Vital Animal News: October 6, 2024
Rabid Bats and Death / Autoimmune Dog Killer / FDA Pants on Fire / Aversion Training
Human Death from Bat Rabies
Autoimmune Disease Help
Homeopathy’s Best Intro
FDA: Lies, Mo Lies
Tips: Aversion Training
Along the Natural Path
How to Get Rabies from a Bat
The news in vet medicine fairly regularly reveals rabies incidents. Often a single case here and there.
Wildlife is the usual source, as that’s the reservoir in the West.
A man died of rabies in Minnesota recently, contracted from a bat.
Though I dug for more details as to how he was exposed, that’s not been revealed to date. I posit a likely scenario ahead.
How does rabies transmit from bat to human?
Like all cases, it’s a saliva exposure that gets the virus from the rabies sufferer to the next animal or, in this case, to a human.
Virologists have known for ages that the virus accumulates in the salivary gland of the afflicted, and the combo of that concentration with the accompanying paralysis of the swallowing mechanism is the perfect storm that gets the dose delivered.
Paralysis in the form of respiratory paralysis is the cause of death in those unsuccessfully treated for rabies.
Add in Aggression: Oh My
The saliva accumulating virus is one part of the exposure equation.
The other in most species is untoward aggression. Loss of “bite inhibition” in carnivores is one way it’s referred to.
Luckily for us, bats very rarely turn aggressive when rabid. (Imagine what a nightmare it would be if they did!).
They typically succumb first to paralysis and are seen flopping about on the ground, no longer able to fly.
So, how does exposure take place without a bite?
It’s due to handling a down bat, and getting saliva exposure to cuts or broken skin or mucus membranes (i.e. your dog’s mouth). Of course a bat being messed with could certainly bite, as well.
Prevention by Physical Means
Hence, if you live where rabid bats live (or large bat populations in general), and you’ve got a dog, train it to avoid down bats.
You can imagine that might take some practice, as curiosity would be piqued seeing a flopping mammal on the path, right?
And, if you see a bat that’s down, obviously it’s best not to handle it.
Odds of Exposure to Bat Rabies
Cavers who go where bats live rarely contract rabies.
Austin residents will likely have seen the massive outpouring of bats nightly from the Congress Street bridge, specially built for them to nest in.
No great incidence of human rabies is historically seen there, either.
So, how then did our 65 year old Minnesota native contract rabies?
Odds are, he didn’t know what you now know, and he handled a rabid bat.
[Addendum: a rare exception]
As this was getting ready for press, a report came across my inbox about an Ontario child who died of rabies recently. Details are scant, but a bat was found in the child’s room after a night’s sleep. Sadly, no action was taken on the parents’ part, as they’d not seen any evidence of a bite wound.
As bat teeth are tiny, bite wounds may not show. A safer path would always be to capture the bat and get it tested via your local health department.
If Exposed, See Your Doctor
The good news is that, barring some rare immune deficiency, post exposure prophylaxis (antibodies and vaccines) from a doctor is nearly 100% effective.
Timing is important though…
From the MN health dept:
If left untreated, rabies is almost always fatal. Rabies treatment has proven to be nearly 100% effective at preventing the disease after an exposure, but it must be started before symptoms of rabies appear. That is why health officials are stressing the importance of recognizing potential exposures to bats and taking appropriate actions in a timely manner. Rabies treatment is not needed if the bat can be captured, tested and found to be free of the virus.
Bats can be submitted to the Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory or to a veterinarian for rabies testing. Information on submission, including a video on how to safely capture a bat for testing, can be found on the Rabies page of the MDH website. Never touch a bat with bare hands.
People who have been exposed to rabies virus are given an injection of rabies immune globulin, and four doses of rabies vaccine over a two-week period. Seek medical treatment promptly after potential exposures are recognized; however, as long as symptoms have not developed it is never too late to start rabies shots. People can ask their health care provider about patient assistance programs that may be available to help with the cost of rabies treatment, if needed.”
So, between you being informed and your dog trained, the risk of bat rabies will be quite small.
And I’d quietly ignore the common fear tactic vets like to drop on you for your indoor cat:
“Absolutely she needs a rabies shot. A bat could fly down the chimney and bite her! Better safe than sorry.”
Sorry, Doc. Not buying it.
Stronger Immunity for Autoimmune Disease??
Recently, my friend and Venjenz CEO Jason Donas asked for help answering a question from a customer on autoimmune disease in her dog.
The commonest (and deadliest) is AIHA, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and that was her dog’s unfortunate diagnosis.
If you’ve yet to hear of this, it’s a disease of mass immune confusion, where that finely tuned defense system, after millennia of honing, becomes so disturbed it now turns its attack against the body’s own red blood cells.
Without those critical oxygen carriers in full functional operation, the afflicted animal has a 50:50 chance of dying.
That’s even with ER time, transfusions, powerful immune suppressant drugs, and a lot of prayers and crossed fingers.
The woman wanted to know if Venjenz had any helpful products to add to the heroics presently in place.
My answer: YES: Motherboard!
Turn the Immune System ON HIGH
When I first learned of transfer factors some twenty years back, I was impressed with how well researched they were.
(They are the chief ingredient in Venjenz’ Motherboard, concentrated from colostrum and combined with medicinal mushrooms, Ayurvedic herbs, and more).
Discovered in 1949, they are natural immune support molecules that can cross species lines (unlike most of colostrum) and help “educate” the immune system to specifically take out foreigners, like cancer cells or cells overtaken by viruses.
They’ve far outperformed other immune system enhancers when their ability to stimulate NK (natural killer) cells has been measured in the lab.
Wait. Isn’t MORE immune response a BAD thing in autoimmune disease?
This was my initial concern when I’d learned about transfer factor and started digging into the research.
If my patient is already wildly over reacting to normal cells in his own body, wouldn’t transfer factor treatment just make that worse?
The answer came from an immunologist I’d met, Richard Bennett, PhD, who’d had decades in the field behind him.
Dr. Bennett explained that
…a stimulated immune system “is a high-functioning and balanced immune system.”
And so, I started treating the autoimmune pets I’d see in practice with high doses of TF.
And it only helped. I never saw any ill effects.
p.s. What causes autoimmunity?
To date, I’m aware of two chief causes:
Worth digging in to be deeply aware of these two.
The first is the more common, especially now that we’ve got a couple of generations of young people with record numbers of chronic disease, a fair amount autoimmune in nature.
And we’ve seen it in our pets, especially those whose owners have been pushed into annual vaccinations, a practice with zero science.
Best Intro Book to Homeopathy
One of the books I cut my teeth on as I was learning homeopathy and coming to appreciate how very powerful it is was written with a very provocative title:
Homeopathy: Beyond Flat Earth Medicine!
Its author is Timothy Dooley, who’s a double degreed doctor: first, an MD, then (presumably after the lights went on) an ND (naturopathic doctor).
If you want both an enjoyable read and the best primer on this powerful healing modality, I highly recommend it.
For some years, I gave it out to my new clients as the best intro book to help them better understand this medical path I was about to take their animal on.
Still available in an early version here for free.
Of course, my Homeopathy Short Course will have more animal examples, but the principles are the same across species. It’s reasonably priced and packed with goodies.
Dr. Dooley opens with a case of mastitis in his budding naturopathic practice.
He’d never treated it homeopathically before but chose a single 30C potency remedy based on the symptoms before him, and gave it to the woman. One dose.
Then, the doubts set in…
That night I lay awake in bed with anxiety. I suspected it had been irresponsible for me to treat this patient homeopathically. I feared she had already taken a turn for the worse and perhaps was at the hospital emergency room.
The next morning when I arrived at the office, I pulled her chart and called her without waiting to see if she would report in as agreed. She was surprised to receive a call from her doctor.
“How are you doing today?” I inquired.
“I’m fine,” she said. “The pills worked.”
“What do you mean ‘the pills worked’?” I asked.
“Well, I mean they worked. It’s all gone.”
“You mean, the infection is all well, the fever and everything?” I asked, unable to hide my incredulity.
“Yes, it’s all fine . . . isn’t that what was supposed to happen?”
“Er, ah, why yes, of course that was what was supposed to happen. I was just checking up,” I replied, regaining my professional composure. I told her to stop taking the medicine, and to call me if there was any recurrence.
From that moment, I gazed on my little white homeopathic globules with new found respect. I had not thought it was possible for such an infection, with such an acute presentation, to completely disappear overnight. On one dose of the remedy!”
Needless to say, after this “homeopathic honeymoon” case, he was solidly confident that homeopathy, even so ultra-diluted that the naysayers’ heads spin, worked.
We who have committed to practice it properly all have similar stories.
To learn more about acute prescribing, be sure you’re on the wait list for when Vital Animal Alpha reopens before year’s end.
And if you need help with the chronic stuff, remember distance matters not a lick when you set out to choose a veterinary homeopath.
The FDA is Lying (Again)
Here comes yet another example of regulatory capture. This one is around pet food, but the underpinnings are the same as in the human examples.
Like all the “alphabet agencies” that are supposed to be watching out for consumers, the FDA obviously has a greater interest in Big Pet Food, the makers of the toxic kibble so prevalent on the shelves of every big box store.
Susan Thixton has the story here, but in a nutshell, raw food makers, being a threat to Big Pet Food, are continually harassed and made to look dangerous to pets and their people. FDA Center for Vet Med is not above lying to achieve their ends.
A similar recent malfeasance by FDA was their months of frustrating silence amid thousands of reports that Purina and other foods were sickening and killing pets.
Susan covered their very late, very toothless response here on her Truth About Pet Food website.
If you haven’t already ditched Big Pet Food in your quest to raise a wildly healthy, vital pet, here’s more reason to do so.
A good start to upgrading your pets’ diet is here on my Vital Animal website.
Choices abound, all of them better than succumbing to the industry junk food they’d like you to believe is safe (and impossible to substitute for with natural choices).
As the Covid years have taught us, not all pronouncements from the government are to be trusted.
Clearly our food industry, whether for pets or people, has been feeding us lies for a very long time.
For the deeper rabbit hole on people suffering chronic disease in record numbers in the U.S. as a result of the crooked food system, you’ll want to tune into Tucker Carlson getting his mind blown by Dr. Casey and Calley Means.
(Yes, it’s long, but chunk it down if you need to. It’s that important.)
Tasty Tips: Aversion Training
Well, I had to ask for help on this one, and luckily, one of my brilliant Vital Animal Alpha students came forth.
Jen Logan learned snake aversion training, but the very same principles would apply to bats, so if you live where bats do, pay attention.
The way l was shown to train a dog to leave a snake alone was to obtain a shed skin and lay it out on the ground. Allow the dog to walk by on a lead and when they showed interest in the skin, by going up to it and sniffing, the handler lets loose with a scream that needs to rival a horror movie and simultaneously pulls the dog away. Do that a few more times and the dog starts to refuse to even look at the skin as you walk by! Should be repeated, probably annually to ensure the lesson stays learnt.
Have you tried it, Jen?
I have with 2 of my own and watched another handful train it. Every dog soon decides to leave the skin alone, usually taking a wide berth and looking the other direction. I worked my dogs on search and rescue in VA and this was the method we were shown. Our dogs were often out of sight so we had to rely on their own aversion to the snake rather than teaching it as a leave it, though that is also a very valuable skill to teach. Its amazing how most of us managed a reasonable blood curdling scream, not something l thought l had in me!
So, snake skin vs a dead or paralyzed bat, I’m confident this will work for both. After all, who’s more important to your dog than you?
If you can muster that fearful sound, your dog will “get” the lesson on a very deep level.
So, there you have it.
Along the Natural Path
Fall is moving things to maturity here in No. India, some with a flash:
Village life goes on as usual, everything in its place.
It’s wedding season on the outskirts, with flags up, loudspeakers blaring upbeat music, and mobile bands being hired for live music in the road.
Some likely more formal, some decidedly less.
And the life of buffalo is staid and steady, as always. Breakfast will come when it comes…
I have a lot to be thankful for living here. Life is simple, devotional, and the people I live around are solid folks.
My annual sabbatical from the internet is coming after this issue, as thousands prepare to visit our village ashram for our annual month long sadhana program.
My days will be full of extra chanting meditation, singing beautiful love songs to Radha Krishn, the most loving, most beautiful forms of God. This program has been going on for decades, and it opens with our grand birthday celebration of my guru, who appeared in this (then tiny) village in 1922 and who I was lucky enough to physically associate with for a decade before he departed.
We’ll all try to deepen our love and remembrance of God and increase our surrender, recognizing that Grace comes the closer we feel to them and the more we can let go of our pride.
Sadhana will be followed by multiple free distributions as it is every year, with household necessities, blankets, and more going to the villagers, the sadhus, and the widows who live around our three ashrams, spread across Uttar Pradesh.
When you opt for a paid membership on Substack or you enroll in a paid course I offer, you are part of this, as I’m not padding a bank account or seeking wealth. Not this lifetime’s goal.
Until late November when I return to the airwaves, remember there’s a huge resource on https://VitalAnimal.com, built over many years and addressing many issues you might face.
You can use the search box at the bottom of every page on my site and drop in a phrase or a word you’d like to learn more about, and up will pop every article or podcast I’ve done that speaks to that. Most of that remains free, as this newsletter continues to be.
As always, keep on making wise choices for those innocents in your care.
Carry on. You’ve got this.
Will Falconer, DVM
"concentrated from colostrum and combined with medicinal mushrooms, Ayurvedic herbs, and more"
Hahnemann is turning in his grave. Shocking how many veterinary "homeopaths" are really in the business of selling exactly the sort of "admixture" he so deplored.
I had a Golden Retriever die from that autoimmune issue. So glad that there is a cure for that now! She was just 5, had just started to calm down from that manic puppy stage and was just becoming a lovely dog, gone way too soon.
I have had many dogs die from Hemangiosarcoma, and friend’s dogs pass from it too. Do you have insights on this? I feel it must be food or vax’s. I do not vax my dogs yearly, generally keep up on 3 year rabies and 1 yearly annual vax after the puppy series at 8 weeks and 12 weeks. We live rurally and our dogs get lots of fresh air and exercise.
I have a 17 month old pup that has had her puppy shots and 1 rabies vax at 6 months. I hesitate to re-vax even the first yearly. Thoughts?