Back from vacation, and of course the dog is fine

I'm sure everyone who travels away from their dogs worries. I tried really hard to think positive thoughts about Vida for the two weeks we were apart (sheesh, we sound waay too close! haha!)

I know I have a bad habit of running through negative scenarios, and I'm really working hard at shortcircuiting that when it happens and turning it around to running positive scenarios.

I do believe our pets tune into that sort of thing, and it can only be detrimental to aim those negative filmloops their way. So I've been making a concerted effort to visualize good health, no stress, etc (for myself too). I know it's corny - these days everyone is putting out books about the power or positive thinking, but in this case I'm specifically putting it in terms of how our pets sponge up our stress.

Everyone needs to watch what they're thinking. Dogs are experts at living with us. For most dogs their job is to adjust to our emotions. We certainly don't want them taking on our negativity and absorbing that stress from us.

I consciously waited a couple of hours after getting home to peek in at her mouth. And it looked just like when I left - hooray! Of course I'm still going to take a photo in the next day or so just to confirm and track - but I swear, no changes! [I just took "yet" out of that sentence! See what I mean?] A good day! (dog got up on the bed during the night - aahhh.)

A Weekend of Plant Love!

Wow! I just got back from the New England Woman's Herbal Conference in Peterborough, NH. 48 hours of herbs! It was very inspiring. Probably more about inspiration than education this weekend, actually. It's always hard to choose what workshops to attend when you have so many overlapping. Unfortunately the two animal-focused ones were profoundly disappointing, adding nothing to my knowledge. In fact, it solidified my belief in the need for my continuing my education and becoming a better dog practitioner and advocate.

I did attend a great session about adrenal fatigue, and how stress can, through this physical issue it causes, be the cause then of further health problems. It was really educational to learn the science of that. I wished I'd done more of those advanced workshops.

It was a fun weekend, lots of food, evening dips in the pond before dinner, nighttime performances, and an exhibition tent full of intriguing products. I bought a set of nine flower essences made from at-risk medicinal plants that seemed to be a good set of traumatized and troubled animals (weird how that worked out). Everyone should hear about United Plant Savers, by the way, which advocates for endangered and at-risk medicinal plants.

I really hope I can attend this conference again (and maybe even teach at it some day).

I'll be updating folks with my new learning, don't worry.

Visual Records.... Visual Art

I know, more clinical photos of my dogs front teeth.... but now I'm kinda gettin' into these mouth photos.

Today's kinda came out cool. The one on the right especially.

The artist side of me is coming out. And really, that's not so unusual - make art out of what you're faced with (probably why I like them so much is that they're a little blurry.

I took these because I won't see Vida for two weeks, and I want to have a visual record of how things look. That's really the only way over time to be sure what's going on, if something starts growing back abnormally.

She was very nice about letting me take them too - lips squished up, camera close-up in her face, waiting patiently for me to finish.

I'm going to our camp in New Hampshire for two weeks. I'm also going to the New England Women's Herbal Conference a couple days after I arrive. Three days of herbal learning, including two pet specific workshops. I'll post about that as soon as I can - internet via the local library when I'm in NH.

Vida'll be hangin' here with my mom, who has to follow this list of diet guidelines (which really is easier than it looks:

Treats:
only dried fish skins or the dried turkey heart of buffalo liver pieces that are in the treat jar (had to discuss again the issue of starving cancer cells by avoiding sugars, even in fruit).

Each Meal:
two patties (8 oz total) Bravo Balance, turkey or beef
Half-tablespoon Wholistic Pet Canine Complete
Half-tablet In Clover Connectin
8 Drops (strictly!) Quantum Herbal A/T Blood Cleanser
2 teaspoons (approx) Liquid Health Glucosamine
1 tablespoon (approx) Animal Essentials Omega 3 Oil (Fish, E, Borage)

That, and I'm forcing my mom to take her to the dog park (my dog is much more social than my mom). Not that she plays a lot, but it's still a good social visit.

I guess Vida takes after me with the worrying thing, hehe.

Wooly Balls!

Vida's 1st flock of wool balls. Yes, flock. She likes to collect them back together after they've been flung about the room, and takes pride in ownership.

The white one is a bit bigger than a tennis ball. Some of the others are a bit smaller than I like - I forgot about shrinkage (though of course that's how they're made all tidy).

They're 100% wool, the colors are natural wool colors, no dyes or bleach. Some of them have squeakers (though it's harder to get those ones made just right).

She hasn't gone beyond a little textural exploration with them yet, but if she does destroy them I can just save the wool and reuse it as stuffing for a sewn or crocheted toy.

No more synthetic plushies in her mouth, oh no!

A nice non-clinical photo

I figured I should post a nice non-clinical photo of Vida. Here she is hanging out at the dog park today - not looking at the camera.

For those who don't know her she's 8 years old, just over 40 pounds (she looks like a big dog without a person there for context).

Anyway, not a super action photo (there are a couple swimming ones on her Dogster page, where you can get all the 411 on her, in decorative Dogster style), but more of a reiki-dog one.

Is West Nile A Danger to Dogs?

It seems that we've got another scare on our hands. People are asking about how to protect their dogs from West Nile Virus. Though I don't consider this a threat for my dog, I decided I'd go looking for the official word.

People need to remember to put things in perspective - risk from nature vs. risk from chemicals. Science can bridge this gap if (a) people are willing to learn a little bit and (b) are aware enough to see the propaganda of the chemical industry that wants to sell you toxins to "protect" your pet.

You can see how this can apply to many other issues - fleas (which now are seen as some super-danger), food, vaccines, snakes, mosquitos, etc., etc. But I digress.

Here's my take on West Nile. It poses very little risk to dogs (a tiny bit more to cats). The main reason is that most dogs will show no ill effects at all, and the rest will show only slight ones. They seem to absorb the virus and develop antibodies easily.

And there is no risk of you or your horse contracting it from your dog, so rest easy on that account.

The following is from Contra Costa County Health Services:

Can West Nile Virus cause illness in dogs or cats?
Yes, West Nile Virus can cause illness in dogs or cats. Most dogs or cats infected with West Nile Virus do not show signs of illness and most will recover from the infection. Experimentally infected dogs showed no symptoms after being infected with WNV, and some infected cats exhibited mild, nonspecific symptoms during the first week after infection.

Can an infected dog or cat become a carrier of the disease?
The evidence suggests that dogs do not develop enough virus in their bloodstream to infect more mosquitoes. Cats develop slightly higher levels of virus in their bloodstream, but it is unclear if this would be enough to infect mosquitoes. It is very unlikely that cats would be important in furthering the spread of the virus.

The information closely matches that from the CDC website.

I find it funny that they say the animals can get sick when they then go on to describe pretty much nothing, especially for dogs. They manage to plant that seed of doubt that people latch onto when they are not comfortable dealing with health naturally.

I'd be way more concerned in my area about Ehrlichiosis, which is much more common (and passed by ticks, by the way). Never heard of it? Yep, neither had I, until last year! This is your chance to do a little internet research, ok. Teach yourself.

So do the usual - fresh food diet, supplements (antioxidents, trace minerals, EFAs, aromatics), and natural pest deterrents and controls as needed (I spray with essential oils when going on a trail in warm months). Don't freak out!

Killer Herb, dude!

Cheesy, I know - what can I say, I live in Leucadia.

Last night I started Vida on the blood tonic from Quantum Herbs. The dosage for her is about 10 drops each meal (twice a day), so I started her on 3 drops last night, 4 this morning, 5 this evening..... it's important to give the body an adjustment period.

Here are the ingredients: Red Clover, Graviola, Venus Fly Trap, Burdock root and seed, Oregon Grape root, Blood root, Poke root, Yellow Dock, Chaparral, Lobelia herb and seed, Periwinkle, Prickly Ash bark and Apple Cider Vinegar.

Wow, right! Lots of stuff. You'd really need to look each one up to get the picture of how it works (maybe I'll add that one of these days, or to the next issue of my zine, Radical Pet). Basically it's designed to help the body remove toxins, and create an environment in the body that's unfriendly to cancer cells.

This same idea is behind feeding dogs diets that are high in protein and fat, and low in carbs. Fat in particular provides energy to the dog, yet starves cancer cells. So Vida's already on a good diet with raw. I just increased her fish oil a bit (back to where it used to be actually), and cut out the biscuits and pancakes. Here treat jar is now filled with freeze-dried turkey heart and buffalo liver.

I'm not expecting an herbal cure, but wouldn't it be a nice surprise if nothing weird grows back! I do think this will slow down progress, maybe even a lot. I'm definitely feeling confident about this for the next little while.

I'll post a new photo in a few days, it's healing up well, though still a bit tender.

Gone for now (photo)

Here she is, 3 days post surgery. The spit bubbles are obscuring the emptiness where the vet cauterized the flesh between the teeth.

She's a little pink today, and seems a little sore there, but no real swelling. Not interested in having it exposed - this photo was the third try to get one without the tongue flicking out.

Bad News....

It's a Plasma Cell Tumor, or Plasmacytoma.

Excision works well for these, apparently, but I'm not jumping into that quite yet. Removing a few small front teeth and the gums would be ok, really, but not more than that.

First I'm going to start her ASAP on a blood tonic. I'm going to use one from Quantum Herbal called A/T Blood Cleanser Formula for pets. I don't expect a "cure", but it's a start at slowing the whole thing down.

It can't be helped I guess sometimes. Raw food, all the "right stuff" and still cancer. Ugh.

Growth Be Gone

Vida had her yucky little tumor thing removed this morning. Her mouth looks lovely now, but I thought I'd spare her and haven't taken a photo yet of it sans bulge.

She still feels pretty cruddy. I think it's because, despite our conversation about no i.v. sedatives, the vet slipped her a sub-cutaneous ACE shot ("just a kiss" as he put it) right before we started her on the gas. They were worried about her going down on gas-only, but I can't see how the sub-cu shot could've taken effect so quickly as to have any effect on how easily she did go down.

They cut out the offending tissue and cauterized, and even cauterized on either side of the tooth to try and get what they could without it being too much to sustain her tooth (in the event it's benign.... getting all this?). They also gave her sub-cu fluids as a precaution against dehydration.

They were very nice, letting me help hold her to go down, and letting me sit with her in the pen while she woke up. By then the ACE had taken effect, and she was super woozy. I sprayed Five Flower Formula on her paw every few minutes, and a homeopathic liquid called "Accident/Rescue" from Newton Labs (has arnica, hypericum, etc), and did a little bit of acupressure, tui na, and of course reiki.

She was pretty much napping, but after about 20 minutes I took the leash out of my pocket and the sight of that got her up on her feet. She wobbled out to the car.

That is the thing about sedatives and mixed breeds - you may not get the result you expect. This may point to her having sighthound in her, more sensitive to sedatives. I hope they make a note of it.

Once she got home she didn't want me out of her sight for the first hour or so, despite her wobbly-ness. She's been napping since then, with a little walking around in between. It's been several hours so I put her water bowl down, but she's not interested yet. Nauseous still, I guess. (her water has a collodial silver and melissa hydrosol additive in it made by AromaDog - called Lickity Spritzer)

I'll be doing a couple liver points tonight to start her detoxifying the anesthesia, and will give a homeopathic detox tomorrow.

Then we wait a few days for lab results, grrrr.

Scheduled for Excision

Well Vida's scheduled to have her weird sore removed in a few days. I asked for "a conservative diagnostic excision." The actual removal only takes 5 minutes, so I'm going to just have gas used (isoflorine), and no i.v. sedative. It's stressful for the dog at first, but they wake up immediately when the gas is turned off. I'll help hold her for the beginning. If it were a more involved procedure I'd go for the sedative, but for this I think she'll be fine. Reiki will come in handy (for me and her)!

And I did pick up some wool roving yesterday, and some squeakers today, so it's wool ball time!

Toys as Cancer Culprits?

We've all heard about the possible danger of "toys from China", but mainly in terms of vinyl. I read yesterday that oral cancer is the fourth leading cancer in dogs (better fact check that again, just in case). What?? In people it takes something like chewing tobacco - obvious to us, yeah.

Well what about those plushy toys for our dogs?

I tell you what, that first thing going are all my dogs plush toys! I found a website with instructions on how to make felted wool balls, so I'm going to make some of those.

I'm also going to look in to sewing some toys - yes, sew my own! They may not be as brightly cute as store-bought, but I know the dog doesn't care about that.

It may be too late to prevent the start of things in Vida, but I'll be damned if I'm going to keep putting the possible cause back in there!

Yikes! What is that?

Well, Vida went to a vet for the first time in about 7 years to have this thing looked at. I noticed it about two months ago or so, a little smaller, after she'd been chewing on a bone (so I thought she'd just hurt it on the bone). Then family problems made me forget to check it and it grew a bit.

It looks like she'll have to go under anesthesia and have it removed so it can be sent out for testing, because it's either nothing (a mouth wound that just won't heal) or cancer. Yep, nothing in between those two extremes.

I'm a little freaked out, to say the least. She's eight years old, and truly, I figured we're only at the half-way point for her lifespan. Now this potential havoc.

Bloodwork comes back tomorrow to see if she's ok for surgery. Then wait to see the medical outcome. Then the big decisions about how to treat it if it is cancer.

UGH!!!!

But don't her teeth look lovely! Just a little wear on the ends, but pearly white!

"Sprouts on the side please!"

Vida didn't appreciate the sprouts mixed in with her Farmore buffalo. She ate it, but with the funny "yuck" face. Tonight I put the sprouts on the side and she ate the meat, then the sprouts, no problem.

The yuck face was in evidence a few days ago when she suddenly decided that she didn't like the Bravo turkey undressed (i.e. without honest kitchen added). She managed to choke it down. I don't know why she felt that way, but I wasn't going to waste perfectly good food.

Sprouts!

I always forget about sprouts. I don't know why, because they're such an obvious choice for springtime. Sprouts are the epitome of Spring.

Is your dog eating lots of grass? How 'bout offering sprouts?

I bought Red Clover sprouts the other day, but you could use alfalfa, or if your dog like greens even the big sunflower sprouts. Don't get onion sprouts. Radish... would depend on your dog. Wheatgrass is good too.

Sprouts, weak-walled baby plants that they are, are easier for dogs to digest compared to adult plants.

And of course you can eat them too! It's always cool to share food with your dog.

Honey! The Magical Elixer

I've been a believer in raw honey for awhile, but lately I've become a real advocate.

There was a recent article in the New York times about a study on folk remedies for mild burns. The only one that really worked was honey (and I didn't even know that was a use for honey).

Feed your dog and yourself local raw honey on a regular basis. There are so many reasons why - antibacterial, reduces allergies (that's why you want local, for local pollen response), heals skin (topically), great for dogs that are too ill to eat regular food, or as a first food after surgery.

It doesn't take much (so don't go givin' your pup a cup-full), and is so good, and dang it, it tastes good! Why not!

People then always ask where to get raw, local, unfiltered honey. Well, health food stores will often have at least regional honey (if not, ask them to). Farmers markets are usually your best bet. Now, in the age of craigslist, you can find almost anything online.

If you can't find local don't give up, any raw unfiltered honey will give you all the main benefits (thinking on allergies is local matches your needs best, but also your support local beekeepers who's bees are pollinating your local plants), and even some mainstream stores will stock it.

I think wildflower honey is best, but of course seasonal changes are the thing, so you might end up changing crop honeys a few times a year. It's just that wildflower is getting you the best variety of "ingredients" in the honey.

Vida now knows the sound of the ceramic honey jar being opened, and comes in for her serving. I just drip some on my finger and put my hand down and she licks it off (she's learned to be quick and not let it drip on the floor).

So there ya go, my rally for honey, y'all.

"I want to DIY my pet's meds, but the first $$!!"

I just finished the latest issue of Radical Pet, and I have a couple of recipes that use essential oils and other ingredients for dealing with fleas and ear problems. When you only have one pet that initial outlay for ingredients can be big, especially when you're not using much of each one. This simple problem can definitely stop people from making their own remedies, so I want to offer a couple of ideas.

First, get together with friends who have pets and pool your resources. Co-op the production.

Another idea to consider (either solo or with friends) is to make extra to donate to rescue groups or people who foster animals waiting for adoption. You may need to form a relationship with a rescue group before they'll accept a "homemade" remedy, or you may be able to find some that already do that themselves. It will help if you can offer a remedy with a recipe from a reputable source. For example, the recipes in RP5 are cited from a reputable book. They may be a bit suspicious if they think you just made it up yourself.

So get out there and DIY your pet care, yo!

Two Books Everyone Should Read

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - an energetic, entertaining, and educational read about to results of the corporate food takeover.

WIld Health by Cindy Engel - shows that self-care is something the rest of the animal kingdom seems to be better at than we are. Fascinating.

Hot the Pot

Brrrr! Chilly weather requires warm food. For raw feeding there are easy ways to warm up a meal.

Add a little hot cereal. Just a spoonful is fine. This morning I did this by putting the dry cereal in the bowl on one side, and the ground up raw food on the other side, boiled up some water and poured it over the cereal, as well as over the raw food. This cooked the cereal and took the chill off the raw food (which of course had come from the refrigerator). I didn't have the food soupy, though, which would dilute the stomach juices too much.

Add supplements after warming, as some might be negatively effected by the hot water application.

(by "cereal" I mean flaked grains for making hot breakfast cereal for people, of whatever kind you and your dog prefer).

Can't add cereal? Just omit that step from the above description. It helps to chop in crevasses for the water to penetrate and warm up more surface area.

You can also just "hot the pot" by pouring hot water into the empty bowl to warm up the container, pouring off the water before adding the food. If I were doing it that way I would probably float the raw food container in hot water too.

When it's dry and cold out it's not a bad idea to add that little bit of warm water to the food, but experiment and see what works best for your dog.

Forgot about the rabbit

I was just looking back at previous posts and saw "Miss Thing Doesn't Do Rabbit", and discovered I need my own blog. Just a couple of weeks ago I tried to feed her rabbit, completely forgetting about this last attempt.

Again, I got dropped food and looks of disgust. She'd try to eat it and just couldn't, it was so obvious that she was completely grossed out, poor thing.

Vida, I promise not to try and feed you rabbit again.

a chill in the air means time to warm the tummy

Even here in San Diego it's been chilly. Rain on the coast, snow in the mountains, and for us, cold temperatures. Just like people, I'm pretty sure animals acclimate to where they're living, and out here we feel cold.

Today Vida and I spent several hours outdoors with chilly temps and wind. I already "warmed up" her meat (in the chinese medicine sense) by switching to venison for the storms, but tonight I'll be doing half venison (raw brand: Nature's Variety), and half Honest Kitchen, with a bit of flaked grains (a home mix), so she'll get a warm (in the actual sense) dinner.

I was already adding warm veggies by using Honest Kitchen Preference - I like it because the process of preparing it makes it kinda like veggies from a freshly killed animal. Gross, maybe, but we are talking about feeding dogs.

Feeding in Fireland

Luckily we were not terribly effected by the local fires. We didn't have to evacuate, but the air and ash on the ground was terrible for several days.

Vida and I both started taking Y.E.S., or Yarrow Environmental Solution from Flower Essence Services to help with the crap in the air and in the ash. This remedy was originally developed for nuclear fallout and radiation, but I think it's good for any environmental toxin. With the chemicals used in modern life I wouldn't discount anything when it comes to fire air. Just so you know, the taste is very abrupt - one doesn't dilute it for use, and it has both brandy and sea salt - so I don't recommend giving directly in the mouth for pets (eww!). Just spritz their food before mixing it up, and mist them with it.

We'll both start a bit of homeopathic detox too for good measure.

I added a little cooked grain to her breakfast this morning to moisten her a bit, as well as a fingerful of local raw honey to moisten the lungs. Keeping up with the coconut oil and the usual supplements.

She's finally getting a little stir crazy from the lack of exercise (we're both trying to stay inside), but finally today the air in our neighborhood is clearing enough to do some exercise outdoors. This morning I was washing ash off the house and Vida was playing with the spray.

Autumn Sort of Arrives

Weird weather, still very warm. Wore long sleeves to the dog park for the first time in months today, the breeze was cool.

Feeding changes for Vida? Less fish, a dab of honey every couple of days, the last of this year's poor figs before breakfast this week, turkey, duck, honest kitchen, coconut oil. All these small adjustments.

Autumn is the season of the Lungs and Large Intestines - the Metal Element in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Honey moistens the lungs. Raw local honey of course (local as in within 100 miles). I have some good Alfalfa honey from Orange County. We're both eating more honey. Don't want the dry autumn wind to start any trouble.

Coconut oil - haven't given it since last Fall, seemed a need. not too much.

Oh yeah, giving a Eye remedy, chinese herb spheres designed for animals. A couple weeks in her eyes look more moist, which is good. Not treating an acute problem, just the slight development of cataract mist at an early age.