Caring People and Healing Herbs

Before I talk about Sol's herbal supplements, I have to say that my family has experienced an outpouring of sympathy and caring from many people. My music students are grieving along with us, as they miss Buddy greeting them with a couple of happy barks at the door and lying at their feet listening to their lessons. He adored them (who will let me know when somebody has arrived now?). Even if he didn't come down to the studio immediately, pretty soon we'd hear thumpity-thump down the stairs, and then thud as he bumped open the studio door and came in. I'd always have to get up and close the door behind him so the family's noises wouldn't disturb the lesson (or vice-versa). I never did figure out how to train him to shut the door behind himself.

Then there is our neighborhood. We have the loveliest folks on our block, so sad when he was struggling to walk, cheering and amazed at his progress, and spreading the word at his loss. We've had cards, facebook messages, e-mails, and phone calls, not to mention three little neighbor children showing up at the door with hand-made cards and very big eyes, windows to their hearts.

Also our friends, supporting, praying, caring, saying sweet things about our Buddy, letting us know it's okay to grieve over a dog. He wasn't "just a dog", but a member of our family.

Thank you, everybody.

Now the herbs. One thing that I've learned about herbs is that there will be a group of them that all do roughly the same thing. One group may soothe the digestive system. So you can pick any of those, it really doesn't matter. This also means that you can use one for a few months, and then switch to another just as good, so that one's system doesn't become desensitized and stop responding to the first herb.

This is also good to know because if you can't find the exact product sold by the same company, you can easily substitute another.

A good practice is to administer an herb for five or six days, then take two days off.

Something else I heard conflicting viewpoints on is that dogs' digestive systems, being shorter and faster, absorb herbs better in tincture form than in leaf form.
I don't know how true it is, but we gave Buddy both forms. Obviously they worked either way, considering his improvement.

Hey, let's go on to the next day to get specific about herbs, okay?

Saving Sol/Buddy From Lymphoma

I've decided to continue this blog. I feel more strongly than ever about the holistic treatment we gave our Buddy. I am convinced that if I had been braver to get him completely weaned off of Prednisone, he would have lived longer yet.

I've learned so much; through experience and through reading (and reading, and reading). Also through others' expertise and experience. Let me pick up where I left off in the July 1st post, after I discovered that some people had saved their dogs from lymphoma through diet and herbal remedies.

As I called around to health food stores and any place I thought might carry herbal tinctures, John Kessenich, owner of the Baraboo Grainary, gave me an hour of his time and advice. He also gave me the name of a lab breeder north of the Dells. Kathy Turbett had recently saved a dog of hers from lymphoma. The dog had lived so far six months with no evidence of cancer. She recommended I wean Sol completely off Prednisone, that it was like a poison, weakening him daily, taking away his appetite and strength. I had no reason to doubt that.

Kathy advised me not to try to detoxify Buddy until he was off the Prednisone, as it would create something of a war inside him; the detox herbs trying to rid his body of the steroid. I should stick with healing herbs. They'd take a week or so to really get into his system, anyway.

Sol was to have only one of his two pills that day. I gave it to him early in the morning, and then two hours later offered him breakfast, which he refused. I was distressed, but resolved to wait till later before giving in to panic. On Kathy's recommendation, we would give Sol only one pill a day for five days, then every other day for awhile.

That day I bought lots of healing things for him. When I got back home, I gave him a can of chicken stew for dogs from the Grainary, which he ate hungrily. He also ate a teaspoon of cod liver oil, and an herb capsule wrapped in organic cheese. Cheese always had been his favorite. I bought a juicer that day, too. With everything else I had to do, learning to use the juicer was overwhelming. I waited a week for that. Kathy also recommended lots of petting and massage for Sol, and keeping stress to a minimum.

Next time I'll begin to describe the herbs and how they work.