Civilized Nature
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Civilized Nature
My opinions on immune system issue (a.k.a. "allergies")
 
This page is intended to provide a compilation of past opionon pages I have written. I will add to it when I have the opportunity, or feel something important has come to light.
 
Please remember these are just my OPINIONS, and are not intended as anything but my personal observations. I offer them here with the intention of giving help and topics of conversation for my customers and friends.
 
Sunday March 30th, 2008
 

In the last blog I mentioned that each of our days at the store includes some time with a customer who has a dog or cat with “allergy symptoms”. Those customers come to us with the hope that we can suggest a food change or other product to help decrease itching and scratching, loss of hair, ear infections and other “allergy symptoms”.

 

If you’ve noticed, I put “allergy symptoms” in quotes. That is to emphasize the concept that we (Civilized Nature) have of what actually causes the symptoms we see.

 

“Allergy” is an easy to understand universal word used to describe a cause of a symptom- like scratching or ear infections. However, it may not be the actual cause of the symptom.

Similarly, “IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)” is an easy to understand phrase that is used to describe all types of irritation in the digestive system, but is not the cause of the symptoms.

 

Most people visit their vets with the hope of finding out what is causing their dog or cat to exhibit symptoms like vomiting, scratching, chronic ear infections, bladder infections and the like. Unfortunately, most people leave the vet with a prescription to stop the SYMPTOMS their pets are exhibiting, and know nothing more about the CAUSE.

 

Not all symptoms have clear causes. However, there are a few basics that have helped us determine a large amount of the causes behind the symptoms we tend to label “allergy related”.

 

Four of those basics include:                 Breeding

                                                            Nutrition

                                                            Vaccinations

                                                            Environment/Lifestyle  
    

 

 

These four basic subjects allow us to work back to the possible cause, to move forward to a possible solution. So, be warned, if you come asking about how to manage your dog or cat’s symptoms, we may ask a lot of questions. We’re just trying to help find the cause instead of just treating the symptoms. Finding the cause may mean a much easier road for both you and your dog or cat.

 

 
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Friday March 28th, 2008
 
I keep thinking of more things to share with the hope that more people will get a chance to share the information with others they know.
 
So often customers come to our store struggling with what they call "allergy" symptoms in their dogs, or a diagnosis of "IBS" in their cats. Many have already spent un-needed amounts of money on tests that have amounted to useless lists of what their animal "is allergic to".  Not a day goes by when we aren't discussing a change in diet, or some kind of request for relief for the symptoms of itching, ear infections, licking, hot-spots, loose stools, vomiting, flaky coats, food intolerance, and other similar conditions.
 
Our experience over the years has helped us help our customers with finding solutions, if not explanations, for these problems. Since our animal kids can be just as complex as our two legged kids, we know better than to jump to conclusions, or pretend we've seen it all. We can however ask the questions that will help us use what we do know and have seen to break the symptoms of each animal down to the basics that help us move the customer toward the solution.
 
Over the next few blogs I will try to give you a little taste of what we do to help others, as it may be able to help you or someone you know. As a start I recommend you jump over to our "Special Interest" page in the left column of our site, and check out the articles on dog and cat nutrition and over-vaccination (Vaccinosis). These two subjects are great keys to solving many of the problems our "allergy" dogs and cats experience. You'll be suprised at how much is common sense pet care that we have been told to ignore by heavy pet industry advetising and irresponsible veterinary pressure.
 
Continued from other entries:

Let’s say we have a dog with itchy skin that has licked his paws raw and has chronic ear infections.

What do we do?

First we look at the breed of the dog.                                BREEDING

Then we look at the food the dog is eating.                       NUTRITION

Then we look at the last time the dog was vaccinated.        VACCINES

Then we look at the environment the dog lives in.            ENVIRONMENT/LIFESTYLE

 

When we look at the breed we are trying to determine if it is one that more commonly has immune system issues. Those breeds might include: Golden Retrievers, Wheaton Terriers, or Bulldogs (among others). We may start this dog with a diet change, but expect to add more as we continue the conversation.

 

Many options are available for nutritional changes for dogs with immune sensitivities. The base we want to establish is a food that doesn’t make the problem worse. In fact, we’d like to see the symptoms start to go away.

 

If we start to see improvement in 2 to 3 weeks, we recommend remaining on the new diet for 3 to 4 months. This will give some time to see the results that appear to be happening within the dog to actually show up on the outside skin, hair, weight management and overall appearance of health.

 

If the results appear to be good after the extended use of the new diet, we move on to introducing additional proteins which will give alternating diets the dog can safely use. We try each additional protein one at a time.

For example: The dog began with a grain-free fish protein diet as the base.

We are now going to feed him strips of dried duck treats. These are made of only one ingredient and it is meat only.

If the dog does well on the new protein, we move to the next- maybe venison, rabbit or beef treats. This begins to give us alternative proteins we can try in other no-grain foods.

 

Alternating the foods is important for overall nutritional balance as well as avoiding the possibility the body will begin to reject the new diet. In extreme cases, such as a dog with auto-immune disease, changing foods regularly may be the only way to avoid constant battles with reoccurring symptoms.

 

Since what we put in the body has to be assimilated to be effective, we need to be sure the dog is able to process the foods we recommend. If someone says his dog has immune issues, there is a high likelihood that dog has been on, or is still on, antibiotics. As mentioned before, antibiotics and other medications, along with stress, can deplete the digestive tract of positive bacteria that make it possible to actually absorb the nutrition being put in.

 

That is why we will almost 100% of the time, recommend the addition of a combination of digestive enzymes and beneficial bacteria (probiotics like lactobacillus or acidophilus, and others). The digestive enzymes assist the dog in breaking the food down. The probiotics will assist with assimilating the nutrients so the body can use it.

As you may have guessed I will ask people “when was the last time your dog was vaccinated?”

So many do not realize what a great affect vaccines have on the dog’s immune system. We just don’t think about it. When we put it in the perspective of having our doctor tell us we need to come in to get a measles, mumps, and polio vaccine every year, we pause a bit. What would this due to our immune system? Do you really think it would “boost” it?

 

Well, there’s no guessing for dogs and cats. They are at great risk if they receive repeated vaccines. It is a heavily researched and agreed upon fact in the veterinary industry.

 

I will say again what I said before- a dog with symptoms of a compromised immune system should not be considered “healthy” and thus should not receive vaccines. AND any ethical veterinarian will not give a vaccine to an immune compromised dog.

 

Now, we can’t assume that all veterinarians will consider a dog with “allergy” symptoms to be immune compromised. Most veterinarians treating symptoms are looking at antibiotics or topical solutions. The ones that choose to recognize the immune system is involved, are often treating with immune suppressers like Prednisone. With that they enter a whole new way to ignore the symptoms (or alarms) set off by the immune system. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for such drastic action, but using it wisely to bridge into a….say…..change in diet, or the use of vaccines and chemicals.

That leads to the subject of environment and lifestyle which affect our immune compromised dogs