Comments on Gimme What Works!

I was not a big believer in homeopathy for my dog. I did not know enough about it to be able to make informed judgements about his recommended plan of treatment. I went with a well known vet who has been doing homeopathy for about 40 years so I put full trust in him.At the beginning my dog had an irregular heartbeat (benign), and nocturia and somewhat elevated UPCR, and just old dog xrays the end of March last year, 2022. Then came the beginning of June and he died. I faithfully and trustingly gave my dog two remedies that were COMBOS from this vet who appeared lazy to me---the consult he never seemed to even have looked at the records I so dutifully pulled together. He never arranged for another consult and just said "Let me know how he's doing." Upon necropsy, the dog had fibrotic heart and kidneys. He died a traumatic "sudden death" in the hospital---but I might add it was under the "care " of Dr. Nincompoop who could not even read his cardio report or take a history or do any differentials. Ditto for the cardiologist there who never lifted a stethoscope to even note whether he had an irregular heartbeat or take charge of him. At any rate, after he died, I consulted with vets who DID do the one remedy kind of homeopath and find in your post, Dr. Falconer and also online that not finding the one remedy is sloppy (my word) homeopathy. You are absolutely right, I found out this homeopath just suppressed my boy's symptoms and he had azotemia at the end (worsening of kidney disease---) and he had tachycardia there at the hospital---my vet said it was fear induced---with subsequent sudden death from a probable dangerous kind of ventricular irregular heartbeat... Recall in March I said it was a benign irregular heartbeat and it progressed to a fatal kind. I feel guilt giving my compliant good by the remedies twice a day. I told the vet he was lazy and this was not homeopathy. I told him he did not seem to even view my dog's xray's I sent him and he charged too much considering he wasn't even doing homeopathy the right way. Another homeopathic vet I talked to in May or June even interceded for me and called him to tell him that he did not seem to be addressing the vital force in my dog. The vet said that my dog didn't have much a vital force to balance... What BS. Anyway I have a new rescue now and don't want to hear homeopathy anymore until I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT so I can spot an imposter. My trust is gone. On other things medically I kind of have a handle on and can choose treatments for my dog but I trusted this phoney 100 percent. Turns out, another vet put him on Pulsatilla but he did not live long enough to be on that one remedy.

My 10 y/o yellow lab started 3 years ago with what seemed to be bee stings, or spider bites (our prognosis) as her entire face, nose, and her rt side jowl was so enflamed and swollen you would think alergic reaction to appear so horrific looking at her. Blood tests, visits to Vets office, only showed alergies to dust mites, mold. We gave her the recommended dose of benadryl and it would work or not fast enough to minimize the swelling. Eventually the vet prescribed apoquel, i did research and i didnt like the fact of studies and trials not positive in my mind. We did not keep her on the medicine too long and then the horror. She started acting sad, tired not well while looking at her. She would start out of nowhere, mostly evening when going to bed to hyperventilate, or sit up and start breathing strong, fast and heavy, and lean up against a wall or anthing and anyone with support, and then start crying, circling around with her back side tucked under, screetching in such pain. We thought at first it was seizures, the way her eyes looked etc. And then she would stop, pant and be so weak. $8000 later, and tests from a vet hospital, they all gave her different meds, tests, scans with no outcome. Here we are now, swelling in face again, husband gave her apoquel, 2 days, and now shes waking up, panting again. Wanting to lay outside alone, cooler air, and thats odd for her, especially while im cooking, she always would be right where she could give me her cute head tilted puppy face for a taste of what um cooking. All of my children come over at different times and notice Roxy right away as to her not being herself. When she stands up, her body, bone structure looks haggard and sunken, she has developed over the past 2-3 years masses all over byt Long story short, last winter she st

Gavin, I am in northern MN and my yellow lab suffers w/seasonal allergies as well. They begin w/the first pollen and end w/the first freeze. A couple of summers were so bad for her that I let our vet give steroid injections and also gave her oral antihistamines. None of that really helped much and I was very concerned about the possibility for damage to her. We did serum allergy testing. Don't bother with that if you haven't already. It is pretty much meaningless. And expensive. After researching atopica and apoquel I finally got a prescription for the apoquel. I had huge reservations about it but it did knock down the itching in remarkable time and left my dog comfortable. Knowing the possible adverse effects I very quickly reduced the prescribed dose from 16mg twice/day to 8mg once/day. That kept things under control for that season. I also began giving her transfer factor and kept that up throughout the winter. This past summer, for whatever reason, was much easier on her. I got another prescription of apoquel in June when the itching got really bad. That prescription, if given as prescribed, would last 2 weeks to a month. To date, we still have several pills left. I continue to give her the transfer factor and have paid attention to her diet as well. She has eaten a raw diet since I adopted her but I did try to feed her "cool" meats and foods for the most part during the summer months when she is most affected. That was all something I was unfamiliar with but found good info easily online. I also made a point of rinsing her w/the hose before going inside and tried to keep the house vacuumed regularly to cut down on what was carried in. I do know that after the last round of vaccines she received 4 years ago her allergies really amped up significantly. We do not vaccinate any more. I get titers on her every couple of years and her antibodies are strong. So, I don't know why she did better this summer but she did and it is a huge relief to only use the apoquel as needed which was not very often. I know when they are miserable and cannot find relief we do whatever it takes to provide some relief even if there may be negative consequences. But we don't have to accept that the drug is the only option for relief. There are some holistic/homeopathic vets in your area who could probably provide you with some great help. I also think that consistent use of the transfer factor is a good idea. The allergy thing is miserable for everyone involved! Hope this is of some help to you and your dog.

Hello my mixed breed medium sized dog, Maggie has severe seasonal allergies. She chews on herself all day long kicks at her face/head to relieve the itch. I've tried Prednizone and it did suppress it for some time. I'm thinking of trying to use apoquel but i ran into this. I live in Minneapolis MN please help.

Very well said. I adore the way you think!