Psyllium seeds and the hulls of the seeds (or "husks") are used for people, horses and dogs (less often for dogs because of the fast way meat moves through the canine gut) to cleanse the intestinal tract by ingestion. For humans, bulking fiber and roughage are often missing from typical modern diets in some countries - adding healthy vegetable fiber like psyllium can change a person's life.
Psyllium products are used in people to help heal ulcers, constipation, colitis and to eliminate toxins and very old fecal matter from the large intestine and colon. There are proprietary products with psyllium at the market and pharmacy. Be sure to read ingredients; psyllium and real sugar will be acceptable for humans and animals... chemical bulking agents and artificial sweeteners could cause poisoning. For human OTC products, follow the directions and be sure to drink lots of pure water through the day. You can take the pure psyllium in capsules with lots of water. Daily fiber is essential to a person's body health - you can also provide that fiber with fresh vegetables, whole grains and fruits.
Health food stores and herbal supplies will have 100% psyllium, which is much better than mixed products. You feed half to one third as much pure psyllium as you do the products with all the sugar.
Equine Sand Colic prevention:
Horses that graze, eat off of sandy areas or are feed from the ground directly need monthly feeding of psyllium to work the sand out of their guts (the cecum collects it) and maintain motility. Sand can completely block the digestive tract (sand impaction) and kill a horse.
Feed horses one ounce twice daily for one week of the 100% psyllium;
or 3 ounces twice daily of the OTC product w/sugar for a week every month.
Put the herb into a feed of wheat bran, grain (that the horse is used to getting) or pellets; mix well and soak it all with water.
Flaxseed Jelly (see recipe in the Herb of the Week archives - link from
www.naturalpaths.org), regular wheat bran mashes, slippery elm bark (more expensive than psyllium) and fresh plaintain growing in a pasture all help move gritty things through the gut because of the slick, mucus like consistency created by cooking or chewing.
Dogs can get things stuck in their systems (shards from cooked bones, pieces of wood or metal or..?) that need to be safely eliminated. The dog will likely get diarrhea to try to slip the object on through. I took a dog to my Vet with diarrhea after he had eaten a pinecone. The Tech freaked out when I listed psyllium as one of the things I had done for him. The Veterinarian came in and told her why that had been a good thing to do. My dog was fine, but I'm not suggesting anyone else diagnose or prescribe - just telling a story here.
I find regular feeding of canned, PLAIN pumpkin to be the best canine bowel regulator (no spices included for pie making); fed a tablespoon daily up to 3 tbsp for big dogs.
Psyllium Seed is an inexpensive, safe (when plenty of water is provided and when there are no underlying chronic diseases or bloody stool) method to detox and cleanse the body, even to regulate one's weight by dumping the sludge that clings to the lining of the digestive tract (this interferes with proper digestion).
The FDA has not evaluated these statements and we do not diagnose or prescribe for you or your animals.
NOTE - to determine if a horse has sand in his or her gut, grab a handful of feces with a vinyl glove or a clear plastic bag; fill the container glove (turned inside out) or bag with warm water and leave undisturbed for a few hours. The feces will float up and any sand will sink to the bottom. This will tell you that sand is moving through the horse, so he must be ingesting it.
NOTE - to make raw bones safe for dogs by killing bacteria, soak the bones in real apple cider vinegar. Cooked bones are more likely to splinter. Never feed bones from fowl. Personally, I give big, raw carrots to my dogs (and broccoli stems, the hearts from lettuce, etc.)
