Gemmotherapy.
It’s a weird name, that’s true, and usually people think I’m talking about precious gems …
… But this isn’t about healing with crystals. It’s about clearing out the toxins in your dog’s body that could cause chronic disease.
There are a ton of benefits of gemmotherapy for your dog and detoxing her body.
How Is Gemmotherapy Different?
Gemmotherapy got its name because the plant buds kind of look like precious gems.
I’ve always known it as plant bud medicine.
With scientific testing we’ve been able to examine the constituents of a plant – those chemicals that have a medicinal effect on the body. This testing shows that the young forms work differently from the mature forms of the plant (the full leaves, full flower).
And that’s what makes it so great.
What’s different about gemmotherapy is that it contains the embryonic constituents of a plant. In the bud or the shoot or the rootlet, you can find everything that’s involved in the mature plant, including:
- Enzymes
- Minerals
- Hormones – some of the hormones are not included in the mature plant (example auxins = growth factor)
- Genetic material
- Matrix matter – the material from between a plant’s cells
Often these are in even higher concentrations and they have a major impact when it comes to clearing out toxins.
[Related] Herbs can be an important and beneficial addition to your dog’s diet. Here are 5 to include.
Toxins And Chronic Disease
Why is gemmotherapy important? Because of its effect on chronic disease.
We’re all really concerned about chronic disease, whether we’re talking about digestive issues, allergies or even cancer.
The typical disease state cycle looks like this: everything seems to be going fine, but then …
- Organs and system start to slow down
- The elimination organs can’t perform as well
- Toxins build up in the lymph system, kidneys, skin, liver
- Because the elimination organs aren’t in tip-top shape, they can’t push the toxins out of your dog’s body
- Disease starts to develop
Gemmotherapy offers a method for drainage when the body gets clogged, getting those toxins out through the proper channels and preventing disease.
Reduce The Toxic Load
One of the benefits of gemmotherapy is that many of the plants have a specific affinity toward a specific organ. This allows you to target the specific organ and decrease the toxic load throughout your dog’s body.
Gemmo remedies also:
- Help at a cellular level with cellular detoxification. They help to drain and support the elimination channels.
- Reduce the toxic load of:
- organic metabolic wastes
- cell debris
- mucus
- immune complexes (autoimmune problems)
- Promote organ drainage – drain and get the organs moving again
- Balance the ebb and flow of organ function, support lymphatic drainage and cleanse the channels of elimination of the body.
- Support digestive function by:
- Helping establish gut flora – so it’s really effective after your dog has to have a round of antibiotics, or if she has leaky gut
- Stimulating digestive enzymes – to support spleen, pancreas, gallbladder and liver function
- Clearing heat and inflammation and get things moving within the body
Most remedies can be used long term. So, they provide for long-term cyclic maintenance.
[Related] There are several other ways to detox your dog’s entire body. Find them here.
How Are Gemmotherapy Remedies Made?
Are you wondering how we actually get all this great material? The same way we get any herbs, really.
The buds, roots and shoots are harvested in the springtime since it’s the highest time of development inside the bud. That’s the time when all those great drainage agents are at their highest concentration.
After the plants are harvested, the material is macerated. This means it’s put into a water, alcohol and glycerin base to extract all the constituents. This is usually a 50% water, 30% alcohol and 20% glycerine ratio.
The key is that it’s extracted right after the harvest to get the highest potency. The plants soak for 20 to 30 days and then they’re lightly filtered to preserve the constituents.
Dosing Gemmos
What’s really cool is there isn’t a lot of medicine. It’s very small amounts, droplets, sort of like homeopathy. Most of the remedies are safe to use with homeopathy and other herbal remedies. Available gemmotherapy remedies are diluted ten times to a 1DH dilution also known as a 10x.
There are two ways to give gemmotherapy remedies to your dog:
Drop dosing
You can give your chosen remedy right in your dog’s mouth, or dissolved in ½ ml of water. If your dog won’t take it orally, put it on small amount of food. Gemmotherapy remedies are best on an empty stomach but can be given with food.
As a spray
To use a remedy externally, mix 10 drops with 4 oz of filtered water. Just spray this all over your dog. This is good for remedies like black currant to help with allergies.
There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to dosing. There are variations in dosing and each remedy is very specific to a disease or organ. The variations can be 1 time daily, 2 times daily, on alternate days or even 1 drop every 3 days.
It all depends on the condition and your dog as an individual.
Start with 1 drop every day for 3 days as a general rule and then don’t add another drop until after the 4th day to see how your dog does. You don’t want to make her uncomfortable by detoxing too quickly, so start slowly.
I’ve also found that when working with gemmotherapies internally, it is good to use a lymphatic stimulating herb to help open up the channels of elimination. For cool to neutral dogs, use 1-3 drops of calendula tincture 2x daily and for dogs who are prone to heat, cleavers is a good choice. Same dosage as calendula. Tincture form, 1-3 drops 2x daily.
With gemmotherapy, it’s always a good idea to work with your homeopathic vet or herbalist to ensure you’re getting the proper remedy and dosage variation for your dog’s situation.
Also, because your dog’s body is detoxifying, there may be a period of between 24 and 72 hours where symptoms (itching for example) get worse but then calm down. Don’t worry, this is typical.
Common Gemmotherapy Remedies
There are over 50 gemmotherapy remedies that all have specific uses.
Two of my favorites are juniper and black currant. I like these two because they’re good starter remedies and they’re very safe.
- Juniper (Juniperus communis)
- Young shoot of the Juniper tree
- Purifies and regenerates liver cells
- Helps with kidney drainage
- Helps detox vaccines out of the tissues
- Helps support the immune system against heartworms
- Supports the eyes against cataracts
- Balances levels and supports normal thyroid activity
- Helps with drainage of the skin
- Good for spring time cleanse and detoxifying for 6 to 8 weeks
- Black Currant (Ribes nigrum) (Give only 1x daily and in the morning)
- Acts sort of like a cortisone (without the nasty side effects)
- Anti-allergic
- Anti-inflammatory
- Supports the immune system
- You can use it topically – spray it all over your dog to help control itching during spring detox
- Supports the musculoskeletal system
- Can have a stimulating effect – so use it in the morning and afternoon only, not before bed
Gemmotherapy is becoming a well known and highly celebrated treatment method for natural healing, especially for our dogs. Its natural ability to target specific organs and clear out those systems that may be clogged can do a lot of good for the body as a whole.
