Angela Jeen Dip IAZ - Zoopharmacognosy Scotland

03/05/2024

First recorded film captured of an animal self selecting to treat an open wound in the wild.

It is the first time a creature in the wild has been seen using a medicinal plant to treat a wound.

17/04/2024

If you have a reactive dog and want to understand why and how to change, join the course below.

Off to do a demo later today at one of their residential retreats. 🐾💕🐶

20/02/2024

📌Save this recipe for later!📌

09/01/2024

To help us through these winter coughs and colds.

Pear + Star Anise + Ginger = A great combination to help strengthen lungs and fight against respiratory infections.

This brothy pear "tea" can help move stubborn phlegm. In Chinese medicine, pears are known to help support lungs. Star Anise is an antiviral and antibacterial. Ginger helps boost circulation and warm the body.

To a pot, add:
1-2 pears, sliced (can use dehydrated)
8-10 star anise
2-3 inches fresh ginger, sliced
Or 6 chunks of crystallized ginger
4-5 cups of water
Boil then simmer 20-30 minutes.
Strain out liquids and enjoy your spicy pear "tea"! Sip and rest.

03/12/2023

When I first moved to Scotland I felt the cold a lot in winter. After seeing a TCM doctor he suggested using warming spices all through the winter to help me feel warmer. Other advice was: no cold food, make soup, stews, use ginger in cooking. This works! Oh, and wear natural wool, it’s much better at keeping warm than synthetic fabrics and supports our Scottish/British producers!

When I saw this post bell I thought I’d share it with you all. Walking dogs and tending horses in the cold dark months I thought this might help a few of you, and it’s delicious 💗🤠🐶 😋

In winter the spices below will help to keep you warm on those cold days. If you’re dairy intolerant substitute milk for an alternative. You can also add the spices to your tea or coffee.
Ginger, cinnamon and black pepper have thermogenic properties plus many other benefits.
Turmeric is anti inflammatory and balances the ph in your gut so great if you suffer with indigestion and heartburn.
Enjoy!

03/12/2023

One for us humans. Many people take omeprazole and can switch to turmeric. See below.

💛 Turmeric vs omeprazole for stomach acid relief, by Claire Goulding

Pharmaceutical side effects can be avoided by using effective herbal medicines instead. This article explains the study that looks into how turmeric can be used instead of omeprazole and how to use turmeric.

👉 https://www.herbalreality.com/herbalism/herbal-research/turmeric-vs-omeprazole-for-stomach-acid-relief/

28/11/2023

A wonderful remedy for wounds etc. I have used it for wounds combined with self selected essential oils. If you want to know more, send me a message.

🌿 Green Clay for Wounds, Abscesses, Hot Spots and Paw Pads! 🐾
✨ Green clay possesses a unique ability to expedite healing by encouraging the migration of epithelial tissue (superficial pink/white tissue) across the wound, filling the void. It has also demonstrated exceptional efficacy in helping to knit together wounded paw pads while accelerating healing.

Unique Healing Abilities:
* 🦠 Antibacterial: Fights off unwanted microbes.
* 🌪️ Absorbent: Draws out toxins and prevents infections.
* 🚫 Deters flies.
* 🌿 Prevents debris: Maintains a clean healing environment.

Application Tips:
Gently apply a generous amount of dry green clay onto the wounded area to enhance and expedite the healing process. Animals typically don't attempt to lick it off, ensuring uninterrupted healing. If an animal tries to lick it off it is probably not suited to them, in which case offer turmeric powder.

Make a Poultice:
If you want the drawing properties of green clay: Create a healing poultice by mixing a small amount of water with green clay to effectively help draw foreign matter from the wound.💧

Alternative Remedy:
If green clay isn't your animals choice, offer turmeric powder—an antibacterial and wound-healing alternative (though it may stain fabric). 🌈

Long-Term Care:
Be mindful of potential drying effects on healthy skin. If this occurs, apply coconut oil to keep the skin moisturised and supple. 🥥🌟

08/07/2023

Brilliant to see Zoopharmacognosy being shared at this event.

Yesterday was an inspiring day as I had a wonderful opportunity to address the students at the RVC Zoological Society, discussing the field of Applied Zoopharmacognosy!

🌿 I discussed topics like enrichment, conservation, and animal welfare, and delved into the possibilities of restoring health with Applied Zoopharmacognosy. I talked about how animals have an innate ability to self-medicate by selecting plants and natural substances in their environment, and how Applied Zoopharmacognosy aims to understand and utilize these medicinal choices to improve the well-being of our animal friends.

🌍🌱 By integrating enrichment techniques, we can create environments that promote physical and mental stimulation, helping animals to cope in captivity. This vital approach contributes not only to their overall health but also to their conservation and preservation in the wild.

🙏🏽 Together, we can make a difference. By raising awareness and taking action, we can ensure that animals receive the care they need and deserve.

🐾🌿 Remember, every step we take to support animal welfare brings us closer to a world where all beings can thrive. Let's be the voice they deserve. ❤️🌍

06/05/2023

Spring time Foraging

Allowing animals to forage is such a great thing to do for their health and wellbeing, enriching their environment and really interesting for us to observe. Take your ponies for a self selection walk. At the moment there’s gorse in flower that some ponies love. It’s been used for centuries for respiratory ailments and a general tonic in the spring. BTW it smells wonderful! Lovely new nettles are emerging and are a great spring tonic to support the immune system.

Observe your dogs on walks and see what they nibble on. Often they will take the young fresh tips of grass that are full of nutrients rather than the coarse older grass. Wild raspberries in a few months might be a favourite, and blackberries in the autumn.

For small animals such as chickens, rabbits and Guinea pigs we can collect wild herbs and bring them to their environment such as dandelions, chickweed, wilted nettles, comfrey etc and allow them to select.

Look up online common herbs as see what medicinal properties they contain and observe which ones they select.

15/04/2023

Canine workshop this morning. Great venue and a great group of curious canines and their guardians, learning about animal self selection and doing a bit of selecting themselves too.
Dundee Dog Training Loraine Kidd's School of Dogs

08/04/2023

A good reminder

Happy Easter 🐣 Everyone

Please remember to keep chocolate and sweets out of reach of your beloved pets, and raisins too!

Have a great weekend ☀️🐾

25/02/2023

Do you let your horses forage? Do they have hedgerows in their fields? Do you take them on in hand hedgerow adventures?

Lots of gorse coming into flower now (smells delicious). and fresh herbs starting to sprout through as spring approaches.

Fresh herbs are best, if available 🙂. Things coming up soon are wild garlic, cleavers and nettles.

31/01/2023

💗

Love is medicine.

Food is medicine.

Rest is medicine.

Nature is medicine.

Sunshine is medicine.

Movement is medicine.

Gratitude is medicine.

29/01/2023

😂 some truth in that 😂

“I'm suspicious of people who don't like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn't like a person.”
Bill Murray

03/11/2022

💜🪶🐶🐴💜

They Also Served 2022 Remembrance Pin Badge

31/10/2022

Our dogs have always loved the addition of sardines or fatty fish to their diet. It helps contains omega 3s as below that support their immune system and coat and skin. If using sardines in sunflower oil for example always drain the oil off the fish and offer it 8n a separate bowl. When we had 2 dogs we found our spaniel loved the oil, but our JRT definitely didn’t.

In Zoopharmacognosy We always advocate offering any oils separate to their meals, to see if they self select the oil or not. It’s also interesting to see if their prefer one oil over another for example they may prefer coconut oil to olive oil. This may vary over time too or depending on the season.

26/10/2022

24/10/2022

It’s a good time of year to harvest some herbs from the garden and hedgerows and make your own smudge sticks
☀️🌱🌾🍂🌙🙏

Make Your Own Herbal Smudge Sticks!

10/10/2022

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1286225688869444&id=331156237709732

09/09/2022

Such sad news yesterday of Our Queen passing. She was an example to us all of dedication, duty, loyalty, service and strength. She showed us her love of animals - her beloved corgis, saving the Cleveland Bay and her love of our native ponies throughout her life.
RIP Queen Elizabeth II.

31/08/2022

Note to self 😂 👍🤗

People tend to enjoy owning pets of various kinds. Some people like dogs and cats while others lean towards much bigger friends: horses.

15/08/2022

A great piece from a Zoopharmacognosy colleague. We always advocate offering any herb separate to feed so you can understand exactly what your animal needs. You may think it makes sense for a certain herb or oil to be selected logically, but your animal may prove they know something else that isn’t known or visible to us.

When I was training I learned a valuable lesson. I worked with a young bull dog puppy and was offering calming, soothing oils to try to help his hyper and mildly aggressive behaviour. Oils I logically offered - he showed some mild interest in but wasn’t really focussing in the session. He didn’t seem to want to be calmed. I had a feeling I should offer vanilla essential oil. It can be selected for irritability, frustration and anger - my logical thought was how can a puppy be angry but my instinct told me to offer it. He inhaled it, licked it, wanted it applied topically too, rubbing his body on my hand with the oil. He really focussed on it and his energy softened and he became more connected. It was exactly what he was looking for. Lesson learned.

Why would your animal choose a toxic substance?

We are frequently told our animals will eat anything. Why did my dog, horse or cat select something that may harm them?

It usually down to a few basic rules not being followed.

Animals will ingest any thing if they are hungry - if a horse is on a paddock full of ragwort and no diversity or even grass, it will be forced to ingest any toxic material through hunger, including ragwort. Always allow your animal to eat his daily meal or have hay available before providing herbs. Animal will make poor choices if hunger is the driving force. Consideration of your animals diet may be needed. A healthy gut will make better informed choices.

Adulteration - your dog will eat the giant chocolate cake because it is an adulterated product. Full of fat and sugar and sweetness - i mean who wouldn't given the chance.

Choice - a greater diversity of choice means your animal can be more informed about whats on offer. Narrow choices means they may select inappropriately - they are forced to select the best of a bad bunch. Similar to your horse eating masses of acorns - consider what it is trying to gain from the acorns and is there a better alternative.

Quality. Quality reins supreme. If the quality of a product is poor you animal may be forced to choose this for any of the reasons above.

Water. Access to water is paramount. Dehydrated animals make poor selections. Some herbs help to flush out toxins too so access to clean water helps them to maintain balance.

When these simple rules are followed your animal will be able to make informed choices about the herbs your offering.

Of course you may choose to provide herbs to your animal within their food and here is where it gets more complicated because you must then take into account all contraindications. Are the herbs on a bannned substance list? What medications are you or your animal on? How do you determine dose?

You also limit the diversity and choice - your guessing at what your animal needs, and missing what they themselves need.

Always remember herbs are multidimensional. They provide support for the physical, spiritual and emotional. Only your animal can really know what plane they are selecting them for.

23/07/2022

💕🐾

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”
Milan Kundera

Fabio Hurtado - Women Reading.

16/07/2022

😂

02/06/2022

Plantain
Plantain is a wonderful herb that when animals self selected can support the urinary, digestive tracts, the nervous system and may help repair inflamed nerves and minor wounds. It can staunch bleeding and heal bruising. You can make a poultice with fresh leaves that may help sores and insect bites or stings, ward off infection and reduce inflammation.

Always offer to animals separate to their feed so they have freedom to self select.

Traditionally it was used by us topically for scrapes, bruises, cuts, burns and skin conditions, and taken internally for digestive complaints, coughs, colds and gastric disorders. Herbal practitioners still use it in tinctures as an anti inflammatory, relieving irritation of the mucus membranes, astringent and anti bacterial.

31/05/2022

Great idea!
Join our gardening community
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ediblegardeningenthusiasts

30/05/2022

Cleavers
There’s lots of cleavers sprouting up at the moment.

Cleavers (also known as Goosegrass, Sticky W***y and everlasting friendship) are self selected by animals to help to support the lymphatic system, the structural system and improves coat, skin and hooves. It is a good blood cleanser also can help with respiratory congestion. Cleavers are also high in vitamin C.

Always offer to animals separate to feed for self-selection.

Historically it was grown as a pot herb in medieval times and added to soups and stews. It was also used as a cleansing herb to remove toxins from the body (liver, kidneys, lungs) and has diuretic properties. It was taken to help with urinary and kidney problems.

30/05/2022

For any veg growers 🌿💗

28/05/2022

Nettles
Often referred to as a Spring tonic, selected at this time of year. Nettles are rich in calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, selenium, potassium, trace minerals, protein, vitamins A and C. Fresh or dried nettles are self selected by animals to support detoxification, kidneys, liver and urinary function. They also are an anti histamine and be selected for allergies. You can pick nettles during the growing season and dry them to offer all year round. It is best to do this before the plant flowers and sets seed.

Always offer to your animals separate to feed and allow them to self select.

Nettle tea can be taken by us too and it has an anti inflammatory effect and helps to remove Uric acid from the body and increase urinary flow. A study in 2009 by the journal of Phototherapy research showed it blocked histamine receptors, so worth drinking during the hay-fever season. Young nettles can be cooked and used in soups and taste similar to spinach.

26/05/2022

Common Comfrey
Sometimes referred to as Knit-bone. Is a perennial plant that grows up to 3 feet in the UK. Has been used historically as a herbal remedy for healing wounds, ulcers, broken bones, joint pain, gout and to reduce inflammation and sprains.

Animals may self select comfrey to support the structural system, circulation, wound healing, digestive support, healing tendons and ligaments.

Always offer separate to feed for self selection.