Vital Animal § The Natural Path
Unconventional Wisdom For Naturally Healthy Animals
Itchy skin prompted the most visits of dogs to veterinarians in 2012 and again in 2017.
The 2012 count was true for the prior decade so, as of 2018, this man-made disease has been your most common plague for over 15 years!
The more recent data from Pets Best Insurance add to the “surprising” news from DVM magazine five years earlier.
Okay, I’ll be honest. I’m worried about your understanding of titer testing. There have been a whole lot of comments on Facebook and elsewhere where I’m seeing I need to help you get more clarity.
Clearly, you are interested in this idea. Bravo!
But you really need to be smart about this if titers are going to serve you.
Misunderstanding them could cost you money.
Or worse: your animal’s health. That’s what brings me here. [Read more…] about [Updated] Are You Making These 7 Dangerous Mistakes With Titers?
Too many of you seem to be stuck in some variation of this illogic I’m calling “either/or thinking,” from reading your comments in this blog:
I’ve EITHER got to let my dog suffer this horrible itch (skin or ears or both) OR give him these horrible Big Pharma drugs with side effects.
I’m gonna be kind. Itching all the time sucks for both of us. I’m getting him on Apoquel or Cytopoint despite what I’ve read and we’ll just have to see what the outcome is long term. He can’t go on this way!
Part of me screams inside when I read comments like this.
And they are coming a bit too frequently, especially on two popular articles pertaining to itchy skin and the latest, greatest drugs being pushed on you:
Apoquel: Dog Miracle Drug With a Dark Side
Cytopoint: High Tech Answer to Your Itchy Dog?
Here’s just a recent example, from the comments on my Apoquel post, linked above. [Read more…] about 6 of 10 People See Only Two Choices for Itchy Skin. Are You One of Them?
Dying Happens. Dogs, cats, horses, humans, bees and bacteria: all who are born will one day die.
Thems the rules down here on the planet.
The Vedas, the timeless wisdom of India, are even more specific:
When a soul incarnates (enters a body), the time of death is predetermined.
That understanding takes a lot of hubris out of caring for the dying!
It’s ultimately not in our hands to extend life (all the cryo madness aside), but you can do many things to make that final transition out of the current body a lot easier.
Here are ten. [Read more…] about Your Dying Animal: 10 Ways to Help
I went through this exact thing with my lab, Chuck, my ❤ dog. He was diagnosed in August 2012 with LP then DM 2 months later. Acupuncture and water therapy gave me 8 months I don’t think I would have had. When he could no longer move his back end without help, I let him go. He was 13. My heart is still broken. –Cindi, in our comments
What Cindi is speaking of is getting her 13 year old vaccinated (he was “due,” according to her vet).
LP? Laryngeal paralysis. Lost his normal voice, and Chuck’s breathing got noisy.
DM? Degenerative myelitis. Basically, paralyzed from the waist down.
I hear variations of this way more often than I’d like.
They make me cringe.
![[Updated] Are You Making These 7 Dangerous Mistakes With Titers?](https://vitalanimal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Misusing-titers-BR-880x360-880x356.png)
