|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
Four Greys - Luckier Than Four Leaf Clovers! |
|
||||||||||||||||
|
VoI 10, issue 11 |
|
March 2006 |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
CALMING ANXIETY By Linda Brown This month's article includes three herbs: Passion Flower, Skullcap and Valerian. All three herbs do the same thing - calm anxiety. With thunderstorm season coming up, as well as July 4th shortly after, and for those pups that have separation anxiety - I thought this would be a good time to go over these herbs so you can make a choice on which one will work best for your companion. 1. Passion Flower - my personal favorite. Calms anxiety by soothing the central nervous system. It works almost instantly except for those severe cases of separation anxiety - then you need a few days for the herb to really get settled in your pet's system. Passion Flower is said to be nature's best tranquilizer. It is best for extreme emotional upset and severe anxiety. It will relieve muscle tension and nervous insomnia. It will also make your pet very relaxed, so don't give them the herb and then want them to go for a walk - let them rest so the herb can do it's job. Dosage: Start with one full eye dropper for the liquid extract or one 500mg capsule. It can be given up to 3 times per day - only as needed. For extreme cases, as in July 4th terror, start giving the herb one week in advance of the fireworks. This great herb can be given after major surgery to calm and help heal the dog. Passion Flower Caution: For us humans - it can make you sleepy so do not drive or try to be very active after taking passion flower. 2. Skullcap - This herb also has a calming effect on the body. Calms anxiety by anti-spasmodic. Widely used for stressed muscle pain, reducing nervous tension and insomnia. I used this herb personally for my greyhound, Casey, who suffered from grand mal seizures every 10 days. After starting him on the Skullcap, along with his prescribed medications, his seizures lessened in severity immensely. He was a much happier boy for the next 6 years. Dosage: one 500mg capsule twice daily. Or if you prefer liquid extract: one full eyedropper 2x daily. If you want to use this for a seizure dog - double the dose. It will take 3-4 days to get into the system. It normally does not cause drowsiness. 3. Valerian: As good as this herb is at doing what it does so well, it is my least favorite for animals. If the animal is already anxious, this herb will make it worse and have the exact opposite effect that you want. Valerian is dubbed (for humans) "the Valium of the nineteenth century". And because I have personally used it for my occasional insomnia, I can tell you without a doubt – it works. This herb smells like rotten eggs, so hold your breath while taking it! It will not 'return' as a horrible taste in your mouth. You can take up to 2 capsules before bedtime and wake up refreshed. Do not even try to go anywhere after taking this herb - you WILL want to sleep. For our pets it works best for the following scenario: If your pal hates car rides or vets - give him/her one 500mg Valerian capsule 2 hours before the scheduled ride/appointment. That should help calm the dog long enough for him/her to get through the trauma. However, passion flower will do the same thing - it's just not as potent as the Valerian. Valerian Caution: Taken in extremely high doses it can cause paralysis and weakening of the heartbeat. Therefore, do not take more than directed or with any other sedatives. All three of these herbs are safe when taken as directed. Monitor your pet the first couple of times you use any of the above herbs and increase/decrease dosage as needed. As always, you can call me at 719-845-0578 or e-mail greyspirit@earthlink.net with any questions or concerns before administering the herbs.
GREYHOUND ACUPUNCTURE? By Roger Deeringer Yes!! Acupuncture has been performed on animals since 600BC in China. Eastern, or Chinese medicine has been a growing alternative medical option for the past 50 years here in the United States and Western Europe. Acupuncture on humans has been effective in relieving pain and stress, and similar results have been observed in animals. The International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS) is holding acupuncture certifications in San Diego and the Needle Nose Crew has been helping by volunteering our Greyhounds as teaching aids. The students attend a week long seminar to learn the acupuncture procedure and needle points. The Greys allow the students to see where these points are located and give them the opportunity to identify the points as part of the learning lab. There are no needles used during this lab, just fingers or coffee sticks or even a pen or two. Most of our hounds become relaxed and a few just lie down and snooze. Of course there are a few who don’t want to have strangers poke at them, so those get to socialize in an X-pen holding area. I think a few of the restless ones object just enough to go into the pen for some snooze time and dream “Ha, got one over on him this time!” A session lasts about 30 minutes and the Greys get an Acupressure treatment out of the whole deal. Neo, my big White and Black, had his back problem relieved by the training exercise. As the instructor and then the students worked through the nerve points, Neo became more and more relaxed. When he got down from the table, his back twitch was less pronounced and he did not try to scratch as often as he had before. A few dogs went to the actual needle demonstration and the results were very good. There were 4 training seminars, in October, November, January and February. At each of these seminars there have been 20-25 Greys. Each dog does one to four 30 minute sessions during the 4 hour lab. The IVAS makes a donation to the NNC and then NNC matches the funds and distributes it to the rescue groups that each volunteer Greyhound was adopted from. In my opinion, the greatest benefit came from the vets themselves, as many of them had never worked with Greyhounds. Comments such as “They really are the most docile dogs I have handled” are very common. A few of the vets have taken our literature so they can follow up when they get back home. The students come from all over the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Most have only a rudimentary idea of the plight of the Greyhound, so we get a chance to educate the vets on Greyhound rescue. Working with the Needle Nose Crew volunteers, and the IVAS staff and students, has been a very rewarding use of my time. I have enjoyed the opportunity to observe the educational process and, as it turned out, another chance to spread the good Greyhound word. Any time such opportunities pop up, everyone, please check your busy calendars and see if you can volunteer a few hours. Rewards are the good feelings you get when you help someone reach a new understanding. Just one more adoption would be a super reward, and if that adoption is with a veterinary professional, that would be icing on the cake! IT’S TIME TO TAKE A WALK By Carole Oglesbee As hard as it might be to imagine, it is time to spring our clocks forward once again. The Daylight Savings Time change will take place on Sunday, April 2nd. That can only mean it is time to start our weekly walks around the lake! For those who have not joined us in past years, please consider grabbing your greys for an hour or so of relaxed social time. Starting on April 5th, we will hold our walks every Wednesday evening during Daylight Savings Time. We gather in Irvine at Barranca and Lake in the Lake Cafe parking lot. From there we walk clockwise around the north lake of the Woodbridge community. Our meeting time is 6:00PM, and we are usually finished up by about 7:00PM to 7:30PM. Since we usually have about a dozen to two dozen greys, we often end up talking about greyhound adoption to those we meet along the way. So please, pile your greyhounds into your vehicles and come out for a casual walk and loads of friendship. Unfortunately, we find it necessary to set some guidelines for our activity. Please understand that we do not want to dampen the fun we can all have on Wednesday evenings. However, we do need comply with a few courtesy facts if we are to continue this marvelous event. 1. Please be sure to have your greyhound or other breed dog on a standard six foot or shorter leash. No Flexies!! 2. Please be sure to have plenty of poop bags with you. As sure as not, if you bring one or two, your grey will decide three is the magic number for the evening. 3. If you have a high prey greyhound, please use a plastic practice muzzle on your grey and remain extremely aware of the small fluffies that we meet on a regular basis. 4. If you bring along a small dog for the walk, please remember that some of our greys are high prey. You will need to keep your distance from those greys for the protection of your own small friend. 5. Please try to stay to the right on the path. Our walk is around a private lake. We are guests of the Woodbridge Community and need to leave room for the residents who enjoy walking, skating and riding around their own neighborhood. If you want to pass on information about Wednesday evenings, just have friends log onto our web site at needlenosecrew.org. We have information on our events page for all to see. Come join in our fun and let your friends know about our event. Everyone is Welcome!!
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
Submit an article for publication. Send your story and pictures to: Editor, Needle Nose Notes 4857 Royce Road, Irvine, CA 92612 or, e-mail to:
|
|
Contributions and donations are always welcome. Please send to: Needle Nose Crew P.O. Box 3012, Laguna Hills, CA 92654-3012 for more information e-mail to:
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
