I often begin my sessions by offering a selection of dried plant nutrients for ingestion—such as spirulina, barley grass, rosehip shells, and other powdered botanicals—tailored to the animal’s specific presenting issues or health concerns. These nutritional plant extracts serve as a valuable starting point, helping to quickly identify areas of need. Responses to dried nutrients are often more obvious than with essential oils: animals will either eagerly lick or consume a particular powder (with water where necessary), or move away, providing an immediate and easy-to-read indication of interest or aversion.

It’s important to understand that animals are not drawn to these powders out of hunger or greed; their selections are instinctive and based on a deep, innate recognition of what their body needs nutritionally in that moment. This is why we never mix powders into food or attempt to disguise them—doing so would override the self-selection process, which is central to the practice of applied zoopharmacognosy.
All offerings are made with the animal’s autonomy in mind, ensuring that the session remains entirely animal-led from start to finish