Background
Galen’s Garden originated as a specialist company designing and producing herbal products for small herbivorous pets such as rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas and degus, using mainly the plant ingredients they would eat in the wild.
Working with stockmen breeders, breed experts, holistic vets, commercial feed companies, and of course the pet owners themselves, the person behind Galen’s Garden, Belinda Francis, accrued a lot of information on herbs and homoeopathy which is now contained on this site.
Galen’s Garden sells only herbal products and does not sell homoeopathic products. (We often get confused with Galen Homoeopathics which does not have a web site.)
Let Food be Their Medicine
This site is dedicated to rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas and degus which are obligate herbivores. Herbs and wild plants form a natural part of their diet in the wild so providing these plants to pet animals lets them choose the plants they might need. Peter Gurney observed that guinea pigs would not normally eat the astringent plant Shepherd’s Purse herb in a mixed herb/wild plant salad, but would consume it avidly if they had diarrhoea. As selective feeders, it may be that these small furry pets are able to distinguish the plants that they need to balance their own health if given the choice.
Herbs versus Homoeopathy
For the uninitiated, homoeopathy is where a substance is diluted so many times that there is nothing of the original substance to be detected in the liquid, pill or tablet.
Herbs are used in their fresh or dried form, or extracted using alcohol, water or other solvent.
Homoeopathy is based on the principles of ‘like cures like’, so if a substance causes diarrhoea, it would be used in homoeopathy, diluted as described earlier, to treat diarrhoea.
If you were using herbs, you would certainly not use a herb which caused diarrhoea to restore the balance of a person or animal which had diarrhoea.
