Replied by Gemini Dreamweapon (Chicago, Il) on 09/12/2012

I am very fortunate to live near Dr Karen Becker. She's a traditionally trained vet that prefers holistic protocols. Check her website for information and videos - she's a wealth of helpful knowledge.

Hawthorn for humans is a powerful circulatory tonic. There is a heart tincture for dogs that contains Hawthorne as the cornerstone of the formulation. Again check with your vet as it will likely interact negatively with the meds being prescribed.

Many prescription drugs begin with a chemist examining botanical and herbs in nature, looking for what they will deem the key therapeutic constituent(s) - they will then synthesize and create a product they can patent and sell. The body may recognize the key therapeutics but may be subject to side effects due to the synthetic modification used to create a patentable product and/or due to other ingredients in formulation as there has not been enough time to evolve a systemic understanding of synthetics as opposed to the generations of evolutionary botanical acclimatization (organic Chemistry blew my third eye wide open).

Check out the Radio Lab episode 'Mirror, Mirror'. It tip toes into the concept of chirality, one of the OChem principles dictating how and why the body utilizes/processes synthetic pharmas differently than it does natural botanicals/herbs.

Also look into CoQ10/Ubiquinol, L-Carnitine, acetyl L-Carnitine, and The R form of alpha lipoid acid (don't waste your money on ala if it isn't the 'R' form of ala - this is the proper enantiomer of ala, as found in nature). This is for dogs only. Cats can die from ingesting ala as it is toxic to the liver.

If someone reading this thread has a cat:

look at the website holisticat and read 'cautions regarding herbs, alcohol, and preservatives'.

Again if you want no mess, species safe and specific formulations find a holistic vet or look at quality pet companies. Mix into food for the least amount of hassle and break up the dosages over multiple feedings if needed as many herbs can be challenging to hyper discerning animal senses.

Never give your pet human herbal formulations with out thorough investigation and trained advice as not all ingredients GRAS for human consumption are GRAS for pets and always take into account dosages meant for grown humans, not for our lighter companions.