I) What Is Health?
Health is more than simply an absence of visible illness. Health is vitality. It is bright-eyed and sweet smelling, curious and playful. Health is energy.
Maximizing health is one of my main focuses with my animals. To do so, I have adopted the philosophy of ‘natural rearing.’ This term is now very commonly used and can mean different things to different people, so I will define here what it means to me. The approach of natural rearing involves looking at how animals would exist in nature and simulating this to the best extent possible in a domestic setting. Now I realize this is deeply problematic with animals such as dogs which, as far as we know, evolved in conjunction with human civilization and thus are a mystery as to how they would exist “in a state of nature.” For a really interesting read on this subject, check out Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior & Evolution By Raymond Coppinger & Lorna Coppinger.
Because of the lack of knowledge around this subject, ideas and understanding are constantly changing and evolving. What I present here, and throughout my blog, are the musings and conclusions that I have come to through research, study, apprenticeship, and trial and error. As I deepen my understanding, I fully expect to have these ideas change and develop, a process which again I will document in this blog. In other words, I present here what I believe deeply to be true, but I also acknowledge that there is plenty of room for improvement.
For me, natural rearing involves three fundamental pillars that, when used together, provide balance and stability to the immune system or life force:
1) Feeding a species appropriate diet consisting primarily of a variety of fresh, raw meats and organs, ideally from animals that have been raised free-range and on pasture.
2) Minimizing all environmental toxins to the best of my ability, particularly vaccines and antibiotics, as well as other prescriptions medicines, flea, tick and heartworm, drugs, and house & garden cleaners and pesticides.
3) Using homeopathy to cure any acute health ailments, and especially to reduce chronic disease and help the body return to, and maintain, optimal life force vitality.
Below this introduction I will talk briefly about each, and provide links to any blog entries I write, or interesting sources I find, related to each of the three pillars of health. As such, this page will serve as a sort of table of contents for my more focused blog entries and links for further research.
Today, very few animals are truly healthy. We often confuse a lack of obvious symptoms for a good state of health, but there are many subtle ways the body tells us it is struggling. These range from physical symptoms like shedding, chronic itchiness or other skin problems, ear and eye discharge, chronic digestive disorders, premature aging and so on to mental issues including aggression, fear, house training issues, picky or over-eating, destructive, obsessive-compulsive or inappropriate sexual behaviours, and so on. The list is extensive, and many of these symptoms have become so common that most people (and vets) now see them as “normal.”
But these are not normal; they are all indicators that the life-force is out of balance and needs help. All too often, however, conventional medicine calls for drugs which eliminate these symptoms through suppression. Suppression of symptoms is extremely harmful, as these symptoms are the way the body is trying to get back into a better state of health. If we prevent it from doing so, the symptom may go away but the imbalance remains, trapped inside the body and pushed deeper, and will lead to further and more serious health problems down the road.
Fortunately the body is extremely good at healing itself, provided we don’t get in its way, and also that we eliminate the stresses that are causing the problem in the first place. When I take an animal in, be it a new puppy or a rescue, I do the following:
1) Switch him or her to a fresh raw diet
2) Stop any drugs or chemicals (and absolutely NEVER vaccinate or spay-neuter a recently rescued animals!! read this for why)
3) Provide a safe, quiet environment in which to live with plenty of fresh air and exercise, and clear, consistent structure.
I will often do no more than this for 2-3 months, and wait and see what happens. In most cases, many of the health and even behaviour problems clear up on their own. After this period of time, I will reassess the state of the animal’s health, and determine if homeopathic treatment is necessary to further support the immune system. On occasion I will give a homeopathic remedy sooner, for example with acute injuries or ailments, but I find it takes several months to know an animal well enough – and to allow them to stabilize enough – to engage in constitutional treatment.
More Discussion on General Health:
From this Blog -
Who’s Dog is This? – Dramatic behavioural changes after homeopathic and chiropractic treatment.
Rescue Dogs and Health – Why you should wait before vaccinating or spaying a rescued animal.
1) Raw Feeding
I have been raw feeding since 1999. The difference in my dogs’ health and vitality is so striking that cannot even consider returning to feeding kibble. Their coats are thicker and shinier, their breath smells good (or doesn’t smell at all), their stool is easy to clean up and doesn’t stink, and best of all, they don’t get sick. I have raw fed quite a few dogs (and cats) now, having fostered many over the years in addition to my permanent residents. Switching to a grain-free raw diet as resulted the dramatic reduction or complete elimination of many ailments, including digestive issues, allergies, and even behaviour problems.
Switching to raw has saved the life of more than one dog who has come into my home, previously rejected for incontinence or allergies requiring expensive treatment, or simply creating extreme frustration in their former owners. The improved health it produces also leads to fewer vet bills, less vacuuming, and a sweeter smelling house and yard!
For more information on raw feeding, here are some good links and resources:
The Yahoo Groups Raw Feeding and Raw Pup
The Dog Food Project (this website gives very detailed information on the ingredients in many, many commercial dog foods – well worth a visit and some time!)
(*** More links to come as I find good ones***)
2) Vaccine Concerns
Vaccines do not provide immunity. The immune system does. This distinction is extremely important to understand.
What vaccines do is expose the immune system to diseases in such a small amount that we do not actually get sick (most of the time), but the immune system gets a chance to practice, so to speak, defending itself against the disease. How well this works depends on the individual.
Because it is the immune system, and not the vaccine, that provides immunity, it is quite possible to develop immunity without ever being vaccinated (how else would life on earth have survived prior to vaccines?) through natural exposure to the disease. Most people don’t want to take the risks associated with this approach and choose the vaccinate preventatively.
Most of us look to vaccines to protect us (and our pets) from disease, but what really protects us is a strong, well functioning immune system. As such, it is extremely important to protect and support our immune systems as a first line of defense. This can be achieved by providing the best nutrition possible, fresh air, love, and exercise, and minimizing stress and environmental toxins.
Several years of research and observation has convinced me that giving too many vaccines is one of the major stresses to the immune system and can cause more problems than it solves. The chemicals and stimulants included in the vaccines, the combining of multiple diseases at once (which would never happen in nature) coupled with bypassing the immune system’s first defense mechanisms (i.e. the skin and mucous membranes) all serve to cause a jolt response by the immune system to the vaccines. Doing this repeatedly can damage the immune system and lead to mental and physical health problems in susceptible individuals.
While many vets are moving to a three year protocol, in my opinion, vaccinating even every 3 years is still too often. The Rabies Challenge is one study currently under way that is attempting to prove this about the rabies vaccine so that the laws can be changed. At present they are trying to push this to 5 years, and eventually 7 years. I have read that small scale studies suggest immunity actually lasts for life in most individuals. This is true of parvo and distemper vaccines, and others as well.
More resources on vaccines:
From this Blog:
The Mechanics of Vaccine Induced Paralysis
(more to come…)
External Links
Pet Vaccination: An Institutionalized Crime
Daybreak Australian Shepherds (a fantastic resource with many, many links)
Homeopathic Treatment of Paralysis
(Always adding more as I find good articles)
3) Homeopathy and Health
*** coming soon! ***
Further Reading
From this Blog
Constitutional Homeopathic Treatment
Homeopathy to the Rescue, Again! - Treating chronic itch
Training with Crazy - Homeopathy and behaviour
A Holographic Interpretation of Disease – This is a rather abstract discussion around the nature of life, the universe, and homeopathy
External Resources
Hello, just discovered your great blog. We have a lot in common.
I fully support the rabies challenge – I was a little upset to find out that some local vets (I live in NJ) are pushing owners to get vaccinated every two years because of the high rate of rabies in the area.
My “holistic” vet still pushes vaccinations, Heartworm medication (monthly!) and Frontline for prevention of Lymes disease. I have had great success with an all natural remedy for ticks and my dogs are tick-free (and Lyme free) while all of the dogs I know who have come down with Lyme have had the Lyme vaccine and are on Frontline. I am a dog walker and I know a lot of dogs.
I am now working with a homeopathic vet for my first dog who has been diagnosed with rabies miasm, and will soon start with my second dog.
Thanks for sharing this information!