Posting here about dogs again - I hope that is ok! I have a client that is looking to forage and use native plant species to help treat his dog for an anticipated allergic flare up in August. She is a 4 year old female spayed Great Pyrenees. She gets red/itchy dry skin and ears every year in August. She gets extremely pruritic and has been prescribed pharmceuticals to treat this in the past. She is relatively stable the rest of the year - although in reading through her history from the referring doc the ear issues (yeast otitis) seem to be a problem in the winter as well. Although cytology was negative yesterday. She looks quite stable at the moment with healthy skin and hair coat. I see some signs of what I think are underlying liver blood deficiency with heat - low normal hematocrit/RBC count, dream disturbed sleep, prefers to lay on cold hard floor/drink cold water - I am basing these interpretations on advice from my TCVM mentor. I was thinking that starting an antihistamine protocol early to mid-July might be a good idea but I don't really know how to guide them using native plant species as I really haven't done much of this myself....we are in Southern Ontario. Nettles are relatively easy to find around here - maybe they could make a decoction/tea with leaves? and start this in early July along with an OTC antihistamine? What are your thoughts? I personally would just dispense a bottle of nettles tincture ;) I also remember you mentioning a combination of milk thistle, burdock seed and gotu kola for dry itchy red skin issues. Would this be something that you would start before a flare up? or wait until we see early signs? I feel like this is going to be a really cumbersome process to do on their own (ie. handling burdock seeds!!) but they wanted to try... If they decide to take a tincture home, I have milk thistle, gotu kola and burdock root tinctures in stock but have been unable to find burdock seed tincture (despite my employer having access to multiple herb suppliers here in Canada). Is there anything that I could use to replace the burdock seed? Or use the burdock root along with something more moistening? I thought maybe marshmallow (cool and moistening - but not sure it helps with skin issues)? I just started the dog on fish oils, Real Mushrooms 5 Defenders and have made some dietary adjustments to make it more anti-inflammatory and antioxidant rich - this is the beauty of working with dogs....most of the time they will eat whatever you put in front of them and as pet owners we have complete control over diet (usually...) LOL The other thought that I had was treating with a combination of Astragalus and Dan Gui - to boost the Wei Qi (prevent allergies) and build the blood (treat underlying liver blood def). There are so many options. I am having a hard time landing on the optimal choice!! And likely a combination of things would work best... I would appreciate any advice you can provide Thank you Dana

Dang Gui**

Nettles is not really very effective for this, it is nice the person wants to use local plants, but that is very limiting, use what works. I would use immune amphoterics. For dry, itchy red skin issues I would add Sarsaparilla, Turmeric and Yellow Dock to the Milk Thistle, Burdock seed and Gotu Kola, these 6 herbs would be a very good starting formula. I would start 6-8 weeks before it gets hot and humid, which may be the triggers for the flare. I cannot speak to Canada but H & A makes Burdock seed tincture and some of our products are sold in Canada under the Tall Grass label. Burdock root does nots do what Burdock seed does, and Marshmallow will not help. Fish oils and 5 Defenders - good...Astragalus and Dang Gui could help.

Ok, thank you. That's great. I will look into TallGrass and H&A. Dana

Hello again, I ended up ordering the burdock seed, sarsaparilla and yellow dock tincture and a couple of other things from H&A so hopefully I will have those soon. The other tinctures that we have in stock are made with sugar cane alcohol - I see that H&As are also made with cane alcohol - so should they be ok to combine? The other tinctures I am using are mostly 1:2 or 1:3 ratios - what are the H&A products? The dosing in my herbal texts for tinctures is based on these ratios so just wondering if I can use those or need to adjust. Dana

I ended up ordering the burdock seed, sarsaparilla and yellow dock tincture and a couple of other things from H&A so hopefully I will have those soon. The other tinctures that we have in stock are made with sugar cane alcohol – I see that H&As are also made with cane alcohol – so should they be ok to combine? it does not matter the source of the alcohol, it would be fine to combine alcohol made from potatoes, cane sugar, beets, grapes, etc The other tinctures I am using are mostly 1:2 or 1:3 ratios – what are the H&A products? The dosing in my herbal texts for tinctures is based on these ratios so just wondering if I can use those or need to adjust. The fresh tinctures are 1:2 and the dry tinctures are 1:4 or 1:5, you really do not have to worry about the ratios, just combine them regardless if some are stronger or slightly weaker. You can use more (%) of any 1:5 tinctures if you prefer.

Thank you!