Natalie Palmer provides the first article concerning Manuka Honey in a new series about useful natural remedies when caring for your dog.
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So, what do you know about natural remedies? If you are like me the answer is not a lot, but I am learning there are a lot of great products out there to help us keep our dogs happy and healthy. Recently our Susie had some open wounds to her tail which were stitched and yep you guessed it she managed to pull out the stitches – even with an extra large cone and an inflatable collar no less! Anyway, as our Susie is really nervous at the vets they decided not to restitch but the treatment was clean them 3 times a day and apply Manuka Honey….I was genuinely intrigued and somewhere remember hearing about the benefits of Manuka before. While researching I found that the Manuka honey will basically remove anything bad from the wounds due to its natural healing properties. My advice would be to keep a jar in your cupboard - just in case. Not only is it amazing on cuts and wounds but it also works internally too. Raw unpasteurised honey is antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral. Don’t be thinking this is the same as the runny honey you spread on your toast at breakfast, Manuka honey is special thanks to the bees in New Zealand and Australia who pollenate the flowers of the Manuka tree.
Uses for manuka-
- First aid wound care
- Skin disease
- Probiotic for gut health
- Provides added immune support against viruses
- Protects with anti-oxidants
- Helps to maintain great oral health
For me, the tricky bit was understanding what Manuka Honey to buy, there is the Manuka honey you can buy in the local supermarket and then there is a whole range you can buy at your local health store as well as online too. When looking at buying there are 2 things to consider:
1) UMF (unique manuka factor) grade Manuka is superior to other supermarket bought honeys
2) The MGO level which means the antimicrobial activity in methylglyoxal
When introducing this into a dogs diet the advice I found was to start with the lower levels -
Manuka UMF 5+|MGO 83+
Manuka UMF 10+| MGO 263+
Not only does the natural remedy cost far less than other medication at the Vets but also it reduces the amount of chemicals we are using on our dogs. Of course, in some cases these medications are needed just as we also had anti inflammatory and pain relief medication for Susie but when these came to an end, we continued with the Manuka honey orally as a natural continuation until the wounds had healed.
I hope this has piqued your interest in finding out more and there is a really fantastic guide on how to use manuka honey for dogs which is well worth a read for further information:
The plan is to continue this blog going forward with other natural remedies out there, so if you have one in particular you think is amazing please comment and the team will look to post more blog items in this subject area.
Please note that natural re,medies can be an effective means to maintain the health of your dog, but if you are concerned about their health then you should consult a vet.
You can find more useful articles for training and caring for your GSD (and other breeds) in our archive: https://gsdwelfare.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
