1st chapter of the Health and Longevity Course for dogs
If you are a dog lover, I have no doubt your main goal is to have your canine friend live the longest and healthiest life possible. It's my experience that people interested in a natural, holistic approach to health and diet are keen readers and learners, who know about the dangers of processed food and drugs.
In addition to feeding your dog well and minimizing the use of chemicals in treatment, there is one other part of care that is critical to maintaining your dog’s health and that is knowing what you don't know.
For example, when you ask 10 people if they eat healthy, it's very likely that 8 out of 10 will say they do. However, when an expert nutritionist asks about their diet, you'll learn that only two to three people really understand healthy eating and the rest simply don't know they eat food that's not good for them.
Just recently, a friend who lives overseas asked me what anti-inflammatory medication she should use for her dog. Most people believe that suppressing inflammation is good. They are not aware that a short period of healthy inflammation leads to faster healing. They also don't know that anti-inflammatory medication used in dogs causes kidney disease, hepatitis and stomach ulcers.
Another example is heartworm prevention. Most people believe heartworm meds are needed every month and don't know there is a better, safer protocol available.
I could list hundreds of other examples of not knowing, but instead, I've made a plan to teach you step-by-step what I've learned in almost 30 years of practicing veterinary medicine.
Sounds too good to be true? Let me clarify. You do not need to become a DVM to make a huge difference in your dog’s health. All you need to understand are some simple principles of creating and maintaining health that can be used for a variety of diseases and health problems.
Often, this knowledge can help you prevent disease altogether, other times it'll help you decide on the best options when your primary veterinarian proposes a treatment plan.
The core principle of health is following nature
I love the term natural healthcare, mainly because the term suggests the connection of healing with nature. As a veterinarian, I follow the principles observed in nature whenever I need to come up with the best treatment plan and deal with a difficult decision.
I look for an example in nature and derive a treatment plan from the example.
Everything in nature and the universe is a cycle
Some time ago, I had a conversation with my brother-in-law about his business. We argued because he thought business growth is an upwards spiral and I believed that it's a cycle because everything in the universe is a cycle.
The only difference is in the length of these cycles
The longest cycle we know of is the existence of the universe itself. It's now confirmed the universe is expanding, but eventually, it will contract.
The life of our sun is similar. Now it is a bright, life-giving, powerful star, but eventually, it will run out of fuel.
The history of life on Earth is no different. Meteorite impacts, changes in temperatures and other factors made life-forms change or almost disappear for a while, only to rise again.
When it comes to our lives or the lives of our dogs, the cycle is much, much shorter, but similar to all the other cycles, the end of it is inevitable.
How can you extend your dog's life?
If you expect me to give you the ABC's of longevity right in this paragraph, it is not that simple.
Learning a new skill such as playing music, painting, speaking a second language, reading or writing takes time and so does learning how to maintain your dog’s health.
For example, when someone is learning how to write, first, we have to show the student how to hold the pen, write letters, spell words, learn punctuation and sentence structure. With music, we need to learn how to read notes and play the instrument before we can play a song.
Learning how to keep your dog healthy and long living requires the knowledge of a few simple principles of healing.
In practical terms, good health represents a large life cycle and poor health and a shorter life can be visualized as a small cycle.
The smaller wheel will go a shorter distance to complete a rotation and the larger wheel will get much further per rotation. Your goal is to make your dog’s cycle of life as large as possible.
Everyone understands that polluting rivers, burning fossil fuels, making mountains of plastic, over-fishing and over consuming makes Earth's cycle smaller.
The same applies to our dogs. Respecting natural processes of the body makes his or her life longer on average and polluting the body with chemicals by feeding poor food full of toxins leads to a shorter life.
I can imagine that at least one person reading this will remember the grandmother that smoked, drank and ate bad food and lived till the age of 90, but such cases are rare.
Heal the way the Earth heals
I'm fascinated by nature's perfection and I'm puzzled by humans who are constantly trying to invent new technologies when nature offers all we need in flawless perfection. It grows the best food, it makes the best materials and it also heals the best.
There are three steps in each process of healing, which I call the Healing Cycle.
CLEANSE AND DETOX
The earth has many ways of detoxing and cleansing. Rain flushes impurities down the rivers into the oceans and the oceans get cleansed by sun, surf and sand.
Solar UV rays are known to keep bacteria in check and sterilize and disinfect surfaces. The oceans also absorb huge amounts of CO2 and so do the forests that use carbon to grow plants and trees.
Earth would be in absolutely perfect condition if we humans didn’t constantly tamper with the system. We love making the "next new thing" and inventions, but often don't think through the dangers and consequences. Just try to think of one manmade system that is better than the natural one.
The body is very similar. It maintains its functions through detox processes, from breathing to urine elimination, liver processing and digestive elimination. Even the anal glands play an important role in the cleansing process.
In the case of the earth, you and I know that introducing foreign substances into the environment leads to a shortening of the life cycle. The way to increase the chances of a longer cycle include the detox process, eliminating or reducing the amount of artificial substances and providing the body what it needs.
Some people object, mainly because they don't understand the full effect of drugs, preservatives and chemicals on the body. While the primary effects of most drugs and chemicals are known, no one can say with confidence what all the long-term effects of these artificial substances are.
And because we can't know if an artificial substance contributes to diseases in the future, it is better to minimize their use whenever possible. This is your first principle for keeping your dog healthy and happy for many years to come.
Avoid artificial substances, learn what toxins are in your dog's body by hair testing and take your dog through a regular cleanse every six months.
In the next article, you'll learn what you need to know about disease prevention.
Did you know this is only one article from our free Holistic Health & Longevity Course?
To read the entire Holistic Health and Longevity Course for Dogs click the links below.
© Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM
