Bach Flower Remedies for Pets

Help Your Pets Overcome Their Depression or Anxiety With Bach Flower Remedies

Our pets can get just as depressed or nervous as we do. Lots of situations can bring their sad side out, like the absence or loss of an owner or someone who was close to them. They can get nervous simply from going to the vet or from fireworks outside.

CC image courtesy of Lulu Hoeller on Flickr

Unfortunately, we can't make them understand that the fireworks are harmless and will go away and that only time can cure the sorrow after a beloved one's loss.

If you want to soothe your pet's nerves, TAGS recommends using Bach flower remedies, a natural option to help your pet (or even yourself) overcome such emotions. These remedies were developed by Edward Bach in the 1930s. Bach discovered that the dew found on the petals of flowers contains the healing properties of that plant.

The remedies nowadays are made from spring water infused with wildflowers, and the ones that are safe for animals (alcohol free) are preserved with glycerin. They are considered vibrational medicines and rely on the concept of "water memory." Despite often being labelled as homeopathic, they do not bear the same characteristics.

CC image courtesy of Desi on Flickr

The most common flower remedy is the Rescue Remedy, which is a mix of five Bach flower remedies:

• Star of Bethlehem
• Rock rose
• Cherry plum
• Impatiens
• Clematis

 You can read more about these remedies here.

This is a great and natural solution to help soothe the mind of you and your pets!

Boston Pizza Celebrity Server Event!

You are invited to attend the Boston Pizza Celebrity Server Event!

This Wednesday, March 13th, volunteers from TAGS will be pairing up with servers at Boston Pizza (Whitby North location) to serve you and your friends hot, delicious meals between 5:00 and 8:00p.m. 

We are so excited about this fundraising event because it allows us to meet more members of our community. Also, since part of the proceeds from the food sales are going to TAGS, the event will raise money for our rescue dogs, some of whom desperately need some help.

Photo by : Robert Duncan

Look at the picture above and slowly count to five. 

Still not convinced that you should spend your Wednesday night with us? Here are the top reasons why you should attend the Boston Pizza Celebrity Server Event: 

1. You get to eat pizza! (and other delicious menu items)
2. It's on hump day. Sharing a meal with friends or family is the perfect way to start the second half of your week.  
3. 10% of the food sales from the night will be donated directly to TAGS, which will help us pay for things like vet bills and dog food.
4. You will get to meet some wonderful volunteers from TAGS!
5. You...get...to...eat...pizza! 

RSVP on our event page and invite your friends. See you on Wednesday! 

Donate to the Shyla Fund—Meet Shyla

When I visited Shyla at her foster home, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I knew that she was a sick dog with lots of problems, so I tried to prepare myself to see a depressed and weak little dog. Fortunately, Shyla's condition hasn't affected the way she sees the world.

Shyla sees the world as if she has to make friends with everyone she meets. She barked at me only once and sniffed my hand when I offered it to her, and then it was all about love and kisses. She seems to be a jolly little girl who does lots of tail wagging and would be even more energetic if it wasn't for her sickness.

She arrived at TAGS in terrible shape—she was almost bald, and her nails were all curled up. Her foster parents and TAGS tried everything to bring life back into this loving dog, but we ultimately realized there was more to her condition than just unkemptness. It turned out that she was suffering from allergic reactions. We had lots of tests done, but to this day, we are still not sure what she is allergic to.

Her allergies have become an everyday part of her life. She has to wear a cone and boots most of the time. This is the only way to prevent her scratching herself until she's bleeding. When I was there, she showed admirable self-control when it came to scratching, but sometimes she just couldn't help herself and was trying to relieve her discomfort by rubbing against the furniture or the floor. Imagine how hard it must be for a dog to resist when we humans sometimes can't.

On top of her allergy issues, lumps were discovered in Shyla's tummy not long ago, and she had to have surgery to remove them. During my visit, she was still a little bit tired from her surgery. The good news is that the lumps turned out to be benign. Her post-operation healing, though, has been really hard on her. She was throwing up a lot and felt very weak. By the time I visited her, she was a little bit better and livelier. It seems that the only barrier between Shyla and a good, full life is her consistent allergies.

With your donations to the Shyla Fund, we can continue doing tests on her and, hopefully, end her suffering as soon as possible and, ultimately, get this little girl a forever home!

Click here to watch a video of Shyla.

Wordless Wednesday: An old friend visiting

Do you remember Goofy? He was adopted from TAGS not long ago. Here he is visiting us in PetSmart and greeting a Boxer puppy!

This is a blog hop. You can check out the other blogs by clicking on the picture below.

February Adoptions!

Wow! For a short month, February sure was busy! 

We are so excited to announce that seven dogs and two cats formerly in the TAGS program have now found their fur-ever homes!

(Please click on the image to see a larger version.)

In the spirit of rescue, and perhaps because some of us still have a bit of leftover Valentine's Day sap hanging around, I would like to say this: 

Thank you to everyone who helped these animals find homes. While each and every TAGS volunteer is passionate about saving lives, we couldn't possibly be so successful without the help of people like you, our readers. By sharing our Facebook photos, re-tweeting our pictures, and spreading the word in general that we have so many fantastic animals available for adoption, you are truly helping to make a difference. 

"You can't change the world by saving one animal, 

but you can change the world for that animal." 

- unknown