Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (50 page)

Both at home and in the hospital, your pet can recover faster and more completely if you utilize the general health care principles in this book and some of the nursing care methods outlined in this chapter. If, however, you are giving your animal a prescription drug recommended by your veterinarian, do not use the homeopathic remedies suggested in the Quick Reference section of alphabetical entries at the end of this book, since they tend to work against each other. You can, however, use some of the herbal recommendations, particularly those that are suggested for external use or those whose primary purpose is to help rebuild the tissues.

A seriously ill animal has certain basic needs. When wild animals are sick or injured, they go off by themselves to rest in a secure, peaceful place and to allow nature to heal the condition. We need to provide our pets with a comparable opportunity. Most sick animals want to be quiet, safe, and warm and to have access to fresh air and sunlight. Also, they often will fast instinctively. The loss of appetite seen in many diseases, especially acute infectious ones, is part of the healing response, rather than a symptom to be forcibly overridden.

So provide comfortable bedding in a cozy spot that is free of drafts, disturbances, and loud noise, where your dog or cat can rest peacefully and feel protected. Keep the area clean, changing the blankets or towels as necessary. If your pet desires it, allow some access to fresh air and sunlight (but don’t impose it).

FASTING

Generally, it’s good to encourage fasting the first day or two of an illness, especially if there is a fever. A good rule of thumb is to fast your pet until its temperature returns to normal—one to two days, or as long as four to five, if necessary, provided that the animal is in reasonably healthy condition to start with. Remember that a normal body temperature is less than 101.5°F.

Fasting is one of the oldest and most natural methods of healing. Normally, the body constantly eliminates waste products, along with any tainted or toxic materials that were consumed. Fasting greatly reduces the body’s usual assimilation and elimination load, allowing it to break down and expel older wastes that may have accumulated in the liver and fatty tissues. The body also gets a chance to unload the products of inflammation, tumors, and abscesses. Once the body
has cleansed itself, the overworked glands, organs, and cells have a chance to repair and restore themselves.

Of course, you should not attempt a long fast without professional guidance. See the section on naturopathy in chapter 14 for conditions that generally benefit from fasting, as well as for those for which fasting should not be used.

The following program is a good basic guideline for fasting your animal. It can be used during illnesses, but it also can help your pet switch from its old eating habits to a new natural foods diet.

T
HE
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ERIOD

Begin by easing the animal into the fast for one to two days. Feed it a lighter, simpler diet that includes a moderate or small amount of lean meat or tofu, along with some vegetables and cooked oatmeal. (Of course, if your animal is suddenly ill and loses its appetite, this step is not necessary or appropriate.)

Use vegetables considered beneficial to the kidneys and the liver—organs that will play major roles during the fast. They include broccoli, kale, cauliflower, cabbage, beets and turnips (with tops), dandelion greens, squash, spinach, corn, potatoes, cucumbers, parsley, carrots, and tomatoes. Serve these foods either raw and finely grated (which is preferable), or lightly steamed.

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IQUID
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AST

Next, proceed with the main part of the fast, a liquid diet. In acute problems, continue the fast until the temperature is normal and the animal is well on its way to recovery. In more chronic or degenerative conditions, the length of the fast may vary from about three to seven days—until there is substantial improvement and a hearty appetite returns. If you begin reintroducing solids and your animal doesn’t seem hungry for them, stay with the liquid fast a little longer.

During this period, offer plenty of the following:

• Water: Use a pure source, such as bottled, spring, filtered, or distilled water. Do not use tap water, which may contain unwholesome chemicals.
  
• Vegetable juices: Use fresh juices only. Don’t use juice more than 48 hours old. If you can’t give your pet fresh juice, offer chopped or grated raw vegetables (especially greens and juicy ones) blended with pure water and strained through a sieve. If you can’t come up with either of these alternatives, feed water and the broth recipe that follows.
  
• Vegetable broth: Using the vegetables listed for the break-in period, make a soup stock by chopping and then simmering them for 20 to 30 minutes. You may add a small amount of meat or a bone to flavor the stock, but no spices or salt. Pour off the liquid for the animal and save the solids for a soup or casserole for yourself.
  

If your animal is young or run-down and seems to need a little extra energy, you can
occasionally offer it a teaspoon or so of honey.

If you notice your pet having strained or constipated bowel movements early in the liquid fast stage, you can help get things going by slowly (over one to two minutes) administering an enema (see the instructions under “Special Care” in this chapter). Though an enema is seldom needed during a short fast if your pet is in fairly good shape, the animal with a chronic disease or an acute infection will benefit from several enemas during the longer fast.

B
REAKING
THE
F
AST

When it’s time to end the fast, give your pet a simple diet for several days. This transition diet should last two to three days for every seven days the animal was on liquids. Offer water, juice, broth, and a moderate amount of raw or steamed vegetables (from the same group used before), plus a little unpasteurized milk, if available, or plain yogurt. After this period, begin adding other natural foods, starting with oatmeal or flaked barley cereal (cooked), milk, honey, and figs or prunes. Then, after a day or two, offer some raw lean meat (or tofu or cottage cheese), some other grains or dairy products, and some nutritional yeast, until you have worked into the standard natural diet with supplements.

It is very important that you break the animal out of the fast gradually and that you avoid any temptation to feed commercial foods or highly processed tidbits at this point, or else you may undo the beneficial effects of the fast and cause serious digestive upsets by overtaxing the system before it has fully reestablished peristalsis, the contractions that aid in digestion.

Carried out properly, a fast of this sort can be a great boon for your animal’s health. I hope that you understand the spirit of the fasting instructions and do not misinterpret them. I am
not
saying that you can just put a sick dog on the back porch with no food and a little water to drink! I am not suggesting neglect by any means, but rather an attitude of support, which includes doing the right things at the right time. Though outwardly the two approaches may appear similar, your inner intent and concern is the decisive factor that makes the difference. If you are not sure what to do or how long to keep the fast going, then consult with a holistically oriented veterinarian before proceeding.

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Y
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’
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AT

Sometimes an animal (usually a cat) starts fasting on its own but does not regain its appetite at the end of the fast. This can happen as a result of stomach upset, inflammation of the digestive organs, or as a reaction to toxic chemicals in the body or the environment (from pollution or kidney failure, for example). In cats, it is a very common symptom of chronic disease.

Fasting becomes a problem if there is rapid weight loss and developing weakness that robs the body of the energy to heal. So it may be necessary to force-feed (put food in the animal’s mouth) to keep a pet alive or to
get it started eating again. Before you do this, however, you may want to try tempting the animal into eating on its own by offering a tasty food that has a strong aroma, such as freshly broiled chicken or turkey.

If you must force-feed, try this healthful mixture.

PET PUREE

• ⅔ cup raw chicken or turkey (may contain giblets)
  
• ⅓ cup half-and-half or whole milk
  
• ½ teaspoon bone meal (using Group I brands or teaspoon eggshell powder)
  
• Cat or dog vitamins, as recommended on the label for one day
  

Puree all the ingredients in a food processor. Adjust the liquid as needed to make a thick, smooth paste. If you only have a blender, thin the food down and prevent strain on the motor by using short bursts rather than a long run. Refrigerate extras up to three days; throw it out if it begins to smell sour.

Feed ½ to 1 cup a day to a small animal, proportionately more to larger ones. The easiest method is finger-feeding. Using one hand, pry the mouth open (as described in the directions for giving medications). Scoop up a gob of this food paste on a finger and wipe it on the roof of your animal’s mouth, behind the front teeth. Most pets will swallow it rather than spit it out. Allow plenty of time for swallowing before offering the next bit. If this doesn’t work, you can thin the mix further and use a turkey baster, a plastic syringe without the needle, or an oral syringe (ask your veterinarian for one) to administer it. Give small amounts every few hours, rather than forcing the whole daily feeding in one or two doses.

Caution:
You may need to wrap your pet (especially cats) in a towel before the feeding to avoid getting scratched in the process.

SPECIAL CARE

Depending on the animal’s condition and symptoms, you may also need to provide other kinds of nursing care.

Enemas:
Animals can benefit from the use of enemas in some conditions, particularly in fasting, constipation, bowel irritation caused by bone fragments or the presence of toxic material (like garbage or spoiled food in the digestive tract), dehydration, or excessive vomiting.

Use pure water that is warm but not hot (test it on your wrist)—only about two tablespoons for a cat and up to a pint for a large dog. (Even a small amount of fluid will stimulate the bowel to empty itself.) Add a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the water and administer the solution with a plastic or rubber syringe (or enema bag and nozzle with larger animals) over a two-to three-minute period.

Here’s how: First, lubricate the end of the syringe with vegetable oil and, while someone else calmly and gently holds the animal while
it stands on the ground or in a tub, insert the nozzle carefully into the rectum. With gentle, consistent pressure against the anus (so the fluid does not leak out), slowly fill the colon. If the solution does not flow in readily, it’s probably because the syringe is up against a fecal mass, in which case you’ll need to pull back on the nozzle or syringe and adjust the angle a bit. A bowel movement is usually stimulated within just a few minutes.

Administer an enema in this fashion once or twice a day for a couple of days. That’s usually enough.

Dehydrated animals may simply retain the fluid. I have seen this many times. What happens is that the colon absorbs the fluid, which the body desperately needs. Thus, enemas are an excellent way to administer fluid therapy at home! Give them about every four hours under these circumstances, or until fluid is no longer retained.

If your animal has been vomiting a lot and can’t keep water in its stomach, an enema can introduce fluid as well as salts needed to replace those lost through vomiting. Add a pinch of sea salt to the enema water, plus a pinch of potassium chloride (KCl, a salt substitute for people on low-sodium diets that is sold in supermarkets). This same salt-replacement fluid therapy will help a dog or cat with prolonged diarrhea. Again, administer every four hours or until fluid is no longer retained.

Bathing and cleaning:
In some cases an animal is so fouled by vomiting, diarrhea, or skin discharges that a bath is definitely in order. You should, however, take on this task only at the end of an illness, when the animal is well on the way to recovery and its temperature is normal. Otherwise, rely upon the cleaning methods described below. Even then, be sure the animal does not become chilled. Dry him quickly by giving him a good toweling, followed by a warm sunbath or blow-dry, with the dryer set on low and held not too close to the fur. The only exception to the rule of waiting until toward the end of an illness is when the dog or cat, particularly a young one, is so heavily parasitized with fleas and lice that its strength is being sapped. Then a soapy bath that will remove and drown these parasites is in order.

Care of the body openings:
Very often, a disease will cause discharges from various body orifices, especially the nose, eyes, ears, and anus. Sick animals, particularly cats, are made miserable by accumulations they cannot remove and that can irritate underlying tissues. Here are a few simple cleansing techniques that offer great relief.

The nose:
If plugs and secretions have formed, carefully clean the nose with a soft cloth or gauze saturated with warm water. Sometimes patience is needed in trying to soften the material so you can gradually remove it. Two or three short sessions may be better than a single long one.