Congestive Heart Failure in Dogs – Another Setback: Sophie’s Story, Pt. 8

Previous post at a glance:

• Sophie’s BUN levels rose off the charts at above 130 (normal high end is 27), and her Creatinine level rose too, meaning her kidneys were getting worse.
• Dr. Lindholm, her cardiologist, suggested a lower protein diet. I found Darwin’s raw Kidney Support, a good quality raw food that needed a vet’s prescription.
• Sophie had been losing weight, as well as muscle wasting over the past couple of months, a function of heart dis-ease.
• Sophie had developed incontinence and none of us knew why.

The Heart Dis-ease/Kidney Dis-ease See Saw

 

When I last wrote a little over a month ago, Sophie’s kidneys were heading down a dangerous path and I was about to put her on a kidney support diet by Darwin’s. I’d researched the kidney support diets out there, and Darwin’s was the healthiest, freshest one I found. It contained muscle meat, organs, raw meaty bones ground. The only thing I didn’t like was there was one type of meat only – beef. They steered clear of chicken and pork because they’re higher in phosphorus, and phosphorus for dogs with kidney problems isn’t optimal. Healthy kidneys can remove extra phosphorus in the blood. But when you have chronic kidney disease (CKD), your dog’s kidneys can’t remove phosphorus very well. Extra phosphorus causes body changes that pull calcium out of the bones, making them weak. So, beef it was and I would have to add a little bit of other meats along the way, to make sure she had the full profile of amino acids, represented in different types of meats.

I was also really concerned that Sophie like this food, since I couldn’t find another kidney support diet I would put her on. We tried it and, thank the Lord, she liked it and ate.

In addition to her list of supplements from Dr. Ruskin (Sophie’s holistic vet) and Dr. Sagrera (her homeopathic vet), I started adding a few things with their blessings; products I’d discovered to support her overall health and her kidneys. I also added natural diuretics, given to me by Dr. Sagrera or ones I’d researched.

In addition to Dandelion and Parsley teas, I added Red Clover tea to her meals, twice a day. Red Clover, like the other two, is a natural diuretic. I also started adding apple cider vinegar from Bragg’s that contained the Mother (including the Mother is important for gut health. It contains healthy bacteria that keeps the digestive system working properly. Not only does the Mother neutralize stomach acid, but the acetic acid fights against harmful bacteria). Apparently,  apple cider vinegar with Mother is the purest form you can get.  It is unrefined, unfiltered and 100% natural. That went into their water bowls, so there was no choice but to drink water with ACV in it. They didn’t seem to mind, which was great, and I’ve been doing this since.

I also added a product recommended by Dr. Sagrera called AminAvast. It helps support normal kidney function and supports aging kidneys. You have to get this through a vet.

Finally, at the recommendation of Dr. Marty Goldstein, the maverick, iconic integrative veterinarian, who was my vet years ago in New York; I’d spent time with him at SuperZoo, a large annual pet trade show in Las Vegas, and he suggested I add a supplement called Azodyl. Azodyl has been around for years and there’s been many cases of it lowering the BUN and Creatinine levels in dogs. I talked with both Dr. Sagrera and Ruskin about it and got some differences of opinion, as happens in pet care. Ask any pet parent searching on Google for what to do for any situation, and the conflicting information can be mind-boggling.

I chose to add it and it’s now been about two weeks. I’ll keep you posted over Sophie’s next couple of blood tests regarding her BUN and Creatinine levels. I’m praying on this.

Overall, the big objective is to get Sophie to a place naturally, where I can start weaning her off of Lasix (Furosimide), the diuretic drug that is killing her kidneys. This is the see-saw of heart dis-ease. The drug is needed to keep fluid in the lungs at bay, so she can breathe, and the drug destroys the kidneys. I was and am still confident we will get there.

An Interesting, Often Overlooked Remedy

 

About two months ago, Dr. Sagrera and I were talking about a remedy for Sophie’s heart. At that time, she was in the thick of it, meaning her heart was pounding in her little chest so much so, that I could see it beating, outlined on her skin! It was a bit scary.

I set about looking for a homeopathic remedy for her in my digital homeopathy program, which is such an amazing tool. A remedy came to my attention I was unfamiliar with called Alcoholus. I did some research and read about it in the Materia Medica, the bible of homeopathy that has pretty much all of the thousands of remedies in it with detailed descriptions.

Alcoholus is being used more and more by Indian homeopathic doctors to treat patients who are alcoholics, coming off of drinking. It is made from ethyl alcohol, but is made homeopathic, so none of the original substance is left, only the energy of that substance (for more on how homeopathy works, reach out to me).

While the Mind symptoms (the personality and mental/emotional characteristics) of the Alco person didn’t match Sophie, a lot of the heart symptoms did.  And, tremors in her front legs also matched. I had a feeling about this remedy, so I tried to find it to buy online.

Amazon, where I buy a lot of remedies…no. Washington Homeopathic…nope. All of the other US-based places you can purchase remedies…a big no! I had to order Alcoholus from New Zealand! It is THAT much of an uncommon remedy. When I asked Dr. Sagrera about it for Sophie, telling her what I’d found regarding the symptoms, she said she knew of it but, in her 40 years of practice, had never used it. And, we both agreed I should try it. One of the beautiful things about homeopathy is, if it’s the wrong remedy, nothing will change; no harm done.

After almost two weeks, the remedy arrived. I remember I was so excited; this precious, potentially healing medicine arriving from far away.

Dr. Sagrera instructed me to give Sophie 3 wet doses, 15 minutes apart and then wait. Over the next couple of days, I did notice she got perkier; she just seemed like her life force got a bit stronger. Unless she had a real setback, I wasn’t going to give her another dose; that’s how homeopathy works, completely different in every way from pharmaceutical drugs.

Wait! This Is The Coolest Thing!

 

Time passed and Sophie seemed to be stable and thriving. The jury was still out regarding whether what I was doing was impacting her kidneys favorably. We hadn’t had another test…yet. And…

Homeopathy geeks like me or natural medicine geeks, listen to this! This is so cool!

Remember I told you that Sophie had, out of the blue, developed incontinence, and none of us could figure out why? She’d already been on the Lasix, which make them urinate more frequently and drink a lot more water, for almost three months. I had her tested via both a free urine catch and an aspirate urine sample from the bladder and she was clean, nor did she have any UTI symptoms.

It had been about a month since I’d given her those three doses, back to back, of Alco and I had a feeling. Intuition. I went into my homeopathy platform and looked into Alcoholus again and, wouldn’t you know it?! Incontinence is a symptom that came up! This, coupled with my “feeling,” led me to ask Dr. Sagrera about giving her Alco again for her incontinence. So, again, I gave her three liquid doses, 15 minutes apart. And, here’s what happened…

For two days following the dose, Sophie had no accidents. This is after having probably 3-4 accidents a day (my washing machine was working overtime!).

On the third day, something very interesting happened. She had two accidents during the day and then at about midnight, and thank goodness I was up, she sat up in my bed all of a sudden, looking like something was going on inside of her that was feeling strange. I took her resting respiratory rate and it was very high. I could see her heart pounding. So, of course, I called the ER.

About 30 seconds later, while I was on the phone with the ER nurse, her resting respiratory slowed to normal, her heartbeat slowed down and Sophie settled back down to rest. Both the ER nurse and I agreed I would keep an eye on her and that, unless I wanted to bring her in, it was probably ok to observe and see how she was in the morning.

The next morning, Sophie was chipper, happy, bouncy! What happened is what we call an aggravation in homeopathy. Sometimes, when you’re on the right track with a remedy, things get worse before they get better. Sometimes, they get worse and don’t get better; the energy of the remedy just dissipates and nothing improves. Then, you know you’re on the wrong track. That next day began a string of a month with no incontinence at all. The Alco worked!

And, when Sophie had a couple of accidents about a week ago, I gave her one dry dose of Alco, and that was it; the incontinence disappeared.

THIS, to me, is the coolest thing, ever! To find a rare remedy and have it work?! Beautiful!!

A Cellular Level Boost

 

One of the last things I’ve added to Sophie’s protocol is a cellular level boost. It’s trace minerals that are run through a proprietary machine that electrolyzes them. And, when you spray this into their mouth and it enters the blood stream, it goes right to the center of the cell – the mitochondria, where all the magic happens.

I saw videos of people who’d had a live blood analysis, so you could see their blood moving through the vessels in real time. Before the Cellular BOOST (what the product is called), the red blood cells were misshapen, slow and clumped, moving through murky plasma. Two minutes after the BOOST, the blood cells were round, unclumped and moving swiftly through clearer plasma. It was like a miracle.

The first time I tried it with Sophie, I took a video before and just after and it was amazing to watch. See the video below. I’m now sharing this supplement with Sophie, as is Ani, my other dog. It’s all human grade so we can all use it.

You can try Cellular BOOST for your pet and yourself with the link above.

The last thing I just received to start Sophie on is Rutin. It supports overall health of the heart and blood vessels, as well as helping to control fluid in the chest and abdomen, based on research. I’ll let you know what happens here.

This Will Tell Us A Lot

 

Next week is Sophie’s next blood test and Echo Cardiogram. This will tell us a lot. Is what I’ve been doing making any difference? Is it working? I’m praying praying the answer is yes. If it is, I can have that conversation about starting to wean her off of meds. I’m not even going to entertain, if no, right now. Pray for her, please.

And, by the way, she’s gaining weight! She’s up to 9.41 now, getting closer and closer to her original 10lbs. Yay!!

To their best health ever!

Jody