OUR DOG STORY

We adopted our 6 year old husky from the humane society in the fall of 2002. Over the next 4 years, we took note that she had only a few health problems. Some of the health problems she faced over these 4 years included: kennel cough, ruptured anal glands, torn leg ligaments, and a lack of appetite. She was on and off medications for these various problems, along with a few surgeries here and there. We experimented with several different brands of commercial dog foods, but nothing seemed to tickle her fancy--she didn't even go ga-ga over table scraps like most dogs did!

Our dog's road to natural health fell upon us in the spring of 2006. Leading up to this, the previous fall, she was chasing a rabbit and started limping; she had torn a knee ligament. My uncle and aunt's dog had just died from a staph infection after a routine teeth cleaning surgery, so my greatest concern was that our dog would have a similar result from her surgery the vet prescribed. The vet assured me that she would be fine. She had the surgery:

She was doped up on pain medication, anti-infection meds and within a few days would not leave her bed spot without being carried (just picture me carrying our husky to her food bowl and down a flight of stairs to go outside!) Our dog stopped eating, stopped pooping and laid on her bed lethargically from day to day getting worse. As we had visitors drop by, they made comments, "She's pretty much gone" or "She's given up on life; there's nothing you can do" and "Is that dog even alive still?"

After not having eaten for over 10 days, and drinking minimal droppers of water, I called the Vet, "You can bring her in to do testing to find out which body parts are shutting down...." SERIOUSLY? THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE FOR ME??? Well, you can imagine why we took the matter in our own hands then, with me spending late hours on the computer doing research on canine health. What I came up with was that her body was too weak from malnutrition to be able to recover from a major surgery. MALNUTRITION? BUT, how could that be since we fed her good brands of commercial dog foods?!?!

INSTEAD....my question SHOULD have been, "Are we feeding her the type of food that God created a dog to eat?" The answer would have been "no". In my research, I found a dog needs to eat a majority of their diet as protein, not as grains and carbs as most commercial dog food is made. OF that protein, it should be raw--just as a canine would eat out in the wild!

MY EXPERIMENT: I held a piece of raw meat in front of her nose--not having eaten for 10 days, keep in mind--and the RAW was KEY, because we had tried plenty of cooked meat! Her ears perked, her nose wriggled and she slowly accepted the food. Over the next few days as her appetite came back, we gave her an enema (yeah, gross!!) to get her bowels moving again (NATURES SUNSHINE LOWER BOWEL STIMULANT DROPS worked for ongoing flushing for the next few weeks) and fed her milk, raw eggs, bits of raw steak and hamburger to keep her eating. Within a week she was running around as her usual self.

Our dog is 13 years old now and has a healthy appetite, plays throughout the day, sees well, hear well, has all of her teeth, and even chases rabbits and other critters regularly around our yard. In fact, most new visitors think she's about 5 years, as their mouth drops when we tell her REAL age! She has not needed any medications or vet visits for health problems in the past 4 years (she doesn't GET health problems, in fact!), and is in GREAT SHAPE considering where she was before and directly following her surgery. She doesn't get the luxury of having special food bought for her....instead we have found a very budget-conscious diet plan for her....still involving raw foods. If you are interested in how we have done this--tune back in for my next BLOG POSTING on NATURAL CANINE HEALTH!

God Bless, Ms. Salubrious

******None of the above statements have been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. All of the information in this BLOG is strictly for educational purposes. This BLOG should not be used to treat, diagnose, or prescribe for a condition you feel you may have. If you have any health concerns, you should see a competent practitioner. ******