Aroma Pets

Zoopharmacognosy

The Method
This system is based on allowing your dogs to self-select  the aromatics they need (zoopharmacognosy).Also, for the best results when using aromatics, it is important to look at health holistically and understand stress.

Zoopharmacognosy
(Zoo = animal, pharma = medicine, cognosy = knowledge)

Zoopharmacognosy is a very long word for animal self medication. This scientific discipline studies an animal's instinctive drive to seek out healing herbs and minerals that he or she needs.

Animals are said to be self medicating when they eat something that is not a normal part of their diet. This can be a plant, fungi soil or clay. The most common example is dogs eating grass to cleanse their digestive tracts, clean their teeth and control worms. Observe carefully when your dog eats grass, and you will see that he is selecting his grasses very carefully.

More exotic examples are monkeys eating bitter herbs to cleanse parasites; macaques rubbing aromatic plants into their fur to prevent fleas  and heal skin sores; birds using insect repellent plants to line their nests; and elephants using clay as plasters for wounds. There are many more examples being observed as scientists study the phenomenon.

Scientists assume that animals find substances tasty if their bodies need a particular healing compound. When the  body is healed the plant is no longer tasty.

Self Selection
Domestic dogs retain the innate ability to select plant medicines. Such a useful biological survival mechanism is not easily lost, and evolutionary speaking dogs have not been domesticated all that long. We us this instinctive ability and let dogs choose their own aromatics. In the past twenty years working with animals and aromatics, the self selection method has proved itself to be a safe, effective and powerful healing method that has many advantages. Not the least of which is that dogs love it.

Reference: The Aromatic Dog: Nayana Morag