blondeborder Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 (edited) Does any one know of any herbal remedies which are safe for dogs and have a calming effect. My 10 month border collie has been ordered to have complete rest for 2 weeks, by the vet, for a posible "pulled" toe. (we are still not too sure of the actual injury, x-rays showed nothing, but she seems to have pain in the toe and has been limping for a while.) She has been confined to our small lounge room or chained outside for short periods on a 1.5m lead and has been pretty good so far, but its only been 24 hours...and the vet gave her rimadyl which is supposed to relive the pain and swelling.I was thinking of soaking her bickies in chamomile tea, or mabe trying valerian? Does any one know how safe these are and how much to give. Update - We got a second opinion from another vet yesterday who believes she has torn the ligament in her toe. He could bend it right back, which made us feel a little ill. He seems to think it is a minor injury, which will probably not improve, even with rest, and she will probably learn to live with it and just stop favouring it after a while. The main issue was to keep her nail short as she will rest this toe, and if the nail gets long and keeps the toe in an elevated position after it heals,it will never align back with the others. He said sheep dogs often will collapse the whole paw like this, making them kind of flat footed as they tend to put a lot of stress on their joints ( funny, the other vet hardly talked to us and cost $340 more). Ive stopped the rimadyl and I'm going to continue to keep her quiet and, with luck, the fact she's a puppy will be on our side and she will heal. Edited October 21, 2009 by blondeborder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I have found Rescue Remedy quite helpful. Otherwise lots of Kongs and bones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puggy_puggy Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Bach flower remedies such as Rescue Remedy work for some dogs. Rescue Remedy can be purchased from health food stores, chemists and I have even seen it in Priceline. Keep her busy with chew toys, raw veggies, learning new tricks etc. I would suggest borrowing or purchasing a crate and puppy pen for a dog that needs to be confined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellz Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Rest means rest. I personally wouldn't be masking activity with anything, herbal or otherwise. Sometimes "quietening" them down can also help to kill a little bit of pain which means that they have the potential to aggravate the condition more. Vicious cycle really. I'd be going for crate rest and kongs or big, interesting meaty bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Check with your Vet first but there are canine calming pastes that you can get as well as a human herb called Valerian that you can give to dogs as well. The canine calming one should be fine as it's mostly just VitB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildatHeart Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Last week my dog hurt herself jumping out of the ute. That night she didnt bare any weight on it. The next day she did a little bit. Took her to the vet he reckons she sprained her foot. Five days later she's back to normal. Is she getting better by the day? If so I wouldn't worry much about fully crating her, just restrict romping. I didn't give mine any rimydl, no point, she would have just run around more. Good luck with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Rules Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 For such a short period, I'd be doing as you are doing at the moment, ie confining her to a room (unless she is crate trained then a crate is the best option) and keeping her occupied with training, kongs, bones etc. The rest and Rimadyl should work well together. It's not such a long time although it may seem so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeborder Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 We got a second opinion from another vet yesterday who believes she has torn the ligament in her toe. He could bend it right back, which made us feel a little ill. He seems to think it is a minor injury, which will probably not improve, even with rest, and she will probably learn to live with it and just stop favouring it after a while. The main issue was to keep her nail short as she will rest this toe, and if the nail gets long and keeps the toe in an elevated position after it heals,it will never align back with the others. He said sheep dogs often will collapse the whole paw like this, making them kind of flat footed as they tend to put a lot of stress on their joints ( funny, the other vet hardly talked to us and cost $340 more). Ive stopped the rimadyl and I'm going to continue to keep her quiet and, with luck, the fact she's a puppy will be on our side and she will heal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aziah Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Does any one know of any herbal remedies which are safe for dogs and have a calming effect. My 10 month border collie has been ordered to have complete rest for 2 weeks, by the vet, for a posible "pulled" toe. (we are still not too sure of the actual injury, x-rays showed nothing, but she seems to have pain in the toe and has been limping for a while.) She has been confined to our small lounge room or chained outside for short periods on a 1.5m lead and has been pretty good so far, but its only been 24 hours...and the vet gave her rimadyl which is supposed to relive the pain and swelling.I was thinking of soaking her bickies in chamomile tea, or mabe trying valerian? Does any one know how safe these are and how much to give. Ummm I hardly think chaining the dog outside is a sensible option... I'd suggest obtaining a crate and keep her crated, take her out on lead for toilet breaks as necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeborder Posted October 22, 2009 Author Share Posted October 22, 2009 Does any one know of any herbal remedies which are safe for dogs and have a calming effect. My 10 month border collie has been ordered to have complete rest for 2 weeks, by the vet, for a posible "pulled" toe. (we are still not too sure of the actual injury, x-rays showed nothing, but she seems to have pain in the toe and has been limping for a while.) She has been confined to our small lounge room or chained outside for short periods on a 1.5m lead and has been pretty good so far, but its only been 24 hours...and the vet gave her rimadyl which is supposed to relive the pain and swelling.I was thinking of soaking her bickies in chamomile tea, or mabe trying valerian? Does any one know how safe these are and how much to give. Ummm I hardly think chaining the dog outside is a sensible option... I'd suggest obtaining a crate and keep her crated, take her out on lead for toilet breaks as necessary. Although we were outside with her, the tying option was unsucessful, too much activity, horses etc. Unfortunately there is nowhere here to get a crate, though next time I'm in the city I will check them out, think she will love it as a kennel for summer and then if any injurys occur, I can just shut the door. We got a second opinion yesterday from another vet, who thinks rest probably will not help at this stage, as the injury is already a month old and the ligaments dont repair themselves, although we will persevere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aziah Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 You can buy them on Ebay and have them delivered and they are extremely well priced LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 We got a second opinion yesterday from another vet, who thinks ...the ligaments dont repair themselves. I'm not a Vet, but in relation to the above I have to disagree. Of course, it depends on what sort of damage has occurred to the ligament/s. But ligaments are able to repair (they form scar tissue) depending on how they have been damaged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temperamentfirst Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 I had to calm a bitch, and used both Rescue remedy/ Rescue Remedy Sleep and Schuessler Tissue Salts Nerve Tonic Combination 5. There were no side effects, but she calmed down a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temperamentfirst Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 We got a second opinion yesterday from another vet, who thinks ...the ligaments dont repair themselves. I'm not a Vet, but in relation to the above I have to disagree. Of course, it depends on what sort of damage has occurred to the ligament/s. But ligaments are able to repair (they form scar tissue) depending on how they have been damaged. I have had ligaments repair, but the essential thing is time and rest. Of course, if the ligament has totally ruptured, and then 'retreated' it is another story. Another interesting thing that's being used is stem cell. They inject the cells into the injury /surgery site and get much better healing and much less scar tissue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 I have had ligaments repair, but the essential thing is time and rest. ... Yes - one thing I learnt from somewhere or other .... count the letters in the name of the injured part and that will give you an idea of how long it requires to heal. For example : Bone = 4 weeks Muscle = 6 weeks And the longest to heal is Ligament = 8 weeks It's just a 'rule of thumb' measure of course, but it is something that has helped me to remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 A crate is definitely the go. Can be used indoors, outdoors. Line with newspaper for any accidents, then hosed out, should you have to leave her for long periods. I got an XXL one online for $100 delivered which is less than a couple of vet visits. topbuy.com.au. Smaller is even cheaper. I had one previously, but didn't use it. Sold it quickly. Friend had a dog with an injury, but felt very sorry for it in the crate. Vet was blunt- Rather have dog "sad" for a couple of weeks, or in pain for far longer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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