Sounds like you need brewers yeast and olive oil or fish oil for the cats skin. Also check your cat food it probably has all kinds of garbage in it. Look at the thread for "perpetually itchy dog" and follow that advice. I don't knw about the nightmares. you might try a cup of chamomile tea before bed. If using thyme you can use it fresh or dried you need to use more of the fresh than th dried.

Give the child 1/4-1/2 cup of either chamomile or catnip tea to help prevent his nightmares (sweeten it with some honey), or add it to some warmed milk (not hot!), up to an hour before bedtime. Both are very calming for restless or disturbed children. At the time the tea is given, provide a quiet and calm atmosphere - no roughousing, no loud music, no violent or hilariously funny TV shows, no active games, nothing to 'excite the brain' - just quiet reading or talking time, maybe a nice warm relaxing bath (no splashing games etc) A few drops of lavender oil, or a lavender bundle tossed into the bath (or the oil burning in the bedroom, well away from the child's reach, or a few drops in his pillow) will also encourage restful sleep. The quiet behaviour calms the child's mind, and allows the medicine to work. You may not need the medicine at all! You might find a glass of milk warmed to blood temp just before bedtime will do the trick. Sweeten it with a little honey if the child resists it, and see if he will accept a tiny bit of nutmeg sprinkled on top and stirred in.

Regarding your cats:

Where are they itching most? If they are scratching primarily at their back ends, licking and loosing hair (how itchy are they?) there could be flea allergies. Check for fleas. I have a cat that developed a flea allergy when she was about 5. A couple years ago I started giving her Flea Treats from FTI Pet Products. It does contain Brewer's Yeast and fortunately she loves them. But anyway, the point is to determine what might be causing the itching; fleas, food or some kind of contact allergy, or something else.

Catnip pillow works fine for me and my cat. I collect all my surplus catnip in autumn, dry it in a pillowslip, pull out the stems, and use the pillow to sleep on or beside. My cat likes to crawl inside it and eat the catnip. Makes us both sleep like babies.

What are his nightmares about? Getting someone who is decent at dream analysis (and by that i dont' mean the quacks on the internet who like to think they can analyse dreams since its on the subconscious and it has very very personal meaning to everyone) but anyway write them down. See if you can find someone who may be pretty good. Umm don't herbalise him on the nighmares. You may be doing more harm then good their espceially if its 4 times a night, i'm thinking repressing them will result in fewer but more intense ones. Write down the dreams and have him and you figure them out to see what is the cause of it. maybe its a fear and if you can see how to deal with the fear it can help. If its something that can't be logically dealt with have you and him make a dream cathcher and have it blessed by whatever religous persona you feel comfy with.

I'm not going to say that i'm a good dream analyzer, i don't know but if you want to email me privately i can see if theirs anything that strikes me. i have 3 kids btw. oldest is 5 and youngest is almost two.

A possiblitiy worth talking with your doctor about is 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5HTP) supplementation for nightmares. It seems to work well especially for nightmares and disturbed sleep with no apparent cause. For some people it is not suitable, such as those on SSRI meds.

John

More on what John was talking about. Again, check with the child's physician on this.

I'd also look at possible flea infestation in the cats, and beware of harsh treatments/dips in young cats/kittens.

Incidentally Eric, how do you both bold words and add weblinks mid sentence rather than at the bottom of the page?

I've fiddled with my comp but can't seem to do this.

John

Ditto to Moonwolf on the nightmares. Also, kids usually find it easier to talk to people other than parents/siblings about things that are bothering them.

John, I hope this will help regarding coding.

If you want to put something in boldface, try this:

[b]word or phrase to be bolded[/b] --- only use the symbols for "less than" and "greater than" as substitutes for the bracket symbols (the "less than" and "greater than" symbols are on the next to lowest row on my keyboard, just to the right of center).

If you want to create a hyperlink in the middle of a post, try this (again substituting the "less than" and "greater than" symbols for brackets):

Check out [a href="http://www.screamingmandrake.com";]this interesting link[/a].

Hope that works for you.

Incidentally, if there actually is such a website as www.screamingmandrake.com, I bear no responsibility for its content. ;)

Just like this

Thanks Eric

It sounds like maybe your brother is having Night Terrors which are different than nightmares.

Both of my granddaughters get them. My older granddaughter had one here at my house last summer, and it scared me to death because I didn't know what was wrong. I just assumed that it was a nightmare, but it was actually a night terror.

Check out the site above for information on them and what to do when someone has one.

I am not an expert or anything, but I used to have horrible nightmares since I was a teenager (and I didn't watch horror flicks or anything else that would trigger or feed them)

I went to a nutritionalist for an eating issue, and as a by-the-by, mentioned the nightmares. He said that it was a slight blood sugar imbalance, and once I started taking vitamin B6 and/or ammino acids an hour or so before going to bed - I was fine. Eventually, my body balanced itself out, and a simple multivitamin suffices. Sometimes after a candy-binge I'll pay for it, and Ice cream or something after dinner is out - but it did work for me, and I had problems for years!

This website mentions it a bit too:
www.heall.com/sleep.html

I hope this helps! Poor guy, those really aren't fun - especially so young. Take care