Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (22 page)

With dogs, things are simpler. By nature, the dog is a partial scavenger, so it is adapted to eat whenever the opportunity arises. It’s okay to feed a healthy dog once or twice a day, or even more often.

C
LEANSING
R
EACTIONS

Some animals, particularly those in marginal health, may experience some physical difficulties even if the transition to a natural diet is gradual. They may seem out of sorts for a few days or even throw up hair balls or pass worms. Often, these are transient cleansing reactions. But not always. If you suspect that your pet is having excessive difficulty, a checkup, as described in
How to Give Your Pet a Quick Checkup
, will let you know if your pet has an underlying health problem that is being aggravated by a change of diet.

If your animal really does not look healthy to you, it is time to get some help. Ask your local veterinarian to work with you on the diet switch. Explain what you are trying to do and why, perhaps sharing the recipes and analyses. Ask your veterinarian to examine your pet periodically to make sure that there are no health problems of which you are unaware and to see that your pet responds to the diet as expected and does not lose weight or weaken.

If your veterinarian does not want to help as you switch your pet to a fresh foods diet, don’t hesitate to seek help elsewhere. Veterinarians interested in nutrition and a holistic approach to medicine are growing in number. Most states have a few; some will consult by phone, which can be quite helpful.

HOW TO GIVE YOUR PET A QUICK CHECKUP

Your animal might be in poor health without your realizing it. Perform this brief exam to get a much better idea of your pet’s actual state. If any of the exam symptoms are apparent, then resolve any concerns that arise by consulting your vet.

1. Does the hair coat feel greasy? Is the skin color a normal gray-white or is it pink or red with inflammation? Do you see dandruff-like scales of dead skin among the hairs?
   
2. Use your fingers to brush the hair against the grain. Do you see numerous little black specks? These are the excreta of fleas.
   
3. Now smell your fingers. If the odor they picked up is rancid, rank, or fishy, it’s a sign of poor health.
   
4. As you examine the eyes, check for matter in the corners. Pull down the lower eyelids so you can see the underside. Are the lids red inside or irritated on the edges?
   
5. Look into the ear holes. Do you see a lot of wax? Do the insides look oily? Sniff to check for an offensive odor.
   
6. Inspect the gums for a red line along the roots of the teeth. To check the back teeth for that red line, raise the upper lip and push back the corners of the lips at the same time (it is not necessary to open the mouth).
   
7. Now check the teeth themselves, including the back ones. Are they gleaming white or coated with a brown deposit? Does the breath smell okay or are you overcome by it?
   
8. Last, feel the backbone in the middle of the back and run your fingers back and forth (sideways) over it. Do you feel definite bones there? Is there a prominent ridge sticking up in the middle? If your answers to these questions are yes, your animal is much too thin.
   

THE BODY RESPONDS

By examining your pet regularly, you can easily monitor its overall health. No matter what you’ve heard, it’s
not
normal for a dog to have a “doggy odor” or a cat to have foul breath. Pets that have an unpleasant smell about them show signs of a chronic low health level. If your pet is in mediocre condition or it has a particular disease, starting the new diet may trigger a cleansing process.

What happens? For years your animal has been eating over-processed food that was probably loaded with the harmful ingredients discussed in chapter 2. No doubt it has also been exposed to environmental pollutants
and, perhaps, some strong drugs. So when your pet finally eats really fresh, nutritious food that is minimally polluted, strange things begin to happen. The body responds!

Your animal usually feels better at first. Energy and nutrients are flowing through the tissues. The quality of the blood and its oxygen-carrying capacity improves, so the animal starts to be more active. The added exercise in turn helps recharge lazy tissues.

After two to three weeks, the animal may feel perky enough to tackle some long-neglected interior housecleaning by throwing off debris it’s been accumulating. For example, a mass of worms that, until now, have been existing comfortably may be swept out, leaving behind a clean intestine.

More often, the cleansing results in a lot of discharge from the kidneys, colon, or skin, all important excretory organs. Thus, the urine might become dark and strong-smelling, the feces dark, temporarily containing mucus or blood, or the skin might erupt with sores or develop a lot of dandruff. Sometimes a lot of dead hair falls out as the skin becomes more active, getting ready to grow a new crop of fresh, healthy hair (much like a plant dropping dead foliage before putting out new leaves).

THE HEALING CRISIS

Appearances can be deceiving. In spite of what you see, your pet’s body is getting
cleaner
. I know that’s hard to grasp. Most of us expect that when a physical problem is being treated effectively, the condition will steadily improve until the disturbance just disappears. (Certainly, we don’t expect it to look worse!) That’s how antibiotics and other familiar drugs often work—at least for a while. Unfortunately, such drugs sometimes simply suppress the symptoms, leaving the underlying disorder that led to the illness unchanged, so the same problems or related ones may crop up again. One long-term effect of using drugs to control diseases is that the body tends to become lazy about attempting to keep itself healthy. That’s when an animal gets the kind of symptoms described in “How to Give Your Pet a Quick Checkup.”

In bygone times, people more clearly recognized the stages of healing—one of which was a period of crisis that might show up as a fever, inflammation, or temporary exaggeration of symptoms. At such a point the patient either began to recover or died. This healing crisis, as it has been called, represents the point at which the body’s defenses are mobilized to their maximum capabilities. It’s an all-out effort.

When we interfere with this process by injecting antibiotics or cortisone, for example, the defense system is not utilized. That means it can’t address the underlying weakness that gave rise to the disease in the first place. Like an underused muscle, the defense system gets weak. Soon resistance to any new disease is weakened, and the body needs more drugs to cope with new problems. Poor nutrition lowers disease resistance
even further, which then leads to the use of still more drugs. Weakened by infections and the toxic elements of drugs, the body demands more of the available nutrition, which overtaxes the supply and creates a deficit. Before we know it, we are caught in a vicious circle.

What will break this cycle? A good diet, for one thing. By supplying optimum nutrients, we can increase disease resistance and help the body to eliminate the toxic effects of drugs. So don’t be discouraged by these signs of detoxification when you improve your pet’s diet. You have things moving.

INTERPRETING REACTIONS

“But,” you might ask, “how can I tell whether my pet’s in the process of detoxification or is suffering from some serious disease?” This is a sticky point, of course. If you feel uncertain, consult your veterinarian. And if you favor a conservative approach (minimum drugs, maximum wait-and-see), tell the vet so. But here are some general clues to help you interpret what is happening.

• If your pet has a high-energy level and has a good appetite, temporary symptoms such as passing worms, mucus, or a little blood are probably insignificant. And bear in mind that it is also common for an animal switching from all-commercial to all-fresh food to undergo a lethargic period of a day or two, usually within two to four weeks of the diet change. This is a cleansing period that may result in a temporary energy drop and appetite loss, plus more time spent sleeping.
  
• Returning symptoms of problems previously suppressed by drugs—such as skin eruptions, bladder irritation in cats, and ear problems in dogs—mean the body is rallying its increased energies to try to heal underlying chronic disturbances that should have been dealt with long ago. If these problems persist or become intense, you will need help from a veterinarian who knows how to work with the body to bring this process to healthy completion. I use homeopathy, but there are other natural treatment methods that support the body in this process, including acupuncture and herbology. Refer to chapter 14 for more information on these valuable tools for good health.
  
• If your pet’s energy level decreases steadily for more than a few days or if you see mental/emotional changes such as depression, irritability, or forgetfulness
  that were not present before
  , your pet may have serious problems that should be checked out by a vet.
  
• If any symptoms—such as loss of appetite, abnormal stools, or other problems of elimination—continue despite your precautions, food allergy is a likely possibility. Stop using the new foods. If the problem clears up, reintroduce vegetables, grains, meats, dairy products, brewer’s yeast, and legumes one at a time until you find out which one is causing the problem. When you identify the culprit, eliminate it from the diet permanently. Foods commonly known to cause allergic reactions in pets are described along with a special diet in the
  Allergies
  section.
  

Cats sometimes find it harder to metabolize unsaturated oils than saturated ones (animal fats). Choosing olive oil as your cat’s oil source and adding ample vitamin E to the diet should allay this problem. Or else stick to animal fats like lard, butter, or meat trimmings and drippings.

In summary, a natural healing process is not always simply “getting better.” There may be ups and downs and evidence of discharge. It is highly recommended that you work with a veterinarian that is able to interpret these changes accurately, which is usually one trained in homeopathy, Chinese medicine, herbology, or other systems of natural healing.

HERBS TO EASE THE PROCESS

Should your pet have some moderate distress in changing to a fresh diet, you can smooth the way (or try to prevent problems from the start) with some herbs that help cleanse the body and rebuild tissue. Use only one herb, rather than a combination. Pick the one that best matches the problems listed in the brief descriptions that follow. See the
Schedule for Herbal Treatment
for amounts relative to your pet’s size.

Alfalfa
(
Medicago sativa
) is an excellent tonic that stimulates digestion and appetite. It helps animals gain weight and improves physical and mental vigor. Alfalfa is best used for animals that are underweight, nervous, or high-strung. It can also help those with muscle or joint pains or animals with urinary problems—especially where there is crystal formation and bladder irritation. Depending on your dog’s body size, add from 1 teaspoon to 3 tablespoons of ground or dry-blended alfalfa to the daily ration. Or make a tea by steeping 3 tablespoons of the herb in 1 cup of water for 20 minutes. Mix it with food or administer it orally with a bulb syringe (or turkey baster), using the
Dog Sizes table
as a guideline for how much to give. Cats can be given 1 teaspoon (dry) per day.

Burdock
(
Arctium lappa
) cleanses the blood and helps the body detoxify. It’s particularly good for easing skin disorders. Soak 1 teaspoon of the root in 1 cup of spring or distilled water in a glass or enamel pan for 5 hours. Then bring to a boil, remove from heat and let cool. Check the
Dog Sizes table
for how much to give. Cats can be given ½ teaspoon per day.

Garlic
(
Allium sativum
) helps to eliminate worms, strengthen digestion, and beneficially stimulate the intestinal tract. Use it to promote intestinal health. It is also indicated for animals that have been on a high meat or fish diet, and those that tend to be overweight or suffer hip pain from arthritis or
dysplasia. Include fresh, grated garlic with each meal, using ½ to 3 cloves, depending on the animal’s size (see the table below). Cats can be given ¼ clove per day.

Oats
(
Avena sativa
) are also a tonic, particularly for the animal whose main weakness is in the nervous system, as in epilepsy, tremors, twitching, and paralysis. Oats also counter the weakening and exhaustive effects of heavy drugging and diseases. They help to cleanse the body and nourish new tissue growth. Use oatmeal as the chief grain in the diet.

Also, you can use oat straw to provide a healing bath: Boil 1 to 2 pounds of the straw in 3 quarts of water for 30 minutes. Add this to the bathwater or sponge on repeatedly as an after-bath rinse by standing the animal in a tub and reusing the solution. Such treatment is useful for skin problems, muscle and joint pain, paralysis, and liver and kidney problems. Dogs enjoy it more than cats.

One of these herbs along with the benefits of the new diet should make the road to good health smoother and shorter. After a month or two, give your pet another exam (see
How to Give Your Pet a Quick Checkup
), and I bet you’ll see a difference.

Above all, don’t be discouraged from trying a change of diet. Remember, most animals that switch to natural foods do not experience the problems I have described in this chapter. The majority enjoy the new diet and digest it well. And if you follow the advice here about easing the transition period, in all probability your pet will simply be happier and healthier than ever before.