Category: Herbal Medicine
Back from the rainforest full of beauty and medicine!
Just back from Osa Pennisula, Guaria retreat center, Costa Rica with Jonathon Miller Weisberger and here are some of the plants I met. As long as the rainforests live, the medicine lives. Which one of these flowers is mangosteen? Which flower gave us the chemotherapy Vincristine? Read more →
Dr. Donna Presenting at The International Herb Symposium June 9, 2017
Dr. Donna will be presenting two of her herbal workshops at the 13th Annual International Herb Symposium at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts on June 9, 2017. Workshop details provided below.For more information, including registration, please visit the IHS website atwww.internationalherbsymposium.com WORKSHOP #1 Pacific NW Plants: A photo journey of the healing plants of my backyard here in WA state;… Read more →
Dr. Donna teaching at the International Herbal Symposium!
This June 9-11, I hope you can make it to Norton Massachusetts to join me, Rosemary Gladstar, Christopher Hobbs, Guido Masse, Dr. Lowdog and others to help spread the word about herbal medicine! It’s a human conference but there is a veterinary tract that anyone can attend! I am presenting Pacific Northwest Plants and Skin infections in dogs and cats.… Read more →
Healing despair
I have been wondering about despair lately. When despair spreads throughout the hearts of many people, there is a singular connection, a higher force that takes hold and starts to dissolve it slowly. We are all connected into the deep mycelium beneath our soil, we have a calm knowingness that can take over at times like these and show our… Read more →
Radio interview at 12:15 on October 22 Pacific time Join us!
Dr. Ihor Basko has a wonderful radio show “Dr B Holistic vet” and I will be his guest today! please join us as we talk about holistic healing for pets and herbal medicine. Go to the radio show to stream it! http://www.kkcr.org See you on the radio! Read more →
VBMA teaching our holistic veterinarians about plants!
Nature gives us so much: our medicine and our food and our spirit allies. By preserving natural places, we can help her too. Here I am leading a plant walk teaching about elder, devil’s club, yellow dock, the ancient ferns. Read more →
Bailey’s cancerous lymph node reduced!
Bailey was diagnosed with aggressive oral melanoma and had a partial maxillary removal 6 months ago. No chemo or radiation but lots of herbs! She went into 6 months of remission but left lymph node was large and about 4 times normal size. Her person and I picked cleavers, she made a tea and after 6 days her lymph node… Read more →
Ryder is Pain free at 14 years old
Ryder is the nicest Akita you have ever met! She is very old but super engaged and happy. One year ago her neck was so misaligned and her nerve pinched that she could not use her back legs very well and had a lot of pain. Her person has traveled the world enough to know holistic treatments help the majority… Read more →
Yarrow for cardiovascular strength
Did you know yarrow is a powerful medicine for both animals and people? It is great for healing wounds topically and as a powerful diaphoretic (bringing heat from the core to the skin) but did you know it is a good heart medicine too? Probably because it can move blood and adjust circulation. I sat with one this summer and… Read more →
Herbal and Acupressure Presentation to Wild Horse Rescue in AZ
The wonderful folks at Wild Horse Rescue in Gilbert, Arizona need donations for wormers. If you are kind enough to send them a donation please specify what it is for. Here is their website: http://www.wildhorseranchrescue.com/aboutwhrr.html. I spent an evening a few weeks back with them. Here is a photo. Read more →
Your Cat’s Urinary Health
Boris is only four years old. When he was very young, he started getting urinary infections with crystals and it seemed likely he might soon block (urethral obstruction). At that point, we developed a diet and herbal regime that has worked for him ever since. There is not one answer for these kitties but one thing is for sure, if… Read more →
East Meets West Horse Dentistry
My own horse Charlie is a real accident prone fellow. For seventeen years, he has been my faithful companion, not a spiteful bone in his sixteen-hand body but he has had hoof issues, stifle issues, bent gates for fear of the bugs, over-reached and cut his heel bulb, kicked at an annoying horse and caught his leg over a stall… Read more →
Gracie’s IBD & Diarrhea Cured
Gracie, the two year old Golden with severe IBD and diarrhea is cured! Her total protein and her weight are both normal. No more acupuncture, reducing herbal treatment, but she will stay on her homemade diet of meat and veggies (cooked). She was hospitalized previously for a week, only to become sicker on immune-suppressing medications. In holistic medicine we do… Read more →
Claude The Hyperthyroid Cat
This week, I thought I would put a call into the Bellingham, WA community for people who have newly diagnosed hyperthyroid cats like Claude, a 16 year-old guy with kidney issues too. Instead of using a lot of methimazole and/or radiation, we are using herbs and a small dose of methimazole cream on the ears to control his symptoms. It’s… Read more →
Treating Mast Cell Tumor with Herbs & Supplements
Update on Jenny, the kitty with the mast cell tumor. Her tumor is doing great! We are at 3 months and it might even be smaller. We are treating it with one drop of Cod liver oil, 5 drops of Seven Precious Mushrooms, 1/8 tsp Stasis breaker with canned food not kibble. In general, the best time to seek out… Read more →
Treating Chipper’s Severe Allergies
Chipper is a four year-old whose skin allergies were so bad, his people took turns holding him at night to prevent him from chewing sores especially between the legs and around the tail. He had no fleas. The regular vet prescribed antibiotics (which helped) and steroids (which made him crazy). Both these medications had poor long term side effects. With… Read more →
Gently Treating Jenny’s Mast Cell Tumor
This is Jenny, a 17 year-old tabby cat. She sleeps at the crook of her human’s elbow. She was diagnosed with a mast-cell tumor on her right flank. Instead of surgery (she has a heart issue), we are trying herbs. When dogs get mast cell cancer, we should take quick action to remove the tumor. Usually, the herbs and occasional… Read more →
How Old Am I?
On one of our plant identification walks at Sage Mountain, we ran across this little fella. Although it looks like a sapling that might have sprung up overnight, it’s actually taken five years just to grow this big. The plant is Sacred American Ginseng, and it is highly sought after for its properties to work as an “adaptogen” in the… Read more →
Making an Herbal Remedy, Part 2
After the herbs are chopped and bruised, they are placed in oil and left to sit in the sun. These need to reach 90 degrees fahrenheit for a period of time to allow the oils to become fully infused. In part three of the process, the infused oils are mixed with beeswax to create a balm or salve. I combined… Read more →