Vita, I was a very conventional person when it came to vet care. My parents were breeders. I sat through so many classes as a young child (Mom didn't do babysitters & they went to seminars on canine health, breeding, genetics, etc..). When I started school my teachers thought I was making up words until Mom made them write down a list of all my "made up" words & when she came to review with them, she had them get a dictionary & then had to explain all the vet terms. Everything about the dog has fascinated me from childhood. So I was a very by-the-book person on vet care. ((Enter stage right the problem that would make a change)) I had a dog that I spent 10+ years searching for, saw dogs in person, on video, etc... from over 250 breeders. I found his breeder who sold him to me on payments, lol. This dog was as close to perfect: working temperament, work ethic, physical ability, intelligence, learning capacity, etc... except his immune system was broken badly. I reckeon the good Lord & Boss-dog drug me kicking & screaming into this bizarre world of natural remedies, homeopathics, herbal, etc... Man it has been a ride.
I have a whole host of things that I use as preventative care. Once a month I take flat leaf parsley, break it up, & put it in the water buckets & bowls. The goodies from the parsley leach into the water (just like human flavored waters) & it helps with anything to do with bladder/kidneys. Then sometimes I'll take a big bunch of flat leafed parsley & no sodium chicken broth. Throw it in my vitamix & make a sludge. I put a spoon of that on all dogs food until its all gone. (It does the same thing... all things urinary).
Once a month I put a couple of shot glasses of colloidal silver in the outdoor water buckets. My chickens drink out of it as do my dogs. Chickens can carry coccidia & I'm sure other things. My neighbor has to give her dog a medicine that is quite hard on the dog's body. The reason? Her dogs & chickens drink from the same water from time to time. She was stunned that my dogs never have it. Why? Because I drop the C.Silver into the water & never have any problems. (BTW have someone get ahold of food that might have been bad or they start having tummy trouble reasons unknown... a shot glass of C.Silver. Ask our Grandson. He got bad gas station food. After a few trips to the bathroom I caught him & handed him a shot glass. He took it... stopped the problem just like that & he was able to have fun with us the rest of the weekend).
Boss-dog had trouble with a cough. The vet thought it was his heart but after checking it proved not to be. The person who got me started on this stuff told me, "not his heart... his liver is getting overloaded with toxins". Solution... carrot salad. Yes, I know. Sounds crazy. Finely grated carrots for a week, at the end of the week you do a flush with clay & oil. Stopped the coughing by the 3rd day of carrots. I had to cheat with him & do half shredded, half babyfood carrots but it worked. Bless him, he ate whatever I put in his bowl. Anytime he would cough... carrot salad (works for humans & animals). ((If I knew then what I know now... I would have given him a detox bath)).
Most folks know about pumpkin: constipation or dihrea Pure pumpkin puree does the trick.
I do use diotomatious earth FOOD GRADE only. I find out when the full moon is. I start 4 days prior to the full moon. I take some sort of wet stuff (raw egg, canned dog food, hamburger, etc...) & put the DE in there. Worms are more active during a full moon in all animals & humans. I use the DE 4 times per year myself. I've done this for years & am still here. I put it in juice for myself. I alternate between that & traditional dewormer.
I also use garlic with my dogs but again you MUST use common sense. I'm not giving a table spoon per day to a Chihuahua. A small amount based on dog size once per week or every other week.
I'm going to do some research on the Guinness. I don't care too much what vets 'believe' vs what the medical tests show. What are the results? When my vet challenged me over my raw feeding, I made a deal with him. Run all the blood work, the tests he wanted. If he could show me where the dogs were deficient, where they were lacking in health or had problems. I would pay for all the tests & go back to kibble however, if I was right he paid for all the tests & it was free rabies shots for the whole crew. I can't say the dogs enjoyed our winnings except I did buy them some special meat as a treat for their humoring Mom throughout the whole deal
