NHT News Vol. 13 No. 2 MAY, 2017

Dr. Moffat’s NATURAL HEALTH TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER

• What’s New on the Website: YouTube channel issues
• Case of the Month: Chronic limping in a young dog
• Product of the Month: Elecampane for respiratory problems
• Ask Dr. Moffat: How specific are deworming agents?
• Inspiration & Perspective: Make a decision
• What’s New at Our House: It’s still snowing but I’m dibbling my onions
• Local Events: Camas Festival in Weippe May 27, 2017

(Please note that full names are never used in this newsletter or on my website without the full consent of the sender or client. Some cases also encompass groupings of cases with similar symptoms and suggestions for healing in an attempt to educate the general public.)

What’s New on the Website:

The producers of NextWorld TV, Real Food Channel and Plant Wisdom have answered a challenge I’ve been having with my YouTube channel (which I can no longer get into and update—tried for 4 hours—I just give up!)

“Apparently, Big Food and Big Pharma like for you to eat junk and be sick – and Google/YouTube wants to help them accomplish that. For years, Google/YouTube has turning the screws on small publishers like Next World and Next World Health. Now, as this report says, they’re really bringing down the hammer and actively trying to drive us and thousands of other small web publishers out of business – after using our efforts to build their own. If you value the information we gather, organize and share and think other people should have access to it too, please help.”

Their goal is to generate enough donations to be able to keep sending the videos they find on alternative health and good food.

I’ve never had advertising on my own website. I’ve had to come up with several thousand dollars each year to maintain it, repair glitches and sometimes have the entire site re-done, support the newsletter email list and purchase bandwidth on my server. It’s pretty overwhelming at times, but what else does one do when they have an online business? Kind of mad that I can’t get my stuff out to more people sometimes—yet I persist and will keep persisting.

Anyway, here’s the full plug and explanation about what’s going on with Youtube and Google from the NextWorld team: https://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/interesting–other/will-next-world-survive.html

I guess it’s back to the drawing board for putting out videos. Does anyone have any better ideas? Use Vimeo? Or some other channel? I’m open to suggestions.

Case of the Month: Reoccurring limp in a young dog

Daisy was a 14 month old, female, spayed St. Bernard mix. (Note: This sentence of history is called a signalment and is what every veterinarian seeks up front before making certain decisions as to how a case will be treated) In Daisy’s case, her symptoms did not match with the her signalment.

Daisy presented with a reoccurring limp of 12 months duration and could barely stand up to eat. She wouldn’t walk for more than a few steps before laying down and couldn’t even squat to urinate or defecate.

After being seen by her local veterinarian several times, and at one time being prescribed a pain medicine that caused bleeding in the gut (and huge associated vet bills), her veterinarian was at a loss and had suggested exploratory surgery on the joints to see what the cause was. The owner was uncomfortable with that option (and so was I!) so was seeking alternatives.

Xrays from the local vet showed only a mild case of hip dysplasia—OK young critters can have hip dysplasia, but so much pain that they don’t want to get up? Huh uh, I was thinking. Other pertinent history was that she had been ‘bowled over’ at 6 months of age by a larger dog—could have a dislocated growth plate at the end of a long bone—that would be painful. . .but it wasn’t that. One leg in particular was tight, but that tightness eventually spread to the opposite rear leg. The muscles wrapping from her hips to across the inside knees (the sartorius muscles) were so tight she whimpered when you touched them. She had been tested for Lyme disease, but the diagnosis was inconclusive. DNA tests were advised to follow that up, but she had decided to give Medical Intuition a try before that.

One strange thing about the case was that her boyfriend had offered raw salmon to Daisy as treats several months previous, but the local veterinarian’s exam notes did not suggest enlarged lymph nodes from the parasite in raw salmon (Salmon Disease) that kills dogs (Nanophyetes salmonicola). A fecal exam had not been done.

Daisy got very excited after I talked to her owner on the phone (animals often do this when their parents talk to me about them.) It just so happened that years previous I had worked on her daughter’s dog that also had some lameness issues. That dog had responded famously which is why the woman called me for help with her own dog.

After determining that the poor dog was very low in sulfur and quite deficient in vitamins, we put the Daisy on some cooked veggies (her body didn’t want anything fresh), some Taste of the Wild Sierra Mountain kibble, a bit of raw beef and cooked chicken (which is coincidentally high in sulfur as meats go), a few eggs and one MSM tablet each day. She used Tramadol if absolutely needed for the pain (she started out at a level 5 of 10 for pain) and I removed several supplements she had been giving which were not working. I did not pick up any Lyme or Salmon disease, so we went with what Daisy’s body wanted at the time.

Her first check-in email to me was as follows:

Thanks Denice.   I got her the new dog food and she ate it all up whereas the Nutro I had for her she would hardly touch.  I will get MSM tomorrow and start her on that as well as the veggies, eggs and meat you’ve listed.   Just to let you know, Daisy seems to know that things will get better since talking to you as she is more perky and playful than I have seen her in weeks.  Animals are very intuitive.  Talk to you at the follow up chat. Thanks so much.   Looking forward to seeing my Daisy’s health back up to 100%. Best Regards, Debbie C.

Dr. Moffat’s Notes: Well, after just three weeks, Daisy was doing so great her son took her to the beach and overworked her. She had been on a limit of 10 mins/day of exercise. The beach walk was several miles and she was really hurting and had digressed on being able to stand up so we updated her earlier than her body wanted because of this little glitch in her program and got things back on track. It’s best to handle things as they come up.

Before the next follow-up consult I emailed her just to check in. . .Dr. Denice’s checkup email: Do you have any questions for me? Tapping into her energy field just now I’m actually testing she’s down to zero of 10 on the pain scale today. Whoo hoo! What do you see on your end?

Debbie’s response about 4 weeks into treatment. . .Dr. Moffat: Her last 3 days have been really good days.   She is excited to go out for her walks (on leash) and is almost prancing…lol.   She’s getting that happy walk back. She can walk further than she has in a long while before she needs to sit and rest.  She has put some weight back on and has managed to keep it on for the last 2 weeks.   Her back legs still tremble when she’s standing still, but she is standing a bit longer than she has in the past.  After a bit she still needs to sit and rest. So standing in one spot is still a weakness in her back legs, but she can now “wipe” her feet after she pees or poops again. She couldn’t do that for a long time, so I was quite happy when I saw her do that these last few days.  When walking I don’t see her legs trembling, only when she’s standing still.  She is still laying down when eating or drinking but has no problems going up and down the stairs or jumping off or on the bed.   There were a few times that she was throwing up bile. But she hasn’t done that since last Saturday.  I’m not sure why she’s throwing up bile.

I was going to ask you if it would be beneficial to put her on a complete raw food diet once she has finished her bag of kibble you recommended.   She is still getting the cooked chicken, beef & vegetables mixed in with her kibble as well as 2 eggs per week.   I haven’t given her the MSM this week as I noticed that when I gave it to her, she burps and passes sulfur smelling gas. Fantastic to hear her pain level was a zero today.  Hope that continues. Thanks, Debbie C.

My answer to her. . .Debbie, no on the raw food, but we may add some other raw stuff in once she just tells us she no longer wants the Taste of the Wild. I’ll update her next week and we’ll see if she needs anything else. Denice

We (my guides and angels and myself) updated Daisy five weeks from the first appointment and tweaked her diet, but the owner was a “no show” for the final update after that. She had been doing so well Debbie didn’t feel the need. Daisy was done with her MSM (she started spitting it up which is a sign an animal no longer needs a supplement or medication) and was happy with her diet. The owner reported she was 100% healthy.

Amazingly fast recovery.

Product of the Month: Herb—Elecampane (Inula Helenium)

About Elecampane: Elecampane is used for conditions of the respiratory system. Elecampane, a 4-5 foot tall perennial that grows on a rigid erect stem that is deeply furrowed. The plant branches near the top with pointed leaves that are 1-1.5 feet long and four inches across the middle where they are velvety underneath. The 3-4 inch diameter yellow flowers bloom from June-August and resemble a double sunflower. Inula helenium is notably prized by the Romans for food and medicinal purposes. Elecampane is native to western Asia and Europe but has been spread to now grow in many temperate parts of the globe including areas in the United States. It can be grown from seed in the spring or by root division in the fall. The plant grows best in shady, well drained but moist soil. The root is harvested in the fall and used fresh or dried at high temperatures for later use.

Read more about Elecampane here: https://naturalhealthtechniques.com/elecampane-herb/

Pictures of Elecampane:  

References for Elecampane picture: https://hermionesgarden.blogspot.com/2011/02/inula-helenium-elecampane.html

Ask Dr. Moffat:  

Hi Dr Moffat, just wondering if worm medicine covers all types of worms or if I should have my dog tested for other kinds? He is supposed to get a heartworm test, so am wondering if he should have a fecal exam at the same time. Thank you, T.D.

Dear T.D: Worm medicines are fairly specific with the different groupings of worms Terry.

So Strongid (Pyrantel pamoate) would work for most roundworms, Cestex (Epsiquantel) would work for most tapeworms and some forms of Ivermectin have fluke killing components in them but also work for tapeworms and roundworms. (Note: I consider ivermectin to be a last resort due to its toxicity.)

If you give your dog the heartworm medication (usually that has ivermectin in it) and he actually does have heartworms, the dog could die from an anaphylactic reaction. If you’re giving him heartworm medicine every 6 weeks or less—that wouldn’t happen. BUT if you haven’t given the heartworm medicine for a couple of months and want to re-start, then you should be doing a heartworm test first to be sure the dog doesn’t have heartworm. The medicine is a preventative and will kill the baby forms of heartworm before they reproduce inside the body causing real problems. Certain states have a higher incidence of heartworm so it may be more important to continue the heartworm medicine year round in those areas. I don’t know what the incidence rate is in Michigan where you are. If you travel to states that have high incidence of that parasite, then you’d also want to be more attentive to testing and consistent treatments.

Read more about Heartworm here: https://naturalhealthtechniques.com/specificdiseasesheartworm/

Often in adult animals, parasite eggs won’t show up in the feces (especially when the worm load is very small) so these days, veterinarians would not normally worm an animal unless they actually see evidence of worms on the critter or in the stool sample.

Sometimes I pick up worms through the muscle testing process (especially when the body is ready to release them) and we can treat them with something when the vet’s office won’t see anything to treat.

Natural herbal wormers treat more than one type of parasite. Homeopathics are more specific.

So the short answer to your question is, go for the heartworm test and feel free to do a fecal at the same time, but I doubt your vet will find anything at this point on the fecal test (because it didn’t come up with muscle testing and we’ve already attended to the appropriate internal parasites).

If your dog eats fleas, mice or dead critters on occasion though, you’ll want to re-worm with tapeworm medicine occasionally. Usually bloating, dull coat and sometimes dried tapeworm segments will be evident to help you know when to do that. Adult critters do a pretty good job of resisting roundworms (unlike younger animals and people) but sometimes you need to use the roundwormer preparations and an annual fecal exam can pick that up pretty well. I had to worm my own 8-year old cat last month because I saw roundworms in her feces. Kind of took me aback, but she her coat was a bit drier than usual. Still I expected tapeworms, not roundworms at her age.

Then, if the animal has bouts of diarrhea and you find they drink out of puddles and creeks and lakes you’d have to suspect giardia or other protozoal parasites. Those are way harder to pick up with veterinary testing as giardia needs special stains and multiple tests. I love muscle testing for these kinds of cases because it seems to be really accurate in letting us know how to treat an animal and which product is most effective with the least side effects.

To complicate things even more, Jessica Lynn at Earth Song Ranch has noted that the parasite counts will be higher (especially seen in large animals such as horses/cattle/llamas/goats/sheep) during a full moon and the egg counts will be lower during new moon times. She often uses an herbal wormer for routine stuff and suggests chemical wormers if the herbal ones don’t do the trick but it’s difficult to get dogs and cats to ingest those types of wormers as a general rule.

It’s all pretty involved, but there you go. I hope that answered your question. Denice

Inspiration & Perspective: 

Make a decision of what you want, give your attention there, find the feeling place of it — and you’re there instantly. There is no reason for you to suffer or struggle your way to or through anything. —Abraham   Excerpted from: Kansas City, MO on August 29, 1999

What’s New at Our House:

We’ve had record rains it seems. Mud everywhere and standing water, but the seed and plant companies don’t care—their plants keep growing so they need to be moved. I ordered a big batch of onions and leeks from Dixondale Farms. Gave a bunch away (it’s kind of like a Costco thing where you get a better deal for larger orders). I planted a few rows on the beds in the Food Not Lawns demonstration area that wasn’t submerged in water with my new dibbler.

Dibblers are awesome poking tools that make planting alliums SO much easier! Don’t know why I waited this many years to track one down. This one was custom made for me by Ben Carpenter, a local wood turner. As I’m typing this on 4/27/17 it has been raining most of the night and now it’s snowing! Again. At least the inclement weather comes in short bursts.

We are in the process of numbering our garden beds so we can keep track of where we’ve watered. We have 47 areas to water so far, so it’s quite the issue once the watering season begins. Here are a couple of areas. . .

Area 6—Food Not Lawns demonstration plot

Area 8—Boxwood lane. I love this time of the year. The weeds are just as green as the grass.

In this one, you can see one of the nice signs (18) my sister-in-law made for me. I have attached one numbered sign for each birdhouse. The roof of the house is shaked with tin can lids—in keeping with my “recycle in the second half of my life more than I’ve created in the first half of my life” project. I’ve decided tin can lids are difficult to work with and I can hardly wait to get this project done!

I’ve got a ways to go, but I’m about half way there with the sign package installation. I still have some roof ‘shingles’ to put onto some of the bird houses. Next year we’ll be making bat houses instead of birdhouses as our Valentine’s Day project—well. . .maybe not 60 bat houses. I think we have about 90 birdhouses now:

Local Events: 17th Annual Weippe Camas Festival May 27, 2017. Location: Weippe Mini Park & Weippe Community Hall in Weippe, Idaho. There was a time when you could actually taste camas bulb recipes at the Camas Festival but that was many years back. These days they have Dutch Oven Cook-offs and a Horseshoe Tournament. It’s a fun time though and very much like the rural life of Idaho. For more info: Visit www.weippe.com/events/May