Day 43
For obvious reasons, I have been thinking a lot lately about vaccinations, pharmaceuticals and the impact they have on our dog’s bodies. When I looked back through her history, I was able to clearly see the connection in Sasha’s case.
Today, I found the courage to pull out Zoe’s history. Zoe was my first dog. Sure, we had dogs growing up, but Zoe was mine. Her care, her comfort, her life were all in my hands. She passed away 4 1/2 years ago and is really the driving force behind becoming more educated about pet nutrition. So back to her history. I admit, I blindly followed what the vets told me. Every year, like clockwork, she got all of her vaccines – dhlpp (distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvo, parainfluenza), rabies, lyme, whatever the doctor ordered. If she had something wrong, I blindly trusted the vet and pumped her full of antibiotics and steroids.
Side note: It’s unfortunate that when you leave the vet’s office, they send you home with a piece of paper that tells you how much you spent and what was prescribed, but not a review of the symptoms. So I don’t necessarily remember why she was given what drugs. Note to self: I will now write why we went to the vet on that piece of paper so I have a more detailed history. But from what I do have and recall…
In the last 6 months of her life, she had surgery (requiring anesthesia, antibiotics, pain reliever) to remove a tumor (which turned out to be nothing); she was on an immunosuppressant drug, three different antibiotics for an ulcer on her eye (all 3 during the duration of one month, just 3 months prior to her passing), and proin (for incontinence – she’d been on this for two years). She went in for her annual exam, where she was given her vaccinations and given a clean bill of health. She died less than 3 weeks later.
I am not saying that the vaccinations killed her. Poor nutrition from an uneducated mom surely had its hand in that. But I do have to wonder what part the pharmaceuticals played in her passing. And I do have to wonder why an almost 14 year old dog who was never exposed to any other dogs except those in our house would even need to be vaccinated.
I love you Zoe. And I miss you.
Day 42
Sasha’s belly has been pretty warm the past few days, and the area inside of her thigh where it meets her torso is not looking great. That area naturally holds a lot heat simply because there is lack of air circulation. We had been putting aloe on her to soothe the inflammation, but in this case, it actually may have backfired on us. Because the aloe is pure, it’s very liquid in form and it doesn’t dry as quickly as most of the aloe gels you find out there, and the added moisture created a breeding ground for bacteria. 
I sure wish she would lay like Daisy does.
We are getting ready to leave for our trip in the next couple of days. While we’re gone, we probably won’t be able to post all of the time, but we will do our best to keep you up-to-date on any changes we experience – hoping they’re all good changes. 
Day 41
Sasha’s transition back to her regular diet is going well. We’re now giving her two pints of milk in the morning (small amounts every hour until 1pm) and then solid food in the evening. We’ve started adding Answers detailed beef back in and by the end of the week, we’ll be fully transitioned. We will continue to add milk to her diet – if for no other reason, because of the health benefits of it.
Because we’ve had to take her off of the milk, we wanted to be careful to not “lose” any healing opportunities due to our travel. We met with a homeopathic veterinarian last week and have decided to give this a try. Homeopathy is a “natural healing” modality where it is believed that “like cures like,” meaning that something that causes a reaction is actually used to help cure that same type of reaction. It is not drug-based and there are no side-effects.
The upside with this is that it is pretty simple. Once a day (we’ve chosen to do this in the evening), we mix a few drops of the homeopathic remedy with some distilled water and then give her part of it with a dropper in her mouth. The downside is that it will take a couple of weeks to know if what we’re doing is helping or if we need to try a different remedy.
In addition to the homeopathic remedy, we are adding a probiotic to her diet (the raw milk had probiotics in it) and we have started using a pure aloe on her belly to soothe it.
Keep in mind – Sasha is not in pain in any way. She is alert, energetic and maintaining her weight. Her eyes are clear, everything about her is normal. Except the infection on her belly, ear inflammation that comes and goes, and itchiness which also comes and goes.
Today’s belly pic:
Day 39
Red, inflammation, heat…all gone again. It’s crazy. Still itchy though.
If you look at the area in the center of her belly, over the course of the past week, the dark area has filled in. (Pay no attention to the various shades of pinkness in the overall shots – poor lighting in the house).
I tried to do some googling tonight to see what I can learn about what might be causing this (healing or getting worse), and I’m not even sure what to search for. If you’ve seen something like this happen before, I’d love to hear from you. Even if it’s just an idea, it would give me something to go and dig into.
Day 38
This morning when I got up, I noticed Sasha’s belly was warmer than usual. I had planned to take her to work early so I could give her a soothing bath with some colloidal oatmeal. After feeling the warmth of her belly, I hoped even more the bath would help. When I got her up in the tub and could really see her belly, I was stunned to see how bad it looked. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture to share.) Basically, every single dark spot on her belly that is like a scar had a bright red outline around it (varying in widths from 1/8″ to 1/4″), and that red area was actually puffy. Her ears were also super red again.
After the bath, she actually slept much of the day and wasn’t her usual feisty self (barking at everyone). Her belly continued to be warm – you could feel the heat without even touching it. She had a few spells where she was panting (which is unusual for her). Over the past few weeks, we’ve also witnessed a wheezing here and there, and today had quite a few wheezes. She also seemed to cough or gag a little a couple of times – like she had something stuck in her throat.
She also went poo three times this morning. The first at about 7am and it was normal; the second at about 9am and it started normal and then turned very soft almost runny; the third at about 10am and it was completely runny.
While the redness on her belly has subsided quite a bit, there is still a lot of heat coming off of her.
Could this be a reaction to transitioning diet? Sure. Could this be a reaction the warm temperatures today or the rain yesterday? Maybe. Could this be a healing crisis? Hmmmm.
Today’s pic:
Day 37
With our upcoming trip, we’ve begun Sasha’s transition back to her regular raw diet.
To say this “adventure” was a failure couldn’t be further from the truth. While we did not accomplish what we’d hoped to in the amount of time we had, we did see some pretty amazing things happen. And we are extremely pleased with what we’ve witnessed.
- Signs of detox. There were plenty. From watery eyes to mucus in her stools. There were plenty of toxins to be expelled from her body and even though she still has some symptoms, we know that she is healthier from expelling what she has.
- Her body re-healing itself. Sasha’s limping was the most amazing thing to witness, and I’m certain that had I not seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.
- Nutritionally sound simplicity. While I understood the nutritional aspects of the raw milk, I was worried that Sasha would be hungry. Or get bored with drinking milk all of the time. Neither ever happened. She loved every bit of it!
Her transition back is a bit different than you might think. It’s not like usual diet transitions where you begin by mixing a little of the new with a lot of the old and gradually increase the new. Based on Bernarr Macfadden’s book, we feed her the raw milk until around 1:00 or so and then feed her a “normal” meal for dinner. Unfortunately, Mr. Macfadden’s book was written for people so we’re a bit in uncharted territory for dogs. Her “normal” meal right now consists of boiled chicken and a boiled egg mixed with some chicken broth. We thought these would be easy for her to digest. We’ll do this for a few days and then eventually switch her to her normal raw diet from Answers. And also to “2 squares a day.”
We did calculate her calories to ensure we’re still on track there. She gets 3 pints of raw milk before 1:30, so we’re just substituting the calories one pint. 4-5 oz of chicken and an egg keep us pretty close to where we need to be.
We haven’t decided what we’ll do when we get back from our trip. Regardless of whether we go back on the raw milk diet or not, we will continue this blog. Our goal is to help others learn from our experiences.
Day 36
I mentioned at the start of this that we are certain Sasha’s problems are related to the “safe” pharmaceuticals given to her and people have asked me why I think that.
Starting with vaccines, there’s a ton of research out there that documents adverse reactions (including cancer) to vaccines. But I also wanted to point out something we noticed as we’ve gone through this. When Sasha began limping, we went back through the past 9 years of vet visit paperwork and we noticed a pattern. Every time Sasha went in for her “annual shots,” she was back at the vet’s office about 4-6 weeks later with another problem requiring an antibiotic. Every time. Coincidence? Doubtful.
Additionally, as we’ve gone through this and dug deeper into Sasha’s history…. Prior to getting her most recent rabies vaccine, she had already been inundated with other drugs. About 2 – 2 1/2 months earlier, she had a growth on her eye (prescribed antibiotics) that led to a discovery of an enlarged spleen that led to more testing (under “mild” sedation). While nothing was wrong with her spleen, she ultimately ended up having surgery to remove the eye growth, another growth on her neck and have her teeth cleaned. Surgery = anesthesia, post-op pain killers and antibiotics. All of that already breaking down her system, and then toss in the rabies vaccine, followed by another drug and 2 antibiotics. I’m pretty sure Sasha has had more drugs in her system in the past year than she had in the previous 8 years of her life combined.
Here’s some information to get you started on your own vaccination research so you can make your own educated decisions. I would never want anyone to make a decision about their pet’s health just because it’s what I choose. You need to make your own educated, informed decisions. Ultimately, you are the one who has to live with your decisions, so choose wisely, not blindly.
Dogs Naturally Vaccine Articles
Cancer, Auto-Immune & Vaccinations
An interview with Dr. Ronald Shultz
Be educated, and make your own choices.
On another note, the inflammation in her ears has gone down. Yay. She did manage to chew a nice hole on the side of her back leg last night when we weren’t paying enough attention.
Day 35
Happy Valentine’s Day!
We hope that you have been able to share some love time with your furry four-legged friends.
Day 34
The weekend was a bit of a bummer for us. As I mentioned on Saturday, Sasha’s ears became inflamed again. That continues even today. And Sunday, her belly had a small eruption with new pustules and has gotten a bit pink again.
We gave her a bath yesterday afternoon in a nice herbal shampoo. Our hope was that it would wash off toxins that she’d expelled through her skin and soothe her skin, alleviating some of her itchiness…and to alleviate some of her odor. We wouldn’t deem the bath a success on either part. She might be slightly less itchy, but not much. And while her fur and body generally smell better, she does have an odor in areas that … well, we can’t really wash. 
We were really hoping this weekend would show dramatic improvements as we are now faced with the time constraints of switching her diet due to our trip. We have a few more days on the milk, so we’re still hoping for big improvements. This little eruption may just be the last cleanse.
Today’s belly pic:
Day 33
No real changes to report, so I thought I’d talk about one of the things I’ve been asked about a lot. The fleas that caused the allergic reaction that sent Sasha into this tizzy.
Yes, we found some fleas. By no means was there any major infestation, just a couple here and there. But for a flea allergy, it just takes one bite.
We stopped using chemical/topical treatments about 1 1/2 years ago. Understanding that every time we applied the monthly spot treatment, we were putting a toxic poison onto our dog’s skin where it would be absorbed into their bloodstream…well, that was a wake up call to find a better way.
We had been using various natural preventatives. And yes, natural preventatives DO work. Even when we brought our rescues, Naiyah and Matilda home with us (they were literally rescued off the street, covered with ticks and fleas), we didn’t have a problem with our other animals getting fleas. The problem was we simply got busy and forgot to reapply. Failure will occur with any flea prevention methods if you don’t reapply.
What I think bothers me the most about the whole flea thing is that I know fleas, generally speaking, are not attracted to healthy animals. Of our 4 dogs, we certainly wouldn’t have pegged Sasha as “unhealthy.” And the odd part is that through weeks of checking each of them under a massive spotlight, we never found fleas on Sasha. Yes on Naiyah (probably the most on her); yes on Matilda; and maybe a couple on Daisy. But none on Sasha.
How did we get the fleas? Who knows? Those little buggers will hitch a ride from anywhere. For all we know, a squirrel brought one in the yard and it hopped on Sasha, took a bite, and it was “game over.”
How did we get rid of them? Cedar oil. And lots of it. Because of Sasha’s allergy, we wanted to be 100% certain they were completely gone. We treated the yard, the house, the furniture, the dogs, the cars, everything. We washed everything we could and even added some tea tree oil to the rinse cycle just as added measure. And we did everything except the yard a couple of times. We also vacuumed almost daily for two weeks – which is really the most important factor to flea control. We couldn’t find a local place to buy cedar oil, so we had to go to the internet for this one. As a side note on cedar oil – it smells a little like a fireplace and it leaves their coats super soft and shiny.
Needless to say, we are now more diligent with our preventatives. We continue to rotate through various preventative measures to maximize their efficacy. Cedar oil, diatomaceous earth, tea tree oil, apple cider vinegar, etc. Will each – or any – of these methods work for you and your dog? Only you know what will fit in your lifestyle and what risks you’re willing to take with your pet. There are some great books out there written by medical professionals who have embraced natural healthcare methods. Do some digging and decide for yourself.
