Myth Busting on Skin Disease
Boats, Vaccines, Food: Related?
Dementia Revisited
Puppies, Calcium, and the Power of the Purse
New World Screwworm, Gak!
Tasty Tips: A Promising Tick Fix
Along the Natural Path
Atopic Dermatitis, Myths?
Well, this headline from Clinician’s Brief certainly caught my eye:
“Top 5 Canine Atopic Dermatitis Myths”
What’s not to love about myth busting?
I loved it when I took on Big Pet Food early in my writing career:
The myth of 100% complete diets
The myth of food not spoiling in paper bags on shelves for weeks or months
The mouth watering pictures of steak on the label while byproducts were the reality inside
So, my heart sank a bit further, seeing the author of the article: “Sponsored by Hill’s Pet Nutrition.”
Okay, they’ll be selling their answer to the myths, but would they even get to my top missing myth?
No. Of course not.
Here’s a quick rundown of what Hill’s sees as myths around the #1 reason dogs see vets.
First though, let’s not confuse things with the fancy scientific term “atopic dermatitis.”
Let’s call it simply, THE ITCH!
I’m sure you know it, and have likely experienced it if you’ve owned dogs who’ve partaken in the usual rigamarole that passes for “prevention:”
Vaccination, early and often. Worst case, annually. The latter is estimated to still exist in 60% of vet practices even though there’s zero science to call for such repetition.
Junk food. Looking at you, Hill’s: just because you sell some that you euphemistically call “prescription diets,” it’s still over processed, low quality ingredients crap.
Pesticides for every pest. Now oh-so-convenient, you can give your dog a poison (but tasty!) pill that starts killing fleas within hours. And the best part: keeps killing them for months! For those really wanting convenience, Bravecto Quantum is here! Dr. WhiteCoat has to inject that one, but it’ll keep killing fleas for a whole year! (Covered in the lede of this recent issue below)
Vital Animal News: August 17, 2025
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The miracles of modern medicine, unleashed; when parasites laugh at dewormers, a dental challenge and germaphobia, rabies freebie, and bovine roadblocks… Let’s dig in, shall we?
Myths and the Missed Myth
I won’t spend much time on their myths, as the intent of the article was to sell vets their latest formulated food-like particles.
They spoke of immune dysregulation, thank goodness. No mention of WHAT dysregulates the poor, overworked canine immune system, but you already well know it.
Brief review for those asleep in class: vaccinations! And yes: this WILL be on the test…
[Just be aware: the onset of ill effects of vaccination in animal often lags by about a month.]
Then they clattered on about inside/out or outside/in, but their ultimate goal: sell more food!
This one was pretty good, though:
Myth #3: The Primary Treatment for CAD (“canine atopic dermatitis, aka The Itch) Is the Use of Either a Janus Kinase Inhibitor or Monoclonal Antibody
It seems the use of dangerous drugs has become the weapon of choice when Dr. WhiteCoat is confronted with The Itch.
JAK inhibitors like Apoquel screw up the immune system’s signaling, so your itchy dog no longer “knows” he itches.
Nice, right?
Well sure, until the rest of the impaired immune system starts speaking up with more serious conditions. Like cancer.
Oops. Since the drug dampened our signaling ability, those tumor cells just weren’t noticed. But aren’t you glad The Itch is better?”
Missed Myth
Of course, no one in conventional medicine considers they are to blame for The Itch.
So, is there an unspoken myth that this iatrogenic disease somehow falls from the sky?
Common sense easily verifies this.
Are the wild cousins like wolf, coyote, fox, wild African dog wildly over reacting to things they eat? To pollens in the air? Plants around them?
Silly, right? Of course they’re not.
It’s only when we plunge the needle full of multiple viruses in to Sadie’s body, bypassing all her natural defenses, that her immune system goes crazy.
Dysregulation? 100% man made, mostly from this very popular, highly profitable practice!
Reality of the Disease
Hill’s at least admits this part:
Clients need to understand that CAD is a chronic, lifelong condition and most patients require ongoing therapy. Even with good control, occasional flares can be expected. It is best to set clear expectations for pet owners during initial visits to address skin disease, as the process of diagnosing and managing atopic skin conditions can be lengthy and frustrating.”
See the big picture here?
Similar to humans, especially since vaccine manufacturers for people were given immunity to lawsuits when things go horribly wrong.
Create the disease. Chronic disease is best.
Sell the treatment. Drugs, special diets, etc.
Bingo: customers for life!
Alternate Reality
You don’t have to partake in this machine that’s cranking out chronic illness and then offering no cure.
Making this crystal clear has been my mission since I saw this man-made suffering early on once I left conventional practice.
It’s what VitalAnimal.com was born for, after I realized I could only fix one sick animal at a time and that your animals were being ironically sickened by “prevention” itself.
Smart Vaccine Alternatives will help your newbies avoid the main trigger.
If you’re already stuck with The Itch, get in with a homeopathic vet who’s the real deal. It CAN be cured, but it’ll take time and attention to details on your part.
Interestingly, the most valuable details will be Other Than what the skin looks like.
No myths about it. Treating “the Whole Animal” with a professional’s help can result in an end to The Itch. Along with an end to its treatment. And a deep, lasting betterment without ongoing treatment of any kind.
That, my friend, is the true definition of cure.
Speed Boat vs Ocean Liner
Putting “prevention” practices into perspective
If you’ve read my stuff, you already know I have long placed vaccination as your #1 most important decision.
How you think about risk vs benefit here and choose carefully will set the trajectory of health and longevity for your animals.
Food matters, but it’s a decision you can be foolish about for a good while and still correct later.
Step into My Clinic
Here’s how I laid it out for those who made it into my one man homeopathic practice for years.
I talked about boats. Briefly.
Chronic disease is what I’d see most, like anyone in any kind of vet practice.
And I had to teach boats because anything chronic (The Itch being the commonest for decades now) takes time to “turn around.”
Like a huge ocean liner. Not gonna turn on a dime, obviously.
Anything acute (injury, tummy upset after garbage foraging, parvo, burns, etc.) is not expected to last for weeks, by definition.
So, that kind of disease is like a speed boat. Changes course ever so quickly with the right remedy.
“Prevention” can make two kinds of boats
This analogy also explains my ranking of medical inputs. And diets. And pest “meds.”
If you vaccinate today, you’ve in effect set an ocean liner into motion.
That act sets up chronic disease. The Itch, epilepsy, IBS, autoimmune disease, what ever its name, the expectation is: it’s here for the long term. Recall what Hill’s recognized had to be part of “client education” above.
And no “detox” will fix that chronic condition (a term I see all too often around vaccines).
And “management” (not cure) is all that conventional medicine can do for anything chronic.
Maybe “slowing the ocean liner” at best, never reversing it, never reaching a happy end point.
But, if you feed junk food today, or this month or this year, that sets up a more amenable problem.
Yes, it’s toxic. Yes, detox can help.
But time and again, I’d see those animals whose owners shifted to a raw diet get better in a relatively short time.
Making the jump from kibble to raw brought shinier coats, clearer eyes, more pep in the step, and better stools within a couple weeks.
Speed boat kind of change.
Pesticides for every pest (fleas, ticks, and heartworms) are somewhere in the middle.
Stopping them, detoxing from them, and shifting to natural alternatives helps more like a houseboat, to continue the analogy.
So, as my parent’s generation used to say, “Choose yer poison.”
As you can easily guess, getting saddled with a chronically ill animal is a drag for all involved. Expensive, often exhausting, and with no cure possible from conventional medicine.
All the more reason to make wise choices.
Dementia Revisited
Last issue, we touched on cognitive decline in dogs and people.
In the recent influx of people into my Homeopathy Short Course came yet another example of the profound effect real food can have:
Retired hospice nurse turned pet sitter 2020. I took a certification class in home made pet food because my sweet 12 y/o dog Davie had terrible dementia
He’s improved greatly since beginning on the food and not getting vaccinated anymore. I’m excited to continue on this journey. — Deborah in HSC, lesson “What’s Homeopathy?”
Doesn’t this make sense?
More species appropriate “fuel” is bound to make the cells, organs, and whole animal function at a higher level.
And the page I’ve linked to just above has certification training in making better food, if you want to embark on the DIY path.
Deborah also stopped vaccinating her already vaccinated dog as well, a practice you can adopt that’ll have veterinary immunologists applauding.
Calcium Revisited
As we spoke about the common oversight in homemade diets last issue, I found this article from Truth About Pet Food germane.
An entire litter of puppies is currently suffering rickets due to a faulty milk replacer.
Both calcium and phosphorus, key nutrients that bones need to develop properly, were largely absent in “Breeder’s Edge Foster Care Canine and Shelter’s Choice Canine Milk Replacers.”
(With a product name like that, wouldn’t you think they were trustworthy?)
Here’s what happens to growing bones in a severe macro mineral deficiency:
And, the company isn’t stepping up to pay for the ongoing care this shelter is experiencing…
Boycott Time
Minimally, as this company, Revival Animal Health, appears to have a reputation of poor quality (see the comments from the article), their refusal to pay for their damages calls for a boycott of anything they market.
And, if you wish to support the struggling shelter, the article also has a link to their GoFundMe account.
Take aways:
Calcium (and phosphorus in good balance) is absolutely critical to health and growth
The power of the purse strings is an effective way of shaping both companies and vet practices that are bad actors.
Screw You, Worm!
You may have seen New World Screwworm news of late. Although nothing new, this is one gross disease, and when I practiced in Wisconsin in my early days, I only saw a variant of these nasties, as we were miles from the Mexican border.
The case or two of “fly strike” I saw were bad enough.
First the rotten smell assaults your nose, then you’d part the hair on the affected dog (who was clearly feeling less than shiny), and be taken aback with a mass of wriggling maggots, some of which started falling from the skin wound onto the exam room floor.
We learned about this in vet school, but nothing quite prepares you for it in practice.
Gak!
I’d learned from my senior partner that our treatment was a liberal pour of ether, right onto the wriggling mass in the ever growing wound. It seemed to quickly stop the wriggles and a flush or two and some wound spray and Sadie was ready to go home, grateful for the relief we’d brought her.
New World Screwworm is Different
This species of fly is much more aggressive.
It finds a wound of any kind, cut, scrape, umbilical cord, dehorning or castration break in the flesh, swoops in, lays eggs, and in seemingly no time, eggs hatch to larvae that actually screw their way deeply through the flesh.
Any kind of flesh. Livestock, wildlife, pets, even humans.
That more aggressive flesh eating sets off a state of necrosis (tissue death) and septic shock and can bring death in 3-5 days.
You can imagine this more of a threat to livestock producers, who aren’t seeing every animal every day. First awareness could easily be an unexpected carcass of an otherwise healthy looking steer.
Population Control vs Your Single Animal
Historically, this has been controlled by the mass releases of sterile male flies in areas affected. They produce sterile offspring after mating, and the disease dies off.
That’s resumed now that there have been a few cases in Texas and New Mexico.
If you find such a furiously wiggling wound in an individual animal, consider it an emergency and get your charge into an emergency vet.
p.s. In any ER, the question of vaccination status shouldn’t even enter the conversation. If it does, your answer is quick and pointed: “YES, all current. Please attend to my poor dog.” Don’t let the fear of that question stop you from getting emergency service when you need it.
Tasty Tips: Tick Repellent Herb!
We’re well into summer now, and the fleas and ticks have noticed. We had a discussion on ticks, Lyme, etc. in Vital Animal Alpha recently, where I first learned of an effective herbal repellent: Cistus incanus.
Drema shared with us this is old news:
Cistus Tea can be ingested as a tick repellent! According to Dietrich Klinghardt, the Sardinians have discovered through the decades that when giving Cistus incanus to their pets or livestock, the animals who ate the tea leaves exhibited no ticks whereas those who didn’t eat the plant had dozens of ticks. This trick seems to work with humans and it’s a great side effect of the tea and a pleasant alternative to putting on chemical repellents to keep ticks away. You can sprinkle the leaves on your pet’s food to keep them tick-free as well. —Excerpt from LymeKnowledge.com
Dosage: Just use 1/2 tsp per 10 lbs of body weight. You don’t have to put the kettle on for your pet, you can just put the herb directly into their food. Pets LOVE the taste!”
At first I gave my dog some dry leaves to be sure she liked the taste, then I started adding to her food. Here is what I do: Start with a small amount 1/8 tsp then increase gradually up to a tsp for 30 lb. dog.—Drema Bagley, Florida
Drema’s source is Linden Botanicals, who gets their raw material from Crete.
How cool is that?
I’d love to hear some experiments, especially if you own a “tick magnet” (the animal who seems to attract all the pests).
These little buggers have been on the planet for much longer than fleas and have adapted well. And generally, what works on fleas fails on ticks.
Along the Natural Path
Dull brown fields, denuded of winter wheat are slowly starting to take on an amazing emerald hue as rice planting begins.
Like me and my cycling workout, farmers know the sweet spot hour is shortly after sunup, before the shadows shorten and the sun on the plains bakes all in its sight.
Ditto for goat walks, even if it means sharing the road for a piece before the shrubbery appears.
Road sharing can be less crowded but more impactful:
And the back roads, my favorites, can see these elusive birds, at least from a distance:
You perhaps noticed the distinct absence of Himalaya this issue. Yes, had to return to the plains and 105º temps while my visa renewal gets finished for another year. Sincerely hoping to return to that beautiful, cool elevation soon.
Where ever you are on our spinning globe rocketing through space at unimaginable speed, be sure to take some time in Nature. Good for you, good for your animals, and mornings will do a nice circadian reset for you both.
As always, keep your eyes open to what’s on offer, and never feel pressured to act in the moment if Dr. WhiteCoat makes an offer that seems hard to refuse. Your fallback is always there:
“We’ll head home and think about this, Doctor. We’ll let you know if this is something we want for Sadie.”
Till next time,
Will Falconer, DVM
Thank you from the UK for the tip about repelling ticks, much appreciated. This tea (Cistus Incanus - nice the Latin name seems to mention dogs 😎) is available in the UK from quite a few herbal tea suppliers so I’ve ordered some for my little Cavalier tick magnet Maggie. I’ll comment again when I’ve given it a few weeks’ trial.
Hello from the Texas Hill Country! Been reading your articles and newsletters for years. Sure wish my dog and me could have met you before you moved away to India. Thank you for continuing to educate us all. Would Cistus Incanus help prevent mites in chickens? I’d love to try this for my little flock if it’s chicken safe.