Five of My Go To Nourishing Wild Herbs for My Dogs

The most common wild herbs that you will find literally underneath your house window or just outside the door are often not only rich in medicinal properties but are an incredibly rich sources of micro-nutrients (vitamins, minerals, trace elements, antioxidants and other vital and essential phyto-nutrients). Another words, they are classified as nourishing or nutritive herbs.

Here are 5 of my go to herbs from this category:

Read more »

Cold Weather Senior Dog Care

As the temperatures hit the 20 below mark again couple weeks ago, I thought I’d repost my Instagram post from a while back, with a few tips on winter/cold weather (especially) senior dog care, based on our holistic dog care practices at our kennel.

When the temperatures reach the -15C and lower mark it is time to think about the goldies oldies aka the canine senior citizens.

Read more »

Keeping Your Canine Seniors Fit and Healthy

Who wouldn´t wish for their beloved animal companion to live a long, happy and healthy life?

While most of us wish our animals would live forever, we know that the life cycle does not allow for this and we wonder what can we do for them to keep them by our side as long as possible, without pain and suffering, but vital, full of energy and spark.

Read more »

The Best Coat Conditioner

Have you ever experienced your dogs having a dull coat? Perhaps even some bold spots, although she or he isn´t scratching or licking on it? Dry, discolored, even split hairs? Rusty coloring on your otherwise black dog? 

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then your dog might be very likely suffering from not enough Omega 3 unsaturated fatty acids in her or his diet.

Read more »

Nourishing, Energizing and Restorative Spring Herbs for Your Dog and You

Spring time is time of birth, re-birth and awakening.

Although it is energizing just by itself, the bodies of all the Earth´s creatures are tired, depleted of energy, yet longing for the re-birth and time spent outside, being active.

While I have pondered and covered a lot of the spring needs of our dogs and together with my friend Erica, who specializes in animal acupressure we have touched the spring time care in our co-authored article Acupressure, Herbs and Nutrition for Spring which follows mostly the five element theory, let´s take a bit closer look at the spring wild herbs that mother Nature offers at this time of the year.

Read more »

Bone Marrow Broth For Your Dog and Cat´s Great Health

It is the time of year again - the season of cold, wet, subzero conditions (unless you are in Australia, of course :)) that have a major impact on our animals´s and our immune systems and general health.

Winter has its demands on our bodies and the immune system has to deal with a lot.

The wet, cold, icy, snowy conditions, together with the changing of temperatures as we take our dogs out from warm apartments and houses for a walk outside and back again, all this makes for example arthritic animals get worse in their symptoms than during the warmer months.

Read more »

Balto´s Natural Way Story

Balto joined our pack as a six year old experienced sled dog and racing veteran, retired from another kennel´s team. Since then, he ran and pulled many miles in our teams, in training and also on races, teaching the younger dogs a lot of skills, as he was an excellent lead dog with a fabulous work ethic.

While Balto was at the bloom of his sled dog athlete career and full of energy, he was not, however, at full health. He´s been suffering from eczema on his paws, mostly between his toes, whenever the weather changed, when exposed to too much water or mud and during damp conditions. His previous owners spent a lot of time searching for the right type of food for him, and as it is in the typical allopathic medicine scenarios – Balto was way too often on antibiotics, eventually developing resistance. The vets believed he needed to be on hypoallergenic and grain free commercial dog food, and so did we at the beginning.

But because feeding him the “special” food did not make any difference, I have soon realized the problem has to be approached holistically.

Read more »

Vejce ve Výživě Psů a Koček - Bílek, Skořápky a Blány

Dnešní článek je inspirován dotazy a zájmem majitelů psů a koček, kteří reagovali na můj příspěvek o vhodnosti přidávání syrových vajec do jídelníčku zvířat, který jsem zveřejnila ve své přírodní poradně pro zvířata.

Není to článek, pojednávající celkově o vejcích a jejich složení a přínosu ve výživě psů a koček, ale je zaměřen především na bílek a skořápky, ke kterým se vážou mnohé diskuze, dohady, skutečnosti, ale i mýty.

Read more »

Healthy Soup For Dogs And Cats

I originally formulated this recipe as an additional light meal to add to any pet´s feeding program, especially to aid in taste and for those who feed their animals with commercial pet food, to add essential micro nutrients, missing in the processed foods. 
I recommend it for dogs, cats and even ferrets, with skin issues, allergies, eczema and sensitive stomachs. It is also an ideal light and healthy meal for overweight pets or those on a weight loss program, as it is still rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, yet is is light in calories.

Read more »

The Natural Way Webinars For All Animal Lovers

Ok folks,
it´s been what feels like a century since I last properly blogged. Time is of essence and my lack of it is to be blamed :)

Loads of things are and have been happening around the Kipp d´Amundsen kennels and our home in the woods, and I will make an effort to keep you up-to-date, as I have luckily documented a bunch of the goings and doings around here :)
For that matter, I actually highly recommend you to visit my FB page Katerina´s Journal as it is far more frequently updated with loads of pictures of the dogs, herbs, food, health tips, musings from the wilderness, and you know, the usual stuff :)

BUT....! For now, I have an exciting announcement to make, one big enough to make me finally break the no-time loop loop of doom and get back to the blog.

Read more »

Jarní Workshopy BYLINKY PRO PSY v České Republice

Ahoj všem!

Toto je jeden z mých mimořádných příspěvků v češtině, protože zde pro vás všechny mám pozvánku a to na hned tři akce, které pořádám v květnu v České Republice.

Pro velký zájem o (nejen) bylinkové workshopy pro psy (a nejen je), který mne moc těší, jsem po loňské vydařené podzimní premiéře na šumavské Veselce u Vimperka workshop rozšířila i o jarní verzi, kde se zaměříme zase pro změnu trochu víc na bylinky jarní, detoxikaci organismu psa, atd. 

Read more »

Warming And Immunity Boosting Herbal Blend For Dogs

I love making my own herbal blends for my dogs, cats, and for us as well.

I totally love the fact that I am able to pick or grow many of the plants myself, on the meadows and in the woods right here, around our homestead, and know they are truly "organic", growing in unpolluted nature in the best imaginable conditions.

Read more »

Top10 Most Read 2014 Blog Posts

Howdy all!

In my neck of the woods, we have 1 hour and 3 minutes till the end of the year and I decided to share the TOP 10 MOST POPULAR POSTS from Katerina´s Journal Blog - that means the ten most read by You and those You found most interesting this year.

I have to say that I got totally inspired by friend Lisa at Fresh Eggs Daily, who posted top ten blog posts from her blog about natural raising of chickens and ducks. If you own a flock yourself, or have a little (or big farm) with all kinds of animals, you should head over there, it´s a great information source!

Read more »

Healthy, Delish, Homemade Pet Treats And E-Book Giveaway

I am excited to announce that I have some great FREE stuff in the spirit of The Natural Way coming up for you! Why? To celebrate the year past and the one coming!

There are some pretty neat things coming and I can´t wait to share them all with you. But first thing´s first. 

Let me start off with this fun GIVEAWAY.

Read more »

Herbal Supplement Mix For Puppies

Just a few days ago I was re-filling the herbal supplement mix for the puppies and I´ve decided to share it on the blog since I was already in the process of mixing the herbs.

As some of you know, I am a big fan of herbs for animals and humans alike, be it for their nutritional values or medicinal properties.

Read more »

Healthy Home Made Christmas Dog Cookies

Making home made dog treats and cookies on Christmas isn

´t just about making a gift our 

dogs will appreciate, but it is also a prevention of your pets

being given the wrong kind of snacks during the holidays. 

Why not try to make some wonderful, healthy and super 

tasty treats this year?

Read more »

Positive Reinforcement and Holistic Care Summer Dog Camp

I am super excited about this announcement! Kristyna and I have been working on this since this past summer and finally the invitation is here!

So without a further due, let me invite you all to the historically first Positive Reinforcement and Holistic Care oriented Summer Dog Camp!

Read more »

Snack Time!

Read more »

Chilli´s Story

Folks have been asking lately how is Chilli doing. I know I kept very quiet about this special boy over the summer and I held my breath lately, but now, now I have a whole story to share! :)

As some of you know, in mid March Chilli sustained a severe injury in a freak accident when he got hit by a car, at the area where we were working and living away from home for the winter season. 

Read more »

Feeding And Weaning Puppies Naturally

I have had a lot of questions lately on what do we feed our puppies, especially during weaning time, so I guess it´s time for a blog post :)

Alright, so here it goes. First and foremost, in our kennel (and in my nutritional consulting profession, naturally) we understand that dogs are carnivores. There is much of a discussion going on lately on this topic and I do not want to go into length about it in this article.

Based on this fact, and on the fact that their needs of carbohydrates are very low, and so is their ability to absorb and utilize large quantities of carbs, we NEVER start our puppies on porridges from cereals. That is our rule nr.1

Read more »