AVMA War Against Raw Food is Half Baked

To all friends and fans of holistic medicine, raw food, and common sense: Do not be alarmed by the AVMA's decision to pass a resolution warning people against feeding raw food to dogs and cats! This resolution was pushed through by the processed pet food companies in an economic assault on the raw food companies, and the AVMA are a bunch of idiots and cowards for passing it! 

Supposedly, the purpose is 

to protect the public from the horrible infections we could get from feeding our pets raw food. They are totally ignoring all the DRY food recalls - many more than raw foods have ever had - because of bacterial contamination! Just to let you know, I am writing the organization a goodbye letter and terminating my membership. I can't stand to be a part of this irresponsible idiocy any more.

If you're looking for more information, please check out this article on Dr. Fox Vet.  It basically reinforces everything my colleagues and I have been talking about.

How old are your pets?

Perhaps you have come across this chart, either at your vet's office, in a publication, or online.

One of my goals with holistic medicine is to help our pets outlive our expectations. I assume that my clients, just like me, want their pets to live as long as possible. Throughout the years of practicing medicine, our expectations have gradually been diminished, so that we no longer know what is possible for our pets.

For example, when I was a kid, our neighbor's Standard Poodle Billy was 21 and went for a walk every day. Our cats lived to be 22 and 23. The party line of conventional veterinary medicine is something like: "Thanks to modeern medicine, our pets are living longer and healthier lives than ever before!" And yet, on the ground, this is not true.

At a conference last summer, a vet from California began her lecture by saying, "As you all know, we're dealing with animals that have a ten-year life span." And we know that giant breed dogs (Great Pyrenees, Bernese Mountain Dogs, mastiffs, St. Bernards) are seniors with three feet in the grave by the time they're six. Cats are senior citizens by seven or eight.

In my little home experiment with natural care and feeding, here's how it's going: Tonka, who is 13 now and a 97 lb Malamute mix, is now officially off the chart. He still goes for a walk every day and does a happy dance at feeding time, although the dance is more sedate than it used to be. Tootsie, who is 14 years and 22 lbs, can still jump up on the dining room table and gets into everything she possibly can. Yesterday she ran away, ate lots of compost, and swam in the swamp. Ariel, at 8 years and 17 lbs, is a child in comparison. I hope she never grows old. When the other two are gone, I'll adopt a big goofy black dog and another snarky little terrier, just to keep Ariel on her toes!

Danger, danger! What you don't know can kill you!

In the April 2012 issue of DVM Newsmagazine, there's an article titled "CDC cautions public about raw milk consumption." Raw milk is illegal in some states (Minnesota included) precisely for this reason - it could kill you!
Here is what the CDC's research showed: Over the 13 years from 1993 to 2006, there were 4,413 illnesses, 239 hospitalizations, and three deaths - Yes, people DIED from drinking raw milk! This means that raw milk is BAD! It could KILL YOU!
OK, let's do some math. 4,413 illnesses in 13 years, that's, umm, let me see, roughly 339 people per year made ill by consuming raw milk. 239 hospitalizations, that's, oh, my...18 people per year. And three deaths, hmm, wait a minute! That's three deaths in thirteen years!
Honestly, folks, don't we have more serious things to worry about?
Here's some information from the New England Journal of Medicine in 1999: Each year 107,000 people are hospitalized from side effects caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. You know, aspirin, tylenol, ibuprofen, etc. And each year there are 16,500 NSAID-related deaths among patients with arthritis. And that's just folks with arthritis, not the rest of us who might be taking these drugs for headaches, injuries, heart-attack prevention, etc.
Is the CDC telling us to avoid non-steroidal anti-inflammatories? Hell, no! There's money in them thar hills, I mean drugs!
But raw milk could kill you.
Beware.

Newsletter and Nutrition Classes

The May issue of my newsletter is up! Click here  or the side link to read: What’s New (I recently finished the Veterinary Spinal ManipulationTherapy course – a.k.a. Animal Chiropractic), What You Need to Know (about my practice), Why I Do What I Do (helping animals get healthier is my ultimate goal), and to get my Holistic Tip of the Month.

Did you know that what you feed your pets affects their behavior as well as their health? Click here  for more information about the Nutrition Classes for Dogs and Cats I co-teach with Katie K9, professional dog trainer, coach and radio personality. You will find our 2 ½-hour classes informative and entertaining.

Things That Drive Me Nuts

In the latest issue of Veterinary Medicine magazine there's an article about a dog with anal sac adenocarcinoma. This is a malignant tumor in dogs, and it's a sad story that ends badly for this little guy. Initially surgery was performed to remove the tumor, and it was repeated a month later because the darn thing grew back. During the second surgery, 40% of the anal sphincter was removed as well as part of his rectum.
Other than mild fecal incontinence (surprise, surprise) and bladder stones, which were not treated because they were not deemed to be causing any problems, the dog went home for a year and a half, at which point he had developed ribbon-shaped feces and was having trouble pooping. The tumor had not only reoccurred locally, but had spread to his liver and lungs.
Over the next 6 months this poor little dog went through chemotherapy, side effects of chemotherapy, feeling like crap, drugs, more drugs, drugs to treat the side effects of the first drugs, and eventually his kidneys shut down and he was mercifully euthanized.
The article is meant to be educational, in kind of a "this is the way it goes" presentation, with each actor - the surgeon, the oncologist, the clinical pathologist, the pharmacologist - playing their part in the drama of treating the tumor, um, I mean, the patient.
This article was tragic for me. I've treated some dogs like this with nutrition, correct diet, and homeopathy, and have had them live out their normal life spans in comfort at home. Not every pet will share the same level of success with treatment, depending on the state of the immune system, which plays such a huge role in these conditions. But when I think about my patients - at home, eating great food, benefiting from the gentle medicine of homeopathy - versus this little dog, who spent his last months of life ill, receiving injections of toxic drugs and having all kinds of pills shoved down his throat on a regular basis - it strikes me as very sad that there was no search for alternatives here. Even if homeopathy and other forms of "alternative" medicine wouldn't have offered hope of a cure, necessarily, well, this dog didn't get a cure from conventional medicine. He got suffering, from professionals whose oath states that their goal is to relieve suffering. And that's why I do what I do.

The Importance of the Physical Exam

The most important part of any visit to the veterinary hospital is the complete physical examination. This is a hands-on touch-and-feel external observation and evaluation of your pet’s physical, mental, and emotional state.

Much information in veterinary medicine has been misconstrued about the importance of the physical exam vs. the importance of the annual vaccinations. That’s why “shot clinics” exist, why at some practices if your appointment is “just” for vaccines your pet won’t be seen by a doctor, and why you can buy the vaccines from a catalog or over the internet.

A comprehensive physical exam is so worthwhile that it completely overshadows the financial advantage of just vaccinating the pet without an exam. But then it has to be a good physical exam. A friend of mine recently took her puppies to be spayed and neutered. I asked her, was the vet nice? Oh, yes, very nice. Was he professional? Yes, absolutely. Was he thorough? Not so much. His physical exam consisted of petting the puppies and saying that they seemed healthy.

In veterinary medicine we have a constant dilemma between the benefit of getting our hands on an animal and feeling for abnormalities, and the plethora of diagnostic testing available at a moment’s notice. Of course not everything can be diagnosed based on a physical exam, but it should give you a good guideline, along with a thorough history, to the diagnostic tests which might be most beneficial.

In the hands of an experienced practitioner, a good physical exam does not take long. If you are busy chatting with the vet or on the phone, you may not even notice that the physical exam has come and gone. Even so, you are better off paying for two physical exams every year than going to the shot clinic because it’s cheap, but not getting a physical exam performed on your pet at all. It is the best way to detect subtle symptoms of ill-health, and is the cornerstone of true preventive medicine.

Our Toxic Homes

In Minnesota, in winter especially, indoor air quality just goes to hell. between the crap shooting out of the air ducts, the mold growing in the walls, and the toxic chemicals offgassing from furniture, carpeting, and home chemicals (airspray, hairspray, cigarette smoke, cleaning products, scented candles, etc.).
Unfortuntately, our poor indoor pets get the worst of it. Trapped in our homes while we are out breathing the fresh air at work or at the grocery store, our pets are unable to escape the putrid chemical soup that wafts down to their level of the atmosphere.
People don't think twice about smoking with pets in the home, spraying their hair with toxic products while the dog sits at their side, and using floor cleaners that the dogs and cats are then going to walk through, and lick their paws when they're done. I tend to forget how many toxic things people have in their homes, mainly because I don't use airspray or hairspray, and I don't clean. Oh, I run the vacuum once in a while, and wipe things up with water, but I never use spray cleaners and only use environmentally safe(r) dish detergents. But I'll bet most people have a little toxic waste dump going on underneath the kitchen sink.
Folks, there's a reason toxic things have labels on them that tell you not to breath the fumes, get it on your skin or in your eyes, and not to ingest the stuff. Don't put your pet at risk for doing those same things.

Vaccinations and Reactions

On January 24th I gave a talk to the employees and clients of Dogue Spot, a dog training and day care facility in Otsego, MN. I'm sure that the information I conveyed was priceless, and will be remembered verbatim by all who attended. From my perspective, the most interesting part was the discussions about the animals that had their health damaged by vaccines. Just about everyone in the room had a story to share.
The veterinary journals (i.e. propaganda) tell us that vaccine reactions are rare.
It all depends on what you're looking for. If we were better as a profession at identifying the signs of ill health, and at allowing for the possibility of cause and effect, we might be more aware of the relationship between the vaccine event and the onset of health problems in the pets that we vaccinate. The issues do not always arise immediately after vaccinating.
Like many other holistic veterinarians, I am conscious of the fact that the vast majority of the animals that I treat are suffering from vaccinosis in one form or another. Vaccinosis denotes the variety of chronic conditions that are brought on by an aberrant response to vaccines. This is not rare or unusual, according to us, because of the harsh nature of vaccines, the toxic brew of the contents, and the likelihood that the immune system will sustain damage from the vaccine.
The main thing that I find lacking in general veterinary practice is the admission that once an animal has had a vaccine reaction, any kind, at any time, STOP. Stop vaccinating that pet. The risk of causing a chronic disease that will be incurable is too great.
In the clip from FOX news that I posted on my facebook page, a woman reports that now her dog has to get shots in order to prevent a reaction to its shots. During the interview, the dog, a Beagle, is lying on the couch facing the camera, unmoving, completely lacking in vitality. Yes, all Beagles look sort of sad, but this dog looks really sad. It looks like it has a chronic headache. But the show must go on, just in case little overvaccinated Buffy is accidentally exposed to some horrible disease she's already been vaccinated against ten times. The entire concept is ridiculous, this idea that we must continue vaccinating even in the face of hives, angioedema, thrombocytopenia, cancer, and any one of the other million bad things that can happen after vaccination.
It's time to stop. Once is enough.

Nutrition Response Testing

One of the methods that I use to help me choose treatments for my patients is Nutrition Response Testing. This is essentially muscle testing, or Applied Kinesiology, using a person as the indirect tester for the pet. I muscle test the person (often the pet's owner, but not always), using the anterior deltoid as my indicator muscle. With both of us physically touching the patient, we evaluate the status of the sympathetic nervous system, scan the body to get an idea of which systems are under stress, differentiate which stressor is affecting the target organ or system, and individualize a treatment plan that is specific for that patient.
Muscle testing is one of my favorite methods to use. It allows us to bypass the thinking logic of the brain, and to ask the patient's body directly which treatment will be most beneficial for the organism as a whole.
I use Standard Process supplements almost exclusively. They are manufactured under strict quality controls, from organic ingredients, and the formulas are scientifically derived, backed by years of research. Standard Process makes a wide range of supplements for humans. They also make a small line of cat, dog, and horse products.
The need for differentiation becomes clear, when you consider, for example, that there are perhaps 5 supplements that will act directly on the liver, and 25 others that will indirectly benefit the liver. How can we decide which supplement will be most helpful? Are there other organs affected which also require support?
This is where muscle testing stands out as one of the most important tools in my practice. As long as we trust the answers that we receive directly from the patient's body, and trust that the body is a self-healing organism that has its own agenda of priorities, we will improve the success of our treatments and help heal our patients in the process.

Reiki for Pets

Reiki is an often-overlooked yet incredibly valuable treatment method to have on hand. I think everybody in the world should at least take a Reiki I class. Here's why: In case of emergency, if nothing else, you've still got your hands. And for all you amputees out there, you don't really need hands to do Reiki.

What is Reiki? It is simply the channeling of universal earth energy through your body, without using up your own body's energy. You simply serve as the conduit for the energy. Now, in case this sounds too voodoo, remember that there is always a background level of cosmic energy that can be measured by scientific instruments. This energy is generated by the earth, which is the source of an electromagnetic field.

It's always possible to channel earth energy, even without the benefit of Reiki teaching. The advantages of learning Reiki are that it provides a system and philosophy for the direction and use of the energy. This is extremely important. The existence of an underlying philosophy and plan is what allows a treatment modality to improve and advance itself. Without a unifying process, Reiki would lose all its structure and much of its benefits. Although everyone can feel energy and direct it, it's a lot easier if someone teaches you a safe and replicable method for its use.

Another advantage of Reiki is the system of attunements. The attunements help your body be a better channel for the Reiki energy.

I have used Reiki in all kinds of situations. In one case I had just gotten home to find one of my cats in urinary distress. There's nothing like getting home from a long day at the office to make you dread having to go right back out and take the cat to an emergency hospital. I had no medical supplies at home. I had Rescue Remedy and Reiki. I sat with Malcolm on my lap, rubbed Rescue Remedy into my hands and his face, and gave him Reiki for about 15 or 20 minutes. He calmed down, went to the litter box, urinated, and took a nap.

Another time, my old dog Charlie yelped and couldn't use his rear limbs when he woke up from a nap. I used Reiki on his back and spine, and within minutes the episode passed and he was fine. Freaky, but true! It happened to me, it could happen to you!

Canine Health Concerns - Spay Incontinence

Incontinence is fairly common in the middle-aged spayed female dog. Incontinence refers to the loss of tone or integrity of the external urethral sphincter, the ring of muscle that helps you hold urine in your bladder.
There are several theories about why this would happen. One is that due to the spay surgery, which in dogs involves removal of the uterus and ovaries, there is a subsequent lack of production of the female hormones that would normally stimulate the external urethral sphincter.
Another theory has to do with the spay surgery itself. During the surgery, the uterus is pulled right out of the dog's body. It's easier to do surgery outside of the body, where you can see what's going on, then in the darkened cavern inside the abdominal cavity. This necessitates, in some cases, a lot of traction (i.e. pulling) on the uterus, which is attached to the cervix, which is attached (in dogs) to the vestibule, which is also where the urethra empties into from the bladder. Once you stretch the cervix, you've also indirectly stretched the urethra, and have possibly disrupted the integrity of the urethral sphincter.
A third option is a chiropractic lesion or subluxation. During the spay surgery the dog is lying on her back, her spine is extended past the normal limits, her rear limbs are splayed - also unnaturally - in order to facilitate the surgical approach. When you're under anesthesia, you don't have the muscle tone that would normally prevent your joints from moving beyond their normal range. If the joints in the spine are disrupted, blood supply to the nerves that are coming out of the spinal cord and going to the various organs can be compromised. This also explains why incontinence can also be seen in dogs that have hip or lumbar spine degeneration or arthritis.
Incontinence has to be differentiated from other conditions such as urinary tract infections or diabetes, that will cause the dogs to have to urinate a lot more frequently. Even if the dog is leaking urine all over her bed at night, it is still necessary to test the urine (and blood tests are a good idea as well) to make sure there is not some underlying cause for the condition.
The conventional treatments include drugs such as DES and Proin. DES (diethylstilbestrol) is a synthetic estrogen that supposedly would replace the loss resulting from the spay. Unfortunately, this drug also has the potential side effect of causing irreversible aplastic anemia (i.e. it can wipe out your bone marrow forever), and I'm always surprised when I see it still in use after all these years.
Proin (phenylpropanolamine) is a drug that increases the tone of the external urethral sphincter. It's not known exactly why or how it does this. This drug was pulled off the human market because it caused heart disease in people, and in dogs it can cause irritability, increased heart rate, hypertension, and other side effects. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some dogs will do well at a lower dose than is recommended. Some can be weaned off it after treating them for 3-4 months to "retrain" the muscle.
My recommendations for incontinence include: natural diet (some cases are actually due to a gluten or grain allergy, and will resolve when these are removed from the diet), healthy basic supplements to balance the system, spinal manipulation (if the problem is a chiropractic subluxation, restoring blood supply to the nerves will fix it), and specific, individualized homeopathic treatment.