Vital Animal News: March 31, 2024
Poisons, Germs, and Bats, oh My!
Poison Prevention Month?
Germophobia
Bats in Trouble
Homeopathy: Sale
Essential Oil Training
Tasty Tips: Anal Glands
Along the Natural Path
Double Whammy of Pet Poisons
March is “National Poison Prevention Month” (Hallmark, are you providing cards?) and there are two stories that might surprise you.
Killer Pet Food
First, and most important for pet owners is this update from Judy Morgan, DVM, on the ongoing pet food poisoning mess that’s been dragging on for, what, a couple months now?
No recalls, thousands of sickened and dead pets, while industry drags its feet and quietly dumps their food in the landfills and dumpsters.
Judy is the one on the forefront of getting testing done and has this disturbing news:
“We have many people falling ill from handling the food. Same symptoms as the pets. Rectal bleeding, chronic diarrhea, nausea, fatigue. It's a real mess.”
Merely handling the food is making owners sick?
Wow. You can imagine how toxic this stuff is if it’s sickening people via their skin.
And pets continue to EAT IT, if their owners aren’t aware of this issue.
Judy feels they are close to answers, but if any of this is news to you, be sure to get up to speed (and view my homeopathic treatment plan) at my earlier post here.
Then, there’s pharma…Human pharma
An Alabama veterinarian made his local news this month, and the AVMA newsletter picked up the story.
It seems the common source of poisonings he’s seeing in his practice is… wait for it… dogs swallowing human meds!
What does that say about Big Pharma’s main drugs?
If you’ve been prescribed drugs that are intoxicating dogs, is it merely a dose issue?
Or are those drugs pretty nasty for YOU as well?
Worth some thought, and perhaps a turn to a 200 year old system of medicine called homeopathy, that’s been treating all manner of serious diseases successfully in people and pets.
(The other culprit the good doctor points out are the weed chewables that are left lying about while their owners are in another world. Put em up, folks. No judgements, but move your goodies before your pet can partake).
Poison prevention?
Yeah, it’s gotta start at home and you gotta be smart to avoid it these days.
Fear the Germ! No, no, no…
An animal shelter in Maricopa County AZ recently lost a 3 year old dog to an infectious disease caused by a strep, this one (of many in the genus) is called Streptococcus zooepidemicus (pronounced zo oh epidemicus, it’s not a zoo bug, it can cause epidemics in animals is how it got its name).
Upon necropsy, they found this bug, which can cause hemorrhagic pneumonia.
Why here?
The shelter setting is perfect for infectious diseases. Talk about stress.
Animals living cheek and jowl in a limited space
Endless barking (I lived on the grounds of the Hawaii Quarantine Station for a year, while I studied rabies there in the 90’s, so I can attest to this cacophony)
Little access to romp and play outside
What was their response?
The shelter reduced their intake load to “emergencies only.”
More disturbingly, every dog living there got a round of “preventative antibiotics.”
Because, well, there’s no vaccine for this germ, which would have been their first choice.
Net result?
Carpet bombing every kenneled dog’s immune system, 90% of which lives in the gut and depends of a diverse microbiome to function well.
Dang.
Germophobia ruled
This is all too common: the germ gets all the attention, driven by fear.
“If we can just kill all those nasty germs, all will be well!
It’s a very wrong headed approach, as I wrote about here: Kill Germs! (The Fool’s Fix)
We just went through a few years of this nonsense, I’m sure you recall. Masks, social distancing, and finally, a gene therapy jab to solve it all (after known helpful repurposed drugs were removed from the market).
Jenna McCarthy has a brilliant post on this called MakeItMakeSense! (Which it, of course, didn’t)
I had a one time client (one visit only) years back who, while waiting for me in my waiting area, refused to let her little lap dog set foot on the floor.
Wriggling hopefully for escape and longing to sniff who’d been there before him, he was a captive to her germophobia! WTH, Mom??
The wiser approach
Knowing it’s really the terrain more than the germ that’s responsible for disease (read that Fool’s Fix article for more), a better strategy would have included:
Outdoor exercise in the sun (ideally daily, long before this event)
Kennel cleaning with safe disinfectants, like GSE (grapefruit seed extract, highly acidic, but non-toxic compared to the common quaternary ammoniums and other bad guys in common use)
Immune boosting! My fave is transfer factors in a product my sister company offers, called Motherboard. Stress dampens immunity, Motherboard revs it up.
The overreaction to germs is all too common in our world, and “they” love to play on your fears to be sure you’re on board with what ever “they’d” like you to buy.
But you can think your way past the fear, not get triggered, and keep you and your animals healthy by so doing.
What a concept!
Opt out of the fear, focus on establishing wildly healthy animals, kids, and you.
The epidemic du jour won’t stand a chance.
Bats: No Fear!
Having a long time interest in rabies and having lived in Austin Texas (home to Bat Conservation International and millions of bats), my biologist side always perks up when I hear more about this species.
It appears they are in trouble, as this article points out: Bats are in trouble. That’s not good for anyone who likes mezcal, rice or avocado
Often feared, unjustly, they are actually of far more benefit than harm to us humans and our animals, with just a bit of caution for you dog owners.
Rabies
It’s true, they are one of the chief species of wildlife that’s a reservoir for the rabies virus, along with skunk and raccoon.
But they are a low risk species for us to get rabies from, as they typically don’t aggressively bite when rabid.
They merely lose the ability to fly and so may be found flopping on the ground in the latter stages of paralysis before they die.
The caution: either control your dog around such an affected bat (OFF! NO!) or get some aversion training, like they do with snakes.
Mouthing a downed bat could risk your dog’s life.
Humans? Not a worry.
At the Congress Avenue bridge in downtown Austin, an evening spectacle occurs during the warm months.
Tens of thousands of bats leave the bridge’s custom made crevices (made for bats!) on their nightly journey to feed on mosquitos and other flying insects!
It’s a sight to behold: they form a moving cloud of winged bodies, pouring out in a long stream over the Colorado river. It takes a good half hour for the flying flood to dry up!
If they were a serious risk to humans, there’d be data on both the CDC site and the local health department’s site indicating human rabies cases, as this potentially fatal disease is a reportable one.
Those data are nil, year over year.
Good for Ag/Good for humans
The benefits of having bats around are many.
Some estimates indicate one bat can consume up to 1200 mosquito sized bugs in an hour.
A large colony? Perhaps up to 250 TONS of bugs in a night!
Besides eating flying pests like mosquitos, they are famous pollinators, especially of night blooming flowers like mezcal.
Other crops they have a significant beneficial impact on include coffee, tomatoes, corn, bananas, mangoes, walnuts, and chocolate! Some of this is due to seed dispersal.
Between loss of habitat, a fungal “white nose” disease, and extreme weather, the bats are in trouble.
They are a protected species, both federally and by some states like Texas, and you can encourage them if you’d like some local mosquito control.
Bat Conservation International will provide you with plans for making your own bat houses.
In sum, fear not the little winged mammals. Encourage them, they are far more beneficial than dangerous.
Discover Homeopathy
If you have only a vague sense of what homeopathy is, it’s time to take advantage of a lovely course I’ve got for you, called the Homeopathy Short Course.
Homeopathy is not garlic, nor herbs, nor natural living, this art and science is actually a very elegant system of safe and effective medicine that’s basically followed the same logical rules of how to cure the sick since its inception, over 200 years ago.
(Compare that to allopathic medicine, which shifts with the sands of time and has never, not once, cured chronic disease like homeopathy has.)
I’ll be opening the doors to my private membership group called Vital Animal Alpha soon, where I’m providing my students with learning and regular live interaction around acute veterinary homeopathy, but the first step is to get your feet wet with my short course.
To make that a no-brainer, I’ve put the Homeopathy Short Course on sale today.
For a limited time, the enrollment fee has been discounted from its usual $39 to a mere 20 bucks.
Here’s where to get on board, where you’ll see the discounted price automagically applied when you check out:
Discover what this amazing healing modality is, how it works, and see how you can use it for immediate results in a couple of common acute diseases.
See you “inside.”
Animal Aromatherapy
On another training note, my colleague Janet Roark, The Essential Oil Vet, is about to open her popular training called the Animal Aromatherapy Specialist Certification course.
If you’ve ever thought about helping others and their animals with an effective all-natural method, this training may be just what you need to hang your shingle out as a healer.
I interviewed Dr. Roark on my Vital Animal Podcast and was blown away with some of the chronic problem cases she’d cured, including her own migraines and a chronic sinusitis case in a horse (notoriously difficult to cure).
There are some pretty sweet bonuses for those who act quickly, and you can find all the training details on this page.
Of special note: Vets and vet techs can get RACE approved CE credit for taking this course.
Grads are a happy bunch…
(I have to admit, I love it when you befuddle your conventional veterinarian!)
Tasty Tips: Anal glands
(Admittedly, this tip can’t rightly fly under the “tasty” header, but it’s a common problem, so let’s do this)
Samantha wrote in, seeking more info about canine anal glands.
She posited that wild canids probably “scoot” regularly as a way to keep these glands moving.
And, one of her dogs has leaky anal glands.
A fairly regular stink is noticed though her glands don’t seem full and she’s not sensitive to touch in the area.
Where are they?
If you look at the anus as a clock face, the anal glands in dogs appear at 4:00 and 8:00 on the circle.
What’s normal?
They normally do not leak, nor do they need to scoot to relieve impacted glands (and I’m certain wolves, unless domesticated or in zoos, never scoot their butts on the ground).
They are scent glands, better developed in the skunk as a means of defense.
In the canids, they are more of a “calling card” with every stool passing by getting a bit of liquidy “Yep, it’s me! My territory!”
The pressure of a normal passing stool is all a normal dog needs to let those glands loosen their load, little bit by little bit.
You can help, if need be
The usual problem in domestic dogs is impaction, not leaking.
They get full, they bulge, they’re uncomfortable, and scooting and licking ensues.
If your dog is so bothered, you can glove up and help these stuffed glands release, in most cases.
A helper is usually needed to hold Sadie’s head and comfort her. It’s a bit personal, what you’re about to do…
A bit of lube on your dominant index finger, and that’s the one that slides in, up to the first knuckle, alongside that bulge at 8:00.
Your opposing thumb grasps the outside, you’ve got a tissue between your action fingers, and the name of the expression game is a Slow. Gentle. Plucking.
Like you’re picking a small but stubborn cherry.
If it’s not long standing, odds are, as you pluck, that gland will issue forth a black, oily, stinky fluid into your waiting tissue.
When it stops coming, you switch hands and do the other side, same way.
A dab of calendula ointment after you’re done, some Happy Talk to Sadie, and the job is done.
If they refuse to budge with your best efforts, your local vet is your next call.
Leakers and chronic gland issues
If you have to do this over and over again, this has moved from acute (quick, short lasting) to chronic disease (stretched out in time, not resolved easily, and repeatedly reoccurring).
For those cases and the repeated leakers, your best bet is calling in a professional.
You’d ideally want a homeopathic vet who does mostly or only homeopathy and knows how to cure chronic disease.
I tell you how to sort these folks in a video I made here.
The work I’m suggesting is called constitutional prescribing, so your “whole dog” is treated, with the expectation that not only the anal glands but anything else that’s been chronically bothering your friend will clear up. It usually takes repeated appointments, and one remedy at a time until all is well.
So, not so tasty a tip, but a practical one. I hope this comes in handy if you ever need it.
Along the Natural Path
Summer slammed down upon us since I last wrote, with the suddenness of an volcanic eruption.
Our lovely Spring days with cool nights and pleasant days vanished, replaced by a now unfriendly sun baking down and sending temperatures soaring.
101-102º this week for highs in UP, India.
Head scarves have come out, long sleeves, and fans or air conditioners are back in full use. Laundry is crispy dry inside of an hour (vs all day, maybe tomorrow in Winter).
And, the crops are nearing harvest.
Mustard (above) is rattling in its pods, waiting to be turned into profitable oil, in common use for cooking here.
Winter wheat has turned from green to ripened brown, and will end up mostly as roti (aka chapati or wheat tortilla in other cultures).
The hot weather has shifted me to morning bike rides for my exercise. Walking and evening times too easily add to bodily heat.
And you never know who you’ll share the road with in India.
Dogs, trucks, bikes, goats, buffalo, horse carts, and, in my neighborhood, bulls are normal (and luckily laid back)…
Buffalo last evening:
Bulls the morning before:
Unlike his compadre on the shoulder above, this guy, dewlap flouncing from side to side, took his half of the road right down the middle:
Unlike the American bulls who’d have come for me, malice aforethought, these massive beasts just live and let live. Nobody bothers them, they don’t bother nobody.
We celebrated Holi last week with the ashram packed full of devotees from all over the world.
Sometimes it’s played with colored powder, sometimes colored water, but our MO of late has been flower petals, hurled lovingly in the eager crowd, celebrating Krishn’s love for his Gopis back in the day. It’s perhaps my favorite time of year here.
That’s followed by a loving hosing. To give you an idea of scale, let the drone show you…
A few days back, a distribution of household goods was given to 7000 local kids, as happens many times a year to various age groups.
Funding distributions like this to all age groups, our three 100% free hospitals across UP, and our free girls’ school (kindergarten to Masters) is where your paid subscriptions and course enrollment fees end up, so thanks for any and all help you’re in for.
Where ever you find yourself in this season of change, I hope you’re getting out, rubbing up against Nature, wriggling bare toes in the sand or the grass, and rolling with your furry companions (clearly two-way benefits from that one).
As always, I hope you’ll keep on making wise choices for those in your care, who depend on you.
See you in a fortnight (or sooner in the Homeopathy Short Course),
Will Falconer, DVM, Certified Veterinary Homeopath
I love reading you Substack, Will! Thank you so much for writing it. We have an amazing 6 month old puppy from the Animal Center and it is great to see him blossoming.
Big Love from Austin to You in Mother India.
🌟🙏💗
Hello Dr Falconer, quick question about the anal glands. Would using "Silica" help with impacted anal glands? Thanks, Rudy.