Chronic Disease Leads Pet Illness
And New Drugs? Still Can’t Cure It
Dementia and Mental Illness: Vaccine + Food Ties
Honey: Meet Wound
EO’s and Cancer
Along the Natural Path
What Are Your Animals Sick With?
The latest “top diseases” lists have come out for 2025 for pets.
These are generated from pet insurance data, so are very likely representative of reality in the trenches, whether or not your animal is insured.
What the latest article points out that past ones seemingly failed to notice: the bulk of these vet visits were due to chronic disease.
Remember that C word?
It refers to those diseases that last a long time, often a lifetime.
As opposed to acute disease, which is short lived and expected to resolve in a couple days or less.
In dogs, 6 of the top 10 diseases listed were chronic.
In cats, it’s seven.
Still Reigning Champion: Skin (and Ears)
In the dogs, that number 1 spot last year and for the past 15 years hasn’t changed: it’s The Itch.
We’ve got decades of data spelling it out: allergic disease showing up in skin and/or ears is the #1 reason dogs see veterinarians.
Ears either shared that spot some years or often came in second.
But, it’s really the same “immune confusion” disease.
Wild over reaction to normal things, aka allergies to:
A flea bite
A bite of chicken
Grasses, trees, pollen, etc.
Or, worse, not allergies, but attack on self, aka autoimmune disease, now rampant in kids and not uncommon in dogs.
Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (immune destruction of red blood cells)
Autoimmune thrombocytopenia (immune attack on the cells needed to clot blood)
Both of these, the commonest, have a 50:50 chance of survival.
A Worrisome New Contender: GI Disease
Gastroenteritis, a catch all term for vomiting, diarrhea or related gut based disease, is #1 in cats now and the #2 most common presentation in dogs.
In vet school in the late 70’s, we learned about a chronic version of this, but I never saw a case in 40 years of practice, both conventional initially and homeopathic for the remainder.
Now, it’s getting write ups in vet journals as a vexingly common illness in your pets. And the insurers are seeing it in their payouts.
Reminder (or revelation if this is new to you): both Ayurveda and TCM have recognized forever that “disease begins in the gut.”
So, Why All the Chronic Disease?
First, it’s important to recognize none of this “fell out of the sky” and landed on your pet. I hope that’s obvious.
No, it’s entirely man made.
You won’t find wolves, coyotes, bobcats or cheetahs with allergies, autoimmune disease or chronic digestive issues.
They, like all of us, can be beset by acute illness. But again, that’s entirely different, and beatable. If there’s acute parvo or distemper in wild canines, the strong survive and the weak die off, making the species fitter.
We’ve said, “Dying of infectious disease? Unacceptable! We’ll vaccinate it all away.”
And therein lies a clue, one that points to a premise I’ve carried for decades to explain what I saw in practice and in the vet literature:
Man made “prevention” largely gets the blame for our chronic disease epidemic.
“Prevention” Risk Ranking
I rank those interventions from deepest acting, hardest to change to easiest:
Vaccination
Poisons for all pests
Highly over processed toxic food, aka kibble
In other words, you can change crappy food out for fresh (ideally raw) and see positive changes in a couple weeks. Easy peasy.
You can stop poisoning fleas and ticks and heartworm and give detox a chance, and it’ll take longer, but it’ll still respond from your efforts, given time.
But if you vaccinate?
The effects of that, especially if you get the usual combo wombo vaccines repeatedly, can last a lifetime.
Common Signposts of Prevention Gone Wrong
The Itch has to be looked at with a special lens, as it rarely shows up immediately.
Somewhat oddly, it frequently starts about a month after a round of shots, often the “puppy series” that can start with the breeder.
You’ll find it in vet records or your bills. In for a “wellness visit” (oh, please) and next month, you’re back looking for help with The Itch.
See kidney failure there at #3 in cats?
There’s a long standing reason for this being so common in this sensitive species, and it’s right there in published vet research.
Autoimmune attacks on cat kidneys or dog red blood cells are also borne out by science.
I reference all of those in one of my cornerstone articles, Vaccination as a Cause of Illness. Well worth your time to explore.
The Nasties Elsewhere
Oh, there are the less avoidable ones, like toxic food ingredients, water, and air of course, but even these can be minimized.
If you’re looking for raw meat to make your own balanced raw diet, find those local ranchers who raise their animals on pasture. Or visit small butchers who process deer, goats, or rabbits.
Buy organic as much as you can to avoid glyphosate and other herbicides and pesticides.
Water purifiers have become easier and more efficient as have air purifiers for the house.
Dr. WhiteCoat Can’t Cure Chronic Disease
That’s his dirty little secret.
It’s always been true and shows no greater likelihood now of changing than it did back in the days of blood letting or swallowing mercury.
Net result: your animal (or child) become a “patient for life.”
You end up continually throwing money down a hole, while things go from bad to worse as increasingly powerful but ineffective drugs are prescribed.
Homeopathy, in the hands of a qualified, trained professional, can cure the chronics, but it’s not a quick fix. And it’s never DIY, unlike acute disease treatment.
It’s Up to You Now
So, bottom line: you have to take charge, largely in prevention.
If what’s offered as prevention is causing the bulk of chronic disease, and that’s incurable and costly in conventional medicine, you have to call the shots for your innocents.
There are lots of articles on Vital Animal and a number of courses to help you.
Others have done it before you and even starting with baby steps, you can get there.
Start with Vitamin N
Already have a vaccinated pet?
Being pushed for more vaccines, as if duration of immunity is a lost concept?
Bring out the Vitamin N: “NO, thank you!” You’ll have veterinary immunologists on your side.
If you’re feeling less bold and confident on the spot, try this instead:
Thanks for your recommendation, Doctor, but we’re going to study more about this first. We’ll get back to you if we opt to go this route for Sadie.”
Your efforts to avoid the chronic crud will be well rewarded, how ever you pull it off.
Chronic disease is a path you want to avoid as much as possible.
New Drug for Your Allergic Dog?
As common as (man made) chronic disease is in both pets and people, I hope you’re already aware that conventional medicine in either field is decidedly inadequate to cure it.
But oh, Big Pharma won’t stop trying! Not while there’s money to be made!
Remember a couple issues back, we discussed drug classes?
Once you learn a few classes of drugs, you can quickly make decisions when a new drug is being pushed on you.
Here’s your next chance!
A Brand new JAK Inhibitor
Promising to fix The Itch while quietly under selling its likely side effects, here’s a NEW ONE.
Safety studies are laughable, but Merck is spelling out the dangers for you if you dig a bit.
Here’s what your vet is probably not reading and his drug rep is definitely not emphasizing, as he seeks to close the sale:
NUMELVI (atinvicitinib tablets) is not for use in dogs less than 6 months of age or those with serious infections. NUMELVI may increase susceptibility to opportunistic infections, including demodicosis (mange) and interdigital furunculosis. Consider the risks and benefits of treatment prior to initiating NUMELVI in dogs with a history of recurrent demodicosis. NUMELVI is a JAK inhibitor.
New neoplastic conditions (benign and malignant) have been reported in dogs treated with other JAK inhibitors. The effectiveness and safety of NUMELVI have not been evaluated in a field study beyond 28 days. The safe use of NUMELVI has not been evaluated in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs, nor in combination with glucocorticoids, cyclosporine, or other systemic immunosuppressive agents. For complete safety information, refer to the product label.”
Look at Its Predecessor
While Numelvi will brag about its once a day use, this is the same class of drugs that brought us Apoquel.
It’s stated goal is turning off the signaling inherent in a fully functional immune system.
You know, so your dog doesn’t feel the reality going down inside with runaway allergies. Created from those little syringes filled with multiple modified viruses.
The sad comments of Apoquel’s damages continue to pour in to this article:
Chief side effect since inception? Cancer, aka “neoplastic conditions (benign and malignant).” The ones I’ve read in the comments are NOT benign, by the way. Lymphoma, i.e. cancer of the immune system itself, seems prominently represented.
But, knowing this drug class, you’ll be able to laugh off any suggestion that a once a day JAK inhibitor is a solution you’re willing to even try.
Food, Vaccination, and Dementia
We in holistic medicine have long seen mental declines of various kinds associated with vaccines.
Even though it’s not been proven enough to satisfy some folks, the meteoric rise in autism in children paralleled the unleashing of their vaccine schedule in the 80’s. As I’d become acutely aware of vaccinosis in 1992-3 during my homeopathy training, it was impossible to ignore what was happening to our children in America.
Similarly, ADHD and the consequent drugging of children, had became commonplace around the same time. I’ve heard it’s rare now to find young people who aren’t on some med for mental challenges.
In our rabies vaccinated patients, it’s not unusual to see aggression or fear arise that was previously unheard of in the dog or cat. Owners couldn’t help but notice the change.
This shouldn’t be surprising, as rabies is a neurotropic virus, actually traveling along nerve sheaths (not blood vessels) in the rabies victim.
And “brain on fire” is a term we bandy about when we see dogs who are hyper, can’t focus, or are super sensitive to stimuli. It can come from any number of vaccines, like distemper, commonly part of canine vaccination programs and another neuro disease virus.
Nutrition and Feline Minds
A rather long article appeared in Vet Practice News recently, speaking to feline cognitive decline.
You’ve perhaps seen some version of this, as did I when I was in practice.
The commonest I’d hear about was “howling all alone, like she was lost or something.” Usually, worse at night, and maybe associated with restless pacing.
A question I always asked: “If you walked in and spoke to Princess, would she stop the yowling?”
Most would.
As I was usually treating “the whole cat,” i.e. constitutionally prescribing homeopathy for my patient, I paid attention to these reports, as they’d help me choose remedies. As I recall, most were curable as we honed in on a patient’s best remedy.
But, as the article, unfortunately written by “Allison McGrath, MS, …a scientist in Global Clinical Nutrition and Claims at Hill’s Pet Nutrition” points out, not surprisingly food choices have a bearing on mental disease.
High oxidative stress is pointed to as a likely cause and antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids have helped in canine research.
A Caution on Commercial Foods
As Hill’s is famous for their “Prescription Diets®,” I can well imagine a new diet is in the works. Maybe B/D (for brain disease)? D/D is already in use, for the derm cases…
If you didn’t know already, Hill’s makes a lot of kibble. Which means high temps, high pressure, and the usual cheap ingredients that include various “meals” meaning material from the rendering industry.
Does “chicken meal” sound pretty okay to you? It used to to me, too, as I innocently believed decades back that it was just the meat, ground up.
Nope. For a one page downloadable resource that spells it out graphically, Susan Thixton has you covered. What are rendered pet food ingredients?
Early on, I lumped Hill’s diets with all the other “premium” kibble on the shelves under my banner of “expensive junk food.” Nothing you’d ever dream of feeding a family member of any species.
Omega 3’s in Kibble?
That’d be a bit like lipstick on a pig, to borrow an old phrase.
Remember how fragile omega 3 fats are?
If they’re not in capsules, that bottle of fish oil or algae oil better be brown glass, tightly capped, and refrigerated, as these fats oxidize easier than most.
And once they become oxidized (i.e. rancid), they shift from being good for health to very, very bad.
So, if a pet food is bragging about containing one of these oils, the odds of rancidity are high. Kibble sitting on the shelf in a paper bag? Imagine.
I suspect that this ingredient is coming in Hill’s latest “brain diet” or what ever they choose to call it.
You’ll be far better off feeding your cat or dog a raw diet, whether you make it or buy it. If you want to add some omega 3’s before feeding, go for it.
Honey as Medicine Revisited
A recent study confirmed it: honey is much more than a natural sweetener.
It’s a potent antibacterial wound healer, even active against those nasty bugs resistant to antibiotics, chiefly Staph aureus and E. coli.
As “superbugs” threaten to kill us after too many years of antibiotic abuse, this is heartening.
Diversity Rules
Interestingly, the Australians leading this latest work found that those bees who got to visit the widest variety of flowers before turning nectar into honey had the most potent wound healing goop.
Our study shows that the antibacterial properties of honey are closely tied to ecological richness,” says lead researcher Dr Kenya Fernandes.
Each nectar has its own unique chemical signature. When bees can forage on a smorgasboard of native plants, the mix combines to create honey chemically rich in bioactive compounds that are effective against bacteria.”
Isn’t that amazing? There’s a pattern here. Diversity makes all the difference.
Where have we seen this before? Pull up a chair and recall…
Gut microbes: diversity wins the game time and again.
Kids growing up on farms, getting dirty, rolling around with pets: all far less likely to get allergies, thanks to their diverse microbiomes.
Soil, like the gut, grows the best crops when it’s allowed to be diverse, enhanced by intercropping, live manure from grazing animals, and cover crops.
That healthy soil holds more water, allows deeper root growth, and its crops attracts less pests and weeds.
Mono diets have never been the norm in your pets’ ancestors nor cousins, and those fears about making every homemade meal “balanced?” Banished when you vary things regularly.
So, mix it up.
Visit rich environments, roll in the forest debris, wrestle with Sadie and snuggle with Max, get dirty, and change up your diet as well as your animals.’
And don’t forget honey as a wound healer. You may want to explore Australia’s offerings in that department.
Aromatherapy & Cancer
As you are probably well aware, cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs past middle age. That’s held true since I first heard it probably 30 years ago, and all that changed is we’ve gained a bit more info about susceptible breeds, size difference effects, etc.
Cats show similar stats, but have kidney failure and heart disease in competition with the Big C, so the latter accounts for ~30% of deaths in cats over 10 years of age.
My friend and colleague Dr. Janet Roark, The Essential Oil Vet, who I interviewed on Vital Animal Podcast some time back, is focusing on cancer this month, and there’s a couple ways you can benefit.
First, she’s giving a free PDF guide on the Top 5 Essential Oils for Animals with Cancer.
You can grab that here:
For those who want to take a deeper dive, Dr. Roark is putting on a powerful LIVE webinar for her paid members, The Truth About Cancer in Animals.
This workshop dives into holistic approaches, essential oil protocols, and supportive care strategies to help your pets live their best quality of life—whether you’re dealing with a current diagnosis or looking for preventative care.
It’s going LIVE with Dr. Roark Wednesday, 25 March @ 7pm Central Time.
As she knows the Vital Animal Pack are keen learners and users of aromatherapy, she’s offering you a sweet discount to be part of this.
Her membership prices rose this month, but here’s how to get in at a substantial discount:
1. Go to TRUTH ABOUT CANCER ←-Click here
2. Enter your discount code at checkout: VITAL
3. Be sure to click the “Apply” button next to the code to see the price change to 50% off!
4. Finally, complete the registration form and you are in!
If you can’t make it for the live, you’ll get the replay, no problem, but being able to ask questions to the expert in real time is hard to beat.
I hope you’ll take advantage of this, whether to aid treatment or sharpen your prevention strategies against this all too common disease.
p.s. just a guess: like homeopathy, I suspect aromatherapy is “species agnostic,” so the oils and combos you’ll learn can likely help a human in need.
Along the Natural Path
Every year in India, especially during Spring and Fall, sees crops transitioning from one state to another. Most of it by hand labor.
The bright yellow flowers that heralded Spring are now fat pods, full of black mustard seeds, destined for the presses that will extract the popular cooking oil.
I just learned there’s an old fashioned stone press nearby and will get some pics of that for the next issue.
Simultaneous to mustard ripening, there’s lots of winter wheat nearly ready for harvest.
A local goat family, waiting on breakfast:
And a huge bull whose prior condition I saw in Winter, but didn’t share, as it looked too severe, like burns over his entire back half. Now, healing nicely.
That’s what’s haps in my corner of the globe. Still enjoying a few last cool mornings before the unrelently tropical heat hits, and as there’s an “extra” moon this year, we’ll be stuck in the hot plains for a month longer than usual before we beat it to the Himalayan hill station for some respite.
Where ever you find yourself on this amazing blue space ship, keep on making those wise choices for the innocents in your care. They’ll thank you with long, healthy, loving lives.
Until next time,
Will Falconer, DVM
I LOVE Vitamin N! Hadn't heard that before. Brilliant! No is a full sentence. Thank you for ALL you do. You are such a gift to the world.
All of my past dogs and cats all died of cancer and only lived about half of their normal lifespans.
After I learned and became aware of the harm that had been inflicted on them by all the meds and vaccines given to them by the veterinarian I decided to go the natural path.
Thank goodness for a nice commenter on Substack that introduced me to Dr. Will Falconer’s site a while back.
Now my last living eleven year old cat is on the natural path and I hope he lives a long healthy life !!!
Thank you Dr. Falconer for teaching us all about the proper way to care for our animals !!!