Guest Author - Denise Lacazette

Herbs for Pets is a wonderful, comprehensive book about caring for your pets through the use of herbs. Many herbals focus only on illness control, but this book covers herb use throughout a pet’s life including daily diet, pest control, and illness remedies. Many “human” herbals do not have as much information on the practice of herbal use as this book does!

The first chapter focuses on the principles involved in herbalism. It covers the preparation of herbs and the different ways you can use them. It covers using fresh herbs, capsules, tinctures, standard or glycerin-based extracts, water infusions, decoctions, oil infusions, poultices, salves, and fomentations. This chapter also covers the ethics involved in using herbs and when to take your pet to the veterinarian. The second chapter focuses on holistic practices for animals. The authors cover topics like commercial diets and supplemental nutrition. The third chapter is the Materia Medica which covers the herbs themselves. Information includes description, uses, how to grow, and what parts to use. The fourth chapter covers various ailments so you can reference the herbal use two ways (either by herb or by ailment). Chapter five covers alternative therapies that might be useful. Each chapter has additional reading material listed for the topic covered.

This book is a must-have if you use herbs at all. The preparation information is invaluable when dealing with exotic species because not all species can use capsules or alcohol-based extracts. The information on commercial foods mirrors many of my personal beliefs about raising animals and the diets we provide them; the ethics information also mirrors how I feel about our footprint on the natural world. Each chapter in this book is worthwhile on its own – together they make the most thorough and useful herbal text I have ever read. I have been collecting other herbals for years and this is going to replace several of them. If you are interested in herbs and their applications in animals I would definitely add this book to your collection.

Recommended: Yes
Species: All - emphasis on mammal

Herbs for Pets is available through Amazon.com.

Title: Herbs for Pets
Authors: Mary L. Wulff-Tilford & Gregory L. Tilford
Publisher: BowTie Press
Copyright: 1999
ISBN: 1-889540-64-1