Vital Animal News: June 9, 2024
New mRNAs Coming; Neutering Concerns; Dentals & Drugs and More!
Bird Flu: mRNA on the Way!
Neutering: Updated Cautions
Dentals Don’t Need Antibiotics (more proof)
Tasty Tips: Great Balls O’ Fire!
Along the Natural Path
Really? We’re Doing This Again?
It appears your taxes will be funneled into Moderna and Pfizer to produce yet another experimental mRNA vaccine.
This time, it’s for bird flu, of course (but you saw this coming, right?)
Both company’s stock prices are rising on the “good news,” as investors don’t look deeper than their pockets.
Animal vaccines, including mRNA versions, are being produced as I write this.
Calves, ferrets, and mice are getting test injected.
People, too.
Gain of function (GoF) research, in China (even Wuhan) labs has “been going on for years.”
WTH?
Why haven’t we shut this down after our Covid-19 experience?
And are the tests likely to be the false positive prone PCR assays?
Early indications show this is likely the test of choice.
And, in case you missed the cluster flock that PCR testing was… This should help you see it more clearly.
Deja vu, all over again
Hold onto your hats, people, as article after article doesn’t even seem to be aware of the GoF going on.
“Experts” of various forms are all merely positing what might happen.
Here’s but one example, headline in Champagne Illinois news: UI expert says humans at low risk of bird flu as cases rise in mammals This, from Jim Lowe, the Dean of Vet Medicine there.
No sweat?
Does Jim not understand the goal of Gain of Function research?
It’s purely a game of how to make the virus at hand more infectious (moving from species to species, for example, then, faster from individual to individual) and: more deadly.
It’s basically bioweapon development.
Peter McCullough did a literature review for us, and in case you were wondering why this round is lasting so long and affecting so many different species besides birds, here’s the reason:
A literature review on this variant revealed that it—and the subtype (H5Nx) from which it emerged—possess conspicuous functions that were not evident in the viruses from which this new clade is alleged to have evolved. These functions include the following:
1) Increased transmissibility leading to markedly faster intercontinental spread.
2) Increased persistence, causing uncharacteristic outbreaks during summer seasons.
3) Increased virulence for both domesticated and wild birds.
4) Increased host range, including a variety of mammal species.
Already in 2017, a team of avian influenza specialists stated that “the emergence and intercontinental spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5Nx) virus clade 2.3.4.4 is unprecedented.”
Current state of infectivity
Human cases remain low (3 dairy farm workers now, all mild but cow to human transmission is apparent) and 1 from a poultry farm where birds were sick, so also there’s bird to human transmission.
According to the CDC, there’s been no human to human transmission. Yet. As of June 6th.
Hope vs Fear
I’m not holding my breath, but I don’t like this. It reeks of “plandemic” and “we’ve got the answer, just roll up your sleeve and get your free donut.”
As I’ve been following seasonal flu for years, and the Covid “crisis,” I’ve seen the fear campaigns and the buy out of the media who are all too wiling to foment that fear.
I also know homeopathy will have answers, no matter the form the disease takes.
It’s successfully dealt with deadly epidemic diseases for a couple hundred years.
The trouble now is many homeopaths have largely forgotten (or never learned?) Dr. Hahnemann’s work, so we’re likely to see all kinds of well intentioned advice that may not be based on sound genus epidemicus principles.
I’ll do my best to stay current on the evolving situation with bird flu and keep an eye on the symptoms. That’s how we’ll arrive at the remedy of the epidemic.
Here’s how that worked in dog flu, earlier.
And in Covid, that discovered single remedy still seeming to work years after its discovery by my homeopathy teacher Richard Pitcairn, COVID-19: Remedy of the Pandemic.
Stay tuned, but not to the main stream media. They currently seem ill informed and when the bird sh*t hits the fan, you could easily lose your balance if you buy into the fear narrative they are sure to spout.
As I mentioned earlier, Substack seems to be a good resource. More or less radical, depending on who you read, but I trust you’ll be able to find voices of reason there.
Neutering Concerns…by Breed?
Some years back, you may remember the larger body of research published on neutering Golden Retrievers, published in PlosOne (2013)
I summarized this on a popular page on my site and added my thoughts, especially on early neutering, which is purely a veterinary convenience. Nothing good about it for your pet.
A cluster of issues appeared in the neutered (which means male or female), including several cancers, joint disorders, urinary incontinence, and even behavior issues.
Now comes new research, focused on a handful of other breeds: German Short/Wirehaired Pointer, Mastiff, Newfoundland, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Siberian Husky
If you want to dive into the minutia of the study, it’s here.
But, I think we can be lumpers rather than hairsplitters here, and say,
If it ain’t good for Goldens, odds are it’s not great for any breed.”
How different are the breeds, genetically speaking, in ways other than appearance?
I’d submit: very little. Mostly in appearance, but still close cousins to their wolf ancestors. 99% genetic overlap in mitochondrial DNA.
How about aggression?
A common thought in the pet world appears to be that males will become less aggressive when they are neutered. In my article, I quoted a study showing the opposite.
Whoops.
And this latest study adds to that whoops:
Dog owners' decisions on whether and when to neuter their dogs often are influenced by concerns about behavioral effects of neutering. Several recent studies have reported increased fear aggression in both male and female breeds having less exposure to gonadal hormones.
Client surveys using the CBarq data have found that less lifetime exposure to gonadal hormones is associated with increased fearfulness and aggression in female (16) and male (17) dogs. A study with another database reported that dogs with longer exposure to gonadal hormones had fewer health issues and problem or nuisance behaviors”
Less exposure to gonadal hormones?
Um, let’s just call that neutered males or females, shall we?
And longer exposure? Translation: neutering later rather than earlier in life.
There’s more data on 35 breeds and mixed breeds from 2020 (referenced in this study), showing problems with joints, especially in the larger breeds.
You: Take Your Rightful Power
The UC Davis article [When should you neuter or spay your dog?] that lead me to this research paper had some enlightened words of wisdom, stuff I’ve been spouting for years. Nice to see it in a vet journal!
We’re invested in making contributions to people’s relationship with their animals,” said Benjamin Hart, distinguished professor emeritus. “This guidance provides information and options for veterinarians to give pet owners, who should have the final decision-making role for the health and well-being of their animal [emphasis mine].”
Final decision making role. Amen.
That ever important role includes the principles of “follow the money, honey” and “knowledge is power” (when you act on it…).
My goal is and has always been informing you to be thoughtful, questioning, and ultimately wise in making life decisions for your animals.
With that wisdom comes confidence.
And the ability to marshal Vitamin N when appropriate (No.).
Antibiotics and Dentistry?
Still: Big Nope.
One of my Alpha students shared a recent study with the members supporting my earlier finding that antibiotics after dentistry are unwarranted.
What’s cool about this study is the veterinary dentist actually measured the blood of these 13 animals in the study,
Pre-procedure
5’ into it
5’ after the first tooth was pulled
At the end of the procedure
And an hour after it was all over.
The findings?
Nature Wins Again!
There were no bacteria found in the blood before the procedure, perhaps as expected.
But while 38% of the samples had “bacteremia” ($40 word for, you guessed it, bacteria in the blood) at some point in the testing during and after the procedure, NONE had any an hour later!
Sweet, right?
Mom Nature knew those bacteria didn’t belong, and wiped them out.
The author, a board certified vet dentist, concluded antibiotics are “not indicated” in dental procedures.
And, while his sample size was small (13 cases), and he perfunctorily said “more research is needed” (as they all do), his study supports the other experts from both human and vet dentistry that I quoted in my earlier blog post: Are You Allowing This Dangerous Animal Dental Mistake?
Tasty Tips: Oh, Balls!
In my formative years, dogs played a central role.
From the very first “loaner” mini Poodle from our priest going on sabbatical for a couple years, through three more that we called “our own,” they were fast friends for this lonely boy, whose sibs were all way older and largely gone from the home scene.
All those dogs were males.
All were intact.
None of them was ever aggressive. Or fearful.
Ever.
Well, except later in his life, Loopy, our poor deformed Bassett Hound (who ever thought crooked legs were cute??) got cranky. But I blame that on arthritis in hind sight. Poor old guy.
So, the easiest canine neutering decision I can share with you (remember: n = 4, so “more research is needed…”) is this:
Leave your males intact for their best health outcomes.
And solid behavioral outcomes (see above piece: contrary to popular belief, neutering doesn’t make for less aggression. It may increase the odds, in fact).
The obvious caveat: keep control of these ball bearing boys.
They can’t be free roamers, or they’ll find the dog in heat anywhere in a radius of oh, forty miles? (kidding, not kidding).
And then there’ll be unplanned for puppies adding to the canine overpopulation, often ending up in shelters and/or destined to be euthanized if those aren’t “no kill” outfits.
Your odds (from solid research, again, linked above) is healthier joints, less chance of cancer, and fine temperaments.
Cats: a whole ‘nother story, as I explain in my blog.
Along the Natural Path
Writing this in my “sky office,” it sounded like thunder above me, yet the sky was blue and the weather pleasant in the Himalayan foothills.
Must be monkeys, I thought, but when I got up to look, it was an entire troupe of langur, the big leaf eaters, moving across our roof in search of food.
At 80+ lbs, and adept at leaping, they made some seriously loud bangs coming across that metal roofing.
Unlike the macaques, who’d find a way into our garbage cans or trash clothes hanging on lines, these gentle giants are shy and peaceful and do us no harm.
They let me get lots of pics, and a short video of the babies playing.
Several seemed content to just rest here along our fencing, while the youngsters frolicked.
(I’d so much rather write about these guys that the evil doers behind the bird flu pandemic in the making!)
Then, the unexpected
One lone male macaque came up on the roof.
These are the smaller, troublesome “naughty” monkeys in human lingo, and they are normally fearful of the langur.
This guy, not especially big, but a mature male with an obvious crimson butt, leapt up a level to where some of the younger langur were still hanging out.
In short order, the relaxing troupe of langur started to exit, leaping across the roof, boom, Boom, BOOM, then into a nearby conifer, one after the other, the branches swaying from the sudden weight of each hurtling body.
Then, quietly, this apparent matriarch of the langur came out of nowhere and posted herself very visibly on a high roof corner, and the mass exit of her people slowed perceptibly:
She clearly had a guardian stance and her protective presence was obviously calming to her troupe.
A few of the banished langur leapt back from the tree to the roof and resumed foraging.
Then, the troupe largely returned, and peaceful times reigned once more.
A change of view
I’m visiting a family in Kathmandu, Nepal for a few days, and got to see this from my airplane window:
Until next time, keep your head on straight, don’t buy into the fear narrative (it’s actually destructive, physically, to your brain), and keep on making wise decisions for those innocents who depend on you.
Will Falconer, DVM
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