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Thunder and Lightning, Very Frightening, Or Not?

As homeopathy is a holistic method, I always take a patient's mental and physical states into consideration. Perhaps the most common mental disturbance in dogs is a fear of thunderstorms. Unless it is very severe or results in destructiveness, guardians generally consider this problem as not important or not relevant to the pet's health condition. They have often been told as much by veterinarians and behavioral specialists. Contrary to what many people believe, not all dogs have a negative response to thunderstorms. Actually, a large percentage don't even notice them. The most common medical therapies are tranquilizers and anti–anxiety drugs. A growing number of holistic practitioners are using herbs such as valerian and skullcap. Behavioral modification techniques are also employed.

Selecting the correct homeopathic remedy requires individualization. In an attempt to understand this process, let's take a closer look at the symptom fear of thunderstorms. A guardian considers a pet afraid of a thunderstorm when the animals displays a negative behavioral change during a storm. However, the pet is not always afraid of the sudden, loud noise. Some pets are sensitive to electrical charges while others react adversely to atmospheric pressure or humidity changes. In order to, differentiate, I look for other clues. For instance, a dog that is afraid of the noise will usually be afraid of other similar noises such as fireworks. The pet that is sensitive to electrical charges will usually show anxious behavior on the approach of the storm. Animals sensitive to pressure changes would react to storms without thunder. As you can clearly see on just this cursory examination of the symptom, all thunderstorm reactions are not the same. (Treatment, therefore, cannot be the same!)

Another important feature is how the individual behaves. Is he/she destructive? terrified? hiding? affectionate? escaping? self mutilating? When did the problem begin? after a vaccination? after an emotional shock? after some medication? The dog may have itchy skin, chronic digestive problems, liver or kidney problems, cancer, etc. yet the fear of thunderstorms could be more important in finding the curative remedy. The type, cause and degree of reaction tell about the animal's innate nature. This is crucial to a homeopath and can be the key to finding the correct remedy for a patient regardless of the primary health condition as perceived by the family. The innate nature of an individual stems from his/her personal genetic package. Researchers are finding that most if not all of one's personality and sensitivities are programmed into the genes. A remedy chosen based on genetic make up can modify how genes are expressed and strengthen the overall constitution. The result is an increased threshold to irritating stimuli and a decreased intensity of reaction. In other words, the dog will only react to severe storms and the reaction will be mild. In addition, other health issues will disappear unless they have reached the stage of being incurable. If the thunderstorm reaction is simply suppressed with herbs, drugs or strong behavior modification techniques, the constitution will be weakened and other problems, both physical and emotional, can arise.

  • Russell Swift, DVM, Classical Homeopath

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Willie Is A Magician. His Hot Spots Have Disappeared!

2010-04-09

I started following your diet suggestions, for my cat Willie four months ago and have had excellent results. Willie was a very sick cat, exhibiting all the symptoms, hot spots, hair loss, fleas, hair balls and no energy at all.

I am very happy, and so is Willie, to report that all those symptoms are now gone and he has gained all his weight back, has a full and shiny coat, there are no fleas and he has not thrown up in four months! Willie also suffered with hot spots, and they too are completely gone.

My other companion, Putter, has also taken to eating a raw meat diet, supplemented with Eggshellent, and they love it.

Your raw meat diet has turned the page for my cats' health and made me believer forever. Many thanks.

— Shirley

One Word — Fantastic

2005-08-15

We thought we would write to let you know how our cats are doing on the fresh food diet. In a word — fantastic! We have four feline companions in total, ranging in ages from 5 months to 9 years. All are healthy & full of vigour now. When they were eating canned and dry food they often had diarrhea (we fed vet recommended food), would throw up regularly after meals and had constant problems with hairballs (we brushed them a lot). All that is stopped now. One of our males, part Russian Blue, had recurring FUS (feline urological syndrome). With this natural way of feeding it has completely cleared up. Another remarkable thing is they almost never drink water now (we always leave fresh water out), all they need is provided in their food. We feel a lot better about feeding fresh meat and such rather than man made food with preservatives and chemical additives, etc. We want our cats with us for a long time and feel with this diet they will enjoy lengthy and healthy lives.

Thank you for introducing us to the feeding of fresh wholesome food the way Mother Nature intended. It did take a little while for them (and us) to get used to it, like asking kids not to eat junk food, but now they attack their meals with gusto! Thanks again.

— Lori and Russ

In Just 6 Days

2010-06-10

Here’s our story.

We have 2 rescue Chihuahuas, one is a mix, we believe, with Jack Russell Terrier. His name is Lucky and he is approximately 8 years old. We rescued him 3 years ago. Our other little guy is Chico and he is about 2-3 years old. We rescued him November, 2008 and they said he was 2 but we think he was younger, just looked older and acted older because he was undernourished. We have been feeding NutroMax and Iams dog foods, which we believed were on the better side of commercial grade pet food.

Lucky has lost some teeth and recently developed allergies with wheezing and coughing. The vet gave us 2 medicines for him to give twice a day. On Saturday, May 29, 2010, he came to his breakfast, sniffed the food, shook and shuddered and walked away. I thought that was weird!, but when he gets hungry he will eat. Saturday night he did the same thing and also Sunday morning. By now my husband, Robert, and I are getting a little concerned. Lucky is a little chunky, but not obese, so missing a few meals probably wouldn’t hurt him as long as he was drinking his water, which he was. Well I tried giving him the canned food, which he ate for a couple of meals and then did the same thing as he did with the dry. Sniffed, shuddered and walked away. Well, for a week I tried several things, canned chicken, cut up chicken (sautéed) and then on Friday, June 4, 2010, I started searching the internet for homemade pet food. Praise the Lord! I found your website. I immediately switched both dogs to raw food on Saturday morning. I happened to have thawed a chicken breast, cut it into small pieces and they both chowed down!

Saturday I bought some ground meat, turkey and some beef (lean), and have been feeding them both raw meat mixed with some chopped frozen veggies ever since. The immediate improvement (within 6 days) in both dogs has been just short of miraculous. Lucky is not wheezing and is back to his old bouncy self. He gets the bounce from the Jack Russell side of his family. He hasn’t had his meds since he quit eating because we thought they might have been part of the problem. Chico is more relaxed and not as fearful, which is a strange benefit, but I’m loving it. We believe he was quite abused in his former life and even after being with us for 1-1/2 years still acted fearful. Both their coats are smoother already and their bowel movements are much better, still firm, but not hard. Believe it or not they are even getting along better with each other. I guess just generally feeling better overall.

I am so excited about their new diet, oops, new life style change, and am telling everyone about it and giving them your web site info and a copy of the condensed version of your book.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being there when we needed you.

God bless you and keep up the good work taking care of His creation that give us so much love. And isn’t love the key to everything?

– Hazel