Responses from Whole/Natural Prey Suppliers
In treating myself, I have worked with and come across numerous suppliers over the years. Here's a list of good online sites along some company quirks, herbal traditions, and how the herbs are offered.
The most commonly practiced Herbal Traditions are as follows, in order of years of practice: Chinese or TCM (4000 years), Indian or Ayurveda (2000+ years), and Western/European (300 years). Looking at this list you can see why I prefer the Chinese tradition of herbal medicine. I am sure Ayurveda is just as good, but TCM is what I started with living in Japan back in 2000 and I have no background in even the basis of Ayurveda. Correction, I know enough to know it is very different from TCM.
Western/European herbal medicine has been ignored and often ridiculed until recently under the massive weight of "western medical science". I have also found that in western herbology medicinal formulas tend to be heavily watered down to the point they are almost ineffective. A good, robust formula as the type you will find in TCM, should take no more than one month to see some effect. Depending of the formula and/or individual, eg for those of us who are extremely sensitive, effects can be felt within a week.
You can find out more about TCM and Ayurveda through the NIH website of National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Both TCM and Ayurveda are recognized by the World Health Organization as an effective, traditional health science.
There are multiple Formats in which herbs are processed and sold:
Again, in working with animals, they are listed from "easiest to use" to "hardest/avoid". Liquid extracts and oils are obviously the easiest to use because you can always use a dropper coated on the tip with Ferrotone to sucker them into taking the medicine. As a last resort, this form is usually easiest to mix straight into their food. You want to avoid that if possible. Refer to Administering LIQUID herbal formulas for tips and the reasoning behind it. The only thing you have to watch out for with oils and liquid extracts is what is the medium for carrying the herb? Is it an alcohol base or some other oil or the pure extract with no carrying medium? Ask before you purchase.
Dry Extracts are in a category of their own as these should be (if labeled correctly) dry extracts which are water-soluable. This means you used have to dissolve the amount you want in as much water as necessary to dissolve it. Provided you give the prescribed dosage, adding the water does not weaken the concentration. From then on you can just treat it as a Liquid Extract.
Capsules, Powdered, and Concentrated Powders fall into the third category of ease of use. Capsules I think can be the nicest because the are pre-measured to some extent and you can divide them down further from there. Typically, capsules are just gelatin capsules like Tylenol caps so they are very easy to open since they are just 2 halves pressed together. Powered types are the raw herb that has merely been reduced to a fine powder. Concentrated Powders are most commonly a 5:1 concentration meaning 1gm of the concentrate herb is equivalent to 5gm of the raw herb. It's just 5 times as strong. This is a good choice for humans, but for ferrets with their considerably smaller bodies, it would be a hassle. Sticking with the powdered or capsule form is less taxing on the brain. Another reason these 3 types are in this category is because a "liquid" form can be readily made from them. Refer back to Administering LIQUID herbal formulas for ideas on how to do so. I do not AT ALL recommend sprinkling the powdered herbs straight onto their food. The smell is too obvious to their super-noses and one can not be sure they are ingesting all of the necessary dose.
Tablets and Tea Pills (a type of tablet) are usually found in the realm of TCM formulas. If you are using a traditional Chinese formula in America, you will likely be using it in one of these forms. Although some herbs can be found in tablet form, tea pills are style strictly found in TCM. Basically, the ingredients of the TCM formula has been made into a concentrated tisane, dried and then formed into little tablets. There is no actual 'tea' in the pills. The problem with tea pills is that you have to be careful that you are purchasing non-sugar coated teapills. The default is a sugarcoating, not that it improves the taste any, just makes it easier to swallow. If you and your vet happen to find a formula that you want to use, for instance from the Cheryl Schwartz, DVM book Four Paws Five Directions, you will need to crush the pills down. Treat the powdered result the same as you would when dealing with Capsules, Powdered, or Concentrated Powders.
Whole, Unprocessed is the category you want to stay away from unless you are backed into the corner by snarling, ravenous ferrets. Even then I can't imagine how you would get them to eat it. (You would have to brew it into a dense tisane and then administer as a liquid.) This category contains herbs that are whole roots, bark, petals, antler, etc... Completely unprocessed. Fortunately, 99.9% of the herbs you want can be found in any of the above other forms.
Now on to the best part-SHOPPING!!
HERBAL FORMAT KEY:
le = Liquid Extracts
o = Oils
de = Dry Extracts
cap = Capsules
p = Powdered
cp = Concentrated Powders
tab = Tablets
tp =Tea Pills
w = Whole, Unprocessed
| Store Name | Herbal Tradition | Herbal Formats | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Earth Trade Winds | TCM, Western | le, o, de, p, w | take note of the sanjiu extract packets and starwest liquid extracts |
| Sanjiu | TCM | de | Carries ENTIRE selection of Sanjiu single extracts. Also allows cross-reference between common English name and Chinese pinyin and character names. See addendum I below. |
| First Chinese Herbs | TCM, Ayurveda, Western | p, cp, tp, w | very helpful. will search for request. will not carry Sanjiu, offers explanations of TCM formulas |
| Banyan Botancials | Ayurveda | p, tab | USDA organic and traditional Ayurveda formulas |
| Herbs MD | Western | cap, le, p, tab | not so much selection, but offers Many Manufacturers |
| Gaia Herbs through Amazon.com | Western | le | The only thing I don't like is that in TCM they strictly identify and differentiate the separate parts of the herb used. Gaia does not. |
| China Medicine Mall | TCM | p, cp, tp | formulas also. smaller selection but good service |
| Chinese Herbs Direct | TCM | p, cp, w | formulas also. never used but huge selection. pinyin Chinese and botanical names only |
| Max Nature | TCM | p, cp | large selection of single and concentrated herbal powders. traditional formulas also but would AVOID the formulas as they are often diluted with a lot of licorice powder. pinyin Chinese and translated English nameds |
| Spanda Healing | TCM | tab | GOLDEN FLOWER BRAND PILLS! see addendum II |
Now after all that hard work, don't you feel you deserve to buy something for yourself? (I do.) I recommend and absolutely LOVE the Cocoa & Spice Tea.
ADDENDUM I
About the SANJIU manufacturer's store:
If you notice, their order form is credit card only not even a Paypal option. Not only that they do not processing the order through "verisign" or similar online security systems. And for the finale, if you notice at the bottom of your browser (Firefox), there is no "this is a secure site" flag. I have been purchasing online for over 7 years so I did notice that and sent an inquiry regarding to which the reply was as follows:
Thank you for your email. Indeed, although our order page is not registered as a secure page, we can guaranteed that your credit card will only be used on your order billing and is 100% secure and will be erased after the transaction. We have been in business for over 7 years and we never have a problem with our online credit card payment. We shipping to US all the time through UPS and never had a problem.
Hope this helps ease your worry and looking forward to doing business with you. Thank you.
Regards,
Sanjiu Medical Center
So how do I feel about it now?
I will use them. IF I can't find what I need at East Earth Trade. At any rate, they are still an excellent reference site. Even if you can't read Chinese, if you click on the highlighted Chinese name a secondary window will pop up and the scientific name in English will be shown. You can then use that name to check out the herbal databases for more information and drug interactions.
Preparation:
Dissolve the contents of one (1) package in ... boiling water. Cover and let stand for 2-3 minutes, during which time the cover should not be removed.
--How much boiling water you use is dependent on how much you want to weaken the extract or make it easier to use.
Precautions:
1. Do not dissolve granules in cold water
2. Store in a cool, dry place such as a refrigerator.
ADDENDUM II
About Golden Flower Pills:
Out of all the "american producers" this is by far the most effective brand. Potent and high quality. Very similar to what I can find over here in Japan. They only sell pills so you will need to crush them then measure then administer. A hassle, but the quality is well worth it. However....
"DUE TO OUR DISTRIBUTOR AGREEMENT WITH GOLDEN FLOWER WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO OFFER GF FORMULAS FOR SALE ON OUR WEBSITE. TO ORDER GF FORMULAS PLEASE CALL 1-800-772-6320 OR SEND AN EMAIL TO info@spanda.com"
Disclaimer: I am not a DVM. Advice is offered after my own extensive research and/or experience and should be undertaken at your own risk. Consult with your licensed DVM before undertaking any treatment!
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