Vital Animal Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Don Hamilton, DVM - Do nosodes really work? Jan 26, 2021

Show notes

#022 What are nosodes and do they deserve the bad rap some vets give them? I asked my old friend and homeopathic vet colleague Dr. Don Hamilton to answer this in light of a Jean Dodds blog post saying they clearly don’t work. Not enough “science,” she said.

Don helps us understand where that opinion comes from: a faulty study done by Susan Wynn and Ron Schultz Ph.D. Don was actually contacted before the trial was set up and he made it clear: the study design was guaranteed to fail. Their knowledge of HOW to use nosodes properly was woefully lacking.

We discuss what a nosode is, why they are safe, and what methods to use to ensure success. Don has a great story from his early days of giving them to a kennel experiencing significant infectious disease problems in their boarders. The nosode brought great success, but new management put a stop to their use.

Whoops, up went the infectious disease! The kennel staff said, “Whoa, we need to start this up again!” and down went the incidence once more.

New management again, and same deal, all over again: stop the nosodes, the boarders got sick, sound the alarm and restart the nosodes, everything gets better. AGAIN!

Not double blind, placebo controlled, published research. But is that supposed “gold standard” necessary before we move forward with safe and effective natural remedies?

Not in my world!

Don’t miss this episode if you want the truth about nosodes from a long time homeopathic vet whose work helped inform how many of us use these remedies effectively.

For more info and links to this episode (and a great place to comment or ask questions), the show notes are here: https://VitalAnimal.com/22

Lyme Disease: Why treatment is 100% unnecessary Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

#021 Lyme is a strange disease, and I invited Dr. Todd Cooney to weigh in on it as he’s researched it carefully and, like me, has seen dogs with positive titers who are completely healthy and free of symptoms.

All too often, conventional veterinarians recommend a month’s worth of antibiotic treatment for these titer positive yet healthy dogs. Is that more risk than benefit, knowing what we know now about the importance of the microbiome to health?

How about the Lyme vaccine? Should you get that to keep your dog safe? Dr. Cooney brings in the “big guns,” the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, all board certified experts whose answer to this question should make everyone stand up and take notice.

Is your vet up to speed on this disease? If not, when you learn what we’ve got here for you in this episode, you can prevent unnecessary treatment and over-prevention.

“No” is a complete sentence, by the way…

For more info and links to this episode, head over to this page: https://VitalAnimal.com/21

Taking homeopathic practice out of the black box Jan 11, 2021

Show notes

#020 Have you ever considered using homeopathy to help your animals?

Or, does it just seem too unbelievable or weird or just, well, unclear what it is exactly? And what does it look like if you embark on hiring a homeopathic vet to help you?

This episode answers those questions for you, so you can better

understand what homeopathy is (and isn’t)
know what to expect from a homeopathic vet visit
have an answer to the skeptics who say it’s “only a placebo!”
see how very important you are to the process of getting your animal cured!

I share down to earth experience from my homeopathic practice and include a definition of possible outcomes, not only from homeopathy, but from any treatment of any kind.

A case of a heartworm positive dog is related to illustrate how wide reaching and life changing homeopathy can be.

If you’ve ever had questions or even reservations about homeopathy, you’ll want to tune in to this episode.

For more links and resources, click this link to get to the show notes: https://VitalAnimal.com/20

Dealing With Vet Hazing Jan 05, 2021

Show notes

#019 This week’s episode is in response to a plea from a dog owner on Facebook. She was finding the vets around her intent on selling her “drugs” (read: pesticides) and vaccines when she didn’t want either. She called it “literally PUSHING” her to get these unwanted treatments.

While she’s been avoiding them for a few years as her dog has been doing well since a switch to a raw food diet three years ago, she still would like to avail herself of veterinary services from time to time:

Worm checks
HW tests
Titers

How to get that diagnostic work done without being pressured into unwanted poisons and vaccines she knows are not necessary?

Can you relate to Shanna’s difficult position?

Would you like to have better control over what you consume at a vet’s office without being pushed (or worse, shamed) for your “knowing better” than to partake in dangerous drugs?

I’ve got some answers for Shanna, and share an even more egregious pressuring by a vet whose motto seemed to be “My way or YOU’LL PAY.” When I wrote about this on my blog some years back, the conventional veterinary community shrieked fowl. No matter, as my readership could relate and shared similar stories and appreciation.

Perhaps these examples and answers will help empower you to be a wiser consumer and get only the services and products you choose from my profession.

For the show notes and links for this episode, hit this link: https://VitalAnimal.com/19

Colostrum vs Transfer Factor: What's Wiser? Dec 29, 2020

Show notes

#018: Have you sought to strengthen your animal’s immune system and been told colostrum is an amazing natural way to do that? How it’s specially made to help calves survive in the germ filled world they are born into, and so, it’s good for you and your animals?
I’ve long been impressed with a component of colostrum called transfer factor. It’s well studied for over 60 years with thousands of research papers published on it world wide. I chose to use it in myself and my patients based largely on all that research and the results have often been quite remarkable in both me and the animals who’ve gotten it.
In this episode, I’ve clarified the differences between colostrum and a key immune component, transfer factor. The two are significantly different in who they can help. Knowing the difference will help you do better for your animals (and yourself) and save you money when you make an informed choice between these two seemingly similar products.
Inside, you’ll discover:
— what’s in colostrum that makes it so amazing
— who exactly benefits most from it (and how those who do can die without it)
— how a critical time factor makes all the difference between the two
— how the size of colostrum’s main ingredient limits its usefulness
If you’ve ever wondered if colostrum and transfer factor are interchangeable, you won’t want to miss this episode.
For links and more on this episode, see the show notes at https://VitalAnimal.com/18

Is vegan food right for your dog or cat? Dec 22, 2020

Show notes

#017 Dr. Marybeth Minter shares a case with us, a dog I’ve heard about over the years, long suffering with horrible allergic skin disease. Kali, the middle aged Border Collie had lost all her coat, had open sores, was regularly plagued with fleas, and Chrystal, her owner had tried everything without success.

Kali was on various raw food diets, healthy supplements, and had been prescribed for by two other well qualified homeopathic vets in the past without much improvement. When Dr. Minter was called upon, in addition to using the constitutional prescribing approach, she suggested that toxins might be playing a role and recommended a radical diet change: a plant based diet, based on recipes from Dr. Richard Pitcairn.

Chrystal rolled up her sleeves and began feeding Kali this way, thinking she had nothing to lose: she’s tried everything else and her poor dog had suffered long enough!

Tune in to hear what this radical idea has resulted in. Regardless of your views on “right vs wrong” feeding, this is worth your time.

For more info and links, be sure to see the show notes for this episode at https://VitalAnimal.com/17

Titers: Are you using them wisely? Dec 15, 2020

Show notes

#016 In this interview, I’m the guest and I’m being interviewed on homeopath Julie Anne Lee’s Adored Beast show. Tune in to learn how you can use titers wisely and save both money and your pet’s health when you know this stuff.

Titers seem simple enough on the surface: they are measures of antibodies your animal has made to a germ of some sort, usually a virus.

But what are the limits of titer testing?

Does your vet read titers properly?

Do breeders understand the difference between vaccination and immunization?

13:00 What value does a titer have? Less vaccines? And why would you want to limit vaccines?

If a vaccine label says “Repeat annually” what does that really mean? Is annual titer testing a better path or a waste?

What’s DOI? How is that important?

16:15 What are the limits of titer testing? When the titer falls, is your animal really no longer immune?

22:53 How likely are puppyhood illnesses going to hurt a senior? Is revaccinating your senior more risk than benefit?
All this and more is answered in this episode to help you be a wise guardian for those innocent animals in your care, what ever species they are.
For more help and links, be sure to see the show notes for this episode at https://VitalAnimal.com/16

Lions and long distance homeopathy Dec 08, 2020

Show notes

#015 Eleni Gkikakis is an animal intuitive but joined me on this interview as a homeopath. Not just any homeopath, Eleni has found herself working with a species most of us have only seen in zoos or on TV: the African lion.

If you weren’t aware, homeopathy can be used via telephone consultation to help animals at any distance. As it requires symptoms to guide the prescriber to the right remedies, those can be conveyed in a variety of ways, and in Eleni’s case, that’s been via phone and internet, with descriptions and even some videos of lions with health challenges.

While she’s spent time in South Africa around these magnificent creatures, the cases she shared with me were all done long distance, and with a high degree of success, I’m happy to report.

How do you even get a remedy into a lion??

Well, Eleni has donated a remedy kit or two to those on the ground, and they’ve figured out some creative ways for remedy to reach the lions’ mucus membranes, where the energetic potency can have its effect.

You won’t want to miss a moment of this fascinating conversation as Eleni relates several real cases of lions helped with homeopathy under challenging conditions (you don’t just grab a lions mouth and drop your pellets in, right?).

For more links and even a special chance to help these creatures, see the show notes at https://VitalAnimal.com/15

When Fear Rules, Everyone Loses Dec 01, 2020

Show notes

#014 Fear seems an all too common emotion among many animal owners these days, especially with the near constant narrative coming at us about some supposedly killer virus out there, just waiting to bring us down.

I’d like to see fear replaced with reason and confidence, especially when it comes to raising wildly healthy, naturally disease-resistant Vital Animals.

Join me as I take you through the real life scenarios that brought this emotion to my attention recently and see how I think it’s a dangerous one to carry with you on a regular basis, consciously or un-.

Common sense would dictate that you shouldn’t live your life in fear, and it should be fairly obvious that your animals, sensitive creatures that they are, will pick up on your emotional state, for good or for bad.

We all have it within us to keep fear in its rightful place, reserved for those times when it’s truly warranted. Listen in and hear several examples of how it is often used to control us and what you can do to fight back.

The links and show notes for this episode are at https://VitalAnimal.com/14

Kasie Maxwell: How to make the jump to raw Nov 24, 2020

Show notes

#013 Kasie Maxwell is back, this time sharing her decades of experience in helping pet owners make the transition to raw feeding. We discuss kittens, puppies, kibble addicted cats, and dogs and how each is unique in their needs to make the jump smooth.
Not only has Kasie worked through her SFRAW buying club to help people climb to a higher nutritional plane for their pets, she also shares how a walkabout in Kenya helped shape her recommendations on feeding your cats. She was lucky enough to live among the Masai for a spell and learned how lions actually eat. And what “normal” big cats stools look like!
If you’ve ever needed a little help getting your animals switched to raw, you’ll want to listen to this episode closely and read the accompanying material linked in the show notes.
Bottom line: all those groups of animals need a somewhat different transition but none of it is difficult when you learn from an expert like Kasie.
For the show notes and links to this episode, head on over to https://VitalAnimal.com/13

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