Although eliminating allergies can be complicated, it can also be simple. We'll leave the complicated allergies to holistic veterinarians and focus on the simple solutions.
It is a good idea to incorporate the simple solution as a means of preventing and/or helping to eliminate allergies. Some pets have hidden allergies and so it does not matter if your pet has no allergies, has minor allergies, or has severe allergies, here are some suggestions to help with allergies.
It is important to understand what some possible causes of allergies are: BHT, BHA, MSG, ethoxyquin, sodium metabisulfite, salt, sugar, and propylene glycol are just a few of the many extremely questionable preservatives that can be used in pet foods.
Artificial colorings, which are used in many pet foods to give a fresh meat appearance, along with artificial flavorings are also questionable.
Questionable ingredients may be factors in pet allergies and other pet ailments.
Dr. Pottenger also provides us with some incredible insight into understanding pet allergies as a result of his 10 year cat study. On page 33 of the book Pottenger's Cats — A Study In Nutrition, Dr. Pottenger provides us with a valuable discovery.
Normal cats on raw food, cod liver oil diet show no evidence of allergy or hypothyroidism; and their offspring, generation after generation, show no evidence of allergy or hypothyroidism. The incidence of these deficiency problems corresponds with the introduction of cooked foods.
In giving cats cooked meat and milk, they develop all kinds of allergies. They sneeze, wheeze and scratch. They are irritable, nervous and do not purr. First generation allergic cats produce second generation kittens with greater incidence of allergies, and by the third generation, the incidence is almost 100 percent. When second generation allergic animals are bred after being returned to an optimum raw food diet, their allergic symptoms begin to diminish and by the fourth generation, some cats show no evidences of allergy.
As you can tell by reading Dr. Pottenger's observations, another culprit in allergies is in fact cooked food. Each generation of animals eating cooked food encounters worse and worse allergies.
From this passage, we can derive that in addition to eliminating questionable preservatives, artificial colorings and artificial flavorings, we must also begin feeding raw homemade and wholesome foods. We must also realize that Dr. Pottenger noticed that by simply feeding raw foods, it could take up to four generations or more for the allergies to disappear.
During his study, Dr. Pottenger did not use any supplements, he simply observed what cooked food versus raw food did to the animals. As a result, we can help allergies leave a lot faster and get greater allergy relief than what Dr. Pottenger noticed by incorporating some specific supplements and in complicated cases, also use the help of professional veterinarians, holistic or otherwise.
It is important to understand that allergies should be dealt with because if left untreated, allergies can be the beginning of future problems such as arthritis, swelling, inflammation, behavioural problems, neurological problems such as epilepsy, stress, skin problems, loss of hair and more serious problems such as cancer.
Dr. Alfred J. Plechner, DVM often mentions in his book Pet Allergies: Remedies For An Epidemic that he notices that poor adrenal gland function is often associated with allergies. As a result, we can incorporate a glandular supplement that contains some adrenal gland to give additional support to your pet's adrenal gland. In situations like this, I like to use Pet GO in combination with Thyro GO. Pet GO, due to the fact it is a broad source of glands and organs, helps to nourish all of the glands and organs in the body. Thyro GO, which works best when used in combination with Pet GO, provides a more concentrated source of adrenals, thyroid, pituitary, spleen and thymus along with kelp and thus really helps to support not only the adrenals but the whole endocrine system.
Additionally, digestive enzymes can assist allergies as well. Digestive enzymes will help the body better digest its food. Some people have described allergies as a digestive problem because anything that is undigested becomes classified as undesirable
to the body. These undesirables can then create allergies.
Digestive enzymes also help take the stress off glands such as the adrenal gland. My personal favourite for helping to assist allergies is FloraZyme LP.
Along with digestive enzymes, and glandulars, vitamin C also helps to strengthen the adrenal gland naturally. The adrenal gland produces something called cortisol which is the body's natural form of cortisone. Unfortunately, when the adrenal gland is under stress it cannot produce cortisol as effectively. Realizing this, one might think that giving greater quantities of vitamin C will help combat allergies also. However, since vitamin C is naturally found within raw meat and since dogs and cats can naturally produce their own vitamin C within their body, the best way to give our pets a vitamin C supplement is to feed them a wholesome raw meat diet. This allows our pets the opportunity to make all the vitamin C they need naturally and as Mother Nature intended.
In addition to glandulars and digestive enzymes, one should also consider using or adding essential fatty acids to the diet.
Having a clean colon will further help reduce the toxins within the body. Essentially, when foods get stuck in the colon, they begin to rot and essentially become toxic to the body. The toxins then enter the body through the colon. Cleaning the colon will in turn help remove undesirables
. Most humans, will automatically think that adding fiber to the diet will help clean the colon. However, we must remember that our pets are carnivores and that we cannot and should not confuse animal nutrition with human nutrition. So while fiber can be beneficial to us humans, it's not so beneficial to our pets.
To help cleanse the colon of our pets, we must realize that our pets have a short intestinal tract and colon for a reason. The short intestinal tract and colon allows the meat to enter the body and leave the body before putrefaction happens. Protein (meat) requires less digestion time than vegetation. This is why cows, goats, horses, etc all have a very long intestinal tract than do our carnivore friends. Realizing this, we begin to notice that our pets actually need a low fiber diet and the best way to cleanse the colon naturally, for a carnivore, is to feed raw meat. Cooked meats and processed foods get stuck in our pet's body leading to a clogged colon. Meanwhile, raw meat, which is also a good source of moisture, is naturally eliminated more easily from the body which also helps to cleanse to the colon.
Ultimately, the best way to cleanse the colon in our pets is by eliminating those foods which clog the colon and then by feeding those foods which are eliminated fast and efficiently — and yes, that means raw meat and no fiber.
Although fiber is not the best for our pets, I do like to give my pets some raw chicken necks as part of their meal twice a week. The chicken necks are easily crushed by our pets, swallowed and then the bones as they pass through the digestive system help to keep it clean. At the same time, some say that the bones help to naturally drain the anal sacks too with each bowel movement. How effective bones are, as part of the diet, at draining the anal sacks is not something that I know with certainty. But, if chicken necks are beneficial at draining the anal sacks then that will save those with dogs the unpleasant task of draining the anal sacks themselves!
Another simple remedy to help alleviate the symptoms of allergies is a homeopathic remedy called Adrisin
. Adrisin is in a pellet form; therefore, you would have to soak it in some water to dissolve it. Once dissolved, you can provide this remedy every 10 minutes if needed or for general help, just 3 times a day. Alternatively, you can add some Adrisin to your pet's drinking water and let your pet take the Adrisin whenever it drinks some water. Adrisin will help naturally with the allergy symptoms. However, Adrisin will not cure or eliminate the allergy. This is where changing and improving the diet along with building the constitution of the body comes in. It can take time to build the constitution but with the help of wholesome food, supplements and herbal detoxifying remedies you have good chances of being successful.
If you cannot find Adrisin, then there are plenty of other homeopathic remedies available that also assist with allergies.
These are just some suggestions to help eliminate allergies. As said, some allergies can be complicated to eliminate, but nonetheless, there are still simple things that we can do to help.
There are many factors that can cause allergies including extremely questionable ingredients such as preservatives in foods. Cooked food also can be a factor in allergies, and we must also consider that some drugs cause allergies. For example, antibiotics are known to trigger allergic reactions all throughout the body due to the fact antibiotics kill all of the good bacteria along with bad bacteria. But unfortunately, bad bacteria always grows back faster than good bacteria. Thus once the antibiotics are stopped, bad bacteria grows exceptionally fast leading to health problems related to excessive bad bacteria within the body.
Allergies are a vicious cycle that must be interrupted for the problem to end. Feeding a wholesome raw meat diet is the key to reversing the cycle of bad health and introducing the cycle of good health.