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  1. #1
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    Red face Biggest fear regarding your pet's health....

    Hey Everyone.

    I have been hanging around trying to help out with health information. I have got a lot of positive feedback and I am always willing to help out when I can. One of the big problems that we have with conventional pet health care is that we don't focus enough on preventative care. Vaccinating and an occasional general exam is about it. I have people every day say that they wish they had obtained information for their pet that had not been offered to them by their vet. I am hoping to help people get this information, so I would ask you "What is your biggest fear when it comes to taking care of your pet's health?" Maybe I can help you with that in a way to prevent things happening instead of waiting until it does. Thanks.

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  3. #2
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Greetings doc!

    Currently I would say I worry about various grasses that are just everywhere this year with all the winter moisture. Cheat grass, medusa head and of course fox tail. I had one dog who had a fox tail frond stuck in a tonsil. It caused a huge swelling in her neck, and I thought she was having some breathing difficulty. The emergency vet anesthetized her and removed it. She recovered quickly.

    BUT... having said that, I feel I have to watch them really closely when we are out because (and this is my question) why the heck do they both pull up and scarf down grasses. They like the succulent green grasses, but they will eat cheat grass or anything else. I found my youngest eating medusa head and she began coughing and hacking something up. She seems OK today.

    Do you have any suggestions?

  4. #3
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Cancer. How to prevent it? How to catch it early?

  5. #4
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Thank you so much for offering your expertise.

    I home seniors and am so confused by supplements, holistic approaches to old age problems especially arthritis. Hate having one on pain meds that zonk them out.

    Also, I feel there is not enough information out there for the average dog owner about tittering. I know yearly vacs are a vet's bread and butter. Asked my vet about it and she was not very forthcoming or even offered to do it. I know my dogs have had years of vacs and prefer to do only rabies since it is required by law but am made to feel I'm a bad owner for not agreeing to the works.

    Thanks for your help/opinions.
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  6. #5
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    Thanks for both of your replies. Fortunately, most grasses that can be harmful to dogs are only dangerous during part of their annual growth. Lots of these grasses aren't a problem until the go to seed. Just make sure you check for them after taking them out into the field. After 35 years of practice, I can tell you that I have had only a few cases that had serious problems resulting from migration grasses. Most of the time the are in the ear or migrating between the toes.

    Cancer. That is the biggie and there is a lot of attention being given by several holistic vets trying to come up with some answers. There is a group called the Dog Cancer Survival Group that is doing some great work. In my office I work on 1-3 cancer patients every day and I have learned a great deal over the past few years. In my opinion, all solid cancers require two prerequisites: inflammation and immune imbalance. Example: You have a small growth on your skin and you go to the dermatologist. He looks at the growth and says that it is nothing to worry about but to keep an eye on it and if it changes, let him know. These growths are pre-cancerous growths called metaplastic growths. Cell change moves from normal to metaplastic to neoplastic (cancer). Metaplastic tissue is inflammatory in nature. Another example: Inflammatory bowel disease is very common in dogs and cats. We absolutely know now that IBD is a metaplastic (inflammatory) state and if we do not stop its progress, it will progress into intestinal cancer. This is why gut biopsies are done, in order to determine if it has happened or not. Unfortunately, our conventional treatment for IBD will not stop the progress, it only reduces inflammation and helps with the symptoms. The immune system is responsible for keeping abnormal cells in check. When the immune system is imbalanced (usually hyperimmune) then it becomes ineffective in doing its job. The combination of the two, turns deadly. So, I focus on helping my patients decrease inflammation in the body and trying to restore balance to the immune system. This requires eliminating things in the diet that promote inflammation such as starch as starch is converted to sugar and we know that sugar creates inflammation. So, starch should be eliminated from all dog's food. This is why dogs with cancer are fed high protein, no starch diets. Trying to get the immune system in balance requires focusing on healing the gut as the gut is responsible for about 85% of the immune system function. To do this requires a healthy, non-inflammatory diet, probiotics and digestive enzymes. I recommend these in all dogs from the beginning as research has told us that many puppies are born with deficient gut due to gut genetic mutations that are being passed vertically from bitch to puppies. The other critical factor is not to over-vaccinate our pets. Over vaccinating them not only hyper-sensitizes the immune system but some of the additives in some pet vaccine (Thimerosal, aluminum, etc) has been directly linked to cancer. Hope some of this helps and if you have any specific questions, let me know.

  7. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Dennis Thomas, DVM For This Useful Post:

    Berna (06-05-2017), kelsyg (06-20-2017), Mollysmomma (06-04-2017)

  8. #6
    House Broken kaialeena's Avatar
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    Just wanted to say that I appreciate the advice you have given to me on here! And ditto with Poptop regarding supplements etc for older dogs.

  9. #7
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    Thanks for replying. You might read the post below for some general information because, as you know, cancer is usually an old-dog problem. Over 90% of my work is on senior pets because of the same problems that you are dealing with. Unfortunately, by the time I get them, a lot of them and their illnesses are too far gone for me to do more than improve quality of life until the end. Not that that is a bad thing but we would all like our pets to heal and return to normal health and well being. The best advice that I can give you for old Labs with arthritis is to feed a diet that does not promote inflammation and search for products that are natural anti-inflammatory in nature. Fortunately, as there is an enormous movement towards natural treatments, more and more become available. I will give you some recommendations that I use on my senior Labs with arthritis. Along with a healthy diet that does not promote inflammation, I like to use joint supplements that contain glucosamine and chondroitin. I like the product called Cetyl-M because it has some natural products in it and the chondroitin is processed so that it passes the gut. Fish oil helps with inflammation. I like to give 2 capsules daily for dogs with arthritis. A lot of attention has been given to digestive enzymes in dealing with arthritis in pets. There is a product called Wobenzyme that get good reviews and many of my patients use it. I really like T-Relief for Arthritis. This is a human homeopathy remedy used for arthritis. It is also commonly used for dogs. Several years ago, there was a comparative study done in England that compared it with Rimadyl for controlling pain with arthritic dogs. After 30 days, T-Relief performed as well as Rimadyl and since it is homeopathic, there are absolutely no side effects. All of my senior Labs have been on this product. Turmeric is getting a lot of attention with arthritis as well as cancer and of course CBD is the latest if you are in a state that you can get it. Since I am in Washington state, we can get it and several of my older patients are doing very well with using it for chronic pain, cancer and controlling seizures. Hope some of this helps. Good luck

  10. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Dennis Thomas, DVM For This Useful Post:

    Berna (06-05-2017), kelsyg (06-20-2017), Mollysmomma (06-04-2017)

  11. #8
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    How do you dose CBD?

    What do you know about CBD and epilepsy? (I have a friend with a hugely talented Master Hunter who began having significant seizures. I know a pediatric neurologist who treats children with CBD so I believe we could get our hands on it.)

    With regard to IBD... are there any thoughts about bowel flora transplants. I hate to say this, but in the olden days, when patients had been treated for sepsis with shotgun antibiotics, we would would do this (we didn't even think twice about it) using the samples provided by the spouse. I believe we made sure the donor was negative for hepatitis antibodies. This was before HIV was a "thing". It worked. Totally anecdotal, but there it is. I read an abstract last year in a human journal where it was being tried again since we're beginning to understand how bowel flora primes the immune system for good and ill.

    Thanks for your thoughts.

  12. #9
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Thank you so much for the information.

    Right now, at 9 years old, Archie is doing fantastic joint wise but I'm all to familiar with what time could/might/probably will bring.
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  14. #10
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    It was cancer until we were told Oban has Lymphangiectasia. He seems fine now, on a special low fat kibble. Our Vet (Holistic/Integrative) would have liked us to go back to raw but it's pretty hard to control fat levels on raw. Still, I worry this is just a remission. It seems so many dogs with this do well and then back to sick again. I'm on a Lympangiectasia Facebook and there are lots of very, very sad posts there. Every time Oban has a loose poop or looks a bit off I worry.
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