Been talking about raspberry tablets used for pregnant bitches--some are for and some say it's just an old wives tale.Has any one else got any herbal remedies/old wives tales which seem to work or not as the case may be??

Fennel - helps digestive discomfort and also useful for increasing the milk supply (only use this in dire need or there'll be too much milk)

There are a couple of homoeopathic preparations from Dorwest herbs;

Caulophyllum, apparently helps the birth process and increases contractions.
Urtica 30c increases milk flow in lactating bitches.

Not sure that I would personally bother with either if these myself.

I give Caulophyllum to our cows before calving with great results. :-) Even my sceptical hubby was impressed the first year I used it. ;-)

There many herbal and homoeopathic remedies for use in pregnant bitches, depends exactly what you are looking for and why as to whether you would use them or not.

Thanks for the replies, just interested in what you guys thought of herbal remedies all round-not just for pregnancy. People seem to be very for or VERY against. Personnally if they do no harm I would and have used herbal, not that I'm suggesting a vets advice is not sought.

how has everyone found out that these herbs work ? is there a book that has it all in ,if so what is it called cheers

Hi you can get a booklet from Dorwest Herbs and I picked a booklet up for Homoeopathy-for your pets from a show.Both make for interesting reading.

Nutty housewife

The best book (IMHO) is the  book All you ever wanted to know about herbs for pets mary wulff tilford.

It is a truly comprehensive manual which explains about herbs, give you colour photos of them, their properties and contra indications.  Not only that it has interesting articles on various other issues such as diet etc.

It is not cheap, but it is IMV indispensable, but then I use both herbal and homoeopathic remedies/treatments/supplements rather a lot both with my dogs and myself.

There are various very good homoeopathic books available too.

HTH

Don't confuse herbal remedies with homoeopathic remedies. Herbal remedies can be very toxic if used wrongly.

thanks

If you are interested in Homoeopathy then I can recommend books by Christopher Day, George McCleod and Don Hamilton (the latter author is US).

HTH