Holistic Dog Health  

Did you know true dog health is a 3-step process?  Learning that process can not only prevent problems but reverse so many it will change the life of your dog.

It's true I couldn't cure my dog  Bobo's terminal cancer but he lived years longer than expected and best of all, he was happy and energetic.

Your dog cannot be truly healthy without your help.

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As it turns out, pretty much everything we've learned about canine health care is wrong so I decided the most important thing I could do in life is help others have healthier, longer living dogs.

I was a slow learner but I got it and now you can too.


 

My Story

The Three Powerful P's for Dog Health

Following the right process with patience and persistence  is incredibly rewarding. As your dog gets healthier, there are things you notice right away and others you won't notice at all.

A simple example I didn't notice was scratching. Every dog I've ever had scratched themselves every day, especially that spot behind the ear. It's just part of being a dog right? Nope.

One afternoon Lulu and I were visiting my son and she scratched herself behind the ear. I stopped in the middle of the conversation and stared at my dog wondering what was wrong.

"Ma," my son said, "All dogs scratch. What's your problem?"

All I could do was grin and share my little discovery.

"Well," he said, "All I can say is for an old dog she sure doesn't act like one."

Dog Health Problems are
A Sign of Imbalance

Dog illness and disease stems from a body out of balance.   How does it get that way? Largely from nutritional deficiencies and too many toxins. A dog can live for years showing no signs of imbalance because we can't see what's going on inside where everything is working overtime trying to heal itself. Then one day, the body can't cope any longer. That's why I get constant comments like, "My dog wasn't sick a day in his life until he got X disease" or "All of a sudden he's allergic to his food and it's kept him healthy for years."  They just don't get it.

 Here are just a sample of things you will probably never see if your dog is balanced and healthy.

All the above are dog symptoms and a body's cry for help. I could give hundreds of other examples, but you get my point right? The bottom line is we are either strengthening their body or weakening it with every single thing we feed them and every pill, every vaccine or anything we put on their skin.

The skin? Yes. In case you forgot (and most people do) the skin is the largest organ of the body. Nothing, and I do mean nothing except what you can EAT should go on the skin.

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This reminds me of a recent family dialogue. . .

Question: "Where is the avocado facial I left in the fridge?"

Answer: "Sorry about that - but it was delicious! Could you make a double batch next time?"

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The Food Component for Dog Health

One of the most important things to consider is  you are what you eat. In the case of your dogs, they are what you feed them.

It took me far too long for me to really get that.  My own mother taught me when I was a child to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and to keep processed foods to a minimum because the more a food is processed, the less nutrition it has. (For our dogs that would mean raw meat and organ meat, raw bones and raw fat.)

Then why on earth did I let years of dog food commercials fog my brain and keep me from thinking for myself? What a dummy! Dog health doesn't come in a bag, a box or a drug.

A Human Example

28 years ago my two-year-old son was diagnosed with severe asthma. Putting the nebulizer mask over that little guy's face every day just broke my heart. And the side effects of those steroids on his body (and his personality) was not good.

It turned out it was something in his diet. I thought I was feeding him a healthy diet but I was wrong.

When I told his pediatrician what I had discovered, she actually laughed at me and said I'd be back for drugs because there was no cure and food had nothing to do with it.

Guess what? He hasn't needed any drugs for 27 years.

In other words, the right foods heal, drugs do not.

Why There's More Than Food for Dog Health

Let's go over the basic processes of the body for the whole picture. They are:

• eating
• breathing
• digestion
• metabolism
• elimination

The body has an incredible network of communication. Obviously nutrition is key but what is nutrition without digestion, metabolism and elimination?  Without the  components to digest food, convert it to energy and give the body the ability to eliminate a host of things, we're not going to get very far.

Let's get to the heart of the matter for dog health. In this case it's the gut because. . .

"The road to good health is paved with good intestines"

What the heck does that mean?

Honestly,  I get so excited about all I've learned it's hard to simplify sometimes but here goes. This is a tiny fraction of the results of the Human Genome Project which took place between 1990 and 2006 but trust me, this applies to our dogs health as well.

There are 100 trillion one celled organisms that call a body home. Those organisms outnumber human cells 10 to 1! Just what are those organisms?   BACTERIA. That's right. Makes me laugh at all the germaphobes out there.  We have 23,000 genes, yet we house 4,000,000 distinct bacterial genes. Four million.

As it turns out, we need bacteria and they need us. Ninety Five Percent - that's 95% of those lovely critters live in the gut.   Not only does our dog need them to digest food, they actually help make vitamins; antioxidants, develop the immune system;  metabolize toxic compounds and much more. In fact a healthy gut microbiome has everything to do with metabolism, hormones, healthy skin, a good respiratory system . . . even protecting the central nervous system and affecting both mood and brain function.

Makes you look at antibiotics in a whole new light doesn't it?

Definition: anti (against)  biotic (life)

It has been discovered that bacteria talk to each other through  electrical signaling. All sorts of different bacteria share the signals and live together in a symbiotic relationship; sharing food  and moving around together. (Reminds me of the end of the movie Men in Black when Will Smith looks into that locker.)

In a healthy body some bacteria will actually commit  suicide for the greater good of the colony, and the host (whether that's you or your dog.)

 

Wait, What About Those 3 Steps?

Did you figure it out? Let's simplify what to do on a daily basis:

• Nutrition (species appropriate easily digestible foods)

• Supporting Gut Health (ability to convert that nutrition into energy, and keep the immune system in top notch condition)
  

• Elimination (avoiding the big toxins and getting the rest out in the right way)

:

 Like my friend Sandra said about her 19  1/2 year old dog, "It's so funny when people say I'm lucky . . . 

Luck has nothing to do with it. "

Want the Best Dog Health Supplements Now?

I don't blame you!

While I alternate additional herbs and supplements for Lulu, find my favorites at  Best Dog Health Supplements

You can get a ton of information on them or just scroll down and place your order. Once you order I'll email you and make sure you use the right doses for your dog because age, weight and breed matter.

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Dogs contribute so much to our lives.  And they rely on us to keep them healthy.

May You Never Know the Diseases You Prevent

 To Dog Health!

~Andrea

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Three Little Pitties  is named after three of my pit bulls, a breed I came to love quite by accident but have filled my heart for nearly 20 years now.