AniForte Calm & Relax for Dogs

Valerian, hops, lemon balm and passionflower is more or less the ingredient list of a supermarket sleep tea, which tells you exactly what AniForte are aiming at here. Whether a dog reads those herbs the way a person does is a separate question, and the honest answer is that nobody has supplied us with one.

What is in the tub is those four things and, on the information given, nothing else: ground valerian root, ground hop leaves, fine-cut lemon balm leaves and fine-cut passionflower herb, described by AniForte as 100% natural unprocessed ingredients. There is no extract, no carrier and no additive listed. It comes as a 100G tub and AniForte position it for the predictable bad days - noisy or unfamiliar places, travel, recovery after illness, side effects of medication, or a new arrival in the house.

• 100G tub
• Ground valerian root and ground hop leaves
• Fine-cut lemon balm leaves and fine-cut passionflower herb
• 100% natural unprocessed ingredients, in AniForte's words
• No extract, carrier or additive listed in the composition
• Sold for dogs

One thing worth knowing. No proportions have been supplied and neither has a daily amount: AniForte name the four herbs without saying how much of each, and there is no scoop guidance on the information we hold. Herbs are not inert, and valerian in particular is one to raise with your vet before it goes near a dog on medication, a pregnant bitch or a dog with a liver problem. It is also not a medicine and nothing here fixes a genuinely frightened dog - that plan comes from a vet or a behaviourist, and a powder sits alongside it at best.

Who it's for: owners of a dog with a handful of predictable difficult days in the year rather than a daily problem, and people who would rather see four named herbs than a biscuit with something stirred through it.