enough a lot, you know, they talked enough about a lot like they need to be talked more about. They need to be like they need a PR person because they are such a wonderful anti inflammatory and you can crumble them up and put them in your dog's food. Dill, echinacea. And he has full color pictures of each plant. Ella campaign. Wonderful for the lungs and so many other things. Fennel. Fennel is good. Feverfew, flax, garlic and yes, dogs can have garlic. He goes all over. He's. I mean he goes completely over garlic and using it with your dog. Ginkgo. Goldenrod gets a bad rap, but it's a great plant. A lot of false or what Karen Becker calls those urban myths, a lot of urban myths about goldenrod, goldenseal, gotu, kola. Very underappreciated herb that is absolutely wonderful. Gravel root, which is one of my favorites. And I'm so glad that Greg included gravel root in this book. Grindelia, hawthorn, hops. Even though people think that hops are toxic to dogs, they are not. They, they are not toxic to dogs. They need caution. Yes, but they're not toxic. Horsetail, juniper, lavender, licorice, marshmallow. And he does include this beautiful picture of the white marshmallow plant. Just the flowers are so beautiful. Milk thistle, mullein. Mullein is underappreciated. Just a wonderful, wonderful plant. The root is, is one of my mentors called it the herbal chiropractor. Along with Solomon seal, nettle, Oregon grape, oxidaisy, parsley, plantain, raspberry. I mean, how awesome is this book? Red clover, rose. We were just talking about rose, rosemary. That's another one that needs some guidance. But perfectly fine as a food, Perfectly fine as a flower essence. Perfectly fine in small dosages. Very, very good for you. Very, very warming and stimulating. So you need to know that. Sage, St. John's Wort, Shepherd's Purse, skullcap, one of my faves, Slippery elm, thyme, uva, ursi, valerian, wormwood, yarrow, yellow dock and yucca. I mean, look at that. Just gorgeous. And you know all of the different headings under all of those plants that you can learn about. And then he has a supplemental herbal list so he has a little information about ashwagandha, bilberry, blue cohosh, boneset, caraway, cascarda, sacrata, boswallia, which is frankincense. I'm not a big fan of it anymore because it's so endangered and those trees are going to go to where we don't have their medicine anymore. So we need to leave them alone for a long while so that they can recuperate caraway, cat's claw. But when this was written, they were not on the endangered list. Essential oil use has put them on the endangered list, so be mindful of that. Cat's claw. Celery, coriander. There is some frankincense trees that are not endangered, I believe, in Australia. But if we keep up the essential oil use, they will be endangered soon. Cranberry. And please forgive me, I'm an herbalist. This is how I think. This is what. These are the things that keep me up at night. Cranberry, devil's claw, eyebright eucalyptus, evening primrose, fenugreek, fleabane. Now, fleabane does have some cautions, okay? And a lot of dogs are allergic to it. But I like using the flower essence of fleabane for fleas, actually. Gentian ginger, ginseng. I mean, this is just a wonderful book. Kava, kava, kelp, lemon balm, lobelia, lovage, meadowsweet, myrrh, herb, oregano, passion flower, pennyroyal, pineapple weed. I love pineapple weed. It grows all over in my yard and in my driveway, where I do not. I have another driveway, a second driveway, where we don't really drive a lot of cars. And it's all up in there. And you can use it just like chamomile. It is just wonderful. Peppermint, pipsuya, saw palmetto. Great herb. Very good for both neutered and unneutered dogs. Senna. I'm not a fan of senna. I don't use it for dogs very much, so I would definitely need some. I should definitely read that part. Siberian ginseng, spirulina, turkey, rhubarb, turmeric. He has information on all of these. Usnia, one of my faves. Vervain, white oak bark, willow, witch hazel, wild cherry bark. And the gifts just keep on giving, right? Oh, my God. And then chapter three. That was only the first two chapters, ladies and gentlemen. Then chapter three. An Herbal Repertory for Animals, Ailments and Treatments. Okay, so he covers anxiety, nervousness and behavioral problems. Holistic approaches. Aggression, depression, acute nervousness and anxiety. Then he goes right into arthritis and hip dysplasia. Holistic approaches. He has a systemic formula for chronic arthritis. Two parts alfalfa, one part dandelion root, one part parsley root, and one part cleavers or calendula. Great formula, Greg. And then he has arthritis relief compresses. So he's giving you some. Some recipes here. He has another one, the systemic relief formula. Or, sorry, a symptomatic relief formula. A systemic formula of alfalfa, yucca and licorice. He talks about cancer. He talks about healing therapies for cancer. He has a tonic support formula for animals with cancer. Red clover, astralagus, dandelion root and garlic. Now he goes into the heart. He also gives a cardiovascular tonic. Hawthorn, dandelion leaf, yarrow and ginkgo. Digestive upset, diarrhea, chronic constipation. God, ain't that the truth, kids. A formula for inflammatory bowel disease. Oh, yikes. So we're talking about ibd, slippery elm or plantain, marshmallow root, licorice and fennel seed. An antimicrobial and anti parasitic ear oil, mullein flower, Oregon grape, garlic and marshmallow. He talks about elderly animal care. Old dogs are my shtick. I love them. Support for, you know, when the end is near. Then he talks about Addison's and Cushing's, pancreatitis, diabetes, thyroid hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, epilepsy and seizures. He then gives you a simple, astringent eyewash. Ideas for a first aid kit. Echinacea gold, Oregon grape, clay poultice, first aid oil for contusions and blunt trauma injuries, bites and stings, burns and scalds, fat fractures. So we got some acute issues here. Motion sickness, a little salve. Recipe shock, ligament injuries, immune system care, mouth problems, nose and sinus problems. I mean, this. I'm on 267 pages. Then he talks about fleas, lice, intestinal worms, an anti worm food supplement, raw pumpkin seeds, garlic powder, fennel seed and yucca root. Giardia. He has a little recipe for Giardia. Two parts Oregon grape, two parts licorice, two parts cleavers, good lymphatic Greg and one part garlic. And he tells you how to use it. Heartworm herb, herbs to avoid. I love that. Tonic support, herbs and lactation, respiratory problems, Kennel cough. He has a recipe for kennel cough, for wet coughs, for pneumonia. I mean, I can't tell you, like, you know, how much is this book? 29.95. And I don't think there's money. Just this is worth so much more than that. I mean, this is just a plethora of great information. And he has some more recipes throughout the book. I love that he has a detoxifying recipe. He talks about sebaceous cyst, urinary problems, UTIs, bladder infections. He's got a basic formula for urinary infections and stones. He has a basic herb formula for early stage kidney Failure Hawthorn, ginkgo echinacea, marshmallow root and dandelion leaf. He's got a tonic formula for urinary incontinence. Oat straw, plantain, corn silk, nettle root or saw, palmetto and horsetail. I mean, just beautiful. And again, it's. It has a lot of color to it. It's not long and boring like my book, my upcoming book. Just kidding. Well, I mean, it could be boring to some people for sure. And he has a great glossary, a wonderful glossary and references. And then the book is indexed. For me, a nonfiction book is only good as its index. I love indexes. So this is Herbs for pets, the natural way to enhance your pet's life by Gregory L. Tilford and Mary L. Wolf. W U L F F. A holistic guide to caring for senior animals. Anxiety, behavior conditions, cancer and other health issues. Parasite prevention and treatment. Diet and nutrition supplements and full herb herbal information. Just love that Greg and I know that Greg is currently working on an herbal course. I might have to find time to take that. And I know some of you are like, what? You're going to take an herbal course? Yeah, I'm going to take an herbal course. I'm in the middle of a herbal course on trauma right now, which is just a beautiful course. And I would be. I would feel privileged to be able to take a course with Greg Tilford. He has been around forever and I love to learn new things. You know, we all don't work the same, we all don't practice the same, and we should just respect each other's work. And whether we agree with all of it or not, we do not have to agree with everything someone says in order to like them, follow them, follow their work or anything else like that. You know, it's kind of like friends. I don't want a friend that agrees with me 100%. You know, I need some good, you know, back and forth. So, yeah, I am totally looking forward to Greg's class. I'm going to try to carve out some time to take it, but I will let you guys know when that comes out. My herbal course, my level one herbal course is out right now. You can find that@canineherbalism.com I also have my dental and oral health course out right now. I will have a link to it in the show notes along with the canine herbalism course. And if you guys have any questions about anything, let me know. My energetics course is always up. And also my phytoembryonic therapy course. So if you guessed it, I definitely am starting a school of holistic canine herbalism. And these are the start of some of the courses that I will be offering and updating. If you take a class from me, I update it continuously and you will get notified when it gets updated. So that is another book review from me to you. I've gotten so many emails about different books that people can have and why and can you tell us a little bit about them? I hope that helps. I really can't get enough of the Herbs for Pets. I mean, I've read it a bunch, but if you really wanted to get to know herbs, it is a wonderful starter book for learning about that plant and definitely keeping it in your house so that you can have a quick reference. And again, some invaluable formulas throughout the book from Greg. And Greg is a phenomenal herbalist. So speaking of the word phenomenal, I want to thank Real Mushrooms and Adored Beast Apothecary for being phenomenal sponsors of my podcast. Because if you love the podcast, and I've been getting a lot of emails saying I love, love, love your podcast, so I appreciate, appreciate, appreciate that, but I couldn't do it without these sponsors. I just couldn't. And I try not to make the sponsorship boring. You know, Real Mushrooms and Adored Beast have been with me for a long time and Real Mushrooms is doing such great, like, scientific work in the world of mushrooms, along with their wonderful people there, sky and Joni and Lee Carroll and Dr. Rob Silver. You know, they're all doing phenomenal work in the world of mushrooms along with other, all the other kind of mycologists that are doing great research all over the world on mushrooms and bringing us the latest science on them. Because mushrooms definitely need scientific help in that department to help us figure out how to better use them and how to better like break down their protective coating called chitin. We have to learn how to break that down. But that doesn't mean that mushrooms can't be used nutritionally. And I think Rodney came out with a. Yeah, not think. I know Rodney came out. Rodney Habib came out with a great video that was how to make a mushroom powder. And that mushroom powder is so awesome for the gastrointestinal tract and it does offer a lot of nutritional components to it. So I really enjoyed that video. And then Adored Beast Apothecary is up to awesome things. I can't wait to share with you some of the wonderful things that they are coming out with in the months ahead. So good for them. I think you know, all these brands coming together and making great products for our dogs, whether they work for our individual dog or not. I think as a collective we are, I mean, compared to the stuff that I had available to me 20 years ago, we are so blessed to have these people in our community. That is all I can say. The dog world is blessed to have companies like Real Mushrooms and Adored Beast, Apothecary and Green Juju and you know, Earth Buddy and Feed Real Institute. You guys, they have all been sponsors of my podcast and I can't thank them all enough and I look forward to any new sponsors someday. Right? I love to bring you these great companies that are doing great work and again, you don't have to agree with everything someone does to appreciate the hard work that they are putting out for the health of our dogs. Remember that. Practice being humble and practice being nice. Thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app. And don't forget, sharing is caring. So if you love Dogs Are Individuals podcast, share it with your friends and family who love dogs. This will help me so much. And remember, as a listener, I appreciate you much. Thanks to Resonant Media, my podcast production team. This podcast is produced by Drake Peterson and edited by by Mike Fry. Any questions, email the show, go to k9herbalist.com, click podcast contact in the menu and then fill out that form and I'll answer any questions here online. Okay, so thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals Podcast and I'm gonna talk to you in our next episode. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for veterinary care. This podcast doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor, veterinarian or healthcare provider first before starting anything new. And that includes herbs. I'm not a doctor and I don't treat disease or prescribe anything. I'm a traditional herbalist providing herbal support education only regarding any products I may suggest the statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here on the podcast is not meant as a substitute or alternative to information from your vet. Please consult your veterinary professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product.