Supplements for Dog With Arthritis

Q: have a 9 year old dog who is showing signs of arthritis. i want to put her on your supplements and also look at her diet. she has been on vegetarian dog food her whole life and i'm wondering how can i switch to homemade, possibly raw, but mostly vegetarian food for her (maybe i can add some fish, but mostly use nuts?) i'm not sure where to turn for recipes.

A: While giving dogs vegetables is highly recommended, nuts or soy as the primary sources of protein for a dog is not. Dogs need some animal protein. This can be a very tough issue for people who are vegetarians as you may not want to have any type of meat protein in the house. However, if you were to consider what your dog might eat "if in the wild", nuts would not be the top food on the list. Fish is an excellent option though and you can try eggs as well. It should be a balanced diet however, not a "do it yourself" as there is a risk you could be giving your dog an imbalanced diet, even though you have the kindest of intentions.

There are some supplements that will greatly help your dog's arthritis. For starters, I would highly recommend the Dog Arthritis Package on www.askariel.com The package includes three key products for arthritis: 1) Amazing Omegas which is a highly purified fish oil product for dogs, 2) Amazing Arthrosoothe which contains key herbs for joint pain including MSM, boswelia, green lipped mussel as well as glucosamine and 3) Curcumin complex for pets--which greatly reduces inflammation and pain. In addition, you might want to consider Collagenex 2 which is a simple, easy to use formula that relieves joint pain in 7-10 days and is backed by considerable research.

Dog Has Yellowish Vaginal Discharge

Q: My 5yr old dog (Trixie) has gotten some sort of an infection. She has a yellowish vaginal discharge with a slight smell to it. I have an appointment with her vet set up but was just wondering if it is safe to give her some Echineacha and goldenseal to help her fight the infection in the mean time, while we are waiting to see the vet? I have seen it in various products on the market, but wanted to make sure that it was safe to be given to a dog and what the approximate dosage would be. She is approximately 62lbs if that helps. Thank you very much for your time.

A: As ironic as it may be for all of us pet Moms, our female dogs can get many of the same ailments as we do, including vaginal yeast infections, urinary tract infections and discharge. I am glad you took Trixie to the veterinarian and hope she is feeling better. Here are some suggestions. First of all, it is really important to get Trixie started on a high quality Probiotic. I highly recommend Ask Ariel's Power Probiotic for Pets It is an excellent multi-strain formula and is a good value as well. Most probiotics for people and pets are not manufactured in such a way that they even do what they promise to perform. In order for a Probiotic to work, it needs to be in a form that can survive the stomach acid and guaranteed potency at the time of USE (not manufacture). This particular Probiotic has been third party tested in high temperatures and still holds up at 97%. In any case, a Probiotic will help to repopulate the good flora for Trixie. We have good bacteria that live in our intestinal tract and help us fight disease. They are very important for our immune system. When we take antibiotics, it can lower our immunity by killing off all the good bacteria as well as the bad bacterial overgrowth. That is why we often see people and pets getting repeat infections, especially after taking several rounds of antibiotics.

The yellowish discharge can either be due to an overgrowth of yeast, bacteria or inflammatory cells as result of a urinary tract infection (UTI). Regardless, the Probiotic will help to rebalance the flora and help Trixie to fight future infections. Even if you used antibiotics this time, it is very important to start on the probiotic as many times, the infection will recur.  Other supplements that will help with the yellowish vaginal discharge are K9 Yeast Defense and Notatum.   If your dog has been on antibiotics, this kills all the good bacteria along with the bad.  Good bacteria is needed to help your dog fight another infection.  In addition, when the immune system is weak, it creates an environment where yeast and bad bacteria can quickly overgrow.  Using the K9 Yeast Defense, Notatum and Power Probiotic all together can help strengthen your dog's immune system and promote a healthy growth of good flora so that your dog is protected from future infections.

In addition to Power Probiotic, I would also recommend using a grain-free diet as many times dogs get urinary and vaginal infections from too much sugar in the diet. Most of the commercial diets contain wheat, corn, oats, and even some supplements contain molasses. Take a look at the protein percentage as for a 5 year old active dog, it should definitely be higher than the low 20s which is where many of the cereal-based dog kibbles are. Even hypoallergenic diets that use potatoes instead of corn and grains are too high in carbohydrates, creating an environment which helps bacteria and yeast to overgrow. It is best to use hypoallergenic, grain-free diets (non-chicken based) for dogs and cats that are prone to UTIs and vaginal infections.

Update on My Dear Bobby--83 year old recovering from Complications Due to Open Heart Surgery

I just want to express my sincerest thanks to all of you--the wonderful friends of Ask Ariel Your Pet Nutritionist and Ariel Rescue whose prayers and kindness have helped my dear Bobby to survive. I sincerely apologize I haven't been able to keep up with the blog but my time had been stretched very thin attending to his care. As you know, I am passionate about holistic care and my staff and I are deeply concerned about each one of your pets. We always try to present you with all of your options in treating your pet's condition--whether it be conventional veterinary care as well as holistic veterinary alternatives. It has been so frustrating with the care of Bob, who has suffered terribly as a result of overmedication, that the doctors were not at all receptive to any type of holistic care. I will never forgot how stunned I was that the doctor REFUSED to give him Vitamin B but authorized morphine and opiate drugs. The overmedication and oversedation of the elderly is rampant because many times the doctors, hospitals and nurses will authorize medications that a young person might be able to tolerate but an older person might not be able to process and clear through their kidneys and liver. This is exactly what happened to Bobby. Now his heart is running ok but he has a lot of problems related to his "hospitalization".

I am sure there are many of you who have elderly parents who have undergone similar experiences and if you would like to share them, please feel free to post them here. It might be therapeutic for all of us to know that we are not alone and that someone else has experienced a similar situation.

In any case, I am happy to report that by the sheer will to survive, Bobby is now in a nursing/rehab center and after 6 long weeks of Critical Care, is breathing pretty well on his own. Prior to his surgery, he was taking care of my Mom (she has Alzheimers and MS) and they were traveling and having fun. He was driving, cooking and leading a pretty normal life. Now, he is bedridden and still after 2 months, does not have the strength to move himself in the bed or to stand up. He is getting intense physical therapy and each day shows a little more progress. My dream is that he will eventually be able to walk again with a walker and spend the rest of his days at home with Mom. Right now though, he lost his ability to swallow (this is common with older folks but in his case, it occured because he was overmedicated and had to stay on a breathing machine too long which damaged the muscles) and is on a feeding tube. Yesterday, was his first day being dressed when I took him for his doctor's appointment. This was a great move in the right direction. Thanks again for all your care and concern. You will never know how much it has meant to me.

Scottish Terrier with Seizures

Q: I have a 6 month old female scottish terrier. She has had 2 seizure episodes. They have been 3 weeks apart. Excessive saliva and white foam has been seen after the seizures. She will have a day of about 3 to 4 seizures and after flushed with fulids via IV she is fine. The first incident she was tested for toxins and it came out positive for organophospates but we never used pesticides in the house and my other dog (9yr old lab mix) has never showed any signs of poisioning. The second time they tested her bile acid levels and they are elevated but not elevated enough to be a liver shunt. They also realized she was anemic as well (non regenerative). I feel as tho she has some liver malfunction. We have 2 vets looking at her file one says liver and or brain infection the other says epilepsy. I want to know what I can do to help her. It is breaking my heart.

A: So sorry your dog has been so sick. We understand how stressful and upsetting it is. Please try to see a neurologist for your dog. Also, getting an MRI might help as well. Not sure if you saw our recent post about topical flea killers and the EPA warning. We will post on the blog just in case you didn't see our newsletter. But, sometimes pets can have a bad reaction to those (not sure if you used anything like that). In the meantime, you might want to consider scheduling a telephone consultation to at least get your dog on the best homemade liver diet possible and use some basic supplements such as Vitamineral Green and our Probiotic (found on www.askariel.com). Sometimes seizures can also be triggered by food allerges and other digestive issues too so a telephone consultation would greatly help.

Dog Licking Groin and Genitals

Q: our one dog is on lasix for heart murmers, i guess because that is a diuretic it is why she licks her crotch more than normal, my parents never brought that up to the vet, that she does it a lot.
the vet gave us Pronin because my mom misrepresented her peeing problem (separation anxiety i guess, or 'can't hold it in, pee now'
that drove her insane, made her swell, and need to go out evry 5 minutes.
but she just seems to gnaw/lick there a lot.and grunts

A: Sorry your dog is so uncomfortable. You should definitely change your dog's food to be sure it is GRAIN-FREE--no corn, wheat and no byproducts. Your dog may have a urinary tract infection so definitely bring her to the vet to have that checked. Most likely, it is a yeast overgrowth as well. The following products would help your poor dog's discomfort:

K9 Yeast Defense + Power Probiotic + Notatum + Amazing Omegas

You can find the products on www.askariel.com This will help greatly to relieve some of the itching and discomfort.

Cat with Chronic Renal Failure (cat kidney disease) is Feeling Better with Natural Kidney Support Supplements

Dear Ask Ariel staff,

This is just an update on Ranger, my 14 year old kitty with kidney disease (CRF). I ordered the following supplements from Ask Ariel (Kidney Terrain, Renelix, Rehmannia 8, Protease and Purozyme) for Ranger on Friday Jan 29th. To my great surprise, they arrived here in Upstate NY on Monday Feb 1st! Which was great as Ranger was near death on Feb 1st and 2nd. She hid to sleep constantly. Usually they hide to die! She was in REALLY REALLY REALLY bad shape. I've had one cat die of Liver disease and two others of Renal Failure. Ranger is the 3rd I've had with Chronic Renal Failure (kidney disease) so I know how they act before they die. (I'm so disappointed that I didn't know about your company back in 2003... perhaps my other three kitties could have lived a couple more years). Oh well.

Anyway, Ranger was near death on Feb 1st when the supplements arrived. I gave them to her but assumed she was probably too far gone by this time and I was kicking myself for having waited too long. However after three to four days she started eating more (although she still won't eat a lot), was more alert, less sleeping and got her "motor mouth" back! Since then she has had only TWO BAD DAYS... and although I truly wish she would eat more, she does eat though! I know she isn't cured... but these meds are giving her MORE TIME and MORE QUALITY TIME with me. And for that I am truly grateful! I just love this little girl so much. She will be 14 sometime this Spring. Anytime Feb to April as I don't know her exact birthday. But she's 14 and I can possibly see that if she stays the same as now, she may be around awhile more. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Daniel Lafler NY email: kittypup@frontier.net

Please Say A Prayer For Bobby

Pictured above is Robert Weinstein and Selma Koletsky--two beloved "friends" of Ask Ariel Your Pet Nutritionist. Bobby is making the fight of his life right now at 82 years of age. For about 15 years, Bobby has been struggling to breathe due to some problems with his lungs but he took his supplements faithfully and has been doing so well. He and Selma were taking regular trips to Vegas and having the time of their lives. A few weeks ago, Bobby knew something was wrong. He couldn't breathe and the medications and supplements were no longer helping. He was rushed to the emergency three times over the past few weeks and then had open heart surgery this week. Everything was going fine and he was showing a little improvement each day and then last night around midnight, he had a setback. He was struggling to breathe and an infection was in his lungs. He is now heavily sedated with a breathing tube as the doctors fight to save him. It is amazing how complex that open heart surgery is and all that is involved. If he didn't have the surgery though, he wouldn't have a chance because his artery was completely blocked.

I am so sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the blog as I usually do but these last few weeks have been so terribly stressful. My pets seem to know Mom is upset and have been worrying too. I know the power of prayer can be amazing and hope if you read this, you can send some well wishes for my dear Bobby. With gratitude, Susan Blake Davis