Welcome to the Natural Health for People in Pets podcast, a show that aims to empower you with the knowledge and tools needed to take control of your own health and wellbeing, as well as providing health promoting strategies for the dogs in your life. The world of health and nutrition can be overwhelming, so what better way to understand what works and what doesn't, what's evidence-based and what's not, then to hear it from someone in the know.
So please welcome your host of the show, accredited Naturopath and nutritionist Nelle Cook. Welcome back to Natural Health for People and Pets. I'm co-host of the show, Glen Cook, but introducing the host with the most Nelle Cook. Hello everyone. Welcome back. Welcome back. Good to be back. And before we kick off the show, got a couple of announcements that we're gonna talk about. First up, our show sponsor or your show sponsor, I should say. We are proudly sponsored by Big Dog Pet Foods. Yes.
We are. And they're amazing. Like I always say, it's a great relationship. They believe in what I'm doing and I certainly believe in their product and what they're doing as a company. Mm. And that was super clear recently at my seminar. Absolutely. Which was fantastic and you absolutely killed it. Only a week and a bit ago we had the seminar at Dural in Sydney on all things Canine Nutrition Big Dog was an amazing sponsor of the event with giving everyone a free box of Big Dog Raw Patties,
a container of their amazing probiotic. It's. Very exciting. Yeah. That was great. The seminar was a huge success. The feedback I got was really good. So really happy with the way the day went. Yeah. Subsequently, what we should mention is that we got onto Big Dog by feeding it to our own dogs. Yeah. Our dogs absolutely love Big Dog and I love the convenience of it. So with three French Bulldogs, if anyone's looked in the mouth of a French bulldog and seen their teeth,
you can't even call them teeth. They're just little nubs . Like when I compare it to our shepherds that have proper bangs. It feels like teeth when Pixel gets me on the foot. Mm. They. Have their moments. That's just like a crushing force though. It's not like ripping and shredding, but I always worry about whole raw bones. I know you can give French bulldogs like whole raw, meaty bones, but ours just seem to be so special that we always end up at the vet with different things.
So I love that I can give them big dog raw patties and all the bone is crushed up so I don't have to stress about choking hazards in my French Bulldogs. And our German shepherds love it too. They do. I mean they get their all mini bones, but they do, they love the big dog as well. Mm-hmm. In addition to Big Dog being amazing with supporting my seminar, Anol Australia were also just as generous. So they provided everyone with a free bottle of Anol Rapid. Mm-hmm. and some prizes.
And we also had lots of goodies from Seawee Peak as well for everyone who attended. So a really amazing array of generosity, not only from our show sponsor Big Dog Pet Foods, but also Anol Rapid and Seawee Peak. Yep. We use all that on our dogs. We do. Yeah. Which is, I mean, which is why I form relationships with these people because I love all their products. Absolutely agree. So if anyone wants more information about Big Dog Pet Foods or any of their
products, jump onto their website. Mm-hmm. big dog Pet foods.com. They've got amazing resources there and you know, like their Facebook page, there's always really engaging information on their Facebook page as well. Yep. Alright, so coming up, we have another seminar proposed in Brisbane. So you're gonna do your one day and I'm gonna do a one day or as well. Yeah, this. Was planned for 2020 and got COVID canceled. Mm. But there's always been interest for us to come up to Brisbane.
So I'll be doing a day on canine nutrition similar to what we did in Sydney. I usually just tweak everyone to sort of match the feedback I got. Yep. And then Glen will be doing a full day on canine aggression and things around that. That's right. We don't have dates confirmed. It'd be in September. Yeah. Towards the end of the year. We're looking forward to that. It'd be great to catch up with Think Sue War is organizing it up there and we're
looking forward to catching up with Sue and the gang from Brisbane. So, um. Just some warmer weather would be nice. Yeah. Absolutely. Looking forward to it. So excited to support us the first time round and I think the show booked out and sold out the first time we were going there and silly covid happened. All right. Enough Jibber jabber. Yep. Let's talk about your subject and I think we're talking about liquid herbs. Are we?
We are. So it's something that I've, you know, with my human clients I've been using for years and years, like liquid herbal tonics and more recently with my dog clients. But I've always just for some reason just kept it to the clients that I see personally in clinic because it's just easier to make up the formulas then and there on the spot.
But recently I've been getting more inquiries from my distance consult people about liquid herbs, just asking more questions and following on from the seminar, just recently a few people approached me just again asking questions about liquid herbs and what they could use for their dog based on the health condition that they were suffering from. So I thought I would talk a little bit about it today because there's no reason that I can't send my liquid herbs far and wide across the country.
But I just thought I'd explain, you know, why I like them and some of them the more popular types of formulas that I use in clinic with a focus on dogs today. Mm. Hey, before you kick off, have you ever heard people saying that herbs don't work. In my profession? , I hear a lot of that doesn't work, whether it's herbs or just the whole principle of natural medicine in general. I think. It's crazy and it's kind of funny that people say things like that.
Like a lot of modern day medicine has come from herbs. If you study what shamans and medicine men and women around the world have done pre, you know, all this scientific development, I mean a lot of it was derived from herbs and the like. Aspirin.
Aspirin. Exactly. But you know, like I remember somebody on the internet where all arguments come from professional people and uh, somebody was raising the fact that, you know, like herbs don't work and somebody else chimed in and said, ever smoked marijuana or taken magic mushrooms before, go do that and then tell me herbs don't work. And I thought, wow, that is actually a profound statement and a good one to make because let's not talk about psychedelics and and the like,
but let's just talk about herbs in general. I mean it's around the world. Uh, there. Are for thousands and thousands of years like the traditional use of so many different herbs and if they didn't work, you wouldn't have that such an extensive traditional use to draw upon. That's right. Like that evidence. It's really interesting. So when I was at uni, so I've done a lot of herbal medicine study and I've, my study's been specific to western herbal medicine as opposed to Chinese herbal
medicine. It's still on my to-do list to one day study Chinese herbs. Mm-hmm. . So watch this space Glen. Okay. Yep. More study. More. Study. So when I was at uni studying my bachelor of health science in naturopathy, when we did clinic hours a lot of the time we shared that space with students doing the bachelor of health science in nutritional medicine. Mm-hmm. .
So as naturopaths we study all of the nutritional subjects that the nutritional medicine students study, but we do herbs on top of it. So that's sort of the extra element that naturopaths have that nutritionists don't study. But because nutritionists don't study herbs, the universities are really strict. So when we're in clinic, the nutritionists we're never allowed to prescribe anything
herbal to their clients. Like even something as simple as turmeric, and I say simple, but there are certain health conditions where even turmeric's contraindicated.
So it just drives me, I guess this is one of my soapbox topics where students studying bachelor's degree in nutrition can't even recommend turmeric to a client when there's all these random people on social media and all these, you know, m L M people just randomly pushing products with herbs in them without truly understanding just how powerful they are.
And herbs are really powerful and they should in some instances be considered and used cautiously in the same way that you would consider or use pharmaceutical medications. Mm-hmm. because they do have powerful effects on a lot of the metabolic processes in the body and particularly the liver phase one and phase two detoxification pathway. So lots of instances where even herbs that we think are super safe and benign can really mess with someone's health or a dog's health. Mm-hmm.
Let me talk about why I do like liquid herbs and I, what I love is I've started using liquid herbs a lot more for dogs and I find it's so much easier to give them to dogs than to my human clients. And Glen, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about here, because as humans we are so particular about the taste of things, everything's gotta taste nice and someone could be dying in my office and if what I prescribe them could save their life, I mean this is exaggerating,
but it tasted bad. Yeah. They'd probably say to me, no, I'm not taking that because it tastes so bad. I'm like, but you know, this is gonna fix your problem. But it's just human nature. If it tastes bad, there's no compliance. Like there's poor compliance. And I must say liquid herbs. Generally don't taste great. Are pretty manky on the taste department. Do you know, that drew me back in time to when we first met Michael, who is an ologist. Was he audiologist? Yeah, he was an audiologist.
So he was an ologist and he was really into liquid herbs and like his whole office was literally wall to wall liquid herbs and he'd mix 'em up on the spot for you. And I remember the, one of the first times I went to see him, he said, you are just loaded with unhealthy bacteria and mm-hmm. You know, I'm gonna give you some stuff which is basically going to eradicate it. Cleanse. Yeah, cleanse. And he said, but be warned,
some pretty heavy toilet time is coming. , I literally felt like everything from my eyebrows down came out. I know that's pretty gross, but But. It's the taste it takes. Oh I was gonna get, I'm, I was getting to that, sorry. Like the taste was absolutely diabolical. Like to the point where I had to hold my nose to be able to, to drink it. It's not only the smell of it but also the taste of it was pretty wretched.
But I've gotta say I'd tried everything at that point in time, like all modern medicine and all the quotation marks, science that was directed my way and nothing was working. And it was amazing that once Michael hit me up with this stuff, it was incredible the transformation it had on me. You know, like I was getting shakes and I was getting eyebrow twitches and all sorts of things. Like I was really in a bad way. And uh, I reckon six weeks into this program, and again Michael warned me,
he said a flu-like symptom's gonna hit you pretty bad. He said, you'll be pretty much two or three days with cramps and headaches and everything like that. He was pretty much on the knock. It was two days on the couch sweating. And he said, unfortunately this is part of the detoxification that your body's gonna have to go through. But amazing and profound. Yeah. That's how I would label it. And look. Back then like 20 odd years ago, my dad was the biggest skeptic. Yeah. Because,
you know, I wasn't doing what I was doing now back then. Absolutely. And we convinced my dad to see Michael as well and he was. Because he had gout and everything, didn't he? Oh yeah. He just went in there thinking it's just a whole lot of garbage. And it was such a miraculous turnaround of his health. Even he was just converted and he was very evangelistic about it, like preaching to all his friends that they need to go see this guy.
And you know, everyone was asking what he was doing, but I guess we are sort of digressing. Well not really 'cause it's relevant because there is a lot of, maybe not on your show so much, but there is a heap of skepticism out there about herbs and mm-hmm. Neither of one of us is into the woo of anything. But having tried it and being on the other end of it and seeing how well it worked, like weight loss, health, returning like a bunch of things that you wouldn't have thought was practical.
I think that's the essence of the message that I think we're trying to get through today, is that this stuff is really beneficial and it does work. Oh. There's so much science now. I mean with the technology we have, I mean they just pull apart substances, you know, down to all the, you know, individual active constituents and all the, the compounds. So a lot of what's in herbs is well-documented now. Mm-hmm.
I mean it's always expanding the science, but it's pretty hard to deny a lot of the beneficial properties these days. Mm-hmm. So when we're talking about herbs, herbs can come in powdered form, they can be in capsules or tablets or liquids, which is what we're focusing on today. And one of the reasons I love liquids so much and all my dogs get their liquid herbs pretty much on a daily basis depends what's going on with each of them.
Mm-hmm. And I must say most liquid herbs are extracted with an alcohol solution. And a lot of people when they hear that, they sort of cringe and go, oh alcohol, that can't be good. And it's sort of, it's like an oxymoron, you know, you're giving a healthy herd, but it's in alcohol and people think, well isn't that detrimental? But it's not. The beauty of an alcohol extracted herbal mixture is that not all beneficial compounds in a plant are water soluble.
So there's so many awesome active constituents, they're called in plant matter that you can only access by putting them in something like alcohol. Mm-hmm. . And that way you get like a full spectrum, full extraction of all of all the goodness. So that's great. And when we talk about, particularly with my human clients, when I'm talking about the alcohol content, I guess I'll just jump ahead. One of the beautiful things about liquid herbs is they're so concentrated.
Mm-hmm. , you only need tiny, tiny amounts. So even a human sort of body size dose of a liquid herb they say contains the amount of alcohol that you might find naturally in a super ripe banana. Mm-hmm. . So when you put it into perspective like that, who wouldn't hesitate to eat if, you know, unless you don't like overripe bananas, but we don't think too much about the natural fermentation alcohols that get formed in food. Mm-hmm.
So that's where a human dose and the dog doses are so much tinier than what I give my human. So if you're worried about your dog's overall health by having an alcohol-based herbal tonic, you don't have to be worried. Primarily what you're saying is don't focus on something that's a non-issue. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. . And the other great thing about liquid herbs as opposed to say capsules or tablets in particular, is our bodies and our dog's bodies can absorb them like super quickly.
So in our mouths and in our, like our tongue and in our cheeks, like inside our mouth, we've got all of these capillaries. So when we take a liquid herbal tonic, that gets pretty much immediately drawn up into the bloodstream. Mm-hmm. , which is why people might be familiar with sublingual vitamin B 12. That's probably the most common example on the market.
And sublingual means it's designed to be dissolved under the tongue so it gets taken directly into the bloodstream because a lot of people with vitamin B 12 deficiency can have compromised digestion and you know, things going on with their gut that just doesn't allow their body to absorb B 12 the way it should. So by taking it in the mouth under the tongue, it's bypassing digestion. Mm-hmm. . So it's the same with our dogs.
If I've got a dog with compromised gut health, which most do, the beauty of using liquid herbs is that I know they're gonna get a powerful hit of that tonic without having to go through digestion. Like they don't have, their gut doesn't have to break down a tablet or a capsule. It doesn't have to go through all of those processes to have the health benefit. So that's another awesome reason that I use liquid herbs. Coming back to the alcohol is a great preservative.
So the shelf life of any product you buy that's preserved in alcohol, I mean we all know all the top shelf alcohols that sit there for years and years and are still fine in terms of like a good whiskey. Like a good whiskey. Mm-hmm.
. So, you know, I love that in terms of knowing that if I make up a formula and it's for a particular condition for a dog or a human and then that condition resolves, but they've still got something there, tonic left that might sit there for, you know, can sit there for five years and still be absolutely good to go. Great. So that's another great thing about the alcohol mm-hmm.
and as a naturopath and a herbalist using liquids gives you the creative ability to formulate an individual mix based on like the dog that I'm seeing or the person that I'm seeing. So you are not sort of restricted by a preset formula, which is really handy for what I do. I. Like the one you make up for me, the stress formula with Astra Garla and so forth in it. Yeah. There's lots of goodies in there. Mm-hmm. And that's the thing, as you know, your health changes over time.
I can top it up with a different herb to sort of address a new issue. I just love it. Like, it's so interesting how you can just tweak formulas to match the moment. Mm. Which is really good. And the other great thing is it's so much easier to dose up or down. So when I'm prescribing herbal tablets, I might say to a dog animal, you're gonna need to cut like a third of that tablet off. And tablets, a lot of them are bulked up with fillers which don't agree with everyone and you
know every dog as well. Mm-hmm. if there's super sensitive. Yep. But the liquids, I can say to a, a dog owner looks literally start with five drops in a day, which is tiny amount and the dogs usually don't taste it when it's mixed into their food. Mm-hmm. .
So you can dose down if I've got a dog and we're gonna talk about some of the more popular formulas, but if I've got a dog that's really anxious in sort of acute situations, but not too bad at other times, we can sort of do a, a low maintenance dose, you know, generally, and then in the lead up to an acute known trigger, we can increase the dose quite easily. Mm-hmm. So maybe that's a good segue.
Okay. To talk about some of the more popular liquid herbal formulas that people ask for or that I, I recommend in clinic, why. Not? Let's do it. And. I should say the liquid herbs I use are human grade, which is really important to me. Like I'm all about quality assurance and the company that I use, they sustainably source their herbs, they make sure they test every batch to make sure there's no adulteration.
So people may not realize that a lot of herbs look similar and when they're tested, their footprint can come up similar depending on the technology used. Some companies can put in like a cheaper herb in place of a more expensive herb, things like that. So the beauty of using like a human quality liquid herb is they have to meet quite stringent T G A quality assurance. Mm-hmm. . Who's T G A tell the listeners who teach the. Therapeutic goods association mm-hmm. .
So in Australia supplements, the humans are regulated by the TGA A, so they're one of the strictest in the world for quality control. I know in the US it's a lot more lax, even though they've got the F D A, you know, a lot more gets through, particularly in supplements I was reading recently with some herbal supplements in the us if they're marketed towards say like libido or weight loss, companies are actually putting in pharmaceutical drugs to get the effect they
want. But saying it's a herbal product, right. Which is just crazy and so dangerous. There's a lot of contamination. I mean, tur mix notorious for being adulterated with fillers that are toxic, like toxic colors and like lead-based things. Mm-hmm. . That's just diabolical, isn't it? Yeah. And unfortunately anywhere in the world the animal supplements are even more poorly regulated than human supplements, which is why I tend to stick to the human supplements for my dog clients.
So it's a good idea to ask questions about the quality and the handling and the componentry that goes into your herbs, I guess. Absolutely. And like the company I use, they test it every stage when they get the raw materials when it's made up and then six months, 12 months, two years to make sure that that use by date still has the potency of the active constituents that they're claiming It does. Yeah. Good to know.
And just because like a herb is listed on the label, you need to know that it's got the right part that's got the right actions for what you're treating. So it could be the root, the leaf, the fruit, the flowers, you know, depending on, on the herbing question, you know, the root might be the most beneficial part, but if it's cheaper to put the leaf in or the whole plan or you know, whatever, then you are not gonna get the results that you're expecting.
So I feel like I'm rambling, but that's because I'm so passionate about herbs. Quality. And quality herbs. Because there's no point as a practitioner in prescribing something if you're not gonna get the result that you're after. Yeah. I remember listening to you on your seminar talking about, and I think you've done it on here before, where you've talked about the importance of some of the krill that we're getting or some of the fish oils that we're getting and so forth.
And we're not gonna go into that because it's in another episode. But the base of it was is that just because you've got a massive bulk by jar of it Mm. It can be severely contaminated or rancid. Yeah. Fish oils a big one for contamination. And I mean lots of nasties in it if it's not a high quality product. But that's not herbs. We're not talking about fish oils, we're talking about herbs. No, but I do have to do a whole Omega three podcast.
I keep getting asked for it, but it's so massive. Yeah. To do it well. Mm-hmm. . But everyone watch this space, it will come. Okay. Good. I'm gonna talk about four products that I use pretty regularly with my dogs and that are, I commonly prescribe to clients. Mm-hmm dogs, the formulas get tweaked, you know, a little bit here and there depending on the individual dog. The first one I wanna talk about is just absolutely fundamental as part of
ladybug's recovery. So for anyone who doesn't know, ladybug is our French bulldog who had. Listen to the episode, what happened to Ladybug. Yep. Episode. Two. Mm-hmm. from memory, do listen to the episode. She went through a whole spinal surgery and trauma that she's recovered amazingly from. Yep. And then had a relapse accident and had to go almost. Not back to the beginning. Well not back to the beginning, but it wasn't looking good for her at one stage because she injured herself
through some rough play. Mm. And she got some swelling around her discs and everything like that. But thanks to Noelle's, great work and Neil Barnsley mm-hmm. , who's our acupuncturist. Yep. And even our faithful vet Jane. Yep. We got everything back on track again and she's back to her happy self and um, manic. Manic again. . Oh she does our head, we just can't dampen her spirit. No. Doesn't matter what happens. No, she's just on the go.
So the first formula that I use for ladybug post-surgery for her, and this is something I recommend and I prescribe this a lot because for any dog that's had surgery or any tissue injury or wounds of any description, whether they're fresh or chronic and not healing well, the ingredients, the herbs in this formula are just amazing. So this was an absolute staple. I still use it for ladybug, but this particularly post-surgery for humans or dogs. But we're talking about dogs today, the herbs in it.
I'll just touch on the herbs and why I put them in there and, and then when you might wanna use something like this, but things like got your cola and I'm only gonna use the common names. No one needs to know the botanical names, but it'll all be on my website. Yeah. People wanna see that. But things like got Chicola is just the go-to herb for anything to do with tissue healing and repair. So it's anti-inflammatory. So that's a major sort of barrier to healing. Mm-hmm. from injury.
It's great for any skin problems and it helps with blood flow. So you know, if tissues are gonna heal adequately, you've gotta, like, your circulation has to be really good to get the blood to the injured site and to help get all that dead cellular debris away from the injury site. Mm-hmm. TriCal is also really awesome for collagen synthesis. So any cutting into the body, we need to repair the tissue.
So that's really important part of it. And to reduce scarring, I mean, it's probably not as a bigger deal for dog clients as my human clients that go through surgery, but that's still important if we can minimize any scarring, particularly internal scarring. Mm-hmm. , which can cause issues down the track if it doesn't heal. Right. The other ingredient, maritime pine, which it's such an important herb, but it's not as well known like it's in the human health supplements.
And the reason is it's full of what's called oligomeric Pro Anthocyanins. Goodness me. I know OPCs is what the abbreviation is. Yeah. I'd rather say that we're down with O P C . Alright. That's, But they're like super powerful antioxidants. Well they have an antioxidant action in the body. So anything that reduces free radical damage is important. It's also antibacterial antiviral, anti allergenic, which is so big for so many dogs.
This is a really broad spectrum herb that you can use across multiple different conditions. Rose hips is something I use in my formulas. It's a really potent source of vitamin C. So most people will be familiar with rose hips through rose hip vital. Mm-hmm. , we've spoken about that before too, because we question them about the human and the dog versions. Yep. Whether they're the same and they are, people often say,
well why does a dog need vitamin C? Because they can make their own vitamin C. But when their body's under stress or has been injured, the metabolic processes get up regulated and the requirements for all nutrients, not just vitamin C increases dramatically. So often the dog's body after a trauma, their natural production just can't keep up with the demands of the body to sort of heal and repair itself. And the other thing I put in my tissue healing formula is grape seed extract.
Again, that's something that people read and tend to freak out about, but grape seed extract is different to grapes. Yep. And it's not toxic to dogs. Again, it's full of the OPCs. Yep. Really powerful antioxidant. It improves blood flow. So helps with circulation grape for dogs with swollen joints or any sort of fluid or swelling in that sense. And just for helping to stabilize connective tissue. So yeah, dogs that are prone to cruciate ligament injuries. Mm-hmm. ,
that's a great herb for them. And just any sort of wound healing generally, it's also good for cataracts. Just as an aside, okay. With my tissue healing and repair formula, any injury to your dog, I had a friend whose dog cut his head open and straight away I'm like, okay, you need this formula. And the reason was is because it had all of these amazing herbs in it to help
heal that. So that's all about tissue healing and repair. And you know, a lot of dogs, I guess I see a certain type of dog client, but often they've had surgeries mm-hmm. or are going in for surgery. So that's a really big part of what I do. Tissue healing and repair. Great. But what goes really well with this, and you know, again,
ladybug was on this formula, is liver detox. Because anything, you know, when a dog's going through surgery and they've got the anesthetics and you know they're getting medications and drugs, I mean that's a burden to the body and the liver particularly. But just day to day our dogs are exposed to so many environmental toxins because they're at ground height.
Anything on the ground they get exposed to on the carpets, you know, furniture, they're just, they're in such close contact with everything. So even if a dog doesn't have like a diagnosed liver condition, and it's the same with my human clients, I think everyone needs liver support on a daily basis. Mm-hmm. simply because of the lifestyles that we live. And it's the same with our dogs and dogs that are fed, uh, kibble based diet.
Not all kibble, but there are some poorer quality kibbles that have a lot of artificial synthetic ingredients and nasties in it that again are a burden to the dog's liver. Mm-hmm. So coming out of ladybug surgery that was full on for her poor little body. Yeah. There was a lot. She was on a plethora of antibiotics and mood stabilizers and everything. It was really crazy what she was on for a good couple of weeks. And that's only when we got her home. That's not included.
Everything she had to have for the, I think she was almost there in a month at the veterinary clinic. Oh gosh. It's over a year ago now. But it was pretty traumatic. So yeah, liver support is fundamental for health for us and our dogs. And the beautiful thing about the liver herbs that I use and I went through the tissue healing herbs, but I won't get through all the herbs for the products that I love and are the
most popular because all of that will be on my website. Mm. So people can read about, you know, the individual ingredients, the individual herbs. And all the contraindications that you've put up there as well. I noticed that you went the extra mile for everybody. It doesn't make sense not to caution people because not everything is right for every person or every dog. So. That's the scientist in you, in your regulatory affairs background.
Well it's not just doctors that sort of take an oath of, you know, first do no harm. It's part of sort of the naturopathic philosophy. Like we don't have to swear a formal oath, but it's just an understanding that above everything else doesn't matter what we do, we first do no harm. Yep. So that is the bottom line with the way I practice. Yeah. And it's good. I liked it when you showed me the setup of what you've put up there. I thought that was really professional and obligatory. Technically.
I don't have to put up any sort of warnings or cautions for people. I think. People should, I think it should be, I think it should be a minimum standard, don't you? I do. Like, I mean you've just gone through a really detailed response of how important it is to source your herbs or any sort of medication that you're giving to animals. Mm-hmm from somebody who's regulated and does have strict and stringent standards through people like the T G A or the AAV P M A. Close but no cigar. AP, V M A.
AP V M A. Yep. Which means. Oh gosh, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Association. Mm-hmm. If I've got it right. Yep. But yeah, liver support, like I said, any dog that's had an uh, anesthetic vaccinations is undergoing chemotherapy, they can help recovery from that. But liver supportive herbs also help with digestion. So if you've got a dog that's like very gassy or bloated or prone to constipation, then supporting the liver and the gallbladder is just
absolutely key. So that's a really good product for, I mean that's a great everyday product for every dog supporting the liver. Yep. Like I said, I put all my human clients on liver support for wellbeing. One of the other most popular herbal formulas that I prescribe is immune support. Mm-hmm. , again, human clients, the lifestyles that we live, we're just all running on stress and adrenaline and poor diets and alcohol and
sugar. That's what we're all running on. Yep. So immune support, particularly in these days with generally not allowed to say the C word as a health practitioner, particularly a natural health practitioner. Mm-hmm. . But, um, I'll just say it once so you know what I'm talking about. But covid, so you know, it's even more important for us to maintain a healthy immune system. Mm-hmm. , but our dogs as well.
A lot of dogs that come and see me are just struggling to recover from just chronic conditions, whether it's chronic disease, chronic infection, chronic wounds and injuries that are just not resolving immune support broadly. Yep. Is really important in those instances. And my immune support formula is based on mushrooms. Mm-hmm. mushrooms, Astro, which is one of your favorite herbs. Mm-hmm. and with Thania. So in the naturopathic world, within Thania is often described as a hug, A hug, a hug.
It just makes people feel better and makes our dogs feel better. So it's like getting a big hug Ah, and you just go, ah, you know, the world is a better place. For some reason I respond well with Astra as yeah, it seems to really have a positive effect on me, especially when I'm feeling miserable. It's been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine. Mm-hmm. Like it originally, you know, that was, and still is like one of their main herbs as a tonic for vitality and stamina.
But it's then sort of flowed into Western herbs and is now one of western herbal medicine's main go-to herbs for wellness. Right. Just generally mm-hmm. . Um, but also great. Like it's a great tonic. You know, the immune support tonic that I've put together is great for older dogs. Like just supporting that vitality and that stamina in, in our senior dogs. Again great for any dogs undergoing conventional cancer treatments. Uh,
really important. While the majority of dogs are overweight or obese, I still get a small number of dogs as clients that are severely underweight and the owners are just really struggling to get weight on them and to keep it on them. So the immune support formula actually can help support those dog's immune systems when they're malnourished and they're not sort of thriving, it just helps to bring them back up. Mm-hmm. from that chronic position.
And then just the last one I wanna touch on is super common and that's all around stress and anxiety. Okay. Yeah, that's a big one. The herbs in here are so lovely just for sort of reducing those common symptoms. And again, this is a beautiful thing about liquid herbs. It could be mild stress and anxiety right. Up to quite severe stress and anxiety. You just dose it accordingly. Mm-hmm. , which is really nice. So it can be used longer term.
This is one that I've used for pixel. Yep. One of our little friend, she's, I mean she's a great dog, but she's a bit of a nervy. Yep. Yeah. She's a stress head dog. It's not problematic for us, but just, you know, there are some days where I think she just needs to have the edge taken off her a little bit. Mm-hmm. So this is something that I'll give to her really safe. You know, things like chamal and passion flower, so just great for children.
So they're traditionally used a lot for children's hyperactivity and anxiousness and you know, insomnia and sort of calming kids down in that regard. Withania, there's that hug. Mm-hmm. again. And so they're just really lovely nerve vines, what's called nerve vines, which literally just help to bring the nervous system down from that fight or flight response.
And then there's a couple other herbs I use in there that are a bit more potent, but I use them in smaller doses so it's not a sedating mm-hmm. formula. But it's just really great for anytime that your environment changes. If you've got a dog that's super reactive to car travel or to fireworks, if you get a new pet, you know, you might use this at a low dose in the lead up to getting the new pet just to help that existing dog cope a little bit better. Yep.
Dogs that are sort of restless at night, it's great for any manic, hyperactive dog when it's not the behavior that you want, but if you've got a breed that's naturally manic like a border collie mm-hmm. , like you don't use something like this to bring them down because you chose the wrong breed of dog. Mm-hmm. , does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. So for people who have actual behavioral problems with their dog, and that's the thing, it's not just one treatment approach.
These formulas that I use every day, every week in my clinic for my dog and human clients, it's one tool in my treatment toolbox. So, you know, if you've got a dog with anxiety, yes the liquid herbs will absolutely help to sort of support that dog's nervous system. But you may also need to to work in with a tr a trainer mm-hmm. or a behaviorist to sort of deal with the bigger picture of of what's going on. And the great thing is a lot of these herbs can help make the dog more
manageable in that training environment. Yeah. That's good advice. So what are these herbs called? What are their names? Well. It's pretty straightforward. . Yep. Sorry, I tried to make it like really obvious what each formula is for. So I've got the anxiety and stress support for dogs. Mm-hmm. , we've got immune support for dogs and these are all for dogs because cats are so particular with what they can tolerate and what's safe Yep. For cats.
So something that's completely safe for dogs can kill a cat pretty quickly. Right. Liver and detox support for dogs. Mm-hmm. and tissue healing and repair for dogs. So, you know, you can't really get them mixed up. Yep. So what I've done, I guess, and the whole point of today is that I am moving towards things that I just kept sort of in-house and in my clinic for people who saw me in person with Covid. You know, it's so hard for people to get to me in person these days.
I don't wanna do them a disservice by not being able to provide them with the best treatment approach. Yep. So you're selling this all around Australia? Yes. Only Australia though. Yep. So not overseas. Mm-hmm. due to the legalities of herbal medicines going overseas. Yep. And like I said, these are just four of the main ones I use on a regular basis.
But you know, there's a whole wide range of different formulas that I use and over time I'll start adding ladybugs prone to urinary tract infections into her spinal injury. So I've got a formula for UTIs, which I give at the first signs of anything happening with her. Yep. I often get dogs with fungals, scabby skin conditions. So you know, there's a formula for that. I've got dogs with allergies, so there's a formula for that.
So if people are interested in conditions that aren't covered with what we've spoken about today, you know, you just need to message me because I can certainly put that together. It's just about making the label really. Yeah. In terms of the practicalities of it, I've got all the liquid herbs sitting in my clinic dispensary ready to go. Fantastic. So hundreds of clients can't be wrong. Where can they find it? Jump. Onto my website, natural health and nutrition.com au. Mm-hmm. ,
go to my shop. Yeah. And you'll see there's a tab for liquid herbs. Mm-hmm. . And just click on the picture and you'll get a lot more detail about each formula, what's in the formula herbal wise, what conditions you would consider using the herbs for all the dosage instructions and like I said, tiny doses for dogs. And you'd always start at the lower dose to assess how your dog responds and to
get them used to the taste. Most of the dogs don't mind, but you know, if you've got a super fussy dog, you might need to start with a half of the recommended dose, which might be a couple of drops. Yep. As Glen said, there's some safety information there for when you wouldn't give the herbs or when you might need to chat to your vet about them. Okay. So it's exciting. It is. Very exciting.
Like I said earlier, I'm really passionate about herbs and I think they're so powerful and potent and really do have a place in the treatment of, you know, all sorts of health conditions. Well, as I've said before, I'm not one for the woowoo and it definitely works on me. It's worked on me for, again, ever since I met Michael and all the stuff that you make up for me, it has an effect on me. And also I know it works on me.
'cause sometimes we have to regulate the dose for me as well. Mm-hmm. Like, there are times where sometimes this is too strong for me and I have to get you to scale it back a little bit. So it's worked on ladybug, it's worked on Opie, it's worked on Pixel, it's worked on Randy, and it's working on macho. So, oh, that. Was the other thing I, because macho being a puppy, he had a few bouts of diarrhea Yes. In his first six months of life. So I've got a diarrhea formula as well. Yep.
That's just, yes. You went and took a lot of photos and showed me a morning breakdown of machos diarrhea patterns. Well, it's important. it. Is, is important. Um, when you go to the vet and you're trying to describe Poo, it's so much easier to show them your phone and say, this is. This is the, the history of the poo. Consistency of his diarrhea. Yeah. All right. Let's wind it up there, huh? Yeah. So any questions, please jump onto my Facebook page,
natural Health for People and Pets. If you've got any questions, you can email me at nelle at natural health and nutrition.com au. And like I said, first place to go to find out more is my website. Mm-hmm. natural health and nutrition.com au. Thanks everyone.