Allergies – airborne or otherwise – are not normal for a healthy, balanced dog or cat. Most, if not all, allergies originate with a heat-processed diet (dry or canned food). These foods are impossible to digest completely since they have no enzymes, so larger than normal particles are absorbed into the bloodstream during digestion. This puts the immune system on alert, thus lowering the threshold for incoming allergens from other sources. Simply switching to a species-appropriate, whole food diet will resolve these problems and boost your friend’s immune system dramatically.
Prescription foods made of corn, by-products, more corn and chemicals are not normal, and not conducive to healing. Just say NO to prescription food.
Benadryl is definitely not normal! Giving allergy medications to your friend will only suppress the symptoms, often driving the imbalance deeper into the body. Switching to a diet of whole foods will resolve allergy issues. Simple but true. Add extra Vitamin C for both dogs and cats to assist the immune system. If symptoms are severe, use Only Natural Pet Immune Balance to calm the immune response while you switch immediately to a diet of meat and vegetables.
Long term or repeated use of prescription drugs (steroids and antibiotics) is not normal and not acceptable! These do not resolve the problem – they only suppress symptoms, often creating more problems such as yeast infections, thyroid issues, mange or mite infestations or other immune disorders. Providing your animal with a diet of high quality protein, essential fatty acids, greens and digestive enzymes will create health and balance for your friends and eliminate the need for prescription drugs.
Cats and dogs with Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome often recover quickly and completely when switched immediately to a raw, whole food, species-appropriate diet. Amazing and true! Antibiotics can actually make IBS worse by killing the friendly bacteria in the digestive tract. Just feed whole foods!
Imbalances such as vomiting, paw licking, ear infections, itching and hot spots are classic food allergy symptoms and are not normal! Simply eliminating heat-processed dry/canned food and changing to a nourishing whole food diet can resolve these problems completely and forever.
Obesity is almost always a sign of a processed food diet and is not a normal state of being for our animal friends. Switch to a species-appropriate meat and vegetable diet, and I guarantee your friend will lose body fat and put on muscle, achieving his or her ideal body weight and looking and feeling much younger. My Corgi eats 3-4 meals per day, and she is picture-perfect, solid muscle with a defined waistline. When was the last time you saw a well-defined Corgi?
Body odor and bad breath are toxins being released by your animal’s body. These toxins are almost always generated by a heat-processed dry-food diet. Switching to a diet of real meat and vegetables, rich in greens and essential fatty acids, will help your friend detoxify and become the beautiful, huggable canine or feline he or she was meant to be.
Mange or mite infestations are a signal that your friend’s immune system is extremely depleted. Often a result of antibiotic or steroid use, these conditions are definitely not normal in a healthy animal. The answer? A whole food diet with supplements of enzymes, probiotics, greens, and Grapefruit Seed Extract stirred into every meal will help resolve these issues.
Dental issues are not normal in a healthy animal! Plaque, inflamed gums, and bad breath are due to a diet of processed food in the absence of enzymes and wholesome food. Dry food does not clean teeth! Would you brush your teeth with a cracker? Feeding chunks of raw meat and offering enzyme-rich raw, meaty bones to your cat or dog will help resolve this issue. Petzlife Dental products are highly recommended for all of the above dental issues.
Diabetes is often connected with over-vaccination and/or soft-moist dog foods that come in cellophane bags and don’t need refrigeration. The ingredients in these moist foods almost always include sugar, as well as artificial colors and other preservatives. And please don’t give your friends sugary human foods! It’s not normal! The best solution: Feed two or three meals of fresh, raw foods to your friend each day, supplemented with brewer’s yeast and natural Vitamin E. Vaccines given every year, or even every three years, are not recommended by holistic veterinarians. Request a titer test to determine if your friend already has the antibodies to resist the disease in question. Most holistic veterinarians recommend one vaccine for the life of the dog!
Thyroid issues in dogs and cats have been connected to use of steroids and other drugs, such as Phenobarbital, that block thyroid function. The animal with limited prescription drug use can often be brought back to normal thyroid function and have his health restored by implementing a natural, raw diet, allowing for ample exposure to natural light, and adding small quantities of kelp and adaptogenic herbs to daily meals. Also recommended: Essiac tea (our Only Natural Pet B.S.S.T. Herbal Formula) as a support therapy and blood-cleanser and to help maintain hormone balance. Prescription thyroid drugs actually take over for the thyroid and cause it to shrink. By supplying the proper nutrients, thyroid function can most often be restored in animals who have not been on thyroid meds long term.
Fatty tumors are the body’s way of compartmentalizing toxins. These cysts or tumors can become larger and more serious as time goes on, so eliminating processed food is crucial for early resolution of the imbalance. Tumors and cysts are a sign that your friend needs a meat and vegetable diet supplemented with greens, enzymes and some liver-supporting herbs, such as BSST.
Cancer is an expression of a deep imbalance in the body. Animals diagnosed with cancer need a diet of high quality protein and raw vegetables, supplemented with enzymes (with and between meals), concentrated greens, nutrient-rich broths, and even raw juices such as carrot and beet. Nutritional herbs can also be very beneficial. Animals can, and do, recover from cancer when provided with a highly nutritious, whole-food diet to support immune function.
All this to say that if you are feeding dry and/or canned food, I highly recommend switching your dog to a whole food diet of meat and vegetables. This can be a home-prepared food, or the easiest way to accomplish this:
Only Natural Pet EasyRaw Dehydrated Dog Food or
Sojos Europa Grain-Free Dog Food Mix
Both of the above are dehydrated raw foods. The EasyRaw contains vegetables and herbs with turkey as the protein, while the Sojos contains vegetables, herbs and some fruit, and you add your own protein (meat, lentils, fish, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc). Both are excellent, super-nutritious and healing and, most importantly, dogs love these foods! They also go a long way. The 8 pound bag of Sojos lasts for six weeks at my house with one very large dog (110 lbs) , and one small dog (22 lbs) eating it every day. I feed a 50/50 proportion of Sojos/protein most of the time, and will also include yogurt, beans or lentils, sardines and/or other proteins on occasion, as well.
Always recommended:
ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS are essential! For joint health, brain development, and skin and coat nourishment, efa’s also carry toxins out of the body. Important to give every single day! I recommend Ultra Oil Skin & Coat Supplement with Hempseed Oil or other fish oil blend.
GREENS are loaded with enzymes, make food they are added to more digestible and nutritious, and are very cleansing. Excellent for all dogs, and especially dogs that are healing or out of balance. My favorite green supplement Dr. Harvey’s MultiVitamin, Mineral & Herbal Supplement.
DIGESTIVE ENZYMES make food much more bio-available, and take the burden off the pancreas. In the wild, canines would eat raw enzyme-rich foods, never having to dedicate their own enzymes for digestion. Since our canines eat cooked and processed food, it’s only fair to replenish these important elements every single day. Animal Essentials Plant Enzymes & Probiotics is an excellent one
October 4th, 2009
Heartworm medication is a slow-release insecticide!
Heartworm can only be transmitted by mosquito, so if you live in a climate where mosquitoes are inactive in the winter, you do not need heartworm protection during those winter months, no matter what your vet may recommend!
According to Dr. Pitcairn’s Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, 65% of all drug reactions reported and 48% of all reported deaths caused by drug reactions were from heartworm preventative medicine.
Dr. Pitcairn’s recommendations for natural prevention of heartworm:
“Feed a completely natural, preferably organic,
raw food diet fortified with raw garlic and liberal amounts of yeast.
Keep your dog indoors in the evenings and at night.
Use a natural insect repellant when outside.
Keep in mind that well-nourished animals will have their own
natural resistance to fleas, ticks and mosquitoes,” as Dr. Pitcairn further explains:
“..wild animals are quite resistant to the parasite. That is, they get very light infestations and then become immune. Another factor is that an estimated 25 to 50% of dogs in high-heartworm areas become immune to the microfilaria after being infested and cannot pass heartworms to other dogs via mosquitoes. Finally, after being infested by a few heartworms, most dogs do not get more of them, even though they are continually bitten by mosquitoes carrying the parasite. In other words, they are able to limit the extent of infestation.”
“All this points to the importance of the health and resistance mounted by the dog itself. If we care for our pets so as to maximize their health, their resistance to parasites and disease will be much higher.”
“Wild animals like coyotes thrive in the very same conditions, even without preventive drugs. The major difference is lifestyle – fresh, raw foods, plenty of exercise, no drugs, and no toxic flea products.”
The Encyclopedia of Natural Pet Care tells us:
“Heartworms thrive in America’s canine population because our dogs’ depleted health makes them good hosts. However, if your dog sleeps indoors or on a screened porch during mosquito season, does not take prescription drugs or receive annual vaccinations, eats a well-balanced, raw diet supplemented with vermifuge herbs (which repel insects as well as internal parasites) and wears natural insect repellents outdoors, he or she is at low risk even if you live in a area with a high incidence of heartworm disease. In North America, the highest rates of infection are in the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf Coast states.”
“Natural heartworm prevention consists of two parts: (1) protecting your dog with nutrition and vermifuge herbs on the inside so the heartworms that enter her bloodstream can’t thrive, and (2) repelling mosquitoes on the outside so the dog isn’t infected in the first place. All of the strategies described for the prevention of internal parasites are appropriate for dogs who live in heartworm areas, especially the use of black walnut hulls and wormwood.”
And from The Nature of Animal Healing (Martin Goldstein, D.V.M):
“Only a small percentage of dogs who get heartworm die of it, especially if they’re routinely tested twice yearly for early detection. Even in untreated dogs, after a period of uncomfortable symptoms, the adult worms die. The microfilaria do NOT grow into adult worms on their own. To reach the next stage in their life cycle, they have to be sucked back out of the body by another mosquito, and go through the other stages of their maturation process within the mosquito. Only when that mosquito alights again on a dog and bites it can the microfilaria reenter the bloodstream with the ability to grow into adults. The chances of a microfilaria-infected mosquito biting your dog the first time are slim. Of it happening to the same dog twice? Very slim. And after two decades of pervasive administration of heartworm pills in the U.S., the chances of your dog contracting heartworm in most parts of this country even a first time are slimmer still. Early in my career, I saw and treated hundreds of cases of heartworm disease, most with routine medication, yet witnessed only three deaths (the last was in 1979). By comparison, we’re seeing cancer kill dogs on a daily basis. To my mind, the likelihood that toxicity from heartworm pills is contributing to the tremendous amount of immune suppression now occurring, especially in the cases of liver disease and cancer, is far greater and more immediate than the threat of the disease they’re meant to prevent.”
Products to consider instead of traditional heartworm meds: The Anibio Tic Clip, Only Natural Pet HW Protect (herbal preventative – vermifuge herbs), Only Natural Pet Herbal Defense Spray and Shampoo (essential oil base repellants). All available at www.onlynaturalpet.com. I’m sure there are other products out there. These are the ones I am most familiar with, and that I know to be effective.
February 20th, 2009
Give your companion pureed raw fruits, nuts, greens and vegetables, such as:
spinach celery carrots apples bananas blueberries and other berries broccoli kale lettuce dates figs green beans beets zucchini cucumbers parsnips sweet peppers peas sweet potatoes sprouts wheat grass. herbs such as burdock dandelion nettle, mangos watermelon cantaloupe peaches plums figs dates apricots, raw nuts such as walnuts and almonds
AVOID ONIONS GRAPES RAISINS CHOCOLATE CITRUS
ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS are essential! For joint health, brain development, and skin and coat nourishment, essential fatty acids also carry toxins out of the body.
* Every single day!
* It’s good to rotate oils.
Only Natural Pet Pure Icelandic Salmon Oil – or other fish oil blend, such as Ultra Oil Skin & Coat Supplement with Hempseed Oil
Wonderful!
1 tsp per 20 lbs of body weight/day
GREENS are loaded with enzymes, vitamins, and minerals! They make food they are added to more nutritious and digestible, and are very cleansing and, thus, healing.
Excellent for all dogs and cats, and especially those that are healing or out of balance:
Animal Essentials Organic Green Alternative or Dr. Harvey’s MultiVitamin, Mineral & Herbal Supplement (my personal favorite – fantastic ingredients!)
Or fresh, pureed greens!
Watch your dog or cat glow!
Rotate the greens you use!
DIGESTIVE ENZYMES make food much more bio-available, and assist the pancreas in the digestive process.
In the wild, canines and felines would eat raw, enzyme-rich foods, never having to divert their own healing enzymes for digestion.
Since our canine and feline companions eat cooked and processed food in our
human society, it’s only fair to replenish these important nutrients every single day:
Animal Essentials Plant Enzymes & Probiotics or Prozyme
Enzymes – not just for digestion!
Enzymes create cellular repair!
Since your companion has a short, acidic digestive system,
doesn’t it make sense to feed wholesome, nutrient-rich food?
When you think about the last meal you prepared for your beloved companion…
Was it packed with nutrients and whole, fresh ingredients?
Or was it dry food from a bag?
What kind of food will your companion eat the next time?
You decide.
You can CREATE HEALTH for your dog or cat!
June 21st, 2008
Observe your dog both while she eats, and immediately following the meal. Does she enjoy his food and chew it well? Does she eat every bite and lick the bowl?
Afterwards, take notice!
Does she rub her face on the carpet or chew her paws?
Does she have runny eyes or nose, vomit or otherwise exhibit distress?
If you observe face rubbing, paw licking or other forms of distress or imbalance immediately following a meal, then the food you are feeding is not working! These are signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction, and you need to change the food you are feeding immediately.
My dogs do not itch! They are comfortable in their bodies. My friends and co-workers all have dogs that do not itch or have chronic ear infections! A dog or cat that is well-nourished and balanced does not itch, scratch, or otherwise show discomfort after eating.
Yet, as a nutritional consultant, I talk with people every week whose dogs or cats have been chronically itching, scratching and living in misery for their entire lives!
THIS IS COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY AND EASY TO RESOLVE!
We simply need to supply the appropriate foods!
IT’S THAT SIMPLE!
We treat our animals the way most of us treat ourselves.
* Processed food for every meal
* Drugs to treat our symptoms when illness inevitably strikes
* More drugs if those don’t work!
* We turn all responsibility for our health over to a medical professional who prescribes food from a bag.
Dogs and cats are not people! Most of the time they do not need prescription drugs to resolve their imbalances. Almost all canine and feline imbalances can be resolved with the proper nutrition. It’s true!
Please, please, please if your dog or cat is itching constantly, or in any distress of discomfort due to food, do not continue to switch from one dry food to another . Some dogs and cats simply cannot digest dry food! Nor should they have to! Please nourish your companions and switch to a diet of meat, vegetables, and greens!
Thanks!
May 23rd, 2008
My Rant for today:
DRY FOOD ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH!
IT’S OK TO FEED SOME GOOD QUALITY DRY FOOD,
AS LONG AS YOU ENHANCE THE FOOD.
BY NATURE, DRY FOOD IS DIFFICULT TO DIGEST AT BEST.
NO ENZYMES, NO LIFE. BUT DOGS AND CATS DO LIKE IT.
AND I BELIEVE IT DOES HAVE NUTRITIONAL VALUE.
BUT CONSIDER THIS…..
THERE ARE TWO BOWLS OF FOOD
ONE IS FILLED WITH CHUNKS OF CHICKEN, A RAW EGG,
PUREED RAW CARROTS, CHOPPED APPLE AND SOME ALFALFA SPROUTS.
THE OTHER IS FILLED WITH DRY FOOD.
WHICH BOWL OF FOOD WOULD YOU SELECT
TO NOURISH AND REJUVENATE YOUR COMPANION?
WHICH BOWL WOULD BRING MORE JOY?
A BALANCED COMPANION
IS COMFORTABLE IN HIS OWN BODY.
VERY, VERY COMFORTABLE.
A BALANCED ANIMAL MOVES JOYFULLY, SLEEPS DEEPLY
A BALANCED ANIMAL AGES GRACEFULLY, WITH COMFORT
MAYBE A LITTLE SLOWER, BUT STILL BALANCED
PLEASE NOURISH YOUR COMPANION,
ESPECIALLY AN AGING DOG OR CAT.
BLESS EVERY BOWL OF FOOD YOU SERVE.
May 15th, 2008
I’m so excited to welcome you to my blog about creating health for ourselves and our animal companions!
May 13th, 2008
