Fenugreek for your Pet

Introduction Fenugreek whose Latin name is Trigonella foenum-graecum is a simply amazing plant. It is useful as food, spice, medicine and even as a source of vegetable dyes.

Average heights that shrubs of fenugreek reach are about 0.3 to 0.8 meters. With trifoliate leaves and lovely white flowers in early summer, the pods of fenugreek with their yellow-brown colour provide a lovely contrast to any landscape. Besides, this shrubs of fenugreek with leguminous nodules at their roots enrich the soil with nitrogen.

Growth requirements
Fenugreek grows well in moderate to low rainfall areas in a variety of soil types. However, the preferred soil type is well drained clay loamy soil with exposure to sun. Excessive rainfall should be avoided. Being a leguminous plant, soils on which fenugreek is grown get enriched with nitrogen. The plant thrives in full sun on rich, well-drained soils. Growth is slow and weak in cold temperatures and wet soils.

Medicinally Active Constituents
Fenugreek are high in sapogenins. Diosgenin, a steroid sapogenin is found in fenugreek seeds.

Other constituents of fenugreek include mucilage, bitter fixed oil, volatile oil, and the alkaloids choline and trigonelline. Other sapogenins found in fenugreek seed include yamogenin, gitogenin, tigogenin, neotigogens and the alkaloids choline and trigonelline.

Some ways that you can use fenugreek for your pets

• As a nourishing food! You can add a handful of fresh tender leaves everyday and make a tasty soup for your pet. The fresh, tender pods, leaves and shoots of fenugreek are rich in calcium, iron, potassium, essential amino acids, protein, niacin, vitamin A and vitamin C.
• As an effective hair conditioner
  Many of the shampoos and soaps available for pets too contain harmful chemicals that can not just irritate and stunt fur growth but also stimulate the occurrence of cancer. It is far safer to use natural alternatives like fenugreek. A paste of fresh leaves should be made just before use. Apply it all over your pet's coat and allow it to soak in to your pet's skin for ten minutes. Then, wash off the paste. You will see an almost immediate effect on your pet's coat with a lovely squeaky clean sheen showing up.
• In diabetes
  The seeds of fenugreek have been found to be very useful in reducing blood glucose levels. If your pet has diabetes, you can try fenugreek seeds. However, for the exact dose to be given to your pets, you need to consult your veterinarian. This is because the dose would vary depending on the body weight of your pet, the post prandial sugar levels etc. However, the procedure to be followed is to soak about 12-15 seeds in one cup of water and leave them overnight. In the morning, you can add the water to your pet's drinking water bowl and the seeds may be mixed in the food.
• In diarrhoea and dysentery
  Fenugreek seeds are even useful in stopping diarrhoea and dysentery. What you need to do is to soak half to one teaspoon of fenugreek seeds seeds in butter milk for a few hours. Strain and feed the water to your pets. You will notice that there's a slow and gradual improvement. However, consult your veterinarian before you start this.
• Other medicinal uses of fenugreek
  Fenugreek seeds have been found to be useful even in improving appetite, in cases of chronic cough, arthritis and spondylosis and hyperlipidaemia ( high lipid levels in the blood).