Cell Salts for Pets Part One: The basics of how and when to give cell salts to your cat or dog
Cell salts can be a safe and natural option for your pet’s health complaints. They don’t interfere with medication and work to improve their health by helping their body balance essential minerals and absorption.
Very often we get inquiries at Jackson’s about giving cell salts to animals. We are by no means veterinarians or a replacement to a health care provider, but cell salts have an excellent safety record in the last 150 years. They have been used and there are generally some safe areas and ways you can give cell salts to pets.
Some notes to consider before beginning:
- The nature of your pet’s health complaint: If your pet has a chronic complaint, are on prescribed medication for their condition, and/or have multiple conditions that require medical supervision; you should consult with their health practitioner before trying cell salts.
- Type of health complaint: Generally, it is safe to try cell salts for your pets skin and fur, digestion, and musculo-skeletal health.
- Dosage forms to AVOID: liquid forms with ethanol or alcohol in them. Alcohol is a poison to your cat and dog and should be avoided. If your pet has food allergies, avoiding lactose based tablets can help assess the effect of the cell salt’s active ingredient without an unnecessary allergic reaction to the compounding base.
The best way to give cell salts to pets:
- The best way depends on your pets tolerance to having their mouth handled. The best and most efficient way is to crush a couple pellets between two spoons and put the crumbly powder straight in their mouth (aka a dry dose). Some dogs will let you put a couple pellets right between to the front teeth and lower lip to let dissolve right there.
- If you’re trying to give the dose to a cat or a dog that is not as amenable as above, you can dissolve the crushed pellets in a couple tablespoons of water. Invest in a small plastic syringe and try to squirt in their mouth.
- Barring all that you could just add it to their water bowl. Fill the water bowl a little less and have 3-5 crushed doses to the water and stir well (aka plussing).
Dosage:
Half the amount of human dose (if adult humans take 4 pellets per dose, your pet would take 2 pellets per dose)
One to three times daily is a good dosing schedule.
For more troublesome complaints, you can repeat every half an hour to two hours up to 12 doses in a day. Doing this for more than a couple days would indicate you need to reach out to your pet’s health practitioner for support.
How to know whether cell salts are working or not?
A good rule of thumb is six doses or six weeks. If your pet has a relatively recent health complaint, you would like to see a well-matched cell salt show signs of improvement within six doses. If your pet has had something chronic for over a year, six weeks is a good amount of time to see if it’s helping. If you’re giving a cell salt daily for over a week, it’s good to take ‘rest days’ here and there. A good dosage cycle for chronic conditions is five days on, two days off, five days on, two days off, etc. If you don’t notice improvement by then, stop.
Cell salts are low-dose homeopathic remedies. They work by stimulating the body to balance its affairs better. Having rest days gives the body a chance to respond.
When to stop giving cell salts to your pets
As soon as you start to notice improvement, reduce how often you give it and eventually stop if it’s no longer needed. This is always the best policy for homeopathic remedies and is different from traditional prescriptions like antibiotics.
