Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Herbal Mix For Your Dog's Healthy Heat Cycle


You´ve never heard of female dogs having issues while they are in heat? At least  not the same kind as their human counter-parts: headache, stomach pain, cramps, bad mood,...?
Well, that does not mean that they do not ever suffer from any issues associated with the heat cycle at all or that herbal teas and certain herbs in their food won´t be beneficial.
As a matter of fact, a number of female dogs are reported to be experiencing behavior changes, excessive bleeding and long, rather problematic heat periods.
And there are actually many reasons why supplementing your canine girl in heat with the right kind of herbs can be a great idea.


Let´s take a look at some of the reasons why I like to give our girls a special fresh herbal mix during the three weeks they are in heat:
  • it helps to reduce stress some of our girls experience while in season
  • it helps to cleanse their reproductive organs
  • it helps reduce excessive bleeding
  • it supports blood circulation (blood tonifying)
  • it adds Iron, Vitamin C and some other important substances
  • simply said - it helps to go through the heat cycle more smoothly :)

Luckily, in our kennel, we have been using these herbs for preventive measures, but there are so many more health benefits and reasons why this herbal mix is good for your canine ladies.

These herbs can, in fact, do so much more, than harmonize their heat cycles. This includes:
  • protecting your female from illness of the reproductive organs
  • it is more than advisable to give if you ever had to use abortion injection or if the dog had "natural" abortion
  • maintaining the health of reproductive organs in older females
  • lowering the risk of pyometra (potentially deadly uterus infection), especially in older females
  • and last but not least for females who are taking a bit longer to cleanse after having puppies

In the last case it is wise to use this herbal mix only after the puppies have reached an age when they do not nurse as much anymore.

As I have mentioned, in our kennel we have been lucky to have no issues of this kind, but on couple of occasions we´ve had a dog mama cleansing after the delivery of her puppies for a rather extended period. As soon as I applied the treatment, I could see the results and the bleeding stopped within a few days.

So which herbs are we talking about?


The mixture contains these three, pretty common plants, that grow almost everywhere:

  • YARROW
  • KONTRYHEL (also known as Lady´s Mantle) 
  • RASPBERRY LEAF

For those of you with herbal use knowledge, it is rather simple to recognize them. Also, to some of you it is a common knowledge that these exact three herbs are strongly recommended and used by women for the very same reasons as described above.
I personally have a wonderful experience with tea made from this blend, and the difference it makes when I drink it (or when I don´t) :)

Lady´s Mantle and Raspberry Leaves are even considered the  "Woman Herbs".
Here is an excellent article on the benefits of raspberry leaf for women, where you can learn some more facts and why this plant is so beneficial also for your female in heat.

PREPARATION AND USE



As you can see, I have made the preparation and use of the herbs as simple as possible, as we usually have a number of girls in heat at the same time and needs for multiple, yet simple use.

In our kennel everything comes down to efficiency, so here´s how I prepare, store and use the herbs.

During summer time (June-September) I pick the fresh herbs and cut them up into very small pieces with scissors. Then I put the herbs in a glass jar and add some cold water.


Close the lid and voila, the jar is ready to be taken along for feeding of the pack.
The process is of course much easier if you only have one dog to give the herbal mixture to. Then you just take a table spoon of herbs including a bit of the water and mix it into your dog´s food.


Get a scoop that fits one table spoon and leave it in the jar for practical use around the kennel.

HERBAL BLEND FOR FEMALES IN HEAT RECIPE:

4 kontryhel leaves
2 kontryhel stems with flowers
4 yarrow leaves
2 yarrow flowers
8 raspberry leaves (the raspberry leaves grow in a group of usually three to five together. I use eight of these leaf "groups" for the mixture)

This amount will last one dog for about a week, if fed 1-2x daily

To keep the herbs fresh, put them in a glass jar and pour cold fresh water over them. Close with a lid but not too tight to allow some air in.

If you have a multiple dog household as we do, and happen to have several females in heat at the same time (which is always the case at our kennel), you save a lot of time when preparing the mixture for them this way.

When adding the herbs to your dog´s food, use the water in which they soak as well, as some of the beneficial components from the herbs get released into the water.

Use 1 table spoon of mixture per dog once to twice a day.
For dogs smaller than 10kg (22lbs) use half amount
For dogs larger than 40kg (90lbs) double the amount

Store the mixture on a cool place, not exposed to direct sunlight. If you feel the water starts smelling bad or the herbs do not seem fresh anymore, throw it away and pick new ones.

Don´t forget to dry some and stock up also for winter use! Pick the herbs in the same ratio as described in the recipe, dry them, then chop them and mix thoroughly together. Store in a tightly closed jar away from sunlight. 
You can either prepare tea from them or just add them directly into your female´s food.

Do not feed this herbal mixture for longer period, than three weeks at once.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

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DogMa said...

Could you break down what you are saying each herb is doing? I want to use something in a 9 year old dog just rescued, not spayed,, may have had one litter, want to support her body and help prevent Pyometria. Also read people have luck with vitamin C to tolerance during a Pyometria attack - therefore I'm thinking used of a natural (NOT gmo/synthetic) vitamin C during this time might also be a good addition (For many reasons). I do this anyway to support joint and immune health.

DogMa said...

More - New research on why spaying and neutering our dogs can be very dangerous and unhealthy proposition. You'll see there's no real science behind it . See "spay/neuter: rethink" at www.LongLiveTheDogs.com

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