Wishing You Joy and Peace This Holiday Season

Happy Holidays. I hope this finds you and your special pets well.

I promised in my last post to look for more palatable supplements that would help Desi nutritionally and share what I found. I’m happy to report we’ve made great strides in his nutrition, his ability to enjoy his food regularly and in finding the right supplements.  While we still value and see his conventional veterinarians, we’ve found an alternative approach to be helpful. Conventional, alternative and holistic approaches are all valuable and it’s important to understand I am not recommending one over the other. You need to find what is right for your animal. I’m simply sharing what’s worked well for Desi.

Desi’s diet is mainly 93/7 all natural cooked ground beef with sweet potatoes. I’m adding other cooked veggies he tolerates well to that. On an experienced, reputable, alternative veterinarian’s recommendation I am adding calcium and a multivitamin and mineral supplement to his food. The amount and type of supplements added should be determined by a veterinarian experienced in nutrition. This isn’t something to guess at.  We added the supplements very slowly to be sure he tolerated them well. The supplement amounts are small enough that his food is still palatable. I’m happy, actually thrilled, to report that this is the longest stretch Desi has ever had without nausea or vomiting. 

It’s very easy to generically lump nausea and vomiting into IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) but I’ve learned you really need to hone in on where the issue is and what specifically causes the problems. We’ve been doing muscle testing with the alternative vet.  Admittedly, it seems a little ‘out there’.  I’d decided going in that if any recommendations were risky or in serious conflict with what I’ve learned from our regular vets I wouldn’t do it.  The muscle testing is completely non invasive and trauma free for Desi and so far the doctor’s recommendations have been right on. There is a lot of follow up involved and she does need to see him regularly, however he’s doing very well.

Paying very close attention to your pet’s symptoms and quantifying them for your vet is very helpful.  Be sure to know what time something happened, the duration and severity as well as what you did for your pet and what happened before the symptoms started.  For example telling the doctor the pet felt sick a few times isn’t as helpful as detailing what the pet ate and did before vomiting, how many times he vomited, how much vomit and exactly what (sorry for being so explicit) the vomit looked like.  And if something doesn’t seem right, seek another opinion. Many people stay with their veterinarians because they feel badly getting another opinion. I understand this and I’ve been there, but you have to advocate for and find the right care for your pet.

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I hope your holiday season is beautiful and 2010 brings you much happiness, robust health and success.

Patti and Desi