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BJ's story - Treating Holistically For years, BJ sufferred with skin problems, ear infections and allergies. He had been seen by 5 vets who tried to help him and even had TUBES put in his ears at one point. He'd been on steroid injections (the wonder drug of the 90's) for at least 3 years. In September 1997, one month after receiving his annual vaccinations, he lost 1/3 of his body weight, his muscles were atrophied (I was carrying him outside to potty), he was moody, he wouldn't play, he would growl at his brother, he'd get lost in the house and I'd have to holler to him for him to know where I was, his stomach was distended, he was loosing ALL of his hair, his face and eyes were sunken in... he was the picture of death, basically. BJ was my first dog and at first, I just thought this is what growing old looked like, but when he got as bad as he did, I was horrified!So,
back to the vet we went and at the age of 10, BJ was preliminarily
diagnosed with Cushings Disease. I just couldn't bring myself to put
him on the drugs the vets recommended. He was so sick already, I just
didn't think his little system would make it. In addition, it just
didn't feel like the right course of treatment for us. So, with the
help of the Internet, I stayed up nights reading anything and everything
I could find about the disease and about sick companion animals in
general. Basically, my question was "why are our dogs and cats
dying from kidney and liver failure, cancer I have come to believe it's caused (majorily) by two things: poor diet and over-vaccinating. As for the diet, since the mid-sixties, our pets have been eating highly processed pet- foods and not receiving fresh or live foods in their diets. Many long-time breeders will tell you that they've noticed a big change in their animals the last 25 years or so - more birth defects, more pre-mature deaths, more illnesses, less successful pregnancies. So, alot of them are changing their diets over to a more natural one for dogs. (I'll explain later). Beside the fact the pet foods are so highly processed, they use meats that are non-human grade (diseased chicken, beef and lamb). We wonder why they're dying from cancer? ... they're eating it! Second is vaccinations. It was put very simply to me by one of the breeders in my area and it's short and sweet... if our human babies can receive a vaccination, then a booster and that protects them for life... why do our animals have to receive one *every year* of their life in order to be safe? In my opinion, it's because that's the only way vets can make their money... by getting us into the office once-a-year to have our vaccinations. So... this is what I did. I bought the book (which I highly recommend starting with) Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Dr. Richard H. Pitcairn, DVM, PhD, and Susan Hubble Pitcairn. This book explains *a lot* and is very easy to read. It recommends feeding raw meats, vegetables, fruits and nuts. After 3 months on the diet, I started him on a brand of supplements I get from the holistic vet called Standard Process. I fasted BJ for 5 days, feeding only broth twice daily and lots of water. Then I changed BJ over to this diet and noticed a definite difference within 2 weeks. At one month, he was running and playing with his 1 1/2 year old brother. At 2 months, he was nearly symptom free, but still hairless (the body fixes itself from the inside-out). At 3 months he was growing all of his hair back. At 12 months, people looked at him and said I'd made the whole story up!!! With the vaccinations, the holistic vet recommends they receive the first set of puppy vaccinations and then the follow-up boosters one year later. After that, you can repeat vaccinations every three years (some states are coming around to this finally). You can check titers on them if you like to see the leve of immunities they have. Immune and endocrine system compromised animals (like Cushings) should never receive vaccinations again. Should
you decide to go the holistic route, another thing I recommend is
Wellpet Digest. This is a list of people who feed more natural diets
and treat their animals with alternative therapies. The are more than
happy to help the novice. Visit their site at In addition to nutrition and reduction of vaccinations, I use massage therapy and aromatherapy in BJ's regimen. He just loves to get his body rubs and he likes the essential oils so much, he licks them off my hand (be sure the ones you use are edible... some aren't). I've gotten so much out of treating BJ's disease; it's very rewarding for me. Even though I didn't know these things in time to save BJ, I now know... and every animal I have from here on out will live better from what I learned from my journey with BJ's illess... Hope
this answers some questions and gives you some things to think about.
Please feel free to email me with any other questions or if I can
help in Good luck to you and your furr-babies! Lori
Zech Update: 12/2000: After months of my treating BJ's coughing as an Upper Respiratory Infection, BJ has been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. The only treatment they recommend for him is Lasix and with his compromised kidneys, he'll barely last a month on it and die of painful kidney failure. So, I've decided to stop all treatments gradually, keep him as comfortable as I can and enjoy however long we have together. We will make the holidays this year extra special. Update: 8/11/2001: It's a sad, quiet day in the household as we let BJ (13) go to the bridge lastnight. We had a wonderful day together. We had a slumber party on the floor in the living room lastnight, we watched the sun come up, laid in the grass and ate ice cubes, took a long drive in the country with our hair blowing in the wind, had a relaxing grooming session, napped with Mama stroking me the whole time and ate all of my favorite foods - popcorn, filet mignon and chocolates... YUM! Our friends and family congregated at our home and our vet was gracious enough to come to us... BJ deserved to die in the only home he's ever known surrounded by all of the people who loved him. He will be sorely missed. So, at 7:30 pm, in my arms, he passed so very peaceful as I said "Good
night, my little man... see you at the bridge... " |