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Holistic Care For Pets (Expert Forum)
Side effects
Answered by
Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A - Small Animals, dogs, cats, C.V.A, Western Herbal Medicine, Traditional Chinese Herbalist, Acupuncture
American Animal Hospital
Randolph - NJ
This forum is for pet health questions regarding Holistic Care. Questions will be answers by a veterinarian from PetDocsOnCall
Side effects
by Sammysmom904, Nov 01, 2009 02:36PM
Are there any known side effects for Shen Calmer and Liver Happy Capsules? My dog has been taking them for about a week now. He is taking them for anxiety, no signs of relief yet, but no prescriptions have helped him so this is our last resort. The second day he vomited and the vet said she hadn't ever seen that so we have kept going. Now for the last four or five days he has had a little discharge from his penis that he keeps licking and he is starting to reverse sneeze like he does when he is given Ace. Are these things just a co-incidence or do they mean anything? He is one of the most allergy prone creatures on the planet, so we always worry about that. Also, our 5 year old golden was put on Tian Wang Bu Xin on the same day and now her gums seem inflamed, could there be a relation there as well? Sorry about the length!
Type of Animal
:
dog
Age of Animal
:
5 years
Sex of Animal
:
Male
Breed of Animal
:
labrador retriever
Last date your pet was examined by a vet?
:
October 16, 2009
City
:
La Quinta
State/Province
:
California
Blood Test Results
:
None takenN
X-Ray Results
:
None taken
Other pertinent test results
:
None taken
Doctor's Answer
by Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A, Nov 07, 2009 04:20PM
, Nov 07, 2009 04:20PMTo: Sammysmom904
It is possible for any pet to be allergic to any of the ingredients in pretty much anything, if allergy prone, though allergy to Chinese herbal formula's are fairly uncommon.
The most common problems I have seen with Shen Calmer was increased sedation, and occasional loose stool or vomiting. The only side effect I have seen to Liver Happy is that it over cooled an already cool patient (Chinese diagnostic lingo). When any side effect occur and the patient is on more than one formula, as your dog is, the patient should be taken off all herbal formula's for 3 days, than a single herbal formula should slowly be introduced at a fraction of the therapeutic dose. Often the patients allergic immune system will adjust to the herbs, if they are very slowly increased over time. Once the first herbal formula is tolerated the second herb can be introduced.
Discharge from the penis and inflamed gums are not usually signs of allergy. Discharge from the penis could be caused by a urinary tract infection, preputial infection, prostatitis, or prostate cancer. Inflamed gums are signs of Stomach Heat (Chinese lingo), gingivitis, or gum infection. These symptoms are probably just coincidental.
If possible, your holistic vet could try to control the allergies using another formula, Western medicine, immunotherapy, or acupuncture to try to enable your dog to tolerate the Chinese herbs. Some times the potential benefit outweighs the ricks or side effects.
Chinese herbal formulas can take up to 3-4 weeks to show maximum effectiveness.
The most common problems I have seen with Shen Calmer was increased sedation, and occasional loose stool or vomiting. The only side effect I have seen to Liver Happy is that it over cooled an already cool patient (Chinese diagnostic lingo). When any side effect occur and the patient is on more than one formula, as your dog is, the patient should be taken off all herbal formula's for 3 days, than a single herbal formula should slowly be introduced at a fraction of the therapeutic dose. Often the patients allergic immune system will adjust to the herbs, if they are very slowly increased over time. Once the first herbal formula is tolerated the second herb can be introduced.
Discharge from the penis and inflamed gums are not usually signs of allergy. Discharge from the penis could be caused by a urinary tract infection, preputial infection, prostatitis, or prostate cancer. Inflamed gums are signs of Stomach Heat (Chinese lingo), gingivitis, or gum infection. These symptoms are probably just coincidental.
If possible, your holistic vet could try to control the allergies using another formula, Western medicine, immunotherapy, or acupuncture to try to enable your dog to tolerate the Chinese herbs. Some times the potential benefit outweighs the ricks or side effects.
Chinese herbal formulas can take up to 3-4 weeks to show maximum effectiveness.
Member Comments (2)
by Sammysmom904, Nov 09, 2009 12:55PM
To: Dr. Cheng
Thank you so much for your time and expertise. Our lab seems to be doing better now, (no more discharge), and he seems to be calmer, although I'm not sure if it's the herbs or more training. He has been on practically every anti-histamine for dog or human and was even on cyclosporine for over a year and a half. He still takes benadryl and eats hypoallergenic dog food, but no longer needs the cyclosporine and we don't ever want to put him back on it for fear of increasing his odds of cancer. We will stick with the chinese herbs and if he has problems again we will follow your program to reintroduce them. As for the golden with the inflamed gums, we have stopped her Tian Wang Bu Xin as it was given to her to give her more courage which would seem like the heat you are describing and we were not seeing any changes in her behavior anyway after almost three weeks so we will just keep her on her prozac during training. Again, thank you so much for your time and consideration.
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