Holistic Veterinary Consultations

12/20/2025

🧠 Neurologic Autoimmune Disease Is Often Misunderstood

In conventional medicine, autoimmune brain diseases like meningitis and encephalitis are typically viewed through one narrow lens:

➡️ An overactive immune system.

So the solution becomes predictable:
Suppress the immune response.

Steroids. Immunosuppressive drugs. Turn the volume down.

But what research and clinical experience actually show is far more complex👇

🔹 The immune system in these conditions is not just overactive
🔹 It is often simultaneously overactive AND suppressed
🔹 Inflammation is high — while immune regulation, resilience, and defense are impaired

This explains why many patients:
• Improve temporarily
• Relapse when medications are reduced
• Develop chronic disease or secondary infections

Conventional medicine has powerful tools to suppress immunity — and those tools can be lifesaving.

What it doesn’t have tools for is:
❌ repairing immune regulation
❌ supporting the suppressed side of the immune system
❌ addressing root triggers like infections, toxins, gut-brain dysfunction, or poor nutrition.

🌿 Holistic and integrative medicine asks a different question.

Not:
“How do we shut the immune system down?”

But:
“How did the immune system become dysregulated in the first place — and how do we restore balance?”

Because an immune system can be inflamed and exhausted at the same time.

And lasting healing comes from regulation — not just suppression.

✨ This isn’t anti-medicine.
It’s complete medicine.

Comment “CONSULT” for help with your pet’s unresolved medical condition.

12/19/2025

Gene Cernan was my 3rd cousin on my father’s side.🚀

Eugene A. Cernan was sliding sideways across the deck of an aircraft carrier in 1960 when he realized the jet was no longer recoverable and the ocean was about to take him. The landing gear had collapsed. The plane was breaking apart. Fire was already behind him.
Cernan was a U.S. Navy fighter pilot in the early Cold War era, flying off carriers where mistakes were not corrected. They were absorbed. Carrier aviation was treated as wartime discipline even without declared war. Every landing was a controlled crash. Every deck was moving. Every failure ended in water or flame.
That day, his A 4 Skyhawk came down hard and wrong.
The aircraft slammed, skidded, and tore open. Fuel ignited. Crew members ran toward him while the jet burned. Cernan was trapped in the cockpit, disoriented, helmet ringing, body stunned by impact. He knew the sequence by memory. If he waited too long, the fire would reach the tanks. If he moved too fast, he could be pulled under the carrier or crushed by the wreckage.
He forced himself out.
Cernan jumped clear as the plane slid toward the edge. The jet went into the sea. He followed seconds later. The water was black, cold, and churning. The carrier’s screws were still turning. Sailors later said he surfaced dangerously close to being pulled under.
He survived by seconds.
The Navy logged it as an accident. Training incident. Aircraft loss. That was the language used to flatten risk. What mattered was that Cernan returned to duty immediately. No pause. No therapy. Aviation culture did not reward reflection. It rewarded continuation.
That moment mattered more than anyone realized.
Years later, when NASA selected him as an astronaut, Cernan understood exactly what the job required. Not brilliance. Not fearlessness. Discipline under irreversible conditions. The ability to act while knowing there may be no recovery.
When systems failed in space, as they repeatedly did, tangled tethers, uncontrolled spins, fuel limits collapsing, Cernan did not panic. He had already been there. On a moving deck. On fire. With the ocean waiting.
Eugene Cernan is remembered as the last man to walk on the Moon. That achievement tends to erase the preparation that made it possible.
He was shaped by a military culture where survival depended on executing procedure while your body screamed otherwise. Where hesitation k!LLed faster than error. Where rescue was never guaranteed.
His war was not declared, but it was real.
It was fought in seconds, on steel decks, inside failing machines, long before the world knew his name.

12/18/2025

I went to a lecture by a local vet on dermatology and I figured it would be a conventional lecture, but I’m always hoping that there will be a hint of looking at the root cause of allergies and itching and chronic skin disease in our pets.

There wasn’t, but I had a good time anyway.

Comment “HAIRY” if you’re interested in my Ditch The Itch online program for your pet that has chronic skin issues, allergies, and itchy skin.

12/17/2025

Holistic veterinary medicine looks at why the body is forming lipomas.

🧬 Epigenetics Matter
Genes are not destiny.
Diet, toxins, stress, pharmaceuticals, and lifestyle turn genes on or off—for pets too.

🐾 TCVM Perspective
In Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine:
• Lipomas = Phlegm Nodules
• Root cause = Spleen Qi Deficiency

The Chinese Spleen governs digestion and nutrient transformation.
When it’s weak, the body creates Dampness → Phlegm → lipomas.

🔥 Ultra-processed foods (kibble & canned):
• Create inflammation
• Generate free radicals & AGEs
• Weaken digestion
• Promote tumor-friendly terrain

Some holistic theories also suggest lipomas act as toxic storage depots, protecting vital organs from chemical overload.

🐕 10 Natural Ways to Support Dogs with Lipomas

1️⃣ Feed a balanced, real-food diet
2️⃣ Ensure daily movement & exercise
3️⃣ Maintain a healthy weight
4️⃣ Reduce exposure to chemicals, pesticides & unnecessary drugs
5️⃣ Add medicinal mushrooms (like Turkey Tail)
6️⃣ Support the gut with probiotics
7️⃣ Use Omega-3 fatty acids
8️⃣ Work with a vet herbalist on anti-tumor herbs
(Violet, Turmeric, Chickweed, Prunella, Figwort)
9️⃣ Consider veterinary acupuncture
🔟 Consider veterinary chiropractic care

✨ Bottom Line
Lipomas are rarely emergencies—but they are messages from the body.
When we support digestion, detox pathways, immunity, and lifestyle, we change the terrain.

👇 Want to go deeper?
Comment THRIVE to get my FREE Chronic Illness Guide and learn how to support your pet from the inside out. 🐾💚

12/15/2025

Great Info

In this session, Dr. Judy interviews Dr. Conor Brady of Dogs First regarding the topic of K9 Nutrition. Dr. Connor has published the book, Feeding Dogs, whic...

12/15/2025

It starts with dust, then fungal pneumonia — in you or your dog.” 🦠💨

Valley Fever is more than a desert nuisance — it’s a serious fungal infection caused by Coccidioides spores in the soil.

When inhaled, they transform into yeast inside the lungs, causing fungal pneumonia in both people and pets. 🫁

Early symptoms in both dogs and humans can include:

🐾 Coughing
🌡️ Fever
😴 Fatigue
💨 Trouble breathing
🍽️ Appetite loss
🦠 And sometimes — no symptoms at all, until it spreads.

But it doesn’t always stay in the lungs...

In some cases, the infection disseminates — spreading to the bones, joints, eyes, skin, heart, kidneys, or even the brain.

That’s when things get critical.
🧠 Seizures or neurological signs
🦴 Limping or swollen joints
👁️ Eye inflammation
🫀Kidney failure
🐶 Skin lumps or draining wounds

Whether you live in an endemic area or just visit, you need to know the signs.

📚 I wrote a book that breaks it all down — symptoms, treatment options, real-world tips, and how to advocate for your dog (and yourself).

💬 Comment “book” and I’ll DM you the Amazon link!

12/14/2025

🌵 Valley Fever is more than just dust in the desert — it can seriously affect your dog’s health🐾 and yours as well.

If you live in or travel through the Southwest, you and your pup could be at risk.

Valley Fever can cause coughing, limping, fatigue, fever, and even neurological symptoms if it spreads.

Early detection is key — and knowing what to watch for could make all the difference. ❤️️‍🩹

🎯 Want to be prepared?

Grab my FREE Canine Valley Fever Guide — packed with symptoms, treatment options, and prevention tips for pet parents.

📩 Just comment “guide” and I’ll send it your way!