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To make a tea, boil a cup of water and pour it over 1 teaspoon of dried (1 tablespoon of fresh) echinacea roots or leaves. Steep, covered, for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid into a jar and let it cool. Make a fresh infusion daily.

Alternatively, you may dilute 3 drops of echinacea tincture in 1 teaspoon water (9 drops of tincture in 1 tablespoon water), then use the dosage guidelines above.

Fill an eyedropper with the recommended amount of tea or diluted tincture and squeeze it into your pet’s mouth. Administer the tea three times daily for no longer than seven days. If the infection shows no signs of improvement or gets worse after several days, call your veterinarian.

If your pet resists taking liquid echinacea preparations, try capsules: 1/2 capsule three times daily for cats and dogs weighing less than 20 pounds; 1 capsule three times a day for medium-sized dogs; and 2 capsules for dogs weighing more than 40 pounds. Just open the capsule(s) and sprinkle the powder into your pet’s food.

Calendula Compress

Applying calendula flowers to cuts and wounds to help them heal is a centuries-old tradition; scientific studies have shown that calendula preparations reduce inflammation and promote the growth of healthy new tissue.

Calendula tea is made exactly like echinacea tea, but you don’t need to strain it. While the tea is cooling a bit, cut some terry cloth into strips long enough to wrap several times around the paw. When the liquid is comfortably warm, dunk a strip of towel into the liquid, wring it out, and wrap it loosely around the paw over the wound. (Wrapping it tightly could cause more pain.) If your pet will allow it, keep the compress against the area for 15 minutes, refreshing it in the warm liquid halfway through this period. Repeat twice daily for as long as a week.

BATTLE WOUNDS

When animals fight and bite, they can get puncture wounds, most often around the face, neck, and chest. Punctures may not look serious, but the damage done by a cat’s narrow teeth or a dog’s strong bite can cause considerable soft-tissue damage beneath the victim’s skin.

When your pet has been bitten, let it calm down before assessing the damage. (If it appears extremely agitated, you may need to have your vet check that it hasn’t been more seriously hurt.) If the skin has been punctured, clip the hair away from the wound. Remove any loose hairs, then carefully bathe the area with warm soapy water.

Watch for signs of infection as described under “Tender paws”. If they appear or if the pet treats the wound gingerly itself, give it echinacea tea, tincture, or capsules according to the guidelines above.

BODY ACHES

As our dogs and cats age, they slow down much as humans do. An old battle wound may act up; arthritis can set in. Some common causes of animal aches and pains include osteoarthritis, a degeneration of joint cartilage and bone caused by poor nutrition, disease, or hereditary factors; hip dysplasia, a hereditary condition that causes lameness and pain in the hind legs; and elbow dysplasia, which often occurs as the result of a poorly healed fracture or other injury.

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