Minutus

Strangely enough, my dogs issues actually came from a hard fall, causing spinal concussion.

I treated him at the time with Arnica and hypericum and he appeared to be healing, but his right elbow seems to be swelling a little and his feet are wobbly...loose ligaments/tendons and he gets a small swelling in the small bones of his left foot.

Both the foot and the elbow are only an issue on some days, but then in late November he suddenly started to become reallly anxious when I was out of the home, even though he has his son and my husband as company/walks/fun.
He started scratching his face when I wasn't there during the day...never at night nor when I was at home, but one day when I got home, his whole face was covered in blood...he'd scratched so badly he'd removed whiskers, fur and skin, despite washing with saltwater followed by Calendula, and as he appeared to be getting the same green ooze that had responded really well to when I first had him,and he's always healed minor sprains/strains really well with the same
Just before christmas he had a real problem getting up from his bed...his legs were shaking he was crying and he couldn't put his weight on his back legs, they were shaking so much...I gave him Nux Vom and spoke to my homeopath/mentor who said she thought that he may have hepatic issues...and of course Nux has 'lesions around the mouth in the picture'...as the nux appeared to address all three problems I felt sure...combined with Wolff who also said that disc lesions and back problems of this sort respond well to Nux, no matter the cause, and that there are ALWAYS hepatic problems with spinal damage.
Wolff uses X with animals, but I find that animals have such strong energy, they can use up the dose very quickly and I used Nux vom 200c ...he responded immediately but for the first twentyfour hours I had to repeat the dose about every two hours...my dog mostly slept through it...his appetite wasn't affected nor his ability to defacate, the following three days he took three repeats, then three more times over the next five days and nothing in the following six weeks to date.
But this is why I have looked at his nutrition and started replacing some of the protein sources to reduce the muscle meat.
Then when I had coffee with my mentor and it came up in the conversation that after 11 years of owning this dog, for the first time ever, I lost him, on our usual walk, and he turned up at home whilst I was frantically looking for him, he appeared really confused, and for the first time ever, didn't seem to know how to find me but thought I'd gone home?
So she suggested that he was in need of liquid silica to get more help with cell renewal, both body and brain, ....much to my distress, he appears to being ageing far too early. I expected this dog to be around until at least 15 +, but people have started to comment that he's an old boy, when a year ago, they'd think he was 6 or 7...he's just looking tired I guess.
This has lead me to adding the Baryta carb 6c to the Vermicullite 6x that I put in his drinking water, the studies I've seen about vermicullite and pain from exotoses jpoints and movement (he has one on his back left hock/ankle), dose at least three times a day for 6 months or even more, and he's been having it for about three.

The Baryta carb......he practically has to be dragged home despite his apparent tiredness.
I'm totally untrained so I'm sorry if this isn't the way that homeopaths usually discuss matters, but it's the best I can do I'm afraid.

So this is where I'm at Tanya...looking at his nutrition to supplement short time.

I hope there maybe something there of help to you.

mary
Tanya Marquette wrote:
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Good point. I wish I had known this when I had my dog.
Thanks,
Ellen
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Hi Mary,
Just a couple of exploratory thoughts--
Ruta?
But the "loose" feet and ligaments, how to rep that... There's a
rubric, "Looseness, feet", containing only stram, so probably not the
right rubric...

There's also BACK; INJURIES of the spine (34) : apis, arn., bamb-a.,
bell., bell-p., bor., calc., calc-p., carb-an., cic., con., dam.,
graph., Hyper., kali-bi., kali-c., led., lyc., mez., Nat-s., nit-ac.,
nux-v., ph-ac., rhus-t., ruta, sang., sep., sil., stann., symph.,
tell., thuj., wild., zinc.
Was that a single episode, or was it *every* time he tried to get up
from bed?
This rubric might not be best for the situation, but I notice ruta in:

EXTREMITIES; WEAKNESS; lower limbs; rising from a seat, on (5) : glon.,
mag-c., nat-m., ruta, zinc.
So he's recovered from that weakness? Are there remaining symptoms in
addition to his sudden rapid aging--does he still show such anxiety
when you're not there? Can you give a summary of everything that is
different about him now, compared with before his accident? (How did
he fall?)

Best wishes with this!!!
Shannon

mary hughes wrote:

Dear Mary,
There are some common misunderstandings in your statement here.

Specific fermentable fiber such as rice bran is actually essential to
canine health, and without it their immune systems can not function
optimally. Nor their organs! In the wild these fermentable fiber
supplies come from the gut of prey - but in domesticity we need to
supply it in the diet. There is copious research on this - and rice bran
is the one I mention as it has the appropriate level of fermentability
for dogs (and cats). Dogs can use some other substrates as well, but
MUST get a suitable substrate for the gut bacteria to use. THIS gut
bacterial activity is far more relevant to carnivores than to other
species as the gut bacteria make several nutrients that the rest of us
can get from vegetables. The result is butyrate, propionate and acetate
which all are essential to good immune and organ function in the dog.

Dogs can and do also digest a limited number of fruits and vegetables as
well (unlike cats who have NO amylase in their saliva) - have you not
seen dogs having a great time at the blackberry bushes?
The issue is that many plants have toxic components that are not toxic
to those of us with the enzymes to break down the toxins into useful
components. In this category for dogs, you need to include (as toxic)
garlic, alfalfa, grapes, raisins, broccoli and other items.
In theory you are correct, but in practice correct feeding is a complex
subject and is seldom possible for the life of any animal. The food
source and the environmental challenges do not always balance out:-)
Under stress, more nutrients are needed than will be supplied by food -
the modern environment is full of toxins, even just in the air, and the
food will not cater to that - the food will vary in quality as well. It
is only in a perfect world that supplements are never needed:-) And we
do not live in one of those:-)

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

I appreciate the conversation here Irene,

I totally agree that if the prey is small ...like rabbit...then the whole creature is eaten...gut contents and all....but why, when eating large prey, do they rip the gut out and get to the internal organs..and when the carcas is finished, the gut contents are often strewn around and left?

My dogs do have table scraps, and eat things like twitch grass and cleavers occaisionally, but as far as berries are concerned, totally ignore them...even when offered by me...there are plenty of wild berries around...they see me eat them, they are offered them, but have never accepted them nor taken them for themselves...so no I haven't ever seen this in my own dogs, and only one dog that I know actually does this, and as she will literally eat anything including other dogs faeces, rotten blue mouldy bread, candles and all sorts, it never occurred to me that she was a good model to follow as she has recurring bouts of loose bowels from this.

I know what I'm stating is the extreme and is more likely to be a deep seated problem in the dog in question, either health or behaviour.
But my own dog is twelve, and although he has the issues he does, his immune system appears to be good....he is not vacc'd for 11 years, he's never sick, and we come in contact with sick dogs all the time, ones with parvo, gastro and kennel cough mainly, but he has not had any signs of that kind of illness...his skin is clean and soft, as is his coat, ears and eyes, his teeth are sparkling and his breath fresh, and his stools regular and easy to pick up,with the lower odour one expects from a raw fed dog.
I suspect, that if what you say is true, he is getting what he needs from his diet....am I looking at this from the wrong perspective....his nutrition was extremely poor when young and he was definately over vacc'd, not to mention that I have no idea where he comes from nor family history, and I am therefore blaming this and the ridiculous amount of pounding I gave his skeleton over the years, combined with natural ageing..for his current condition...do you think I'm wrong?
And how do you think this should be addressed?

I know of people on raw and natural feeding forums who are giving as many as 40 supplements a day, herbal, vitamins, minerals,fermented salads, wheat grass and all sorts, and they still have health issues with digestion and so on.

Do you have any sensible suggestions that might help in my instance....?
And if you are going to suggest any vegetable matter, I'd be grateful for an idea of quantity and frequency for a 22kg dog...i feed once a day, a wide variety of meats fish, eggs and dairy, and starve about once every three weeks....approximately.

thank you
mary

Irene de Villiers wrote:
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Dear Mary,
I don't know much about this sort of issue, but they say that the first place the lion goes for is the guts. Of course, the herbavore that he has killed has the emzymes to digest those veggies. Eating raw berries, he may not have many carbohydrate digesting emzymes.
Maybe your dog was just trained to an only raw meat diet. He wasn't trained to hunt or forage was he?
Best,
Ellen
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My understanding is that going for the gut is the easy way to access the most intensely nutritious food ie.the internal organs.
The issue with my dogs feeding is that he comes from a petfood/kibble background...when rescued...he was a really sickly and manky speciment who was nearly put out to a fosterhome because he was suffering from being in rescue...I went through the whole gamut of foods and he got worse and worse...he was very out of condition, his ribs staring and constant red/runny stools that he was unable to hold, weeping red eyes, bad breath, filthy teeth and a green oozing skin all around his testicles, up his rear and onto his back up to about eight inches from his tail...he had been vacc'd with the double shots twice in 6 months, had three courses of antibiotics in the previous six weeks...three sets of anti ointments for 'conjunctivitis...he was being kept in a box in the office and being fed on pedigree chum treat sticks!

The minute that he saw a fresh chicken wing he went bananas...I had never seen him actively beg for any food until then...but rice and grains and veg have always gone through him like a dose of salts, and made his stomach rumble and huge amounts of wind...even small amounts made him have a runny stool..I started off mostly cooking lightly all sorts of veg/grain options... along with high quality proteins..each time giving his gut a chance to adjust before changing, and the only thing he was been able to tolerate is the rmb diet...all manner of meaty bones, ribs...but he won't even touch whole prey...rabbit etc...when I have tried he's gone as many as four days without eating, and I couldn't have that.
I have had no problems at all with his healing until about 2 years ago when the current problems started to surface after a really bad fall.
I am writing in reply to Shannons comments to lay out everything that I can think of that is relevant to treatment but as feeding IS an issue, I hope that the group don't think that I shouldn't be discussing that here.
I get what you say about 'being trained' to eat raw food, but I've also included all sorts of supposedly benficial things in my original search for a good diet for him and usually the way to get him to eat any strange item, is to hand feed him...and he often will take any sort of thing from my hand..especially when I am eating it too...he'd eat as many broad beans as I would give him for instance as I like them a great deal...but it doesn't seem to work for everything...sometimes he'll try it...and come back for more but repeatedly, if it upsets his gut, he will consequently refuse it no matter how I try to persuade him....if there's anything he doesn't want in his dish he will pick through it....if it's hidden he will refuse to eat as I suspect his nose tells him it's in there...he also refuses turkey, by the way...any way I try it.
And no he has no hunting foraging experience...he's a big city(london) pet...he has caught squirrels but hasn't attempted to eat them...just plays with the carcass for fun.
Please keep up ideas tho...I will try to change it if I can see the sense and truth in it...the only thing I will not do is take him to a vet again unless I have no option.
I am reserving even taking him to any homeopathic vet...of which there are VERY few in UK...they will only work (by their own rules) alongside an allopathic vet, they aren't allowed to practise independantly....despite being a trained vet before getting their holistic training, and there fore qualified in all aspects of care!

thanks for your thoughts
mary

Ellen Madono wrote:
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mary hughes wrote:

If you look closely you'll see it is not so. They leave the gut - not
the contents. Cats pull the gut through their teeth, squeezing it like
toothpaste to get the contents.
Even the smallest of teh African wild cats does this - Felis nigripe,
the African black-footed cat who is only 3 lbs or less, fully adult
size. (Some domestic cats may have lost this knock, mine have not.)

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

That is fascinating, Irene! Thank you for such insights and especially the toothpaste image!
On another of your emails, I looked carefully on the web for information about garlic and dogs, because our Sally-dog gets (along with daily raw grass-fed ground beef scraps) a bit of all our (very healthy) cooked food and we LOVE garlic. I found in various sites that a small amount of cooked garlic or onion in food is not toxic to dogs (I’m not talking about cats here), though large quantities would indeed be. I hope that is correct. I was fascinated to read (elsewhere as well as in your email) that raisins and grapes are toxic for dogs. I didn’t know that, so thank you! Teresa (Northern VA)
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From: minutus@yahoogroups.com [mailto:minutus@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Irene de Villiers
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 2:37 PM
To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Minutus] chemo nerve internal burns ?
mary hughes wrote:

If you look closely you'll see it is not so. They leave the gut - not
the contents. Cats pull the gut through their teeth, squeezing it like
toothpaste to get the contents.
Even the smallest of teh African wild cats does this - Felis nigripe,
the African black-footed cat who is only 3 lbs or less, fully adult
size. (Some domestic cats may have lost this knock, mine have not.)

Namaste,
Irene
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Teresa Kramer wrote:

)
The web is a dangerous place to look for information, unless it is from
original research - and unfortunately for garlic it is not on the web,
it's in bound volumes of original research as presented at annual
international canine and feline symposiums.
The synopsis is that ANY garlic is bad for dogs as it is simply
toxic. They will not necessarily immediately act sick - because the main
toxin in garlic simply destroys the ability of red blood cells to carry
oxygen - and it is cumulative. The problem is that humans break down
garlic into other components that we use - dogs can not do that, so
their blood becomes damaged - specifically the red cells.

The result is called "Heinz body anemia" and any dog with damaged red
cells is of course at risk for any kind of health issue as it is not
able to carry oxygen as it should. It's a pretty basic issue to mess
with - oxygen carrying ability.

If you still insist on feeding it, you'd need to add lots of ascorbic
acid to counter the toxicity. No guarantees on whether that alone is
enough but it does help.
There's no reputable site that would say that (by definition!). Onion
needs VERY little to be really harmful to dogs or cats - I am VERY
careful with onion peelings and leftovers or food with flaked onion
added, as I have cats. Red cells have to work for at least 3 months, and
so the damage accumulates fast.
It is also bad for cats and because cats have thinner blood (less red
cells per volume) it affects them even faster. It does not show readily
on blood tests as the red cells are still there - they just can not
carry oxygen.

So my recommendation would be not to feed anything you KNOW is toxic, to
a pet dog or cat.

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."