One of the saddest events is having a baby with a birth defect. Unfortunately, veterinarians are more likely to have these babies than are other women. An Australian study looked at birth defects in veterinarians over a 40 year period (190—2000) and found those taking more than 10 X-rays a week and those with occupational exposure to pesticides at least once a week were more likely to have babies with birth defects than were the general population. The study, by Adeleh Shirangi et al, was published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine in May 2009.
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Incontinence In Female Dogs
When dogs are spayed before they are fully grown, the hormonal source of estrogen that stimulates growth of cells in the urinary tract is removed. About 20% of our large female dogs later become incontinent as the urinary tract "withers" without estrogen. For many dogs, estrogen supplements can help. Before using pharmaceutical estrogens, such as DES, which has the potential to cause bone marrow depression and anemia, try supplementing with foods naturally high in estrogen.
The following are foods with phyto or plant estrogens:
• alfalfa
• Astragalus
• black beans
• black cohosh (cimicifuga)
The following are foods with phyto or plant estrogens:
• alfalfa
• Astragalus
• black beans
• black cohosh (cimicifuga)
• buckwheat
• burdock root
• cabbage
• cow peas
• flax
• garlic
• green beans
• licorice root
• millet
• mung beans
• olives
• parsley
• plums
• pomegranate
• pumpkin
• red beans
• red clover sprouts and most vegetable sprouts
• saw palmetto
• sesame seeds
• soybeans & tofu
• split peas
• sprouts, especially the seed
• squash
• sunflower seeds
• turkey rhubarb root
• burdock root
• cabbage
• cow peas
• flax
• garlic
• green beans
• licorice root
• millet
• mung beans
• olives
• parsley
• plums
• pomegranate
• pumpkin
• red beans
• red clover sprouts and most vegetable sprouts
• saw palmetto
• sesame seeds
• soybeans & tofu
• split peas
• sprouts, especially the seed
• squash
• sunflower seeds
• turkey rhubarb root
Ear Infections in Pets
Ear infections are common
Did you ever have an ear ache? For pets, ear aches and ear infections are common. In fact, ear infections are among the top 5 reasons pets need veterinary care. How do you know if your pet has an ear infection? Look for an odor, gooey or greasy discharge, redness, heat, and sensitivity to touch. If the discharge is black and crumbly, the problem is probably ear mites—but mites are actually rare, accounting for less than 10% of ear problems. About 90% of the time, if there is ear discharge, there is a problem caused by something other than mites.
Allergies cause heat, heat increases yeast, yeast causes itchy discharge
What causes most of the ear infections I see?—allergies, especially allergies to food. Allergies cause the pet’s immune system to over-react. This reaction releases heat, and the heat turns the ear canal into a hot house. Yeast is normally present in ears, but when the ear heats up, the yeast multiplies out of control and instead of having a thin coating of ear wax (cerumen) the ear canal fills with a smelly, greasy brown debris. Dogs with ear flaps or hair that hold in heat in the ear are especially prone to developing chronic yeasty ear infections.
Most yeasty ear infections are superficial and easy to clear but if infections aren’t treated, they move deeper into the ear where they can cause a pet to be dizzy, walk in circles, or tilt its head at a strange angle. Often these deep infections are painful, and pets don’t feel like eating. It can take weeks of medication to clear infections that have penetrated from the outer ear into the air-filled middle ear (otitis media) or deeper into the fluid-filled inner ear (otitis interna).
Infection moves from the outer canal to deep into the ear
What causes ear infections to penetrate deeper into the ear? Often, it’s the scratching. Untreated ear infections cause itching, itching causes scratching, and the pet’s nails tear the skin. Bacteria and yeast that are normally resident on the skin surface are able to move deep into the dermis where ear flushes and topical medications cannot reach them. The pet’s immune system reacts to the infection by sending more white blood cells to the ear. The white blood cells release enzymes and the mixture of white blood cells, enzymes, and dead bacteria create a pus-filled, sticky, stinky discharge in the outer ear canal.
Bacteria and ear infections
If the pet doesn’t receive treatment, bacteria can move from the ear canal through the ear drum into the middle ear. The middle ear is air-filled and has three tiny bones that vibrate to pass sound along to the inner ear. The pet’s immune system reacts to middle ear infection by sending more white blood cells and plasma from the blood. When we look deep into the pet’s ear canal, we see fluid behind the bulging ear drum (tympanic membrane). From the middle ear, infection can spread into the internal ear where it damages sensitive nerves so that pets develop a head tilt, loss of balance, and deafness.
We treat ear infections according to where they’re located and whether they are caused by yeast, or bacteria, or both. Some families may have medication at home that was prescribed for an earlier infection and want to use it again if the ear looks infected. Please don’t do this. If you cannot see the ear drum, and cannot tell if it is intact, have the vet examine the ear before you medicate it.
What’s safe to put into ears with a ruptured ear drum?
When a pet has a serious ear infection that causes an ear drum to burst, or when we cannot see the ear drum because of thick discharge or because a pet won’t let us near its ear, we can safely put these materials in the ear: saline, malacetic, Triz EDTA, fluconazole, colloidal silver, dilute povidone iodine. We should not use the following: Synotic, polymixin, cerumene, amingoglycoside antibiotics.
Three methods to stop reoccurring ear infections
Stop chronic ear infections by using diet, herbs, and acupuncture. Begin an exclusion diet that excludes foods causing your pet’s allergies. For some pets this will mean they can’t eat beef, and even beef-flavored heartworm medication. For others, it will mean avoiding lamb, or rice, or eggs, or corn, or wheat. Your vet will help you learn what your pet is allergic to by creating an exclusion diet. You’ll want vet advice on how to be successful, and you’ll want everyone in the family to be on board for the diet. Then, start herbs that modify the body’s reaction to food and the tendency for the immune system to create heat and discharge. Si Miao San is one of the herbal remedies that clears heat and there are half a dozen others. Your vet will help you choose the best one for your particular pet’s problems. Acupuncture also helps prevent reoccurring ear infections because it change energy flowing through ears, the tendency to itch, and improves the digestive system’s ability to handle food without developing allergies.
Make your pet happy
Your pet hates reoccurring ear infections and does not want to be one of the millions that returns to the vet’s office so often that ear infections are one of the top 5 pet problems. You have the ability to help your pet heal. Go for it. Make hot, painful, stinky ears a thing of the past.
Ear Infections, Otitis Externa Otitis Interna
This is for Trinket, who recently developed an ear infection and a ruptured ear drum. We’ll cover ear infections, then in later blog, we’ll cover what’s safe to use in the ear if the drum is ruptured.Ear Anatomy
Ear infections are also called otitis since "otic" means ear and "itis" means inflammation. If the infection involves the outer portion of the ear, it's called otitis externa. If the middle or inner ear are affected, it's otitis media or interna. The ear drum sits at the end of the ear canal and separates the external ear from the middle ear. There are 3 tiny bones in the middle ear. Just deep to the middle sits the inner ear with the nerves for hearing and balance. The middle ear is usually filled with air, but can become infected and filled with pus. The inner ear is bathed in fluid. Infections from the external ear can travel through the ear drum and involve the middle ear or inner ear if the infections are untreated.
Two Types of Infection: Bacteria & Yeast
Ear infections are usually caused by bacteria or yeast, or both bacteria and yeast. (Yeast is a type of fungus and the words are often used interchangeably so your vet might say your pet has a yeast infection or your pet has a fungal infection).
Vertical Ear Canal – Usually Yeast
To decide whether a pet has a bacterial infection or a fungal infection, your veterinarian will put material from the ear on a slide and examine it under a microscope. The ear has a long canal with a bend in it. The first part of the canal, is the part we see when we look in the ear, is called the vertical canal. The vertical canal usually has yeast organisms in it. If the number of yeast organisms if very high, if there is a strong odor or a discharge, the balance between the body’s immune system and yeast is out of whack. Your pet will need an antifungal medication to bring the yeast under control.
Horizontal Ear Canal – Usually Bacteria
The horizontal canal is the deeper extension of the vertical canal. It is difficult to visualize without pulling on the pet’s ear, but when the ear canals are examined thoroughly, veterinarians can see through them right to the ear drum.
Most pets with infected ears have yeast in the vertical canal and bacteria in the deeper horizontal canal. If a proper diagnosis is made, the swab must retrieve material from the horizontal canal as well as from the superficial vertical canal.
Treating Yeasty Ear Infections
Rinsing an ear with douche solution that is 2% acetic acid and water (vinegar) acidifies the ear canal and makes it inhospitable for yeast. Douche solution will clear up a very light yeast infection. Douche solution is also helpful prevention to rinse the ears weekly if your pet is inclined to occasionally have yeast infection. Do not get douche solution that is scented or contains anything other than acetic acid and perhaps 2% boric acid.
Douche solution is not effective if your pet has a yeast infection that is overwhelming. In this case, antifungal medications similar to those we use for athlete’s foot are put into the ear. These otic medications are modified so that they’re exactly right for treating ears, which means they will be runny and will go from the outer vertical canal all the way to the deeper horizontal canal.
Some pets with severe yeast infections also need oral antifungal antibiotics such as fluconazole or itraconazole in addition to the topical otic medications.
Treating Bacterial Ear Infections
If your pet has a bacterial ear infection, it needs an antibiotic medication. The antibiotic can be both a topical that goes into the ear and an oral that goes into the mouth and is absorbed through the gut and is carried by the blood to all parts of the body, including the ear.
Some pets have simple bacterial ear infections, but some have wicked bacterial infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pseudomonas. To fight bacteria, the antibiotic is put into the ear along with a solution that breaks down the bacterial cell wall. An example of this type of solution is TrisEDTA. For many pets it’s necessary to combine TrisEDTA and the antibiotic Baytril (enrofloxacin) to clear up pseudomonas and other gram negative infections. The pharmacist mixes 6ml of 100mg/ml enrofloxicin (large animal concentration) with 4 oz TrisEDTA.
TrisEDTA and Baytril is a liquid solution, rather like water. This is good because dogs can need up to 2 cc to fill their ear canals. We can call these liquid solutions, flushes. Usually we fill a pet’s ear with the flush, and this can take 2 cc each time. The flush is used twice a day for a week or so, then once a day for another week. Then, the vet examines the ears to ensure the infection has cleared. If it hasn’t, material from the ear can be sent to the laboratory to see whether it is resistant to the medication. Obtaining a good culture sample requires anesthesia for most pets. This is also a great time to vigorously flush the ears and to get a good look at the ear drum.
Why not use TrisEDTA and Baytril every time there’s an ear infection?TrisEDTA and Baytril ear flush are only used for bacterial infections. This flush is not a good medication for pets with yeasty ear infections because the Tris portion changes the ear pH to alkaline, and an alkaline pH contributes to yeast growth.
What's coming?
In a future Caring for Pet's blog, we'll cover otitis interna and what's safe to use when there's an infection in the inner ear and the drum is ruptured. And, we hope to let you know how Trinket is doing.
Paralyzed Dogs Can Recover—What Helps The Most
Some paralyzed dogs recover and some don’t. We've just told Sadie's story. She was completely paralyzed and could not stand, move, urinate or defecate. With her family's care and holistic therapies, she recovered in 10 weeks to be able to run in the woods.Not all paralyzed dogs recover as Sadie did. I've treated many post surgical dogs recovering from disc disease who remained at least partially paralyzed. I've also treated dogs with disc disease that have recovered completely. What I've seen has convinced me that which steps we take can make a significant difference in whether a paralyzed dog recovers.
What I’ve seen that makes the difference:
• Don’t use steroids—instead use antioxidants and Omega 3 fatty acids to naturally control inflammation
• Immediately begin treating with acupuncture and moxa
• Use electro acupuncture as well as dry needles
• Treat as often as possible—a minimum of three times a week to start
• Have the family reinforce acupuncture by using herb moxa between acupuncture sessions
• Prevent the skin from breaking down while the pet is immobilized
• Put all the joints through full range of motion at least twice a day
• Maintain an optimistic attitude around the pet and keep the vision of the dog as healthy & active.
If your pet becomes paralyzed, don't give up hope. Get holistic veterinary care and start your pet on its journey back to health.
Paralyzed Dogs Can Recover—Homeopathy
Homeopathy helps paralyzed pets recover. It certainly contributed to Sadie's ability to go from completely paralyzed and unable to move, urinate or defecate to being able to run about in the woods in 10 weeks.Holistic medicine has many aspects: nutrition, acupuncture, supplements, flower essences, and homeopathy. Each form of holistic medicine contributes to recovery of nerve and muscle function on paralyzed pets, but many families don’t ask for homeopathy because they don’t understand how it works.
Rather than try to explain how homeopathy works, I’m going list the homeopathic medications we used to help Sadie. Sadie was completely paralyzed and we’ve written about her recovery in detail in previous Caring for Pet blog entries. Now, here are the homeopathics I used for her:
• Traumeel oral and injectable
• Neuralgohreum injectable
• Discus injectable
Each of these medications is a combination of homeopathic ingredients. Together, the ingredients form a synergistic whole that benefits pets more than the individual homeopathic ingredients.
Traumeel
Traumeel contains Arnica montana, Belladonna, Calendula officinalis, Chamomilla Millefolium, Hepar sulphuris calcareum, Symphytum officinale, Aconitum napellus, Bellis perennis Mercurius solubilis, Hypericum perforatum Echinacea, Echinacea purpurea, and Hamamelis virginiana.
Traumeel helps control pain, swelling, infection, irritation, and stimulate bone union. Traumeel is best used at the outset of injury but it is also helpful if used during the recovery phase. In my experience, it is better to inject Traumeel than steroids at the outset of injury.
Of all homeopathics I’ve used, I believe Traumeel is the single most beneficial medication for injured pets. It is available as an injectable, oral med with an alcohol preservative, tablet, and cream.
Neuralgo-Rheum
Neuralgo-Rheum contains: Gnaphalium polycephalum, Gnaphalium polycephalum, Gnaphalium polycephalum, Causticum, Colchicum autumnale, Colocynthis, Ferrum metallicum, Lithium benzoicum, Rhus toxicodendron Spiraea ulmaria, Causticum, Colchicum autumnale, Colocynthis, Ferrum metallicum, Lithium benzoicum, Rhus toxicodendron, Spiraea ulmaria, Causticum, Colchicum autumnale.
In my experience, Neuralgo-Rheum helps ease nerve pain, stimulate nerve regeneration, and stop soft tissue swelling. If Traumeel is the first medication I chose for injury and acute paralysis, Neuralgo-Rheum is the second. In addition to helping pets paralyzed through traumatic event, it is helpful for pets that have been hit by car or have sports injuries that damage nerves.
Discus
Discus contains more almost three dozen homeopathic ingredients: Gnaphalium polycephalum, Berberis vulgaris, Cimicifuga racemosa, Cinchona officinalis, Colocynthis, Ledum palustre, Ranunculus bulbosus, Aesculus hippocastanum, Ascorbicum acidum, Cuprum aceticum, Kali carbonicum, Nadidum, Natrum oxalaceticum, Nicotinamidum, Picricum acidum, Pulsatilla, Pyridoxinum hydrochloricum, Riboflavinum, Secale cornutum, Silicea, Thiaminum hydrochloricum, alpha-Lipoicum acidum, Ammonium muriaticum, Cartilago suis, Discus invertebralis suis, Argentum metallicum, Calcarea phosphorica, Coenzyme A, Embryo suis, Funiculus umbilicalis suis, Glandula suprarenalis suis, Medulla ossis suis, Mercurius praecipitatus ruber, Sepia, Zincum metallicum, Sulphur
In my experience, Discus is invaluable in helping dogs paralyzed due to disc disease. It is most effective when started early and should be used intermittently after the pet has recovered mobility. In my experience, dogs paralyzed from ruptured discs that have been treated with steroids or surgical repair do not respond as well to homeopathy as those treated with holistic therapies from the outset.
I used Discus for Sadie because it helps with spinal injury regardless of the cause, but its use is not limited to disc disease. Pets with arthritis, spondylosis, and other joint problems, benefit from Discus, especially when it is injected at appropriate acupuncture points.
Summary
Homeopathic medications help paralyzed dogs. Unfortunately, they are not as easy to give as some other medications because they cannot be combined with food. Instead, they are given by injection or given when the mouth is empty, usually by crushing between two spoons and placing the powder inside the cheek to be absorbed through the mucous membranes. No paralyzed pet should go without them.
Paralyzed Dogs Can Recover—Acupuncture
Nothing is more heartbreaking than a paralyzed pet, but don’t give up hope: acupuncture can help restore nerve and muscle function. In a previous blog, we told Sadie’s story. Sadie went from complete paralysis, including inability to move her legs and inability to urinate or defecate, to running in the woods in 10 weeks. Many pets, just like Sadie, can recover from apparently hopeless paralysis.
What we did for Sadie
Acupuncture that helped Sadie included dry needles, electro-acupuncture and homeopathic injections at acupuncture points. We started with more than 20 acupuncture points and used fewer and fewer points as the treatments progressed. We chose which points to use based on Sadie’s symptoms.
We started with needles in the webs between her toes, on the outside of her front paws and her back paws, and along her back. After inserting all the needles, I ran an alternating current between points above and below the spinal injury. For Sadie, I also injected homeopathic solutions from BHI-Heel into the four points that benefit the whole spine: SI 3 and BL 62. This medication lingered at the points, continuing to send its healing message along the meridians, rather like holding a finger on an elevator button continues to ask the elevator to come to your floor.
I’ll describe how to find SI 3 and BL 62 so that if your pet has a spinal problem, you can massage these points to bring energy to the spine. Massage at these points will also help pets with disc disease.
SI 3
SI 3 is the third point on the Small Intestine meridian. Usually, it’s easier to find SI 3 on yourself, then look for it on your pet. Feel alongside the edge of your hand away from your thumb just as the hand bones join the littlest finger. The hand bone is a metacarpal (MC), and the metacarpal on the outside is MC 5. As MC 5 forms a joint with the bones in the little finger, it widens. The dip just before MC 5 widens is where SI 3 is located. Most people have one or more tiny wrinkles here.
To find SI 3 on your dog, wiggle the toes (digits) of its front feet. A dog’s digits are shorter than our fingers are, but it’s easy to see where the digits flex as they form a joint with the metacarpals. Feel along the outside (lateral) of MC 5 for the dip just before MC 5 widens. This is in the right point to stimulate energy that helps the spine, especially the neck. Stimulate this point on both right & left front paws.
BL 62
BL 62 is the 62 of 67 points along the bladder meridian. The bladder meridian starts at the inner corner of the eye and runs along the spine all the way to the little toe. BL 1 is at the eye, and BL 67 at the outside of the nail on your smallest toe. BL 62 is the point along this meridian where you can feel the dip on the outside of your ankle bone. It’s easy to find if you grab your Achilles tendon. The ankle bone (lateral malleolus) is just in front of the web of skin in front of the Achilles tendon. Find the most prominent part of the ankle bone and slide down on the bone into a tiny dip. That’s BL 62. Massage here to help pull energy all along the spine.
Massage both SI 3 and BL 62 to benefit your pet’s entire spine.
What’s coming?
In the next few Caring for Pet blog, we’re going to cover the homeopathic meds that can help paralyzed dogs, focusing on those we used for Sadie. Never lose heart if your pet is paralyzed. Use homeopathy, acupuncture and holistic medicine. And pray: “May the best that can happen, happen. Amen.”