Category: Health Support

Grooming My Dog is Making Us Sick

Companion Breeding, Grooming, Health Support, Healthy Dogs

Besides vaccines and bad diets, pet owners commonly use chemical shampoos on their animals without a thought as to the consequences to both their pets and themselves. Some of the shampoos contain chemicals that have been found to be dangerous to get on your skin. What does that mean? It means you shouldn’t pick up or hold your pet after the shampoo has been used on them.

These chemicals readily absorb into the animal’s system (and your hands). This is how chemicals  can cause lethargy, seizures, irritability, abnormal cell growth, and many other symptoms for the dogs. It may also take more than a simple bath to get the chemicals off of the animal as well. Because they get into his system, it may take days or weeks for them to be excreted from the body entirely. The next time you take one of your pets to a groomer, ask to see the label on the products they plan to use, or take a picture. Once home, look up the ingredients to make sure they are safe.

Here is an example of what can happen with the chemical shampoos:

I was talking with a friend who’s mother owned a shih tzu that went to a groomer on a regular basis. She knew I was interested in natural healthcare and asked to consult with me regarding her mom’s issue. It seems that both her mother and her mother’s dog had developed skin problems that were “unexplainable,” according to the doctor. The vet didn’t have any ideas either.

I was curious about the rash, so I asked, if it wasn’t too personal, could she tell me where it was located? It was on each palm, wrist, and forearm, the center of her chest, and at the top, front of her legs (just the front of her legs). Then she explained that she didn’t put anything different on these areas that would cause the rash or would explain why it would be located in just those places. Knowing her dog also had a skin problem, I asked where she commonly held her dog. “Well,” she said, “in my lap when I’m sitting and in my arms when I’m standing.”

As she answered the question, her eyes widened. “And,” she added as if an after thought, “he lays on my chest, or against it when I sleeps at night.” At this point, she had figured it out herself. The grooming chemicals were connected to the rash outbreaks on them both. Unfortunately, the groomer refused to hear about the chemicals in these products or make any changes to accommodate and keep clients. 

A few months later, I talked with another lady who had a similar issue. This dog owner decided to ask her groomer to change the shampoo she had been using on her dog to a non-toxic product. She was even willing to provide the natural product for the groomer. Sadly, the groomer’s response was also close-ended. The groomer said she was “unwilling to be responsible for the use of a product (the natural product) in case it might cause health problems on her dog.” Health problems? It couldn’t have been more opposite. Sometimes you just have to keep looking, until you have an open minded, more informed groomer. Personally, we groom our own dogs to ensure no toxic ingredients or chemicals are used.

Breeder Conversations: Descended Testicles at 6 Weeks of Age

Breeder Conversation Corner, Health Support, Holistic Standard Poodles, Nutrition

As I mentioned before, I am still pretty new at the whole companion-breeder lifestyle. I have more then once naively assumed something to still be true today about dogs that I had learned decades ago only to find out, unfortunately, that standards of a healthy pet have changed and not for the better. One example is the topic about what age the testicles of male puppies should descend. 

What is Normal
If a male dog isn’t neutered, he should naturally have descended testicles by 6 weeks of age, right? Not necessarily… and not these days. To me, that would mean something is wrong with the puppy’s reproductive system. If you are like me, and you buy a puppy for several hundred dollars extra for “breeding rights”, this is a big surprise. We may not be getting what we paid for. Why? These dogs may already be sterile unbeknownst to the breeder.

I’m not suggesting that the breeder does this on purpose, or that the breeder would even have noticed. I think they are generally like me and naïve to what is going on with their pets. We assume that they are being appropriately cared for, well-fed, and protected from dangerous chemicals and vaccines.

Unfortunately, this isn’t true anymore. There is little commonsense in animal husbandry, and while I think I am being careful to avoid these things, and work diligently to feed my animals a well-balanced diet, I am wrong on the assumption that other people/breeders do the same for their animals.

Breeder Input

Out of curiosity, I called and asked another long-time breeder about this problem, to learn what her professional experience has been.

She seemed to think retained testicles was a common occurrence. So common, in fact,  that she had always assumed it was normal. A lot of male dogs don’t have their testicles drop until well over a year, even up to two years, she said. This is a good example of how abnormalities in animals are becoming the new norm solely because abnormalities are so common. We do need to remember that “common” is not a marker for healthy.
I decided to search through one of my homeopathic books on dogs, written by a well-known, well-respected veterinarian. I wanted to learn about his perspective on the topic because he is an expert in understanding how the bodily systems work and what should be considered normal and has more experience then your average veterinarian.

The experienced veterinarian stated that if the testicles have not descended by 4-5 weeks of age, there is a good chance they won’t, even with the typical homeopathic remedies used for this purpose. “Many people elect to have them surgically brought down,” he said,  “or just have the dog neutered.” Nothing is mentioned about addressing the cause of the abnormality. Although disappointed, I wasn’t surprised their results weren’t very positive.

Potential Causes 
I recently learned that someone I know who has acquired two male dogs (from two different breeders) as studs for breeding her females found out that neither of them have descended testicles. Testicles that have not descended is also referred to as retained testicles.  One male puppy is a 1 year old and the other is half that age and well beyond the age that this should be an issue.

Since learning about this issue, she had them both tested to find out what the problem is. It was discovered that the younger male had eight parasites and pathogens affecting his reproductive system, stomach and colon. The older male had three of the same parasites, also in his reproductive system. It was concluded that the male puppies were experiencing a block to having a healthy reproductive system.

She has been working to correct this imbalance with a homeopathic combination remedy and a nutrient dense diet (one that will starve out the parasites). After just 4 weeks, the older male’s testicles have descended. The younger male had more parasites to address, but already has one testicle that can be felt, so she is hopeful the other will be down soon.

How Lawn Chemicals Impact Your Dog

Health Support

We aren’t veterinarians, and wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do for your pet, but what we can do is share with you information we have found in our research in order to support your pet’s health from this point forward.

Last week I got a call from a person who had one of our standard poodle puppies. Her puppy had become very sick. She was lethargic, had had diarrhea, vomiting, a little foaming at the mouth, and was lying very still. My first instinct was to test her for parvo or distemper, but she had had homeopathic remedies for those things, so I felt it couldn’t be that. But she was obviously in a lot of trouble.

We did some muscle-testing, and what came up was lawn chemical poisoning. The new owners do not do anything with chemicals, inside or outside the house. However, every day she was going for walks with her new owner through the neighborhood and past chemically treated lawns. Each of these days she became more and more -“just not herself,”they told me. The fifth day was the day she called me. This poor little puppy’s body couldn’t take any more poison and still go on. 

We both felt there was no time to waste, as this poor puppy was really suffering. The first thing they did, after praying for God’s guidance, was to transfer the frequency (rod) of 3 capsules of charcoal into her tummy. A few minutes later they could rod in Alfalfa capsules to support her body in neutralizing some of the chemicals. Then they had to wait another 20 minutes to give her a remedy. It was a combination of gelsemium for the body aches she was having from the poison (she didn’t want to be touched), oscillococcinum for the nausea, and nux vomica for the liver damage she would be suffering from the poison. They let that work for about 8 minutes, then placed a whole vial of gelsemium beside where she was laying, to continue supporting her body in relief of the aching throughout her body. 

Within minutes after giving their puppy the remedy they witnessed an improvement. She actually stood up, went out the doggy door and relieved herself. No more vomiting or diarrhea. She immediately returned to her bed though, as if this one effort had exhausted her little body. There was nothing else that could be done for almost 3 hours. They had to wait and let her immune system work for awhile before giving her more charcoal and alfalfa. Water was offered in small amounts (2 teaspoons) every 2-3 hours. Sometimes she took it, sometimes she didn’t. No food was offered because her insides were so raw from chemical damage.

The second day the puppy was better but still very weak. Again they did the rodding of charcoal and alfalfa. Today she didn’t test on homeopathics, but rest, homemade bone broth and water. She could take up to 2 tablespoons of beef broth at a time, but only 2 times for the whole day. She could also have 2 tablespoons of water at a time. She slept most of the day, but was able to get up and go outside to relieve herself. By evening, more improvement was noted, she had more energy and seemed a little hungry, but they didn’t want to risk irritating her stomach, so didn’t feed her more than the 2 tablespoons of broth.

Day three, the puppy was up and ready to eat in the morning. No more charcoal or alfalfa was required, and she was able to drink at will. Food was restricted to broth and a little oatmeal to soothe her stomach, and now she was able to take as much as she wanted. Play times were short-lived, as she was still a little weak, but definitely recovering.

She won’t be taking walks in the neighborhood anymore, or even be allowed in the front yard where there is more of a chance of their yard to be contaminated by the neighbor’s chemicals. Their back yard has an 8 foot privacy fence all around it, so that will be safer. What a toxic world we are creating for ourselves.

How to Raise a Healthy Dog – Part 1

Health Support, Healthy Dogs

Why is it so hard to raise a healthy dog these days?  There was a time when raising a healthy dog was as easy as feeding them raw meat on a regular basis and letting them come in out of bad weather. Otherwise, our dogs ran the neighborhood, played with other neighbor dogs, ate small prey they managed to catch…and sometimes road kill they managed to find on the street, and they lived long, healthy lives.

It used to be common to know a number of people who had had their dogs 14-21 years. Now, 12 years is thought of as old and long-lived. At least for the bigger breeds. We also didn’t have, or know anyone who had, dogs with cancers, tumors, skin diseases, allergies, breathing problems, hip displacement, and seizures. Now these are a common occurrence in dogs.

A year ago I decided I wanted a Standard poodle. We had had collies for many years, and our last one was about to die, and I didn’t really want to be without a dog. At the same time, we were about to become empty-nesters, as our last child in the home was about to move away.  I thought a new dog would be a good distraction for me. I’ve always been a stay-at-home mom, and loved having little ones around, but this would have to suffice.

My daughter found a poodle breeder in the Dallas area for me who had some Standard poodle puppies for sale, and she had a black female left that I could purchase. Perfect! That was simple, I would get this puppy and life would be good. Or so I thought.

I called and spoke with the breeder who would be selling us this new puppy. The breeder seemed nice enough. Someone had warned me though, that most breeders do “puppy vaccines” now, so I asked her if she had done these. This would be a deal-breaker for me, and I was going to have to decline the puppy if it had had these vaccines.

Instead of confirming that the vaccines had been given, she apologized for not having done them yet. The vaccines had come in late she said, but assured me they would be done that evening. Then she would be deworming the puppy with a chemical dewormer. At that point I almost told her I wasn’t interested in the puppy anymore. After all, who wants a sick, vaccine damaged puppy that also has chemical damage to its intestines from a chemical dewormer? What a way to start out with a new pet. No wonder some of the “breeders” have a bad reputation for selling sick puppies. Whats worse, most don’t even know its the vaccines and harsh chemical dewormer that is making their puppies sick, so they keep doing them litter after litter.

Before I could tell this sweet lady I didn’t want one of her puppies, guilt got the better of me. Not guilt for the puppy, although there was that too, but guilt for not sharing information with a nice lady who I felt was just misled. I quickly asked God for guidance with what I was about to say, then asked her if she would mind NOT doing the vaccines on the puppy, and just leave that up to me after I get her back home. I also asked that she please not do chemical deworming on the puppy. Now I’m not saying that puppies don’t have worms, or need some support to help their body get rid of worms, I’m all for that, but would prefer to do it with holistic supplements or homeopathics so they are more effective, and there aren’t any side-effects.

It was this experience with this particular breeder that led me to do more research into being a dog owner. It had never been so complicated before, and I had owned a number of pets, from dogs, to horses, ducks, geese, guinea pigs, rabbits, even a raccoon.

I was taken off guard by this new thought on dog raising that has become so common now.  So much of what they do is because they think it is responsible, and a good practice. Shame on the pharmaceutical industry for pushing these practices on our veterinarians, who then pass them on to the breeders and pet owners. Thinking about all that I had learned from the various breeders I spoke with, things I felt defied common sense, it sickened me.
I work in the natural health care field with people and see so much deception every day when it comes to health care, along with an overall lack of common sense about health and disease. Twenty five years ago, when I was teaching natural childbirth education, the dietary information passed on to expectant mothers was so bad (not dissimilar to what it is today), that we would joke with our classes that it was safer and more accurate to get dietary advice from a veterinarian. After all, they were in the business of helping animals be healthy, rather than selling pharmaceuticals and pushing dangerous vaccines and medical tests. To say I was disappointed to learn this is no longer true, would be putting it mildly.

Here are just a few of the changes I found in my research on the new, albeit dangerous, way of raising dogs today:

The majority of breeders are encouraged to give their dogs a series of puppy vaccines early in life. This is done with the idea that it will prevent a variety of diseases that puppies rarely get. Sickly puppies, who are poorly fed, and come from sick parents, get these diseases. In addition, they are given at a young period in their life when they couldn’t possibly build antibodies even if the vaccines did work.

Many of them spay or neuter their puppies even before they are sold. Others have you sign a contract stating you will have this operation, removing your new puppy’s reproductive system before they are a set number of months old. It has nothing to do with the health of the dogs of course, this isn’t an issue for them. It is typically done to reduce the competition between dog breeders. How and when did removal of the reproductive system become “responsible.” Who’s idea was that, I have to wonder.

Newly bred female dogs are often scanned with ultrasound machines to confirm pregnancies and count of the number of puppies in the womb. Then again later on, closer to delivery time, to check for problems. Then the mother is sometimes exposed to it again after the puppies are born to check her uterus for dead puppies, or remains of afterbirth that weren’t expelled. Wait, what about the side effects of the ultrasound on the puppies and the womb of the mother dog? Did someone forget ultrasound machines use radiation?  That they can cause abnormalities in the babies (human and animal) and cause sterility in the mother because of radiation damage to her reproductive system?! I am guessing that, like human doctors, the veterinarians aren’t aware of the side-effects either. So, who’s job is it to let us know there may be side-effects, and please, please stop telling us there aren’t any. www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasound.htm , www.healthybirthchoices.com/.../pregnancy/ultrasound/102-fetal–effects-…, www.chosenbirths.com/ultrasoundsafety.htm

Purebred dogs are often bred back with their own brother, sister, mother or father for a particular look that is desired by the breeder. Especially those dogs who are groomed for AKC shows. The health and genetic problems that inbreeding can cause aren’t a consideration, and I am told that doing this often produces a look preferred by judges at these shows.

Adult dogs are given vaccines on a regular basis, sometimes yearly, regardless of the fact that they aren’t necessary, proven safe or effective, and aren’t even state mandated.  Shame on the veterinarians who do these to animals.  Is this called “responsible veterinary medicine?”

In my research on dogs, I have come across a number of people who have shared stories with me of their dogs who suddenly develop tumors after vaccines are given, then die when the “tumor exploded.” Two of these stories were of Standard poodles. There have been eye disorders, cancers, leukemia, skin diseases, and seizures. One girl bought an English bulldog that suddenly died shortly after it turned a year. A year! She called her friend who bought a puppy from the same litter to find out how their dog was doing, only to find it had died a couple months before hers. Both had all of the puppy vaccines and were given the dangerous chemical dewormer. Another person had a boxer that had seizures and was encouraged to put it on an expensive anti-seizure medication. She couldn’t afford the drugs, so had it put down. It was under 2 years old. I know of many, many more who currently have dogs that are still living with diagnosed tumors, and their vets are telling them its common among dogs their age, or their breed.

This all reminds me of pediatric medicine in the U.S.  All of the diseases that are common in our vaccinated children, diseases like eye disorders, cancers, leukemia, skin diseases, learning disabilities, personality disorders, and seizures. Makes one wonder about autism in dogs as well.

Then there is the issue of life-threatening chemicals we apply to our pets in the name of protecting them from bugs. They come in the form of poisonous pet collars, sprays, and shampoos. One woman I know breaks out when she holds her dog because of all of the chemicals applied to its coat by its groomer. And its not safe for small children to be within 10-12 feet of a dog with one of these products on its body. When this particular lady asked her dog’s groomer to use a “natural” shampoo instead of the one with the chemical pesticides in it, the groomer stated that she “couldn’t be responsible for something that might hurt or endanger the dog.” What?! When did something natural become dangerous, and something dangerous become the safe thing? Where is the common sense in that statement?

Back to my story – after asking the breeder of my puppy not to use the vaccines or chemical dewormer on her, I went a little further and asked that she not keep my unvaccinated puppy with the other vaccinated (now contagious), puppies. She was surprised, thinking that my puppy was the one to be concerned with carrying an illness, and she was the one who was going to develop a life-threatening illness if I didn’t let her shoot these toxins (vaccines) into her.

I assured her that not only would this puppy not get sick, but she will be very healthy and well taken care of. In as few words as possible I explained my concern about the vaccines and their relationship to the diseases that are so common in dogs now. Diseases that didn’t exist in dogs 40-50 years ago. She followed with, “I wondered if the vaccines caused these diseases, I’ve had more than one (adult) dog suddenly become sick and a couple even die within 6 months after having been given a vaccine.” She said she thought it was the vaccine, and instinctively didn’t like doing them. Although, when she voiced her concerns to her veterinarian, like any well trained pharmaceutical salesmen, he assured her it had nothing to do with the vaccines.