{"id":7546,"date":"2017-02-02T18:32:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T18:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/?p=2639"},"modified":"2023-08-25T18:59:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T18:59:59","slug":"lets-be-proactive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/?p=7546","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Be Proactive"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not unusual for people to contact me when their beloved animal companion is in the last stages of life. \u00a0Many times, it\u2019s days or hours away.\u00a0 Knowing at what point the suffering is greater than the quality of life can be\u00a0difficult.\u00a0 I\u2019m grateful I can help with this decision.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to understand how your animal feels and what they need.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I trust all happens in perfect timing, yet sometimes I wish people would contact me sooner. \u00a0 Following conventional advice is not always in the best interest of your beloved animals.\u00a0 While there certainly is a place for allopathic medicine, many times, especially with more chronic conditions, there are holistic alternatives that can do more benefit with less harm.\u00a0 It\u2019s best to start before the problem appears…or shortly after if necessary.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a story from my own recent experience.\u00a0 About nine months\u00a0ago, my toy poodle King began showing signs of discomfort on his front leg after running down the deck stairs.\u00a0 I gave him a day or so and it improved so I let it go.\u00a0\u00a0 After another month, he began\u00a0limping again.\u00a0 This time it persisted a few days…on a weekend of course…so I took him to the emergency hospital in Appleton.\u00a0 As they examined him they found nothing broken and determined\u00a0the pain was coming from his shoulder (I knew this part).\u00a0 Even though I knew his shoulder was sore, I wasn\u2019t going to rely only on my abilities to diagnose him.\u00a0 I was glad to find out nothing else was a problem.\u00a0 I gave him ZeoComplete to reduce inflammation and a supplement with joint support and a natural anti-inflammatory.\u00a0 I also took him to my vet for a chiropractic adjustment.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, he was sore again.\u00a0 I sensed something more was going on and took him to my vet asking for x-rays.\u00a0 The x-ray revealed a tumor on his shoulder bone.\u00a0 The diagnosis was osteosarcoma, or bone cancer.\u00a0 My vet explained the \u201cnormal course\u201d (and he knows I rarely follow the normal course) is to amputate the leg and shoulder and use chemotherapy.\u00a0 This should provide 6-12 months more life.\u00a0 I knew this would not be a good option for King.\u00a0 He suggested a few different pain relievers.\u00a0 He held the most hope for one that could be compounded for King\u2019s tiny size and seemed to have less negative effects than the other ones.\u00a0 Because it would take at least a week to get, he recommended Tramadol and Metacam in the meantime.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t comfortable giving these harsh drugs to King but I also knew he was in pain.\u00a0 I decided to try a dose of the tramadol. Afterwards, he seemed worse.\u00a0 I also tried the Metacam.\u00a0Again this was doing more harm than good.\u00a0 King was acting like he wanted to die right then.\u00a0 I could tell he had lost his zest for life.\u00a0 I was heartbroken that he might have only a very short time to live.\u00a0 When my vet ordered the drug I was waiting for, he told me he was ordering enough for one\u00a0month, more than I would need.<\/p>\n

A friend and I\u00a0did energy work with King. \u00a0I stopped the other two pain relievers.\u00a0 He perked up. \u00a0It occurred to me that marijuana is being used successfully to treat pain with cancer so maybe I could find marijuana for dogs.\u00a0 Well I found something even better.\u00a0 I found a cannabis product called Canna-Pet, developed after years of research by veterinarians.\u00a0 This product has no THC, the component that causes hallucinogenic effects so it can be shipped anywhere in the US. \u00a0It’s useful for end of life comfort and many other physical and emotional (behavioral) issues. I ordered it right away.<\/p>\n

When the anti-inflammatory drug that was being compounded, arrived I was hesitant to start King on it because I knew it could cause gastric ulcers.\u00a0 I had just started him on the Canna-Pet and decided to give it a few days.\u00a0 King\u2019s attitude and appetite improved.\u00a0 He had less pain and was not three-legged lame but was still sore.\u00a0 After another week or two King continued to improve but still had pain so I decided to add the anti-inflammatory drug after testing it for him by dowsing.\u00a0 After I added this with the Canna-Pet, King stopped favoring the leg.\u00a0 He would occasionally yelp if he overexerted himself but overall was enjoying life.\u00a0 After another month on these products, he was no longer yelping.\u00a0 He was begging for petting again and running up and down the deck stairs. \u00a0When he started to have digestive issues, I put him on an herbal digestive aid designed for dogs\u00a0and reduced the anti-inflammatory to once a day. \u00a0That was about 5 months ago.<\/p>\n

I tell you this story because had I followed the typical advice, I\u2019m certain King would have declined and been gone within a month as my vet suggested.\u00a0 The side effects from the drugs would have caused so many other issues, he wouldn\u2019t be enjoying the health he is now.<\/p>\n

Using drugs like prednisone have their place in acute situations but they are very problematic when given for long periods.\u00a0 Allopathic medicine can do miracles in acute situations.\u00a0 My dog Tiger had surgery for a herniated disc in his neck at UW Madison Vet Hospital and it saved him from intense pain.\u00a0 I\u2019m not against all allopathic medicine, but there is so much that is not necessary and even harmful. Over vaccination, unnecessary drugs and commercial diets are creating many of the health and behavioral issues seen in our companion animals today. \u00a0Allopathic medicine fails at creating homeostasis which means balance. The body is designed to heal itself.\u00a0 When we support it with proper diet, exercise and play, reduce toxins and stress the body can heal.<\/p>\n

My journey with holistic help for animals began in 1996 with my dog Tiger.\u00a0 This was when I began feeding a homemade and then raw diet to my dogs.\u00a0 I learned about the problems of over-vaccination and harsh drugs given routinely (and often unnecessarily).\u00a0 My sensitive dog Tiger taught me much as did my horses.\u00a0 For those of you who have known me since I began working with animals in 2002, you know I also used to do complete wellness workups for animals including essential oil therapy, cranio sacral therapy and nutritional recommendations.\u00a0 While this work is no longer included on my website and I\u2019m not doing full work-ups anymore, I am here to help steer you in the right direction (along with your holistic veterinarian) when your animals are facing health issues or while they are healthy to ensure they stay that way as long as possible.<\/p>\n

If your animals are struggling with health issues consider a second opinion with a truly holistic veterinarian. \u00a0If you don’t have one near you, some will do consults from a distance. \u00a0They need you to be their advocates. \u00a0Many times, much can still be done to improve their quality of life and often you will save money too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not unusual for people to contact me when their beloved animal companion is in the last stages of life. \u00a0Many times, it\u2019s days or hours away.\u00a0 Knowing at what point the suffering is greater than the quality of life can be\u00a0difficult.\u00a0 I\u2019m grateful I can help with this decision.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to understand how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry","has-post-thumbnail","gs-1","gs-odd","gs-even","gs-featured-content-entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7546"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7956,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7546\/revisions\/7956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}