After the Healing Crisis Comes Recovery!

A healing crisis can occur when an animal, or person, is very sick and toxic. This is the body starting it's own war with the disease. It is an attempt to recover.

Let's back up a bit.

To understand what a healing crisis is, why and how it can happen, and what you can do about it, is fascinating. Your dog's body has an inherent wisdom, and will always aim for improvement and better health on it's own. It will never stop trying.

You need to be able to interpret the symptoms and changes that can occur when your dog starts on a better nutritional program. Better dog nutrition, comes from the introduction of higher quality foods and herbs, in place of the lower quality ones being used previously.

Basically, the closer the food is to it's natural state, the higher the quality will be. In this natural state, the enzymes are still intact and have not been destroyed by heat and processing. Amino acids, vitamins, minerals and trace elements are intact.

Learn more about natural dog food here. That means food in it's natural state.

" When the quality of food coming into the body, is of higher quality than the tissue which the body is made of, the body begins to discard the lower grade materials, for the superior materials, which it uses to make new and healthier tissue." Stanley S. Brass, N.D.

Read that statement again carefully. The key phrase there is... the body begins to discard the lower grade materials. Your dog's body will now start a process called ...

Cleansing

Cleansing or detoxification, is thought of as a peeling away of the layers. Think of the layers making up an onion. Layer by layer, your dog's body will release and let go of, the toxins, viruses, bacteria, fungus and parasites that have been making him sick.

"It just does not get any simpler than this: cell membranes that are

(1) oxidized,

(2) inflamed,

(3) lacking in energy,

(4) toxic,

cannot communicate effectively, resulting in significant deficiencies in energy production and consumption. These are the roots of all diseases."

This is a quote by Hugo Rodier, M.D. from his book Sweet Death - The Epidemic That's Sweeping America

This book is an absolute must read if you want to understand the devastating effect of sugars and refined carbohydrates on our health. This goes for dog heath too. I cannot stress this enough...and I will say it again...dogs are carnivores.

How to Help your Dog Cleanse

There are three ways...

1 - let your dog fast for 24 to 48 hours. That means no food. Your dog's body will concentrate on healing, not digestion.

2 - improve the quality of food you are feeding your dog with a food of higher nutritional value.

3 - give your dog herbs that will stimulate his body to cleanse.

The symptoms of cleansing are some of the most misunderstood concepts of natural health. When you suddenly stop the use of low grade foods in favour of higher grade foods, your dog's body will react to this. This reaction is called a healing crisis.

As the body removes and discards the toxins from the tissues, they are transported through the bloodstream. Before the toxins are eliminated, they are registered in your dog's consciousness as pain.

In other words, your dog probably has one heck of a headache...and how do I know, your dog has a headache, you might ask?

I know it because, if you, for example, were to to go through a cleansing process...you would have a headache too. That's what happens during a cleanse.

Headache is one of the symptoms of your liver trying to get rid of body toxins. Your liver is your body's main detoxifying organ.

That goes for your dog as well.

Read About Kim's Story...

Here's a picture of my friend Kim Parker and her wonderful little bull dog Fergus. Fergus is a good example of what can be done holistically to help a dog get well.

Fergus was a young dog, about nine months old when I first met him. He had had a difficult time in his short life, with many dog health problems.

He had been treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-biotics for chronic, recurring skin eruptions. His poor little body was covered with oozing red angry sores. None of these drugs was helping him in the least.

It was obvious to me, that this little dog was desperately trying to rid his body of everything that was irritating it. He was in the midst of a healing crisis on his own.

Anyway, we did muscle testing on Fergus.

We determined that he had a very toxic liver, that his immune system was extremely stressed, and he was suffering from an over abundance of systemic yeast.

Here's what we did...

First thing...change the food to GRAIN FREE.

then...started to give Fergus herbs to address these issues.

~ Acidophilus - to replace beneficial bacteria in the gut, that was destroyed due to antibiotics.

~ Garden Essence - enzymes to help him better digest food.

~ LIV-C - to support and gently cleanse his liver.

~ Yeast/Fungal Detox - to rid his body of yeast, fungus and mold.

~ Colostrum - to support his immune system.

Fergus stayed on this program for about a month. Then we introduced a couple of other herbs and supplements as needed.

Chlorophyll was added, to support the intestinal system and for general nutrition.

BP-C was also included as a blood tonic to improve blood circulation and to enhance immune response.

It took about five months for our boy Fergus to get through this healing crisis. He went through retracing appearing to be getting better, then having a small relapse... then better again, then relapse... then better again...and so on... but at the end of that time we had a brand new dog.

We gave him enough time to complete the process on his own.

It is now a year since Fergus went through his healing crisis and I am happy to report that he is happy and well.

You can learn more about herbs for cleansing here.

Kim's experience with Fergus started her on her own path to natural health and healing. She now uses herbs and supplements from Nature's Sunshine herself, and is planning on becoming certified to be a Natural Health Care Practitioner in her own right.

This experience with natural dog health motivated her, to co-create her own line of natural petcare products, called Parkers Natural Pet Care. Learn more about Parkers Natural Petcare here.

She immediately understood that there would be no point in cleaning up the inside, and then continue to use toxic products on the outside.

Kim Parker is a Dog Groomer who cares about dogs. She wants the best for them. I love her.

The end (at least, of this story...so read on )

Symptoms of a Detox Healing Crisis

~ headache

~ Mucousy diarrhea

~ more concentrated, darker coloured urine,

~ mucous from the nose, or eyes

~ excessive salivation,

~ inflammations of the skin (rashes, hot spots etc.)

~ fever

~ loss of appetite

~ quietness

What is really odd about the phenomenon of a detox healing crisis, is that it usually occurs after the dog was thought to be getting better. Suddenly the disease seems to be back, even worse than before!

...but your dog is not sick again. The healing crisis will occur when your dog is strong enough to handle it. It will never happen when your dog is in a weakened state.

Usually at this time, your dog will be unusually quiet, will go off, curl up by himself and rest until he feels better.

Although dogs are probably in pain at this time, they somehow seem to know what is going on. This is what your dog would do in the wild. Let your dog rest and gather his strength.

This initial stage can last anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks. Your dog will conserve and internalize his energy. Repair and reconstruction of his internal organs has begun.

Remember, there is a very strong connection between the quality of food eaten, to the amount of time it will take to recover. Your dog is resting and repairing.

Let him rest. He is not sick. He is healing. Do not try to stimulate his body out of this stage.

It's at this critical time that some dog owners start to panic. They say..." Oh my Gosh, he's sick again, I thought he was getting better. I can't stand to see him sick again."...and they quit.

...but, they cause their dog to fail, in his attempt to heal himself and recover. They didn't give him enough time to go through this healing crisis. If they had only waited a little longer, their dog would have passed this critical time, and he would have begun to feel even better than before.

Remember the layers...this type of healing crisis can happen several times. Each time with better results, until finally all toxins are shed and vibrant good health is attained.

Retracing

This is the process of bringing your dog's body back to the state of health he was born with. If at some point, your dog had a skin rash, for example, and was given a drug to suppress it, the skin rash will reappear again. Get the picture?

Please allow your dog to work through this process. The rewards are worth it. If you allow your dog to discard these accumulated toxins now, you will save him from more serious disease, later in life.

OK, that wasn't so bad, was it? Remember, recovery is right around the corner.

Try to keep these ideas in mind

~ a healing crisis is an attempt to recover.

~ fasting for a short time is a good thing.

~ replace lower quality food, with higher quality food and herbs.

~ the closer the food is to it's natural state, the higher quality it is.

~ cleansing or detoxification, is your dog's body getting rid of toxins.

~ before toxins are eliminated, they register in your dog's consciousness as pain.

~ the healing crisis will occur when your dog is strong enough to handle it.

~ your dog will conserve and internalize his energy to heal.

~ retracing ( layers ) will continue until all toxins are shed.

~ Give your dog the time he needs to heal. WAIT

The good News

~ The rewards are worth it.

~ some dogs never experience a healing crisis.

Where to now

From Healing Crisis Back Home to Dog Nutrition Naturally