I used to put chamomile on a towel for one of my kitties when he was sick. I checked with the vet and it was supposed to be okay to have a small amount for cats. (I just opened a tea bag and shook it on the towel.) Poor little guy was really sick and it helped him relax, even with the pain.

I would check with the vet first, to make sure it's okay for dogs, but including chamomile in the collar might help them relax. Again, I'm no expert, but it worked for me.

When your pet suffers from stress or anxiety, try a combination of the extracts of Oats, Valerian, and Chamomile. Rub a little Lavender oil near the animal's muzzle, or place some on a cotton pad in the pet's bed or in his sleeping area. And remember that if you are stressed, the animal will be too, so sniff a little of that calming Lavender for yourself as well.

These measures will only work if the anxiety or stress is temporary or very mild. If you pet suffers acutely, he will need conventional medication.

My little doggie suffered very badly from anxiety disorder, especially in her last (17th) year of life, though she'd had it for 3-4 years before it became disabling. It got so bad that she'd had a fit, or a stroke, or a heart-attack if separated from me by more than a metre or so. DESPITE the meds she was taking! In the end, it became so distressing, both for her and for me, that the vet advised euthanasia, and I took that advice.

That level of stress is caused by dementia, for which there is no cure. Drugs helped for a while, but with increasing age and severity of the condition, her quality of life was at ZERO. She had pain, she became increasingly blind and deaf, her muscles were affected. Etc. We did the kindest thing, and while I miss her, I'm glad we literally 'put her out of her misery'.

I tell you this to prepare you for what you may be facing.

Daisy- How sad. My kitty passed away as well, but I have other cats who really benefitted from the chamomile as a temporary measure.

I think you're right about the stress. It can be brought on from many things. Sometimes, if we're stressed, we stress out our smaller members of the family. When we get busy, we can neglect their "quality time" and that causes anxiety too.

Rebelgw, is there a particular reason you want to make a collar? Does your dog get more stressed when out and about, or at home? Do you have any new people or pets in the home? As Daisy said, sometimes having a dog pillow with the herbs can be more relaxing and something comforting when needed...and the dog can choose when they want to use it. If you want a more consistent alternative, then the collar would be good too.

I hope your dog feels better soon. Hopefully, this is a temporary thing and the herbs will help your little one feel much better.

One of my dogs gets stressed when she has to travel in the car so I wanted to make this collar to help her relax. Both of my dogs get stressed from fireworks. I just wanted to be able to put this collar on my dog in the car. I thought if it worked, I'd make another one for my other dog to wear around the 4th of July holiday. I've seen products that you can spray on their bedding or even on the dog itself but I don't want to spray my dog and I don't want them to be subject to this remedy on a consistant basis. I'm going to just sew a long tube of fabric and fill it with the tea and tie it around my dog when we get in the car. If this doesn't work, I'll try the Oats, Valerian, and Chamomile.

For Event Stress, not Separation Anxiety such as my little doggie had, why not just bathe your pet, using a few drops of lavender oil in the final rinse? Or rub a little of the oil over her hair? Or make a little Relaxation pillow with lavender. You could add other herbs to the pillow, like hops or rose petals. Or sprinkle the lavender oil onto her favourite bedding.

The other thing you could do, of course, is to desensitise your dog to fireworks, thunder or travel. You vet might be able to help here, or point you in the direction of a dog behaviourist/trainer. This sort of behaviour modification program has very high rates of success.

There is plenty of information and help online. I chose these 2 sites at random:

http://dogs.suite101.com/article.cfm/when_your_dog_has_travel_anxiety

Here is a link that might be useful: dogs and loud noises

This post is a few years old, so I'm trusting you've worked out your anxious pet issues, but if not I hope you'll consider Herbal Pet Stress Relief in the form of Placid Pet Bandanas... real cute, washable, & they work!

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb