CLASSES

Several people have asked about future classes. There are NONE scheduled right now. Classes happen when a group, or one individual, asks for me to come. They get the location and enroll enough people to pay my fees. I will talk on anything holistic – flower essences, diet, vaccines, homeopathy, etc. I will do up to a 5 day class on homeopathy where you are introduced to the use of the reference books to find remedies and more.

One person has declared to have one in Chicago. Details are pending.

GREAT BOOKS

I just read Dog Man, An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain by Martha Sherrill, ISBN – 978-1-59448-390-5 This wonderful book is about the dedication of a man, Morie Sawataishi, to a breed of dogs, the Akita, and the impact of that dedication on his family. As yhou travel with Morie on his quest to save this 4,000 year old breed from extinction, you will learn much about evaluating dogs, how different traits are selected and most importantly, learn much about what it means to be a true Akita. It was at my local library.

On My Favorite Books Page are two great books on FEEDING RAW DIETS. A very new one is by Beth Taylor and Karen Becker – Dr. Becker’s Real Food for healthy dogs and cats. Beth is a nutritionist and has worked in and written on the commercial raw food diet profession for many years and Dr. Becker is a great holistic veterinarian in Chicago. It is dedicated to “…the dogs who showed us that real food can save lives.” They have great details for those who want the background and to be told what to feed. They also vary the ingredient list which is critical. They encourage you to use local meats and vegetables. It is easy to read and practical.

The Second book, slightly older, is by Beth Taylor and Steve Brown is See Spot Live Longer. This book taught me many of the basic facts about a dog’s digestive system and physiology related to eating.

Not yet on my site is Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet, by Steve Brown. He is making the transition easy by asking you to just feed one raw meat meal per week, asserting “…you can make significant nutritional progress…’ . He has marvelous charts comparing different commercial and raw meat diets’ nutrient profiles. It is a practical hands on book.

TICKS

Though freezing times are coming, there are still many ticks in the Eastern woods. A client recently reported that using the geranium oil (diluted, and organic, food grade quality from Forever Green)

Also good is Vetri-Repel, a combination of many different oils from South America.

Picking them off is fine. Keeping a journal to know if there are any health changes is a great idea.

ENVIRONMENTAL TRAGEDIES

I prefer to focus on the positive and I am listing the following to encourage you to continue to use the holistic approach as it actually helps our planet heal. I did a talk last month at the AHVMA conference on that very issue.

So the bad news is that herpes in turtles is linked to bad sewage. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/11/101108-green-sea-turtles-tumors-pollution-science-environment/ Think about how you can minimize sewage.

Beak deformities in crows in Alaska are linked to environmental contaminants. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gpo6qA0GQTcjcTzsWWBEziqytplA?docId=bbdce65540664b8a88bef52e81ffc691 Again, there are so many ways you can live your life and manage your animals in ways to minimize the damage that hurts wildlife.

Have a wonderful fall day. It is warm and sunny here and I am enjoying it by using my laptop in the sunshine. The laptop was a refurbished one, so it did no damage to the environment and cost 60% less, too. C D Mecycling.com if you live on the east coast. It is here in Baltimore.

Barks and Meows.