IDEAS TO MIX HERBS INTO FOOD
Dogs and cats can be given powdered herbs, powder herb extracts, and
liquid herb extracts in their meals. If your pet's appetite is poor
because of illness or learned preferences, you may need to disguise the
taste further by using especially strong-smelling foods: like tuna,
sardines, liverwurst or braunsheiger. For some pets, baby food or canned
cat food is such a novelty that they will take the herbs mixed with
these foods. Some pharmacies and veterinary manufacturers make a
flavored "tab wrap" or "pill pocket" for dogs and cats; these are
especially designed to hide small tablets. Other tasty treats to hide
herbs include cream cheese, jelly, peanut or other nut butters, ground
meat or liver (beef or chicken), and fruit. Applesauce is particularly
recommended by some herbalists. Flavored gravies for pets can also be
used to dilute the herbs and mask the taste. *
If your pet's appetite is suppressed due to illness, do not mix
medicines in regular meals-administer the herbs separately in a
different food treat or in empty gel caps or via oral syringe behind the
tongue.
Powdered herbs may be mixed into small "pills" of butter, then frozen to
increase firmness. You can blend them with anchovy paste, organic
peanut butter, jelly, jam, sandwich pastes, or other thick tasty foods.
It may be easier in some cases to administer the powdered herbs by
mixing them into a liquid (usually hot so that powdered herbs 'dissolve'
either with boiled liquid/water or by placing the 'mixture' of
liquid/water and powdered herbs in a microwave for 5-7 seconds and then
letting cool off) that is to be gently and slowly administered by
syringe. Vehicles that have been recommended include meat or poultry
broth, clam juice, flavored syrups, and fruit juice.
You can take advantage of your cat's fastidiousness by mixing the herb
in a hairball gelor Laxatone vegemite or anchovy paste, and smearing it
on his or her paws-only very sick cats will let that insult go
unchallenged! Some herbalists make traditional teas using meat broth
instead of plain water, then frozen in ice cube trays to preserve until
the day of use.
If herb capsules must be administered, they often "go down" more easily
if one end is covered in butter or olive oil. Be sure to administer
water or broth afterward to ensure that the capsule passes quickly from
the esophagus to the stomach.
The other option is by oral syringe...mixing enough water to dissolve
the herbs and make a solution and using an oral syringe you can give it
by squirting it down the very back of the throat. After a few times it
becomes easier to use this method. The option for oral syringe is at
time of checkout also.
*Copyright 2003, Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association, Kennesaw, Georgia
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We sell traditional Chinese herbs, nutritional supplements, and pet products. We do not engage in the practice of veterinary medicine, veterinary surgery, or veterinary dentistry in any of its branches. We do not diagnose, prescribe, or administer any drug, medicine, appliance, application, or treatment for the prevention, cure, or relief of a wound, fracture, bodily injury, or disease of animals. We do not perform any surgical or dental operation upon any animal. We do not perform any manual procedure for the diagnosis of pregnancy, sterility, or infertility upon livestock Equidae.
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