Pet Naturals Calming for Small Dogs (21 count)

SEE UPDATES BELOW!!! 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.

I bought these because my dog hates any loud bangs, thunder doesn't bother him, but fireworks, gunshots and even slamming a door will upset him - some obviously upset him more then others.When the package arrived I almost thought I made a mistake and ordered the small breed variety as I was expecting these chews to be similar in size to regular milkbones, they're about 1/4 - 1/2 that size - which by no means is a big deal, I didn't buy them as "treats", was just a bit surprised by how small they were.Koda is a Labrador-Pitt bull mix and his typical 4th of july consists of constant whining, pacing and panting, with the inability to do anything else, He's upset no matter where he is or who he's with, he wont want to be near people but then won't want to be left alone either, he won't eat, or drink no matter how delicious the item is that's sat in front of him - which is a big change from the dog who will hoover up any crumb he can. His whole existence pretty much gets turned upside down. He's miserable, which makes me miserable. This year I wanted to change that so he and I could both enjoy (or at least make the best of) that one day of the year we both dread and I do believe these chews played a big part of him having a less stressful day, In fact it was one of the most enjoyable fourths I've ever seen him have. I gave him 1 chew when the bulk of our company arrived, because a lot of people around make him a bit anxious to start with, and gave him 2 more about a half hour before lighting off fireworks.These were by no means miracles in chicken liver flavor, he was still upset the moment the first firework was lit off, and wanted no part in being outside where all the action was, but for the first time ever he didn't seem to mind being left alone and put in my room, which is where his bed is, I turned the weather channel on since it plays fairly easy listening music and cranked the volume to 40 to help drown out the noise of fireworks. I think using both the chews and the music really made a world of a difference because every time I went to check in on him he was pretty content. He even drank half of the bowl of water that I left up there for him.On the back of the bag it does say you can double or even triple the recommended dose during periods of high stress, but since it was the first time using these, I wanted to air on the side of caution and in total only gave him what equaled to 1 and a half times the correct dosage.But I will happily buy these again come the next 4th of July and will likely use the remainder of the current bag when we have large parties to help him deal with him getting anxious from all the people around..

Mi perro es senior toda su vida le han dado miedo los fuegos pirotécnicos, y no vi ninguna diferencia en su comportamiento con estos premios, le dí las porciones recomendadas y lo consumió regularmente por 1 semana antes de que hubieran fuegos pirotécnicos. El sabor si le gusto mucho, lo disfrutaba.

Me sirvieron mucho con mi schnauzer en un vuelo transoceánico. Fue bien relajado, apenas y sintió el despegue. Creo que di 5 galletas ese día, pero vamos, ningún efecto colateral y el señor llegó feliz a nuestro destino. Comió durante el vuelo, bebió agua y ningún atisbo de náuseas o somnolencia. Iba alerta pero relajado. El sabor le encanta.

Si tu perro está calmado quizá le de un sentido de relajación, sin embargo si tu perro es hiperactivo, por más veces que sobrepases la dosis, muy probablemente no hará nada. Le di hasta 4 bocados a mi perro que pesa unos 10 kilos, y no le hizo nada; seguía como un loco.

Mi perrita si se relajo un poco en época de juegos pirotécnicos pero necesite darle hasta 3 galletitas para que se relajara no al 100 pero si un 70.

A mis perros les gustan mucho, pareciera que les doy un premio y eso está bien; pero para lo que se los compré a mi no me parece que cumplan su función por completo, necesito darle muchas tabletas a mi perro para ver efecto esperado y pareciera que me di un anestésico.