What is veterinary herbal medicine?
Herbal medicine in veterinary medicine involves looking at and supporting the whole patient, rather than just focussing on the disease or symptoms alone. All aspects of the patient are examined, including diet, lifestyle, their emotional state, and their physical wellbeing.
What to expect
Each patient will have a herbal formula chosen after a detailed and extensive consultation, usually lasting 1 - 1.5 hours and often involving acupuncture. Herbs are commonly used alongside the conventional medications. Herbs are usually given as a granule, or powder-like substance which can be added to the food to facilitate treatment. These granules are usually highly concentrated during the producing of them and so a smaller amount is needed than if they were neat herbs.
Further information
When giving herbs, often it is found that improvements can be more gradual in onset than in western medicine treatments. A followup appointment is usually scheduled for 2-3 weeks after starting herbs to reassess the patient and determine if it is appropriate to continue with the initial formula, if a slight ‘tweaking’ of the formula is required, or if a different tangent needs to be followed as we start to unravel or ‘unpeel the layers’ of the pathology that is taking place.
It is really important to use a vet who is trained in herbal medicine and is obtaining them from a safe source so that the herbs are of therapeutic grade and produced under good manufacturing practice. It is a mistake to consider herbs to be safe as they can have side effects and potential contraindications, but when prescribed correctly they are generally safe and very effective.