Nora Claypool
Hey Paula!
I didn't use Lugols...I can only speak to what I actually used which was that X2 stuff from Alex Jones' store. I've used other Iodines, without great results. I'm a hard sell, so I believe there really is something to their process. I threw the kitchen sink at Pookie's cancer so to speak; put her on an all organic diet with every meal containing some extract or nutrient known to target stem cells. You can't eradicate cancer without killing the stem cells--this is why toxic chemo kills the patient, not their cancer. Chemo has no effect on cancer stem cells. Natural compounds that kill stem cells abound, however! Even the lowly Dandelion snuffs out stem cells. I boil the root, stem & leaves for a "tea".
Nutrition really benefits any living body, and corrects a lot of problems like allergies, infections, etc, because the key to health is a high-function immune system--disease disappears. In addition to the improved diet and organic cotton bedding, one major change was to PURIFIED water. The flouride and hydrofluorosylicic acid compounds in your tap water are sickening your animals, just like they are robbing you of your health, if you're a tap water user. I even bathe her in purified water. Fluoride causes bone cancer, among other ailments.
The supplements I give her are B12 and D3, Milk Thistle for her liver, Astralgus extract, pharmaceutical grade wild salmon oil that's been filtered and purified, mixed with a capsule of Ubiquinol, (the oil is high in EFA and DHA.) Taurine and Lysine, Bio C, and the rest of her vitamins come from cooked carrots, celery and other vegetables. (She eats a lot of quail, turkey, chicken & chicken livers, a little venison and guinea hen--varied proteins.) I give a vitamin mixture from NuVet Plus with blue-green algae for cats--they make one for dogs too, and she also gets prebiotics and probiotics to build up the good gut bacteria.
In addition, I put enzymes on everything she eats. Older pets really need some enzymes, even those eating raw benefit.
I put Tumeric on everything I cook for her and load her meal up with mushrooms cooked in organic butter. Black pepper makes the Tumeric more bioavailable. When it became clear that table salt is terrible for multiple reasons, I got a grinder and Pink Himalayan Salt, which has a dozen good minerals in it. Minerals are an often overlooked thing--pets need more than commercial pet foods contain. Her fur had fallen out! When I started her on minerals and the fish oil, it grew back in and oh man, does poor little Pookie look better! The vital lipids alone in the fish oil cure many ailments, like itchiness and dull coat. She suffered from constipation which caused vomiting. Raw canned organic pumpkin resolved that completely, just a teaspoon a day stirred into her food, or organic goat's milk yogurt. I spend the big bucks on her food, not the veterinarian.
Err on the side of caution with selenium. It's toxic in large doses. Cats and dogs need only tiny, trace amounts to see benefit.
One thing that might help your Westie with his tender tummy is fulvic/humic acid added to his water bowl or mixed into his food. This stuff is miraculous. It contains so many minerals--too many to list here. I put it in the water bowl the other four cats use, as well as Pookie's, and they love it! Fulvic acid chelates, makes the nutrients in food available to the body instead of passing out in the urine. It counteracts some of the effect of toxic glyphosate found in our soils!
I don't recommend a cooked diet for cats...there are not enough enzymes or whole, unaltered proteins in cooked food;
I am using a weird compound made from a certain poppy which is anti-tumor, and it has to be mixed with cooked food according to the cratchety old dude that makes the stuff, when I am done I will put her back on raw food, which is what cats are supposed to eat, of course. Until then I'm giving her the best, wholesome cooked food possible.
Cats and dogs both need Iodine in a bioavailable form that can enter cells efficiently. It's protective and curative, in my observation. Iodine is important for gut function, which is where the immune system is. When the gut is balanced, the immune system kicks in and healing occurs. I hope this all makes sense to you and helps, somehow. Research is ongoing to naturally cure Pookie sans the conventional cut, poison burn model. The premise is that all disease is basically a nutritional deficiency. We can't really rely on "tests" which may not reflect the actual state of health; rather, make a clinical diagnosis of how well your dog's doing, based on his general condition and how comfortable he seems, because the guidelines for Iodine and Iodide surely seem to be poorly formed. Best to you & your Westie!
Hugs!