Parvovirus

Question: My dog, Otis, has allergies. He is almost 5 years old. He has had allergies since he was a puppy. He had Parvo (Parvovirus: any of a group of viruses containing DNA in an icosahedral protein shell and causing disease in dogs and cattle; not known to be associated with any human disease) at 6 weeks old. He almost died from it but he was strong enough to pull through thanks to Doc Spencer. He said Otis would always have allergies due to a weak immune system.

Doc Spencer passed away last May and I have been in search of a good vet to take care of my dogs. I've taken them to countless vets and none of them can solve Otis' allergy problem.

I was wondering if you might know of an herbal mix of some sort to help him. Understandably there is no cure, but he is miserable. He has taken amoxicillin, vetalog, prednisone, cephalexin and even benadryl. Nothing works.

His symptoms are itchy eyes, gums and ears. His ears get red, sometimes grayish purple. They have an odor like yeast. He gets red splotches allover his underside and blisters in between his toes. His coat looks bumpy like mosquito bites and he sneezes and scratches a lot.

I am out of answers. I have even given him oatmeal baths. I would greatly appreciate any ideas you may have. He really needs relief from this.

Answer: Thank you for writing us about your dog, Otis. I am enclosing a brochure for a natural vet, Dr. Christine Crosley. She gives many free lectures around the area as well. You may want to hear her speak as well as make an appointment at her clinic. Changing to a more natural diet may bring great results in Otis' health and Dr. Crosley is very knowledgeable about this.

If it were my dog I would give him immune boosting herbs. Lapacho is the first one I would try. Over the years we have noticed that immune stimulating herbs provide some of the best long-term relief to allergy sufferers. I would mix the extract liquid or extract powder in  his food or you could give doses any other way that is suitable. You will find our Lapacho Extract under Dried Herbs and Liquid Herbal Extracts in our catalog.

For the various skin and ear discomforts there are more specific natural remedies. We have a Skin Spray for Dogs which I would use if he were my dog. We also have a Garlic Mullein Ear Oil which I would drop in the ears.

Perseverance pays off with these stubborn health problems. You will get better results if you use herbs regularly for a while and then take a break. After the break, if more healing is needed, this would be an opportunity to change to another herbal combination or just keep using the same preparation. If you noticed that the remedy worked very well at first and then seemed to become less effective, after a break would be a good time to change to a different set of herbs.