Use Calming Products Effectively For Your Pet
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If your dog or cat suffers from fears, phobias, or extreme stress, natural calming supplements are an important addition to your pet care routine. Having more than one type of calming product is beneficial because they work differently, so you can choose a product for a particular situation or combine them for a more effective response.
Combining different types of natural calming products is often overlooked, but it may also be confusing if you aren't sure what the differences are.
The best idea, unless you are familiar with the ingredients, is to combine products from different categories. This helps you avoid overdoing something inadvertently.
Four Major Categories
Nutritional
This category refers to products that rely on food components that can have calming effects, such as certain amino acids, milk protein extract, and melatonin.
Herbal
These include quick-acting herbs described as nervines, and slower-acting herbs described as adaptogens, as well as some herbs that do a little of both. Most products include multiple herbs to address different facets of the stress response.
Aromatic
This most commonly refers to essential oils (which we usually recommend only for dogs, not cats), but can also include the plant material directly (like silvervine for cats, or lavender for dogs).
Energetic
This category includes flower essences and homeopathics. They are different than the other categories because they don't affect the body's chemistry directly. This aspect also makes them versatile and safe to use with prescription medications.
How Quickly Do They Work? How Long Do They Last?
Learning how quickly your chosen products become effective and how long they last will help you understand the optimal timing for your pet's needs.
Calming products should give information on the packaging about how much and how often to dose, but generally speaking liquid products (especially when given directly in the mouth) absorb and become active the quickest. Treats, or powders given with meals absorb more slowly.
Many nervine herbs (like chamomile, passionflower, and skullcap) lose some effectiveness in a couple of hours. Some herbs, like cannabis (CBD), last 6-8 hours. This information can help you plan when to start and when to re-dose.
CBD in particular acts differently for every body (dog, cat, or human). It's always advised to "start low, go slow" and use the smallest effective dose for your pet (be sure to give it time to take effect before adding more).
Many nutritional calming supplements are slower to act because they go through the digestive system. Melatonin, for example, should be given well before a stressful event occurs so that the desired drowsy calm feeling is already happening by the time the fireworks or thunderstorm are apparent.
Flower essences are a wonderful way to add an extra layer to whatever you're doing to help calm your pet. This includes medications which can't always be combined with nutritional or herbal products.
Adding flower essences to your pet's drinking water is the easiest, but they can also be sprayed near the pet or on their bedding. They can be used very frequently if needed (dosing is increased with frequency rather than amount). Some flower essence sprays include modest amounts of essential oils for an additional and complementary effect.
Some Of Our Favorite Products
Progility Calming Aid treats combine nutritional and herbal ingredients, including melatonin, which can make dogs a little drowsy.
Herbsmith 3rd of July uses herbs from Traditional Chinese Medicine in a treat format. As the name implies, they recommend starting a day ahead of an expected event for best effect (better than doubling up which may actually make your pet feel more excited).
Animal Essentials Tranquility Blend is a sweet-tasty liquid with extracts or popular nervines, it's easy to give directly for past acting results.
Blackwing Farms Drama Trauma is a flower essence spray that's wonderful for both dogs and cats.
CBD oils from companies such as Lix, PetReleaf, and Austin & Kat absorb quickly and the dose can be customized for your pet. [not available in our online store]
Check out all of the products in our online Stress Relief section.
