Holistic Healing: A Natural Approach to Animal Health

What are the primary causes of disease in animals?
"Almost all dogs and cats get sick for one single reason. They live with people. They become overly domesticated, eat too much, exercise too little, and thus get sick." —Will Winters, DVM

Poor Diet
People and animals in America are suffering from malnutrition. The typical American diet consists of devitalized white sugar and flour, red meat (from animals fed heavily on antibiotics and hormones), preservatives, dyes, additives, and chemicals (many known to be carcinogenic). Americans rate fifteenth in life expectancy among the developed nations. Polluted environment, eroded and over-cropped soils, massive overuse of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and growth enhancers - even supposedly healthy vegetables and fruits are no guarantee of adequate nutrition. (The FDA insists that vitamins and supplements are unnecessary when eating a "balanced" diet.)

And what about pet foods? The same poor quality of life and early death affecting humans are affecting their pets; the same diseases are killing them: cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and immunodeficiency disorders. A general deterioration over the last 50 years in domestic animal! health can be directly related! to the use of commercial pet foods. Cheap generic pet foods are a primary culprit, but even high quality veterinary-line brands are often not nutritionally sound.

What are Commercial Pet Foods Composed Of?
“40% of all pet food consists of meat by-products and offal (wastes).” - Pet Food lnstitute. Meat byproducts include hooves, horns, skin, hair, feathers, beaks, claws, snouts, and other waste material. The animals used from slaughter may be disease-ridden or dying, containing pus or tumors and other diseased organs. The other 60% consists of grain and soy meal (not used for human consumption because of foreign odors, debris, germs), chemicals, antibiotic residues, preservatives and additives (sodium nitrate, red dye #40, BHA, BHT, MSG, sodium metabisulfate, lead, artificial flavorings, salt, sugar, propylene glycol, and ethoxyquin).

What Constitutes a Healthy Diet for Dogs and Cats?
The ideal diet for dogs and cats consists of home-prepared fresh raw meats, fresh lightly cooked grains and vegetables, and a good vitamin mineral supplement including kelp (see enclosed handouts for instructions). Second best is a high quality processed food such as Precise, Natures Recipe, etc.

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Natural Feeding for Horses
Predominantly roughage (grass hay, timothy hay, oats) to maintain proper gut pH, flora, and motility. The natural chewing action necessitated by roughage ensures important parasympathetic nervous stimulation, and the release of digestive juices. Limit or remove alfalfa from the diet. Grains may be added as an additional energy source; crimped oats, barley, and com are preferable to pelleted feeds. Limit unnatural feedstuffs such as beet pulp, molasses, sweeteners, chemicals and additives. Supplementation may include Dynamite products, Advanced Biological Concepts, or Hilton Herbs. Use a pure water source free of chlorine, fluorine, and toxic chemicals from nursery run-offs. Hard water contains additional calcium carbonate which can lead to parathyroid and thyroid imbalances, an epidemic problem.

Toxicity
In addition to the body's normal wear and tear, and normal metabolites that need to be regularly flushed and disposed of, the animal body is subject to toxin buildup from the environment: formaldehyde, lead, arsenic, other heavy metals, chlorine, fluorine, gas fumes, carbon monoxide, dioxin, creosote, synthetic fertilizers (nitrates, nitrites, lime), pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and mustard gas. Other sources of toxins include preservatives, dyes and colorings in food, vaccines, and various drugs (dewormers, flea control products, antibiotics, steroids, anti-inflammatories, and hormones).

Stress
One of the key points to address in animal health is the issue of stress. Modern life for animals provides a wide variety of stresses including emotional, geopathic, electromagnetic, and others. One major source of stress are the husbandry practices in use by various industries: breeding, food production, racing, and showing. The human-animal bond is especially important when addressing emotional stress in small animals.

Vaccines: Disease Prevention or Cause?
The purpose of vaccination is to protect your pet from potentially fatal infections by pathogenic (disease-causing) viruses such as distemper, rabies, and others. The way this is done is to inject either a killed or a modified-live virus into the animal, which sensitizes the immune system to that particular virus. It sounds simple enough, but several problems exists regarding vaccines. Frequent adverse side-effects include anaphylaxis (swelling, fever, pain, cardio-vascular collapse), immunodepression, and immunohyperstimulation.

Animals who have received frequent vaccinations may overreact to normally harmless substances (allergies, especially flea allergies and other skin problems), or even produce antibodies to itself (autoimmune diseases). At the same time, the body may be sluggish in responding to those things that it should reject, resulting in susceptibility to recurrent infections. Also, most vaccines contain harmful agents including BHA, BHT, artificial colors, preservatives, aluminum, formaldehyde, and antibiotics. Finally, the route of administration of vaccines is entirely unnatural, bypassing the natural route of infection.

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The Latest Research into Vaccines
New research shows that regular vaccination is associated with an increased incidence of immune-mediated diseases in domestic animals. Veterinarians are concluding that we are currently vaccinating far too often and with too many viruses in one dose (Vet.Med., March 1998, pg233). New recommendations from the Academy of Veterinary Science include vaccinating every three years instead of each year, and separating individual vaccines into single doses given two weeks apart.

Are Booster Shots Really Necessary?
A quote from Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XI (copyright 1992. pg, 205) states that there is no need for vaccinations beyond the initial series.

"A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is annual revaccinations. Almost without exception there is no immunologic requirement for annual revaccination. Immunity to viruses persists for years or for the life of the animal. Successful vaccination to most bacteria pathogens produces an immunologic memory that remains for years, allowing an animal to develop a protective anamnestic (secondary) response when exposed to virulent organisms. Only the immune response to toxins requires boosters (e.g. tetanus toxin booster)... Furthermore, revaccination with most viral vaccines fails to stimulate an anamnestic (secondary) response as a result of interference by existing antibody (similar to maternal antibody interference). The practice of annual vaccination in our opinion should be considered questionable efficacy unless it is used as a mechanism to provide an annual physical examination or is required by law (i.e., certain states require annual revaccination for rabies)."

Dr. Ronald Schultz, Professor of Immunology at University of Wisconsin, Madison, states that one dose of vaccine at a given age will successfully immunize 95% of all animals. If a modified-live vaccine is used, optimum ages for a single vaccination are: 10-12 weeks for canine distemper, 12-14 weeks for canine parvovirus, and 10-12 weeks for feline panleukopenia.

Alternatives to Vaccination
Homeopathic nosodes may be used in place of vaccination. Nosodes are completely safe and easy to use. Young animals may be started at 3 weeks of age, following a schedule for each disease entity. (Youngsters should not be exposed to potential disease threats until 4-5 months of age.) Nosodes cannot replace the need for general immune system maintenance using a healthy diet, adequate exercise, and stress-reduction techniques. If you must vaccinate, be sure to immunize for diseases which meet all of the following criteria: the disease is serious or life-threatening, the animal is or will be exposed to the disease, the vaccine for the disease is known to be effective, and the vaccine for the disease has been proven safe. Vaccines should never be given to unhealthy animals.

If your county is requiring rabies vaccination and your animal isn't healthy enough to receive it, you may use titers to prove that your pet's antibody levels are within acceptable limits and does not require a booster. Rabies titers may be done at Kansas State University, Rabies Diagnostic Laboratory. If your animal does receive a rabies vaccination, follow it with homeopathic Lyssin 6C, twice daily for a week, to counteract any adverse side effects (primarily what is called "rabies miasm" in which the animal develops aggression problems at some time after vaccination).

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Detoxification
Most animals have, at some point, received any or all of the previously mentioned toxic insults. The animal may also have other internal blocks to healing. The following methods of detoxification will help to restore equilibrium within the body. 1) Fasting. 2) Pure food and water. 3) Fresh healthy diet, and supplementation. 4) Regular liver/intestine cleanse, 3-4 times yearly, using anyone of the following: SLF Forte (NF Formulas) 1/4-1 cap 2x/day for 2-4 weeks, Herbal Tonic (Dynamite) 1/8-1/2 tsp 2x/day for 2-4 weeks, Milk Thistle (Silymarin 70%) 75mg or 150mg 2x/day for 2-4 weeks, Blue Heron (NF Formulas) 1/4-1 cap 2x/day for 2-4 weeks, Bentonite Clay 1/8-1/2 tsp 2x/day for 1-2 months. A bulk liver cleanse may be achieved with a combination of the following herbs using 1/8-1/2 tsp 2x/day for 2 weeks to 2 months: 6 parts dandelion (leaves), 2 parts kelp, 1 part milk thistle (70%), 1/2 part lecithin, 1/2 part celandine, 1/2 part beet leaf.

The Longevity Factor
Will Winters, DVM, in his book The Holistic Veterinary Handbook gives the following recommendations for extending the healthy life of your pet: keep thin, maximize exercise, mental stimulation, a purpose, fresh air, social connections, spay or neuter, avoid excess vaccines and drugs, good genetics, and annual physical exams. For horses, we would add regular dentistry, regular hoof care, and bodywork.

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Excerpted from Donna M. Starita, DVM, presentation at Integrative Therapies in Animal Health, Orange Park Acres, California, November 5-8, 1998.