Pet Naturals Calming for Dogs

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So, I have a beagle. She's a perfectly lovely little dog, but can be quite hyper at times. Ok, more than hyper, she can be crazy. Particularly when the rest of the family comes in in the afternoons. She jumps all over them, runs in circles around the house, and takes a good hour or so to return to non-frenzy state. I gave her one of these little calming treats today and voila, no jumping, no running. She was still her normal happy self and has been playing as normal, she just isn't wound quite so tightly after having the treat. She accepted the treat willingly without me having to hide it in anything. (But if I am to be completely honest, she is not the most discriminating eater, so make of that what you will.)

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Bought these for my 3 year old, 90lb chocolate lab (field breed, not english breed... aka the super crazy labs). Had to leave her unattended in a friend's house while we went out to a soccer game, and have used them SPARINGLY when we visit friends and she needs to be mellow for a few hours (despite walking her, playing fetch and dog parks, she will still jump around and get into everything).

When she eats them, she tends to be very mellow and more likely to nap than whine, bounce around, or otherwise get into everything. I would give this 5 stars, but I really dislike the idea of medicating a dog for its natural behavior/energy/curiosity on a regular basis. She is a lab they have a ton of energy naturally. Also beware the energy spike when these wear off. Your dog will want extra attention/exercise when these wear off.

But if you need a mellow dog in a pinch (leaving them unattended in a strange place, visiting dog-shy relatives or friends, these will work. Just follow the directions on the bag and don't give them too much.

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For the last two months, we've shared our house with a now 17-month old Weimaraner rescue. Like all adolescent Weims, he is sneaky, stubborn, exuberant and...sensitive. Like many rescues, he is still working through the effects of what came in the three homes he lived with before ours, including three months in multiple dog foster homes. So. sometimes even after lots of exercise, patient training session and 24/7 tenderness, his edginess remains. These calming chews work very well for us.

When we give one of these after his evening meal, he becomes much less agitated. As a result, we can watch a movie without constant interruptions, and the cat can enter the room without the dog springing into full speed action. I don't think there's any placebo effect since the "patient" is a dog(or maybe we're just more relaxed after he takes it in anticipation of its calming effects)...and it calms him down.

Bottom line: after taking this, we enjoy calming experience for *every* member of the house.

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Our small 12 year old Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix gets dog really excited every time we take the 3 hour trip to our vacation home. She starts stressing while we pack the car like she knows where we are going and she doesn't want to be left behind. We go about once a month and she pants almost the entire way, driving me crazy. We have given her these to her 3 times and each time about 10 minutes later she is calm and then goes to sleep for most of the trip. It's great! She is not doped up and likes the taste very much. I highly recommend these.

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This is one of four calming products from Pet Naturals with the same dosage ratio of key ingredients per ten pounds of pet weight: only the size of the soft chew varies in three and the fourth is a liquid. ALL WORK BEAUTIFULLY on our four pets and better than the compounded (& expensive) drug amytryptalline (sp?) prescribed by our vet. The liquid may have a convenience advantage, especially for pets whose weight falls in between the listed weight categories. The liquid is more expensive, however, and would have to sell for about $14 to equal the serving cost of the larger chews. Most economical is the product for medium-to-large dogs ($6-$7 for 21 chews) but requires slicing the chews into smaller bits (completely doable, by the way) for pets under about 40 pounds to get portion sizes to match the manufacturer's recommended dosage. I surmise that the manufacturer's recommendation is based on the worst-case scenario (sensitive pet and acute stressful situation). For less taxing situations/pets it would be entirely reasonable to begin with a milder dose (say half or even a fourth) and work up to an effective level. We have four 10-pound pets, two of which have aggression issues: one out of jealousy and the other defensiveness; the third is skittish and over-excitable; the fourth (the mom-cat) is generally cool but gets a little frayed by the others' behaviors. I slice the larger chews into about 20 bits and add a bit to each of the two protagonists' three daily meals. This gives me about 7 dosage-days per cat per chew rather than 4 days at the recommended level.

SPECIAL NOTE ON DOSAGES: See my review of either RENAFOOD or RENAL ESSENTIALS for more information on the RELIABILITY (including label dosages) of supplement products.

This smaller dosage regimen seems to work just fine for these behavior issues for these pets. I may try reducing the dosage even further after the two antagonists have achieved a noticeable attitude adjustment. The product does seem to work better on the jealous/aggressive pet better than on the defensive one. I had noticed this same phenomenon with my DIY herb mixtures (chamomile, peppermint, fennel, ginger, etc.). They seemed to have more effect on the pet with genetic/developmental aggression than on the one with learned/protectionist aggression. The Pet Naturals formula, however, works noticeably better on both pets than my homemade concoctions ever did (Well, just as good and it tastes worlds better, say the pets). ONE NEGATIVE: The liquid is 3.8 oz not 4 oz. as advertised. Small but unnecessary discrepancy. MORE POSITIVES: the pets LOVE the product; it is non-addictive; and (naturally!) natural. The only time it is not effective in calming the pets is after they get a good whiff of the stuff and before you can give it to them. During this interval, THEY GO ABSOLUTELY NUTS. And STAY NUTS until the aroma (and product) is out of range of their senses. IRONIC, huh!! According to the people at Pet Naturals the product has no dependency issues and the ingredients are completely "natural". The colostrum is the bovine variety and said to be hormone free. I did not ask (I did not WANT to know) how they harvested this natural colostrum. Also per Pet Naturals, the calming effect takes about 30 minutes to engage and lasts about 4-6 hours. Again, I suspect this is based on the more intense end of the stress/anxiety spectrum. In our case, the "bits" of reduced dosage last from meal to meal, which is at least 8 hours (and sometimes a little longer--I know, the pets think we are irresponsible too!). We have only had one bad fight since starting the regimen about two weeks ago and it was CAUSED BY the product!! (retraction later). We were comparing products with the pets in the same room (same bed!) and our jealous one got a whiff. She got very excited and persisted in pursuing the aroma thru the closed containers. This apparently broke the calming power of her meal "bits" and within a half hour she ambushed her favorite target sibling viciously (well, it sounded vicious). So WE were the CAUSE of this attack, NOT the Pet Naturals. Had we given our keen-sensed one another small "bit" (and put the stuff away quicker) she probably would have settled back down and resumed her repose. CUSTOMER SERVICE at Pet Naturals deserves accolades as well. I spoke to two reps there (one actually in sales) and both were just EXCELLENT; probably the best customer service experience I have had that I can remember (should I mention my memory loss problem?). They actually sounded like they were enjoying helping and they actually did with their knowledge of the product and with actual experience in using the product. For instance, they knew the "user satisfaction" level that the product designers shoot for: namely a minimum of 80% and that their products typically achieve a 90% user (pet) acceptance level. In our case, it is 100% (& possibly 110%). I am also testing the liquid formula as a flavor enhancer for appetite-challenged pets. So far the aroma of the calming liquid (and the "bits") is easily lost when mixed with food (even dry nibbles) or water or chilled. I generally feed our pets dry nibblers floating on about an ounce of water. One of our pets has renal failure and the accompanying diminished appetite. Adding the "bits" or liquid drops to her food does not seem to improve her appetite level. I would have expected a dramatic effect based on how appealing the products are to our pets if fed to them out of hand. I am not through with the "enhancer" experiments yet, so I may add to this review later if I have something new to report. I am also testing other calming alternatives, one in particular from VETS*BEST, and will compare the products when I write a review on this other brand. There are still other brands of calmers out there but, having found some that work for us (and at an affordable serving-cost), I do not plan to check these others out. So if anyone could extend the product comparisons by bringing in others they have used in side-by-side trials with Pet Naturals or Vets*Best it would be immensely helpful to future seekers of pet (and human) calm.

UPDATES: 1) This review was last updated on January 18, 2012 and JANUARY 2, 2013, to add a note on a NEW (and EVEN BETTER VALUE) PN product and a few details. 2) The promised review of VETS*BEST TRAVEL CALM is now available. 2)I finally found some flavor enhancers that are effective and summarized the results of my search in a review of CAT-MAN-DOO BONITO SPRINKLES. 3) I recently discovered a FIFTH PN CALM product that represents the BEST VALUE to date: CALM XL for dogs over 75 pounds. Currently it has about 3-times the amount (8 oz) of the package for medium-to-large dogs at about twice the price. And, like the other "dog-bone" shaped PN products, it can be sliced or ground for matching the serving size to the size and needs of the pet.