There are lots of exciting things happening at Sun Dog Cat Moon right now.  Perhaps the most exciting, is the addition of a Certified Canine Massage Therapist to our team!  We are so excited to offer this service to our patients.  More information about pet massage is in this newsletter.

By now you all know about our crockpot diet and many of you follow it for your pets.  Everyday we here stories about pets that are so excited at feeding time, and how they sing, dance and shout Hooray! when meal time even gets close.  Well, we would love to see video footage of your pets exuding all of their excitement and chowing down on their crockpot food.  You may submit your videos by email at info@sundogcatmoon.com .   On Monday July 2nd, the most excited and entertaining pet(s) in a single video will win one free month of crockpot made especially for them by My Personal Chef, Renata Dos Santos. By submitting your video, we ask for permission to use it on our website or other media platforms.  You may also contact Chef Renata at anytime if you're interested in having the crockpot diet made for you.

For many years when you took your pet to the vet the visit was about updating vaccines. Is that all there is? When we see your pet each year, there are several facets to the visit you may not be aware of. The first, and most obvious is the physical examination. I check your pet's eyes, ears, skin, teeth, abdomen, and run head to tail. The second not so obvious part is a Chinese Medical exam, palpating acupuncture points for soreness, checking pulse quality and tongue color. From these findings, we discuss diet and whether we need to make adjustments based on my findings. Often we will adjust supplements as well.
    
The other portion of the yearly visit is lab work. We don't do fecal exams every year because you, the client, are very good at making sure your pet takes heart worm prevention every month, so 99.9% of those tests would be normal, wasting your money, and often insulting your pet. What we do each year is not only test for heartworms, but also look at white and red cell counts, as well as kidney, liver, thyroid and other internal organ functions. For pets over age 2, we recommend testing for thyroid function and a urinalysis. What we are looking for is normal function, and when we don't see it, there are several options available to us. If the elevation from normal is small, we may recommend retesting in 30 days to see if it is a real issue. If the increase is moderate there are several approaches using nutritional support we can utilize. Finally, if there are marked changes, we can use ultrasound, and do additional testing to better define the cause of the abnormality. My goal is to catch early changes before your pet becomes ill, and use more holistic means of helping the body heal.

Urinalysis is an important annual test because it is estimated that 30% of pets over 3 have an occult, or hidden, urinary tract issue. Catching this issue early before a bladder stone or deep infection form is very important because we can prevent your pet from becoming gravely ill, or in the case of male cats, prevent a life threatening obstruction.

I have been using a few Standard Process products for select patients, and was pleased with the results I saw, particularly with skin issues. I liked their approach of using whole foods and glandular products to help the body get the nutrients it needs. Standard Process hosted a weekend seminar in Wisconsin at their farm, and manufacturing plant, and I was glad for the opportunity to learn more about their products. One thing that has been troubling me for some time is that we spay and neuter our pets at an early age, and then don't do anything to help support the endocrine system that is now missing a vital component of the gonads. While the supplements don't add ovaries in specific, glandular testicular tissue is added, as well as several other parts of  the endocrine system. Their supplements incorporate raw organic vegetables and herbs to supply food based vitamin and mineral supplements that are targeted toward specific organ systems as well as for the whole body. I believe this approach will provide a key role in the supplement program for dogs and cats. Because there are glandular products in all the supplements, they are eaten readily by most pets, even finicky cats. My thinking is to use the whole body support formulas in place of Canine Plus and along side Nucat for cats. The reason both supplements may be needed for cats is that the Feline Whole Body support does not contain enough taurine to provide the needed amount for crock pot cooking. If your cat is eating a commercially prepared food, then Nucat would not be needed. I have seen improvements in my own pets after using this regimen for the past 6 weeks as far as energy levels, and clearing some minor issues we were experiencing.

One final word about crockpot cooking; I was contacted by a woman who started cooking for her cats using all meats, and no supplementation. While the cats looked better in general, one cat had become quite ill, showing severe neurologic signs like tremors, weakness and difficulty walking, causing the cat to need to be hospitalized. After reviewing the diet she had been using, I realized there was insufficient amounts of B Vitamins, and asked her to ask her veterinarian to give B complex injections and see if that didn't improve the situation. Fortunately it did. Part of what caused this cat's issue is that he had had diarrhea for sometime, and while it was improved, he likely couldn't absorb the vitamins well. It is very important to follow the recipe, add calcium and a multi vitamin supplement dosed appropriately for your pet. While much of what is needed is in the food, individual pet's abilities to absorb the nutrients vary, and if there is chronic disease present , the demands of the body require higher levels, especially of the B vitamins. Commercially prepared food provides balance nutrients with every bite, making supplements not so vital.