Has Anyone Given Milk Thistle To Their Greyhound?

[Guest marilynj4greys]

Hi all - Has anyone ever given Milk Thistle to their greyhound as homeopathic treatment for arthritis, stiff joints or for any other health problems? If so, did it help your greyhound? And how did you determine how much to give your hound? Weight/dosage ratio? A co-worker who has a older dog (not a greyhound though) suggested giving Milk Thistle to our 10 1/2 greyhound to help ease joint stiffness. I've done some research online and read that Milk Thistle aids dogs with liver problems and arthritis but am a little leary about giving herbs to my hound simply because greyhounds process medications etc differently than other breeds. Any info or advise you can give is most appreciated. Thanks! concerned greyhound mom

[Wonder]

I give it for Sparks liver and it really helped. He goes back next month for his annual and I'm hoping his liver is perfect

[ShantisMom]

We have used milk thistle for Shanti. It was for her liver. I have used celery seed for arthritis. No luck, but her arthritis is bad. I have tried duralactin too. She just got the runs from that.

[TheFullHouse]

We give Saint Milk Thistle to support his liver because of the seizure medications he takes. It works great, his liver values are perfect and have been for over 4 years now.

[GreyTzu]

I used milk thistle for liver support with Dylan.

[Guest marilynj4greys]

I give it for Sparks liver and it really helped. He goes back next month for his annual and I'm hoping his liver is perfect

Hi and thanks for replying..... how did you determine how much to give Sparks? I bought the liquid formula of Milk Thistle from Vitamin World- it has a dropper to with dosage marker for 0.5 ML and 1 ML. I'm sure how much to give to our hound Clicker. He weighs 72 pounds. I am being cautious and don't want to give him more than he should get for his size/age. Any suggestions?

 

I used milk thistle for liver support with Dylan.

Hi and thanks for responding. How did you determine how much to give Dylan. I bought the liquid version of Milk Thistle at Vitamin World - it comes with a dropper marked with the 0.5 ML and 1 ML. So I'm not sure how much to give our boy Clicker. He weighs 72 pounds. I am being cautious and don't want to give him more than he should get for his weight and age. Any suggestions?

 

We give Saint Milk Thistle to support his liver because of the seizure medications he takes. It works great, his liver values are perfect and have been for over 4 years now.

Hi and thanks for responding. I'd like to give some of the Milk Thistle to Clicker but not sure how much. I bought the liquid version from Vitamin World and it comes with a dropper and its marked with 0.5 ML and 1 ML. I am being cautious because I don't want to give Clicker more than he ought to get. Any suggestions for determing dosage?

 

We have used milk thistle for Shanti. It was for her liver. I have used celery seed for arthritis. No luck, but her arthritis is bad. I have tried duralactin too. She just got the runs from that.

Hi and thanks responding. I'd like to give Clicker the Milk Thistle to see if it really would help with his stiffness in joints but not sure how much to give him. I bougt the liquid formula of Milk Thistle at Vitamin World and it comes with a dropper which is marked with 0.5 ML and 1 ML. I'd hate to give Clicker too much seeing how it doesn't take much to upset his tummy and give him the runs. Clicker weighs 72 pounds. How did you determine how much to give Shanti? Any suggestions...........

[TheFullHouse]

I'm not sure what the dosage would be in liquid. Saint gets a 1000 mg. capsule once a day in his food.

[AngelWhispers]

I've never used the liquid form but I'm currently giving Milk Thistle along with Sam-E to Flippy to support her liver and joints while she's undergoing chemo therapy. She gets 800mg of Sam-E and 1000mg of milk thistle in capsule form. Flippy weighs 66lbs and my other girl who got it for liver support weighed 75lbs and she got the same dosage.

[Guest RooCroo]

Hoover has been on milk thistle for liver protection for four years because he is on phenobarbital. He has been doing very well on it, and no liver problems yet, even on a large dose of phenobarbital.

 

We use Hilton Herbs' Milk Thistle Plus formula, made especially for dogs. We give it to him two weeks on, one week off. (Supposed to keep the body from developing a tolerance and lowering the efficacy of the herbs.)

 

I haven't heard of celery seed for arthritis. We are having a terrible time with Lacy (our 16 yr old border collie) and her painful joints. She can't tolerate NSAIDS stronger than aspirin, and also has Cushing's disease. She is on milk thistle, vitex, MSM/glucosamine, and aspirin. We are willing to try anything to make her more comfy. Any thoughts on dosage of celery seed for a 50 pound dog?

[Guest marilynj4greys]

Thanks ladies for responding.

 

The reason we are trying the Milk Thistle is because he suddenly started panting, shaking like he was cold and wouldn't eat his food or drink water yesterday morning and he was limping/favoring left front paw. My hubby took him to the vet who couldn't find anything physically wrong after doing hands on examination - you know - moving his legs, his neck, all that stuff to see if Clicker would react/flinch but the vet got no reaction from Clicker. She could see that Clicker wasn't feeling well and favoring his left front leg/paw but she didn't not find any joints to be swollen so she gave Clicker a shot for the pain and gave us some Rimadyl to give him. Vet said if Clicker isn't feeling better in a few days she'd like to do some Xrays to see if there's something internally wrong. The suggestion for giving Clicker the Milk Thistle came from one of my hubby's co-workers who told us he gives his senior dog Milk Thistle and its helped his dog with the stiffness etc from arthritis.

 

Can I ask - are you giving your hounds Milk Thistle because your vet (traditional and/or homeopathic) recommended it or simply because you've learned about its healing properties from other sources. I gave Clicker a couple drops equaling 0.5 ML last night but again want to use caution. Clicker appeared to be feeling a little better when at 2 am I woke up to find him drinking water. He wasn't limping and I let him outside to go potty and then he ate 4 biscuits after coming in - I was happy to see him eating the biscuits since he didn't eat breakfast or dinner or drink water earlier in the day.

 

I was just wondering if Clicker possbily had a seizure yesterday - seeing him panting and shaking a lot made me wonder... but I don't know what the signs of a seizure are in dogs so I'm just wondering if you know............if so please explain.

 

Thanks!

[racindog]

My holistic vet prescribed milk thistle for my greyt Slim. He had been starved prior to rescue and had digestive issues etc. As I recall it was very safe and was highly recommended by everybody I checked with for keeping the liver healthy. In fact if I remember correctly I believe I found out that it is given to humans that suffer from mushroom poisoning because it was so effective at purifying and cleansing. The vet had me giving him 2 or 3 of the capsules a day I believe. It was so safe I was never worried about any possible toxicity. I even took some myself since it was supposed to be so good for you. Now that you have reminded me I think I will get some for my senior. I had forgotten about how good it was. I do recall that there is a wide desparity in effectiveness between regular "milk thistle" and the "milk thistle phytosome". The milk thistle phytosome is the one you want because it has the highest concentration of the active ingredient that works so good. Regular milk thistle is weak compared to it. Hope that helps. But really- everything I found out said it was very safe and a wonderful herb and my vet confirmed it. And by the way- Slim did get well. In fact he got as strong as a horse!

[Newgreymom]

You may want to check the liquid form (tincture). It may have alcohol in it. The pills are better than the liquid for that reason. Daisy's liver enzymes were way off when we first adopted her and 8 weeks on Milk Thistle and she's never had another problem. You may want to try Trixsyn (hylauronic acid) for joint pain and stiffness. It has helped tremendously. You can Google it and come up with a website. Great stuff....

[brandimom]

Hoover has been on milk thistle for liver protection for four years because he is on phenobarbital. He has been doing very well on it, and no liver problems yet, even on a large dose of phenobarbital.

 

We use Hilton Herbs' Milk Thistle Plus formula, made especially for dogs. We give it to him two weeks on, one week off. (Supposed to keep the body from developing a tolerance and lowering the efficacy of the herbs.)

 

I haven't heard of celery seed for arthritis. We are having a terrible time with Lacy (our 16 yr old border collie) and her painful joints. She can't tolerate NSAIDS stronger than aspirin, and also has Cushing's disease. She is on milk thistle, vitex, MSM/glucosamine, and aspirin. We are willing to try anything to make her more comfy. Any thoughts on dosage of celery seed for a 50 pound dog?

 

Where are you buying the Hilton Herb's Milk Thistle Plus and how much? Thanks.

 

[ShantisMom]

SHanti is 60lbs. Shanti was getting one 175mg tablet 2x a day of milk thistle.

 

I gave her 2 505mg capsules of celery seed 2x a day. It did not help her.

[Ullaluv]

Both of mine who are on phenobarbital take Milk Thistle. They get 175 mg. Sometimes I get it at the health food store, and sometimes I order on-line from Now Foods.

[Guest houndlover]

Casey is on meloxicam for his arthritis and I give him milk thistle for liver support. So far all of his values have come back fine. He weighs 75lbs and gets 175mg 2x's a day.

 

Hope this helps and I hope that Clicker is feeling better soon.

[Guest RooCroo]

Hoover has been on milk thistle for liver protection for four years because he is on phenobarbital. He has been doing very well on it, and no liver problems yet, even on a large dose of phenobarbital.

 

We use Hilton Herbs' Milk Thistle Plus formula, made especially for dogs. We give it to him two weeks on, one week off. (Supposed to keep the body from developing a tolerance and lowering the efficacy of the herbs.)

 

I haven't heard of celery seed for arthritis. We are having a terrible time with Lacy (our 16 yr old border collie) and her painful joints. She can't tolerate NSAIDS stronger than aspirin, and also has Cushing's disease. She is on milk thistle, vitex, MSM/glucosamine, and aspirin. We are willing to try anything to make her more comfy. Any thoughts on dosage of celery seed for a 50 pound dog?

 

Where are you buying the Hilton Herb's Milk Thistle Plus and how much? Thanks.

 

 

We used to get it from a local source, but they don't carry it anymore.

Now you can get it from The Healing Barn http://www.thehealingbarn.com

 

$21.00 for 4.4 oz, and $39.00 for an 8.8 oz bag. 8.8 oz. will last my two dogs about 4 months.

 

Edited April 8, 2009 by RooCroo

[Guest marilynj4greys]

You may want to check the liquid form (tincture). It may have alcohol in it. The pills are better than the liquid for that reason. Daisy's liver enzymes were way off when we first adopted her and 8 weeks on Milk Thistle and she's never had another problem. You may want to try Trixsyn (hylauronic acid) for joint pain and stiffness. It has helped tremendously. You can Google it and come up with a website. Great stuff....

 

Hi - The Milk Thistle liquid tincture is Alcohol Free and the standard dosage is 500 mg (1 ML). I've been giving Clicker half that dosage twice a day and I might increase the dosage today to see if it helps. Kind of hard to tell if the Milk Thistle is helping him since the vet gave him a analgesic shot the other day and gave us Rimadly to give him twice a day. He is still favoring that front left leg/paw and will frequently stand up, hold his left leg up or fold his paw under and stand there panting for about 5-10 minutes before laying back down. Not sure if he's experiencing sudden pain while this is happening but he has no problem going up/down the carpeted stairs (we have split level) and he doesn't flinch or pull his paw away when we hold it/rub it. He ate his morning meal yesterday, is drinking water and will accept treats (like what hound wouldn't want a COOKIE but he didn't eat his evening meal. So we're at a loss as to what Clicker is experiencing. This is when we wish dogs could talk and tell us what's wrong. Anways we have to call the vet today to give her an update so we have a feeling she's going to recommend getting xrays to determine what the heck is going on. I'm going to ask the vet to do blood work too to see if that indicates any other type of problems that xrays might not show. Thanks for the recommendation of Trixsyn - I'll check it out.....

[tbhounds]

My boy is taking Denamarin for liver support--it's basically a Milk thistle and Sam E combo-made by NutraMax-awesome product but, it is pricey. Wanted to mention that you should always give Milk thistle & Sam E on an empty tummy one hour before meals--overnight fast is preferred--foods block the absorption of the products.

I would ask your vet about doing a 3DX Snap test--it's quick test to check for lyme disease--dogs often present with limping in the carpus (wrist) when they have Lyme. Keep us updated!

[ozgirl2]

I used milk thistle on Cody whenever she had to be on NSAIDs - and she never had any liver problems! (I take it too, if I need to be on anti-inflams for any length of time...)

[brandimom]

Hoover has been on milk thistle for liver protection for four years because he is on phenobarbital. He has been doing very well on it, and no liver problems yet, even on a large dose of phenobarbital.

 

We use Hilton Herbs' Milk Thistle Plus formula, made especially for dogs. We give it to him two weeks on, one week off. (Supposed to keep the body from developing a tolerance and lowering the efficacy of the herbs.)

 

I haven't heard of celery seed for arthritis. We are having a terrible time with Lacy (our 16 yr old border collie) and her painful joints. She can't tolerate NSAIDS stronger than aspirin, and also has Cushing's disease. She is on milk thistle, vitex, MSM/glucosamine, and aspirin. We are willing to try anything to make her more comfy. Any thoughts on dosage of celery seed for a 50 pound dog?

 

Where are you buying the Hilton Herb's Milk Thistle Plus and how much? Thanks.

 

 

We used to get it from a local source, but they don't carry it anymore.

Now you can get it from The Healing Barn http://www.thehealingbarn.com

 

$21.00 for 4.4 oz, and $39.00 for an 8.8 oz bag. 8.8 oz. will last my two dogs about 4 months.

 

 

Thank you. I just checked out that site.