The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat

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Summary: ALIVE TODAY BECAUSE OF THIS BOOK
Review: BRIEF AND TO THE POINT MY DOGS WERE DEEMED INCURABLE DUE TO A MULTITUDE OF DISEASE ILLNESSES RESULTING FRON GROSS FLEE AND TICK INFESTATION THAT WENT UNCHECKED OVER A FIVE MONTH PERIOD I WAS AWAY. THE VETS INSISTED ON PUTTING THEM DOWN. I DECIDED TO SCAN MY LIBURARY TO SEE WHAT INFORMATION I MIGHT HAVE IN THE WHOLISTIC WORLD. TO MY SURPRISE I CAME ACROSS THIS BOOK THAT TO DATE I HAD ONLY SCANNED TO READ ABOUT SHAMPOO AND HOUSE BREAKING. I DECIDED TO DEVOUR THIS BOOK PAGE BY PAGE BECAUSE I WAS DESPERATE. IT TOOK 63DAYS OF ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (AND I MEAN NOTHING) BUT FRESH GROUND GARLIC AND HONEY HELD TOGETHER WITH ORGANIC OATMEAL RUN THROUGH THE FOOD PROCESSOR TO MAKE FLOUR. IT WAS 24/7 BUT IT WORKED MY TWO DOGS ARE ALIVE AND WELL TODAY. EVERYONE SAID IT COULD NOT BE DONE. I DID EXACTLY AS JULIE SAID WORD FOR WORD WITHOUT EXCEPTION AND ALL TOTAL 10 AND 1/2 MONTHS MY DOGS WERE LIKE PUPPIES. THIS BOOK IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR ANY PET OWNER AND WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THEIR HEALTH AND LONGIVITY. HUMBLY SUBMITTED BY: C. E. K. RISNER

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Summary: A very interesting and lovely book
Review: I bought this book shortly before I met Juliette at a "Healthy Dog" workshop in Germany.
The book makes very interesting reading, especially the parts where she tells how people in other countries heal their pets.
It is a pity the book does not contain drawings or pictures and only a short description of the herbs used by Juliette. The part on healthy nutrition is at least interesting and worth reading, although in my opinion too many grains are used in the diet.
I can imagine this book saved the lives of many dogs and cats.
Although I wouldn't follow up on everything that is written in this precious book, I certainly use quite a lot of what Juliette recommends.
Juliette herself is a lovely interesting woman well in her eighties. She carries a lot of knowledge around with her and I am grateful for the opportunity to have met her in person.

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Summary: Don't bother with this book unless you like cute stories
Review: I gave it one star because the English was decently written. The knowledge it conveyed was idiotic. There were interesting anecdotes such as saving her afghans with a local herb while she was traveling, but little science. She mentions veterinarians and modern chemistry with disdain, claiming a respect for canines. In particular, when discussing fevers, she maintains that the dog knows best and it isn't appropriate to force feed the dog the way [mean - editor's comment] veterinarians do. Yet neither does she advocate letting the dog decide when it should eat when it is sick, which is what I would expect if she truly respected dogs.

I kept trying to read this book, thinking each time that it couldn't possibly be as useless as I remembered, and each time I put it down in disgust. There are other books out there that deal with good common sense care and don't insult your, or your dog's, intelligence. Buy those, and ignore Juliette De Bairacli Levy's treatise on anecdotes.

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Summary: Put your scepticism aside, try it - it works!
Review: I picked up a copy of this book per chance one day, looking to improve the condition of my oldest dog (rescued also) and it just so happened that many years later I stumbled across a stray pup (+- 2 months, literally skin and bone, mange, viral warts around and inside his mouth). Once he was in an adequate state to socialize with other dogs, we were faced with having the warts surgically removed, which did not come recommended as the vet advised that they would in all likelihood grow back. On the other hand we thought we had to remove them as his socialization was being impaired (we noticed that other dogs tended to ostracize him). Since he was that young, and considering the importance of proper socialization, we thought we had to do something. At the eleventh hour we stopped the proposed invasive surgical procedure and decided to try Ms De Bairacli Levy's suggestions; setting up a diet which we would try for a month, and lo and behold, a month later 90% of the warts had disappeared. Within 2 months all the warts had disappeared. And all the dogs (4) have been switched to the natural rearing diet. They are really bright eyed and bushy tailed now! And exude the sweet smell of fenugreek!

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Summary: Old Wives' Tales v. Old Wise Tales
Review: Juliette De Bairacli Levy is clearly a highly respected and very knowledgeable herbal and natural pet care expert, and I have no problem with her advice in these areas. However, her negative comments about spaying and neutering (i.e., that it's a bad idea, and that humans do it for their own convenience, not for the benefit of their pets) are way off base. She has a great respect for ancient lore, but in this case, I think that she's gotten old wive's tales and old wise tales confused. I don't know where Ms. Levy lives, or what the pet population statistics are for her area, but in the U.S., some six million dogs and cats are killed every year because there are not enough homes for them all. Is there any benefit to the animals in having to destroy entire litters? Has Ms. Levy ever seen a pile of just-euthanized dogs and cats, killed merely because there were too many of them? I have. It's a hellish sight that's impossible to erase from the memory. I live in a place where dogs and cats, kittens and puppies, are routinely dumped like garbage because those responsible for their existence are not willing to care for them.

We took these animals out of the wild and domesticated them thousands of years ago, and they can no longer live as if they were still wild. I'm not entirely comfortable with the very idea of having pets, but I believe that because we've bred them to become dependent on us, we have to take responsibility for their care. And that includes spaying and neutering to prevent their numbers from getting out of control, and preventing the suffering of so many of them who are forced to live on the streets, are abused or neglected or abandoned, or euthanized because of lack of space. That's the real suffering, to me.

In an ideal world, dogs and cats could live as nature intended--with gonads intact--if their guardians would only be willing to control their roaming behavior. But this is far from an ideal world. Because of the gross irresponsibility of pet guardians who allow their unaltered animals to run around and freely breed because they've decided it's inconvenient and too expensive to have them spayed and neutered--and because of professional breeders who add to the problem by perpetuating their particular favored breeds, as well as puppy mills and backyard breeders who produce millions more animals, the U.S. has ended up with a tragic overpopulation problem. I wonder what measures Ms. Levy would suggest to deal with that, if not spaying and neutering. I'd be fascinated to hear. If you read this, Ms. Levy, please respond.

Otherwise, I found the book educational and fascinating.

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Summary: OLD WISE TALES OR OLD WIVES' TALES?
Review: Ms. is clearly a highly respected and very knowledgeable herbal and natural pet care expert, and I have no problem with her advice in these areas. However, her negative comments about spaying and neutering (i.e., that it's a bad idea, and that humans do it for their own convenience, not for the benefit of their pets) are way off base. She has a great respect for ancient lore, but in this case, I think that she's gotten old wive's tales and old wise tales confused. I don't know where Ms. Levy lives, or what the pet population statistics are for her area, but in the U.S., some six million dogs and cats are killed every year because there are not enough homes for them all. Is there any benefit to the animals in having to destroy entire litters? Has Ms. Levy ever seen a pile of just-euthanized dogs and cats, killed merely because there were too many of them? I have. It's a hellish sight that's impossible to erase from the memory. I live in a place where dogs and cats, kittens and puppies, are routinely dumped like garbage because those responsible for their existence are not willing to care for them. We took these animals out of the wild and domesticated them thousands of years ago, and they can no longer live as if they were still wild. I'm not entirely comfortable with the very idea of having pets, but I believe that since we've created them and made them dependent on us, we have to take responsibility for their care. And that includes spaying and neutering to prevent their numbers from getting out of control, and preventing the suffering of so many of them who are forced to live on the streets, are abused or neglected or abandoned, or euthanized because of lack of space. That's the real suffering, to me.

In an ideal world, dogs and cats could live as nature intended--with gonads intact--if their guardians would only be willing to control their roaming behavior. But this is far from an ideal world. Because of the gross irresponsibility of pet guardians who allow their unaltered animals to run around and freely breed because they've decided it's inconvenient and too expensive to have them spayed and neutered--and because of professional breeders who add to the problem by perpetuating their favored breeds, as well as puppy mills and backyard breeders who produce millions more animals, the U.S. has ended up with a tragic overpopulation problem. I wonder what measures Ms. Levy would suggest to deal with that, if not spaying and neutering. I'd be fascinated to hear. If you read this, Ms. Levy, please respond.

Otherwise, I found the book fairly useful and educational.

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Summary: life saver
Review: My daughter picked up a Lab/bulldog mix puppy thrown out at a park. His health is not the best to say the least. While searching for a non-steroid solution to his skin allergy rash, I stumbled across references to Ms. Levy's book. This book, along with another by Pitcairn have saved this puppy from dying. An added benefit has been that my Cocker and Dachshund have improved as well. The Cocker is now 13 years old and I had accepted her slowing down and lethatgy to her age. Now that she is eating naturally she has energy that I haven't seen in years. The nicest effect is that she no longer smells horrible and her eyes no longer water and leave stains under her eyes! The book is written so that it is easy for anyone to understand. I am highly recommending this book to all. I think it should be required reading for veterinary students as well.

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Summary: The Bible of the Natural Rearing Movement
Review: This is the latest edition of Juliette de Bairacli Levy's (a.k.a. the grandmother of the natural rearing movement) classic Herbal Handbook for the Dog (cat owners will be more interested in the book she has written specifically on holistic cat care). Juliette has been breeding, naturally rearing, showing, and traveling the world with her Champion Afghans since the 1930s. This book is dedicated to her Turkuman Afghan Hounds who "have never known disease." As always, Juliette is opinionated, uncompromising, cantankerous, and a tad eccentric, but also full of wisdom and vast amounts of valuable info, and every one of her books makes a fascinating read. The first section of this book deals with nutrition (she emphasizes the importance of feeding a raw diet), breeding and natural rearing (no vaccines, insecticides, etc.) while the second part deals with herbal remedies for everything from mange to distemper. Of course most of her suggestions are out of synch with current veterinary advice, but our own naturally reared Wirehaired Pointers and many other dogs like them are living proof that her methods work -- extremely well. Our dogs have remained disease and parasite-free without vaccines, worming pills, insecticides, antibiotics, steroids, etc. The best protection we can give our beloved Wires is a strong immune system, and all of the above have the effect of weakening our animals' immune systems. Even if you are not ready to go "all natural," this book will make you question the conventional wisdom and hopefully encourage you to further research the many harmful practices (e.g., annual booster shots, combo vaccines, antibiotics and/or steroids for every minor infection, routine wormings, feeding of commercial convenience foods with highly questionable ingredients, etc.) we have learned to accept as both necessary and harmless.

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Summary: More Information Please!
Review: While overall, I enjoyed this book and found it to be informative and enlightening, I found certain parts lacking. Much more attention was given to the portion about dogs. The information was much too general. The diets given made sense, however, no portion sizes or time intervals for feeding were given. No information on the combining of the ingredients was given or how often to feed the animal which foods. For example, the author says to feed a dog carrots to provide insulin in a case of diabetes but never says how many and how often. Also, there was no information on where to obtain some of the lesser known herbs and vitamins and other suppliments. I did not find this book to be detailed enough for my liking nor was it very thorough in my opinion. The author seems to be overly concerned with putting forth a theory, and proving that theory to be correct. I should like much more detailed instructions for the care and feeding of cats as well as dogs. As it is, I cannot rely on this book for any in depth or detailed reference.

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Summary: Cuidado Natural de Perros y Gatos
Review: Yes - vaccines took my Newfoundland's life. She was only two and they destroyed her immune system. But her death has led me down the path to such vitally important people as Wendy Volhard (her clinically tested diet is based on Juliette's work)and Juliette Levy. Juliette's books have given me a deeper understanding of the true power of diet. Diet IS powerful medicine - absolutely no doubt about that. That Juliette has put these cures and ways of life into print is a blessing for all of us.