E-mail Dr. Kelleher

Formulas

Herbal Pet Formulas Preparation

My herbal formulas are carefully prepared using herbs, purified water and vegetable glycerin. There is no alcohol. Glycerin acts as a wonderful and very sweet, palatable preservative but it is still important to store the herbal formula in a cool dark place, shake well before using, clean the syringe well before touching the herbs and last, but not least, refrigerate when open. Their shelf life is at least a year. After that the herbs may loose their medicinal effect.

Please note that these herbal formulas are only available through your veterinarian.

Feather Picking Herbal Formula

Chirpie

Avian feather picking is a common and heartbreaking problem. It can be caused from any conventional illness but, when all Western medical tests turn up normal, the syndrome is described as behavioral. Thus, it is conventionally treated with sedatives and an uncomfortable collar that physically prevents the bird from picking. Holistic medicine may see it as a liver condition or as a result from profound depression considering the birds are caged unable to fly or interact with other birds. They need so much attention and care.

International Conference
on Exotics (2002)

The idea that feather picking is a symptom of liver stagnation is most probable. In Chinese medicine, the liver is related to the skin and the eyes. One possible explanation is that behavioral picking occurs due to frustration and/or anger from being caged and decreased blood flow due to almost no exercise.

The feather picking formula was one of the first I developed with the help of Dr. Tracy Bennett of the Bird and Exotic Clinic of Seattle. It calms an anxious bird, helps tonify the immune system and helps heal damaged skin or follicles. Tracy and I presented their findings using the formula for over 500 birds patients since 1997 to the International Conference on Exotics (2002).

We have had no side effects to date. Birds generally eat a small piece of bread soaked in the formula.

Liver Health Formula

This hand-prepared glycerin-based herbal preparation has been used successfully to treat birds since 1997. It is for the treatment of non-neoplastic liver disease, including chronic hepatitis, fatty-liver disease, iatrogenic hepatitis, cholangiohepatitis or other bile excretion problems.

Using this herbal remedy, I have been able to repeatedly lower ALT and ALP values that are in the thousands. Successive blood work-ups should be done no sooner than eight to ten weeks after treatment begins, but an improvement in clinical signs usually occurs within one week.

There have been no side-effects reported; the primary difficulty has been compliance. The herbs must be given on an empty stomach (within thirty minutes of eating is okay) from two to four times a day, depending upon the duration of illness and severity of signs.