Hi Dan, sorry your dog is having such trouble. Knee injuries don’t happen during sleep but SOMETIMES an injury doesn’t show up until some period of rest. While sometimes an acute injury shows right away with vocalization and lameness, sometimes you don’t know until after rest or sleep. I’ve seen that happen as well as I had that happen myself.
HOWEVER, no having improved much after being on meds AND having problems with the other leg now too is definitely a reason to go back.
Hip dysplasia is a common issue in large breeds; did your dog have x-rays done at any point? That said, hip dysplasia is a chronic issue. To me, chronic problem = progressive symptoms. Acute onset to me spells an acute cause. You don’t wake up one morning and have hip dysplasia you didn’t have the night before. We had this discussing about JD when he did something to himself running and his hips showed up looking badly. Everybody was convinced it was the hips but I felt that the hips were the same two days prior when he wasn’t having any visible problem. Surely enough, with some care and meds, couple months later his hips are still the same (or arguably worse) and he’s doing fine. It WAS some kind of acute injury on top of whatever the state of the hips was.
However, your dog is now having two bad legs. Yes, it could be bad knee ligaments. They couldn’t have been partially damaged and the left leg, having to bear the extra weight compensating for the right one, could have sustained further tearing to the ligament. Way too many dogs end up with bilateral problem where both knees go at about the same time and both need to be fixed.
Bad knee ligaments are serious, about as serious as hip dysplasia. The ligament, once damaged or torn does not heal itself to the previous state. The knees can heal in other ways through conservative management but with both legs affected that is not really an option. Regenerative medicine can do a lot of good but again, with both knees being a problem that’s probably not going to happen. Most common fix for both bad knees is a surgery on both knees to stabilize them
First things first, though. Go back to the vet. And I would go further with the diagnostics and include x-rays. I would do full evaluation, including neurological, just in case the problem isn’t with the legs but with the back. Some serious diagnosing needs to happen to determine what exactly is going on before you can talk about ways of dealing with it.
I think, while at it, I’d test for tick-borne diseases as well to be on the safe side.
Bradd, this is where, when I only had my conventional veterinary training, I would
often be very frustrated because even expensive tests led me no closer to ways to heal deeply as I had limited options. The holistic
philosophy has taught me that there is an underlying vibrational imbalance that
causes most problems and the healing goal is to resolve that imbalance with
treatments selected for that individual animal. Your dog should be able to walk completely normally for the rest of his life, maybe with some continuing treatments. To better understand this
perspective, read the first few chapters of Don Hamilton’s Homeopathic Care of
Cats and Dogs, the few pages in my book, the Healthy Animal’s Journal or Wendy
Jensen’s Practical Handbook of Veterinary Homeopathy: Healing Our Companion
Animals from the Inside Out,
While you may be able to help as home, especially If you were trained in different healing modalities (see below – YOU BE THE
HEALER) by using Reiki,
T-Touch, HTA, flower essences, acupressure, herbs, essential oils, supplements,
homeopathy and more. I am giving multiple suggestions because only some may be
available in your area, and each animal is unique, so what works with one does
not work with all. This is the joy of holistic approaches – we have dozens of
things to try, while conventional has merely a few.
1. Even before you are trained in Reiki, you can ask for this energy healing
that cannot hurt and may help (See REIKI, below, for web sites to request
healing). Once you are attuned, offer it daily to the whole house. This will not cure, but may help and will never harm.
2. Flower essences are totally safe, so select one or more to try. These
flower essence companies have combinations for animals : SpiritEssences.com,
Anaflora.com; GreenHopeEssences.com; petessence.com Many other companies like
Bach with single remedies can help you select essences. At your local pharmacy (maybe) or health food
store (for sure) you can buy rescue remedy. This combination of Bach flowers can
help especially when the pain seems worse, or if there is a healing crisis when working with a holistic vet. Put 4 drops in one ounce of water and
use it: in the mouth, rubbed on more hairless areas of the skin, on the paws,
in a bowl of water in a room not near the drinking water. It can be given
topically or orally as often as it seems to help.
3. Most importantly, change to a raw (or lightly cooked) meaty bone diet as
this it is more digestible than any processed foods so builds up the immune
system allowing her body to self heal.
FIND AN INTEGRATIVE VETERINARIAN
I strongly recommend finding an integrative veterinarian with whom to work.
This is a person trained in many different approaches, including using
conventional drugs only when absolutely needed. Working with one can increase
the chance that your cherished companion can live a long and healthy life after
recovering from this current problem. There are good ones and great ones, and a
few homeopathic veterinarians will consult by phone or email. You can go to the
web sites for each type of holistic practice and use their referral list to find
one near to you. Many practitioners are members of only one or two of the
organizations, so you do need to go to every site to find who is near you. http://christinachambreau.com/learn-more/links-to-healing-resources has all the organizations (chiropractic, homeopathic, acupuncture and chinese herbs, osteopathy, postural work, western herbs) listed.
If you are interested in better health in general, please read the following. I hope you are too overwhelmed by all this information but your Weimaraner is so young (I have ones liveing over 15 years) that I would love to help her recover from this and live a lot longer.
7 KEYS TO HEALTHY ANIMALS
1. Know the current level of health. Most health problems are the result of an
underlying energy imbalance. As we cure animals of “disease”,
we find that other things we thought were normal go away, so we can use these
clues to know that animals are not healthy yet. Your goal is for your
animal to have great energy, no doggy odor, no hairball vomiting, little
shedding, a glowing coat and many more. Below is a complete list of these signs
(Early Warning Signs of Illness). In young animals, these apparently
“normal” problems may be the only indications to start exploring new
options for lifestyle or treatment. Buy the Healthy Animal’s Journal
(www.HealthyAnimalsJournal.com) so you can see how these early warning symptoms
and obvious ill symptoms change over time.
2. Feed the best. What are the best diets for people or animals — the most
processed or the freshest, most organic? The best ingredients should be
the most consciously raised – local, organic vegetables, free ranging protein
sources. Dogs and cats have ripping and tearing teeth, bone crunching teeth, no
digestive juices in the mouth, jaws that do not chew, a stomach full of acid
where the food sits for 4-12 hours and a very short transit time in the intestines.
Dogs and cats do not pull out a knife to de-bone their prey and do not pull out
matches to light a fire to cook their meat and vegetables. Therefore the best
diet for dogs and cats is raw meat including raw bones, pureed raw and cooked
vegetables and a few supplements (Calcium if no bones are eaten is critical).
Grains are not good for most animals, but if there are none of the early
warning signs (see below) and no illnesses, you can feed some grains,
preferably the higher protein ones. Start as young kittens and puppies or at
whatever age you read this (Brighthaven.org, a cat sanctuary switches 16 years
old and older cats to raw meat diet and some have lived to 27 and 30, and now
one to 35). Second best is same quality, but cooked. Even grocery store
quality meat and vegetables are much better than most processed foods.
Processed foods are an effort for the food industry to use up its waste
products except for a few companies with great motives (and even they sometimes
get bad or inferior ingredients). Processed foods are also a problem for the
environment – they are not sustainable. Many dogs and cats need probiotics,
especially if fed processed, dead foods. My current favorite is Mitomax. I have
had many animals’ minor health problems clear up while using this. Unlike other
probiotics, it is very stable and is ok at the low stomach pH. Every animal
needs and wants a different combination of foods and supplements at different
times in their lives depending on different stressors and health challenges,
just as we do. With any food, observe each of your animals for the effect that
food has on them and change if decreased energy or poor coat or other Early
Warning Signs. NEVER feed DRY food to cats – even as treats. It causes most
cats to drink more water resulting in stress to the kidneys and also can
trigger bladder problems in cats. You can now buy many commercial raw meat
diets. You must research them as well. Ask where the ingredients are raised?
Are chemicals used? Are the chickens, beef, pork, etc raised in humane ways,
out in the sun to get the Vitamin D in the meat, etc? My favorite newest books
to guide you are: Steve Brown’s Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet; Hofve and
Yarnall’s the Paleodog; Becker and Taylor’s Dr. Becker’s real food for healthy
dogs and cats; Taylor and Brown’s See spot Live Longer; and Basko’s Fresh food
and Ancient Wisdom.
3. Vaccinate the least. In my opinion, vaccines have caused more harm to
animals than anything else we have done. Do you get measles and mumps vaccines
every year of your life? Researchers in conventional veterinary medicine agree
that we vaccinate too often, in too many combinations, and that this level of
vaccination, while preventing epidemics, is harmful to the health of
susceptible animals. On-going studies show that antibodies are high 10
and 16 years later for dog and cat distemper and dog Parvo so I recommend just
a few baby shots and NO more. While Rabies is also a viral disease, you must
follow the law, which is every 3 years.
To help prevent damage from the Rabies vaccine, or any others that are
accidentally given, do the following. First, learn Reiki (see below) and hold
the vaccine syringe in your hand until the “draw” is gone, then Reiki
the injection site once you are in the car, then Reiki the whole animal daily
until they do not “draw”. If you have not yet learned Reiki, use the
contacts below to have it done for your animal after the vaccine. For two weeks
before and two weeks after, give the totally safe Vaccine Detox, a flower
essence from http://www.SpiritEssences.com. Give triple the dose of calcium (or add
some calcium) for 3 days before and 5 days after the vaccines. Dr. Peck is
finding a drop in calcium at vaccination time. Then use the Early Warning
signs, below, to see if further holistic treatment is needed if any of them
appear or worsen. A wonderful list serve on vaccines, their harm and
alternatives is at yahoo groups. To register, go to
novaxk9s-subscribe@yahoogroups.com A great web site ishttp://vaccines.dogsadversereactions.com/
4. Use the fewest chemicals, remembering that there are chemicals in vaccines.
Each animal is an individual and will respond differently to heartworm, flea
and tick preventatives. My kindle book, FLEAS BE GONE: a holistic
veterinarian’s guide to natural flea control will help you avoid these. Some
are very sensitive to chemicals used in the yard or the house and in vaccines –
they will become profoundly ill. Others will be triggered by these chemicals to
just not have full health. Chemicals in foods can cause allergic type reactions,
so again feeding a fresh diet from local ingredients will be best. Healthy
yards have lots of weeds. House cleaners can be made from foods and microfibril
cloths clean like a charm. Healthy animals never get fleas and ticks
5. Understand how animals become ill and how they heal. First there is an
energetic imbalance (they are just not right), then functional (the dog is
itchy), then inflamed (skin is red, infected, swollen and hot) and finally
tissue changes (thick, black skin). Results of any treatment can be no change,
amelioration (current symptoms disappear with no other improvements, then
return), suppression (current symptoms disappear and they become more ill) or a
cure (everything about the animal to begins to improve, especially the overall
energy level.)
Keeping a journal is critical to determine what treatments are helping problems
to become less frequent and less severe. You can stand firm with what you feel
is working even if your professional disagrees and change approaches when
needed. You can create your own using a three ring binder, a notebook, a
calendar. Be sure to have a master symptom list, pages where you list
treatments you have started or been given, and pages where you make daily or
frequent entries about every symptom on the master symptom list, especially
including the overall energy level, emotional state and new changes. Some
people have found my book makes it easier.
http://christinachambreau.com/bookstore/healthy-animal-journal/healthy-dog-journ is
a great one to use in print or e-version is available.
6. YOU BE THE HEALER. I strongly recommend getting some training in
understanding the wide range of approaches to health so you can be in charge of
what you choose for treatments for your animals. There are so many different
ways to stimulate healing that you never need to give up trying. From books,
on-line and in classes you can learn Reiki (which can take the “bad”
out of vaccines and any needed drugs, or even make food healthier), massage,
HTA, TTouch, acupressure, flower essence therapy, all of which are 100% safe to
use for any problems. There are many more approaches you can do to help heal
your animals with some training since they need to be used more carefully –
homeopathy, herbal medicine, Chinese herbs, aromatherapy. In addition to
classes there are many very good list serves filled with people experienced
with not vaccinating and feeding raw meat diets. Classes are found through your
health food store, by phone or on-line. As with human health approaches, there
are many different opinions, so you need to experiment and see what makes your
animals more or less healthy.
7. Select the best healers for each animal’s health team. Most people want a
veterinarian (preferably integrative) and an energy healer. You decide what
needs to be tried next for your animal. When you realize the animal is not
improving – seek different care. Use conventional veterinarians for diagnosis
and emergency treatment, or if other methods are not working. Again,
integrative veterinarians (see above) will be able to do both, and have the
philosophical understanding of the vibrational causes of illness.
Learn more and more
Every Thursday from 1-2 eastern Dr. Jeff Feinman and myself
host a talk at http://www.BLAB.IM
If you sign up here
you will get a weekly reminder – and know when we change the time to help
people come during lunch.
https://blab.im/dr-jeff-feinman-do-no-harm-care-for-your-pets-holistically-with-drs-jeff-and-christina-1
Books – I have books with comments listed –
(www.MyHealthyAnimal.com)
Classes – I teach many different classes. The best way to
find them is to subscribe to My RSS feed on my site (click on RSS on any page)
and the newsletter.
Email me if you wish to host a class in your town or on the
internet. HealthyAnimals@aol.com
Magazines – Animal Wellness Magazine – use ccdvm code when
you subscribe (and Feline and Equine Wellness, too).
Whole Dog Journal and Dogs Naturally Magazine (they have
webinars on raw feeding that are excellent), too.
Internet – over 50 shows archived–
http://www.homeopathyworldcommunity.com/page/drchristinachambreau
Search online for the many other classes and lectures
available for the
Most skills in classes about health approaches for people
can be extrapolated to animals. The acupressure points are the same, remedies
are used the same way, Reiki is good for everything, etc.
I also do Pet Health Coaching to help you learn about the
current health issues, what you can do at home to build health and save money,
and I match you up with the veterinarian we think would be best.
Good Health for your pet, Dr. Chambreau
REIKI:
Personally, I think every person who lives with or works with animals must know
at least Level I Reiki. The practitioner offers this energy and the animal
comes over to get it (or places her hands upon the animal), or it can be done
from a distance, even around the world with the intent for healing to occur.
The energy flows through the healer into the animal. This is based on directly
applying Chi (energy) to rebalance the energy field so it no longer needs to
produce the physical symptoms. It is a very good adjunct to any healing
modality, especially to relieve pain and inflammation. I have seen cats who
began to eat again when their food was treated with Reiki. It also “takes
the bad out of” things. By doing Reiki on smelly water in restaurants I
have been able to drink sweet tasting and smelling water. Use Reiki anytime
that you must give injections, vaccines, drugs, flea or heartworm drugs, or
other substances with potential toxicity. Reiki is great to calm animals,
relieve discomfort, and can deeply heal some problems in some animals.
1. Great information on Reiki – http://www.reikicourse.org.
2. Kathleen Prasad is a wonderful teacher and works with my favorite sanctuary
and holistic education center, BrightHaven http://www.brighthaven.org. Kathleen leads
a free monthly telechat for anyone trained in Reiki and using it with animals.http://www.animalreikisource.com/.
3. If you cannot find a Reiki Class near you (same class for people and animals
as it connects you through an “attunement” to the healing energy of
the universe, making you a channel of healing), the following groups offer long
distance, free, attunements.
a. http://theholisticcare.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13,
b. http://freereikiattunement.com/
c. Christine at cbearse@earthlink.net, http://www.awakeningrainbows.com. To receive
free distance Reiki send her your first name only, city and state, and whether
or not you have had any Reiki training. She invites you to include your
pets as well. She uses a teddy bear and does a full body Reiki distance
treatment for one hour each Sunday evening from 9 p.m. until 10 p.m. EST.
d. And a team of over 100 healers will send free healing energy until you say
not to. Email Barbara at nancelot01@aol.com with your healing request, name of
animal, species, color & age. In the subject say request through Dr.
Chambreau
4. for a fee:
Excellent recommendation in 2015 – http://reikishamanic.com/
http://www.ReikiBlessings.com offers many types of energy healing
classes- search a bit to find the reiki ones or email them. Long distance
healing and training is at http://www.animalhealers.homestead.com.
5. Get a free treatment for yourself at http://www.interdimensionalhealing.com.
Another wonderful healer, Deena Spears works long distance with Sound Tuning.
http://www.Singingwoods.com. I have seen many animals and the people in a home be
healed by her work.
LISTS SERVES TO HELP YOU LEARN TO FEED THE BEST –
From the folks that brought us Jstsayno2vaccs is a new site for raw feeding –
excellent –http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawk9s/ Here
is what they say, “Lastly, we saw a need for a beginner’s raw feeding group.
Many of the raw feeding groups have grown very large and often new people are lost
in the shuffle. In addition, some raw feeding groups are specialized to one
type of feeding only. We believe that feeding raw is the first step in whole
health and have tried to create an environment of learning and support where
there are no dumb questions and everyone gets individual attention. With that
in mind Kathleen recently instituted a mentoring program where mentor’s sign up
to help individuals, and new folks can opt into the program and receive private
help in their journey. It has been a huge success.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aunaturelK9 –
the above groups breeding web site. Excellent.
EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF ILLNESS FOR DOGS AND CATS
1. Is your companion really healthy?
2. Can you tell if the treatment you selected is deeply curing?
3. Can your companion be healthier than you realize?
YES – read on and evaluate your animal for true health.
Most health problems are the result of an underlying energy imbalance, made
worse from poor diet and vaccination. They are rarely acute diseases
(except injuries). Therefore, you may find that the problem does not clear up
as you expect or it recurs. If so, you are dealing with an underlying
predisposition to illness, and these clues to underlying ill health will help
you select a remedy and monitor the results. As we cure animals of
“disease”, we find that certain other “NORMAL” things go
away, too. Do not be satisfied until most of the following symptoms are
gone. In young, apparently healthy animals, these apparently
“normal” problems may be the only indications to start treatment.
This is only the beginning of a list – as more animals are cured we will find
new levels of health. Tracking these is easy when you use the Healthy Animal’s
Journal by Dr. Christina Chambreau (www.HealthyAnimalsJournal.com)
SKIN: doggy smell; attracts fleas a lot; dry, oily, lack-luster coat;
excessive shedding; not grooming, ear problems – waxy, oily,
itchy, recurrent mites; eye discharge, tearing, or matter in corner of eyes;
raised third eyelid; spots appearing on iris; “freckles” appearing on
face; whiskers falling out; fragile, thickened, distorted claws that are
painful or sensitive to trim.
BEHAVIOR: Fears(of loud noises, thunder, wind, people, animals, life); too
timid; too rough or aggressive (even at play); too hard to train; barks too
much and too long; suspicious nature; biting when petted too
long; hysteria when restrained; clumsy; indolent; licking or sucking things or
people too much; not using litter box or not covering stool.
DIGESTIVE: Bad breath; tarter accumulation; loss of teeth; poor appetite;
craving weird things(rubber bands, plastic, dirt, cat litter,
paper, dogs eating dog or cat stools, rocks, sticks…); sensitivity to milk;
thirst – a super healthy cat on non dry food will drink at
most once a week; red gum line; vomiting often, even hairballs more than a few
times a year; mucous on stools; tendency to diarrhea with least change
of diet; obesity; anal gland problems; recurrent parasites.
STIFFNESS when getting up, early hip dysplasia; tires easily in hot or cold
weather; can no longer jump up on counters, or go up or down steps.
TEMPERATURE: Low grade fevers – Normal for healthy cats and dogs is
100-101.5.
AGE & REPRODUCTION: Should live a long life (Shepards 17 years, Danes 12,
cats 24). should be able conceive easily, deliver normally,
and not pass on “genetic breed” problems.
Bradd, I think you should seek a second opinion, and it would be best to find an orthopedic specialist. It can make a world of difference to find the doctor that sees this type of thing every day compared to one that has only read about what might be wrong (or sees these problems only once-in-a-while).
There are a lot of bad reviews out there about Banfield – and I had a bad experience at a Banfield facility myself (they advertised that they had a holistic vet, and I called and set up an appointment to see that vet, but once I was in the exam room I discovered that they had switched doctors and that the holistic vet hadn’t been working there for over a year. Can you say bait and switch!)
There are other options that you should explore – T Touch, Acupressure, Acupuncture, massage, etc.
And how about an MRI instead of an X-ray? Soft tissue injuries often show better in an MRI, but they do cost more.
Good luck.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. Our dog is a family member like most of us here I I’m assuming. It can be frustrating and not knowing professionally how to help her is even more frustrating. I really appreciate your advice. I agree with Banfield..it seems band-aiding a problem is there go to option first. If they don’t know what’s wrong they just give anitinflamatory and pain killers. Tough to see a young active dog all drugged up with no positive results. I was able to get an appointment with a veterinarian physical and mobility therapist. Hopefully we will have some better answers tomorrow. Thank you again
Thank you so much for all this great info. I am a culinary nutritionist and can’t agree more on healing humans and makes sense with animals through proper nutrition and the right vitamins and minerals. I really like the idea of taking a natural approach and I will most certainly read up on more homeopathic ways to help our little pooch. Again, I appreciate the time you put into supplying all this great info. I did have good luck and got an appointment with a physical and mobility therapist here locally that came highly recommended. I hope we will have some answers tomorrow. Thank you again,
Bradd
Thank you for responding to my question, I really appreciate the great advise. I did take X-rays but to your point maybe we try something more if we still can’t get answers. We were able to get her an appointment tomorrow with a physical and mobility therapist, so my figures are crossed. She’s too young and too happy to have any kind of mobility issues. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.