Dear Dr. Khalsa,
I have an epileptic rough collie. She is 7.5 yrs old. On a homemade diet, no chemicals unfortunately yes on meds because her seizures are uncontrolled. Still seizes every 20/28 days. Lately her seizures are not just one but clusters. She is on four meds daily and the meds are killing her!
Thank you
Christine Hovanec
Dr. Deva Khalsa:
Hi Christine,
I do not have enough information in your letter to choose a potential remedy but what is really working well is CBD oil. ElleVet has done a great deal of research on their CBD oil in canine seizures. Here is the article for you to read.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.939966/full
Greetings Dr. Khalsa,
I’m looking for some natural ways to help with idiopathic epilepsy for our German shepherd. He was diagnosed 1 year ago at almost 1 year of age. He has been on Keppra ever since. But we have noticed some changes in him a lot lately. We also don’t like the idea of him having to take 6 pills per day for the rest of his life.
Thank you
Skylar
Dr. Deva Khalsa:
Hi Skylar,
I will refer you to the article and company mentioned in the question above.
Hello Dr. Khalsa,
What is your opinion of grain free kibble being linked to canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)?
Thank you
Cheryl Flamm
Dr. Deva Khalsa:
I actually have no opinion on this. The science is equivocal.
Hi Dr. Khalsa,
I have a German Shepherd Husky, Leo who is 5 years old. His whole life he has had some sort of allergy. He was biting his paws and his body was inflamed and bloated. The vet just wanted to prescribe a drug to mask the symptoms. With elimination diets we figured out that he is allergic to the main proteins: chicken, eggs, beef, turkey, and pork.
We found Dr. Harvey’s Allergy food Salmon flavor. After switching him to fish only it has made such a difference! He is a whole new dog!!
His inflammation is completely down, he now sleeps through the night, no more random panting, his energy level sky rocketed. He used to just lay in the corner for hours not wanting to move and not sleep through the night always changing positions and panting. His poops use to be pretty small for the size dog he is, now his poops are like they should be for a 100lbs dog!
Dr Harvey also has a turkey allergy food which we had to give him for a week because they ran out of the salmon and within two days, his bloat and paw biting returned.
I just recently learned about mercury in fish. Since I am not able to rotate proteins or afford uncommon proteins like kangaroo or lamb, fish is the only thing that he responds well with. My main concern is mercury exposure over time.
I did email Dr Harvey and they assured it is wild caught and sourced from USA. Do you have any insight on this and any advice? Thank you so much!
Thank you
Kassandra
Dr. Deva Khalsa:
Fish has a lot of mercury in it, nowadays. This food says it has a salmon flavor. The main point is that this food is novel and he has not had it before. Thus, there is relief from his symptoms. In 99.9% of canines with allergies, food sensitivities and food intolerances, they will become allergic to the new food within 9-months-time.
There is not a dog I treat for allergies who has been on fish oil supplements for months that is not allergic to fish. At first, because chicken and beef are in the vaccines the dogs get allergic to these and so the doctor puts them on a lamb diet and then they do great until they are on lamb for 9 months and become sensitive, intolerant or allergic to lamb. Then they move to let us say venison. Then rabbit. Then bison. Then Kangaroo and then denatured protein.
The ginger, sweet potato and pumpkin are all great ingredients for the GI system and the food is a good food. But with allergies, which are an inappropriate response of the immune system, the fish will eventually trigger a response. My book The Allergic Pet has more information on how this works. For now, I celebrate with you that he is doing so very well. He deserves it and so do you!
Hello Dr. Khalsa,
My aging dog has issues with arthritis and can be a bit fragile at times. It looks like her paws may hurt, as well as her back (she’s a short-long dog ). What do you use to help your dog feel less pain and move with more ease?
Thank you
Elise
Dr. Deva Khalsa:
CBD Oil is good to use. I like Elle Vet CBD oil. Also, Rhus tox is often a wonderful remedy for older dogs and 30x at 2-3 x a day is a nice dosage and rate to start with. If you can find a good doggy chiro or a human chiropractor that does dogs, that would be very nice. Short-long dogs are mechanically set up to have back problems and as these are basically mechanical, a good adjustment goes a very long way.
Hi Dr. Khalsa,
I went to the vet today because my rescue dog is in need of some teeth extractions. They will see her, do the exam and prep work, blood work etc., but then they tell me I MUST HAVE four different jabs in order to do the dental work. Is that really necessary or wise?!
Thank you
Margerie
Dr. Deva Khalsa:
By 4 different jabs I believe you mean the vaccines. I have both a Chapter and an Appendix on vaccines in my book The Allergic Pet. One distemper and parvo vaccine (which is all you care about in the ‘yearly booster’) is good for LIFE just as your childhood polio is good for life.
All others are NOT core vaccines, re: the AVMA. The last is Rabies which has great immunity (usually lifetime) and you can do blood titers on that to check for immunity. I would be very doubtful that the test would not show great immunity.
Find another veterinarian if you read these sections of my book and quote renowned veterinary immunologists, etc. and they cannot adjust to you needs. It’s not my opinion, it’s science.
Dear Dr. Khalsa
Are there any natural supplements I can give my dog who has slight clouding on her eyes. Vet mentioned cataracts. I would love to know if I can stop it from getting worse. She’s not blind so that’s a plus.
Thank you
Marina
Dr. Deva Khalsa:
Here is an article I wrote on cataracts. It mentions a good product from Switzerland for cataracts in dogs.
https://www.doctordeva.com/cataracts/
Dear Dr. Khalsa,
I adopted a Chihuahua Mix almost two years ago from Cartagena, Colombia in South America. He is about 20 pounds. Although he was abandoned and found wandering the streets, he seemed healthy when I got him.
I cannot get my dog to drink before he goes out for a walk. When we return from a walk, which is not very strenuous, he quickly laps up the water without taking a break. He continues to drink until he empties that bowl. Sometimes, he will burp afterwards.
He also eats too fast even on a tray that is supposed to slow down eating. When he urinates the stream is incredibly long. Since I stand there waiting I started to count at an average pace. I can count between 40 and 80 most times. I find that to be a lot of output for a smaller dog. The last urinalysis was negative.
Any ideas about why this happens? And, what can I do to help?
A tick bored into him last year. I was able to get the entire body out. Bloodwork from last summer was relatively good. However, Ehrlichiosis was noted.
Thank you,
Laurie and Mango
Dr. Deva Khalsa:
Have you treated him for intestinal worms? The routine fecals are 70% false negative and you can get Fenbendazole (as Panacur or SafeGuard) over the counter without a need for a script at 1- 800- pet meds. Also, if he had fleas he should also be treated for tapeworms as the flea is the intermediate host and the tapeworms would make him ravenously hungry.
Tapeworms do not show up in routine fecal tests but if a dog had fleas, the chance that he nibbled one down and got tapeworms is about 90%. Maybe take him for a short walk, let him drink as he does, wait a few hours or an hour and take him out for his ‘real walk’. I am not sure if there is a problem or if he has developed some unusual habits.
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Kindest regards,
Dr. Deva Khalsa
215-944 3036
Editor’s note: Dr. Khalsa’s new book was just released:
The Allergic Pet –Holistic Solutions to End the Allergy Epidemic in Our Dogs and Cats
Dr. Khalsa shows how to strengthen the immune systems of dogs and cats without invasive techniques or pharmaceutical drugs.
https://www.amazon.com/Allergic-Pet-Holistic-Solutions-Epidemic/dp/1621871827
also…. The second edition of Dr. Khalsa’s Natural Dog is now available. It’s an exceptional book with information not offered in any similar work. I recommend it highly!
