Wouldn’t it be amazing if we, as pet owners, felt empowered to take a more active role in our pets health care?  Empowered to make choices at the first sign of minor skin issues that could possibly result in less trips to the Vet and less upsets for our poor dogs?  I hope that this blog will help you to see that, if we take action at the first sign of irritation, using natural solutions there just may be resolve (and one less Vet bill!).  This is Gypsey’s story.  A story of healing, and hope! 

In August 2018, MicroMed ran its first documented dog trial, incorporating our 4 Steps to Foundational Health Programme.  One of the participants of the trial was a dog called Gypsey (pictured above), owned by a ECL teacher in Hamilton, NZ, Nicolle. One month into the MicroMed programme, Nicolle was truly amazed and relieved to find her dog had transformed from having health issues, (diagnosis of alopecia, seborrhoea sicca and seborrhoea oleosa and Malassezia) to radiating good health.

It's quite simple really - if you know the steps to follow. The crucial point being that anyone can instigate these steps, you do not need to be a Vet or a Naturopathic Nutritionist or have a degree in canine health! Do you want to learn more? Let me take you on a journey with Gypsey, starting at the beginning...

Gypsey’s Symptoms

In Nicolle’s words… “Gypsey had a multi-factorial skin condition, she scratched and licked herself constantly, her skin was in a state of minor inflammation, she was losing hair and she smelt!  I had spent hundreds of dollars in vet visits! Steroids would help while she was on them, but as soon as she stopped taking them her skin would flare up again. A modified diet controlled it slightly but did not fix the problem”.   

Gypsey’s Health Plan from MicroMed that led to transformation

Following MicroMed’s, recommendations, Nicolle 1) commenced MicroMed application,  2) removed dried and processed food from Gypsey’s diet and, commenced her on a cooked, home prepared food diet, as an interim step to the PMR diet ,3) added daily  bone broth  to all Gypsey’s meals in order to benefit from the high collagen and L-glutamine content, to repair the gut. Collagen is the ‘glue’ that holds body tissues together, and over time bone broth can reduce inflammation and heal the gut, particularly if it’s ‘Leaky’. ‘This was particularly important where Gypsey was concerned as I believed Gypsey was suffering a Leaky Gut, alongside the fungal overgrowth and other symptoms’ – Maria Brown, MicroMed’s Naturopathic Nutritionist.

The main symptoms of a Leaky Gut are:

• High allergenic profile, so reacting to many foods, or other allergens or intolerances
• Skin issues,
• Malnutrition,
• Digestive issues,
• A subdued demeanour & low energy

4) Eliminated ALL carbohydrates to ‘starve’ the yeast and fungi

Back to Basics

Gypsey had been ‘reacting’ to many different foods prior to commencement of MicroMed for Dogs Probiotics, primarily due to Leaky Gut.  Nicolle reported Gypsey’s poop was definitely not normal, her demeanour was low, her skin was a concern, and she had been losing weight, and hair.

I explained to Nicolle that it was really important to get back to basics! Dr Karen Becker, DVM, puts this brilliantly in her three pillars to good health.

Pillar No. 1 is species-appropriate nutrition; there is no replacement for this and please note kibbles or biscuits are not species appropriate – or the Creator would have created dog biscuits – or a dog biscuit tree!

Pillar No. 2 is a balanced, functional immune system; and

Pillar No. 3 is a sound, resilient frame

If you have the time, here is a podcast episode on Youtube with Dr. Karen.  Settle down for an excellent teaching sess’.

3 Pillars of Health with Dr Karen Becker, Mercola’s Healthy Pet Vet

A Compromised Immune System

So how did Pillar Two come into play with Gypsey - to address her compromised immune system?  How did I know Gypsey had a compromised immune system?  Well, Gypsey didn’t have the health issues she had from a lack of steroids or a lack of antibiotics - she had compromised immunity! Bearing in mind, ill-health is ALWAYS multi-factorial - usually a combination of diet, stress, and conventional medicine treatments such as chemical flea and worming meds, courses of antibiotics and steroids, heredity and environmental factors, such as environmental sprays - glyphosate or Roundup, and heavy metals contained in vaccines, just to name a few, that unfortunately ‘weaken’ the body and immune system.

Ill-health is never just one factor - it doesn’t come out of the blue - it can take years for a condition to manifest, fed by negative factors that accumulate day by day, week by week, month by month.  Then one day, your dog’s system becomes overwhelmed, and their adaptive capacity is stretched to the limit and that’s when the downward spiral into ill-health begins!

Knowing the Signs

When your dog’s body decides to 'off-load' in the best way it can, an acute situation arises - be it the beginning of a hot spot, mild mange, or mild Malassezia. It is for us to realise that this is the body’s way of off-loading toxins so best to assist your dog as best you can to work with the healing processes of the body.

If this healing process is stopped and the ‘symptoms’ are suppressed, without the root cause such as gut dysbiosis, Leaky Gut , liver toxicity or a fungal overgrowth being addressed, then the condition will simply reappear again sometime later or manifest as a more serious condition. Sometimes this presents itself as a chronic condition, at a deeper level, possibly at an organ, glandular or immune level.

Nicolle’s feedback a few weeks into the programme

“The day after I started using MicroMed for Dogs, Spray-on Probiotic (Step 1), she stopped licking all through the night. About 3 days in, I realised her skin was better and the stickiness of the minor seborrhoea oleosa was going away, her manner was much happier, she was bouncing around like a puppy again. No more constant licking and scratching.  Other people (friends and family) also noticed the difference in her and were so surprised - particularly if they hadn’t seen her for a while”. 

What Can We Do?

This is where it is vitally important to look at underlying issues in order to prevent the manifestations of an unwelcome condition. Given the prevalence of increasingly serious issues in our dogs, and their chronic diseases mimicking human diseases, we need to pose the question: what can I do differently?  We all want to improve the health of our dogs, so they live a healthier, happier life and don't get sick in the first place?

Looking to the pillars of good health is a start, where the research and evidence is now there to support the importance of embracing a rawfood diet, for improved nutrition, using probiotics to balance, strengthening the immune system, primarily by looking after the gut where 70% of the immune system is found and giving your dog regular and stimulating exercise.

An Update from Gypsey

Nicolle checked in recently and reported Gypsey is still doing really well. She had this to say, “Life looks really good for Gypsey now, we are on a maintenance schedule just to keep her condition in check. I have a happy healthy dog, who is no longer on a restricted diet - as food was obviously not the cause of her condition.  She was so bad that I was honestly thinking my only option was to put her out of her misery because it was clear nothing the vets offered was helping. I am so happy to know that I don’t ever have to have this thought again."

And we at MicroMed are so very happy that Nicolle never has to have this thought again too! When we asked what was different about our product, Nicolle had this to say “It works!!!!! Her skin has completely cleared up, and her previous complaints are no longer an issue”.  

What better result can you have?  Let’s keep it simple, and get ‘back to basics’ with solutions detailed in MicroMed’s Four Step Foundational Health Programme.  If you are interested in coaching to overcome ‘internal systemic fungal overgrowth’ or other chronic health issues in your pooch or kitty do drop us an email on sales@micromed.org.nz telling us a bit about your pet.