When (Lame Stream) Media Misses the Point
Last week the TV news descended on my small clinic, to get the story I’d alerted them to: dog flu, the epidemic that hit well over a thousand dogs in the Midwest U.S., had arrived in Texas. And, most importantly, an inexpensive homeopathic remedy for dog flu had been found.
This latter was discovered independently, by a couple of my smarter clients who had a coughing dog, and reached for a remedy from my emergency remedy kit. On their second try, boom, Mica, their young Akita, turned the corner, and quickly got well. Completely cough free in under a week with a few doses.
That’s quite exceptional in dog flu, where many cases linger for weeks with the harsh cough. To be fair, 80% of canine flu cases are mild ones, according to Purdue, as I reported in my first blog post on this. But Mica was coughing strongly, gagging at the end, and was keeping everyone awake as she coughed repeatedly through the night.
When the right remedy was given, it was like a light switch was thrown. She ran for the cure, never looking back.
The Influence of Big Pharma
But, what were the first words out of reporter Quita Culpepper’s lips? Vaccinations!
Presumably, she’d read what I’d reported initially, and listened when I explained the futility of giving a dog flu vaccination made from H3N8, which, at the time was the only dog flu vaccine currently available. She took copious notes, and I laid it out clearly: this dog flu epidemic is caused by H3N2 Canine Influenza Virus.
And it’s widely known there’s no cross immunity between flu virus strains.
But, Quita went with, “experts don’t know” if the current vaccine will help.
Damn.
Here we with go with the “uncertainty” again, that keeps the doors open for lots of dogs to be unnecessarily vaccinated for this flu. With all the inherent risks vaccination carries.
Most Valuable Lessons Left on the Cutting Room Floor
My client Sara, who had the lightbulb moment, when her other two dogs started coughing days after Mica did, valiantly brought Mica in for the cameras. When Mica entered my clinic before the reporter arrived, she was noticeably more energetic and upbeat and happy to see me than when I’d seen her, coughing, six days earlier.
Sara told a great story about how, following my recommendations since 1995, she’d hardly needed vet services. How that set her pack up for a very mild experience with their dog flu infection (they never missed a meal, were ready to go for walks, and rested a bit more than usual).
And how brilliantly all three dogs responded to their aptly chosen homeopathic remedy for dog flu.
In fact, Sara found that my earlier recommendation of Nux vomica was actually the best fitting remedy for her third dog to catch the flu, Taiko, littermate of Mica. Phosphorus gave “meh” results, and changing to nux brought Taiko rapidly back to health, just like Mica and Yogi had done with phosphorus.
I also blatantly stated, on camera for the world to hear, that the common practice of giving antibiotics for the dog flu (a virus, after all) was “bad medicine.” I clearly said that was not only not going to work against canine flu, it would make your dogs less able to fight it, by wiping out the beneficial gut bacteria, now understood to comprise up to 80% of everyone’s immune system.
Most valuable, to the dogs either about to be exposed or currently suffering the harsh coughing of canine influenza, I laid out the remedy for dog flu that would act both as preventative and treatment. Two remedies that cost, what, about $5 each for a long time supply? Remedies discovered and proven in real world, sick dogs who bested the canine flu in record time.
Forty five minutes of filming and interviewing, full of rich, real world, practical experience that would save dogs a whole lot of suffering at the hands of canine influenza virus.
Most of it got left on the cutting room floor.
Sigh.
You Can Be Smarter Than TV News Would Have You Believe
If you’ve got more sense than a bag of hammers (one of my all time favorite movie lines, from an otherwise weird movie), you’ll ignore the story put out by the mainstream media on dog flu.
Here’s a short course for you to share with those who are in the path of the dog flu epidemic, currently in Oklahoma and Texas, after long run in Chicago that’s finally coming to an end:
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Canine influenza, aka “dog flu,” is a virus. Antibiotics are NOT indicated. Any vet who’s talking “secondary infections” is shining you on.
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Immune boosting makes far more sense, if you’re concerned with dog flu.
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Most dogs, statistically, have an easy time with this disease. Reports from Purdue put those numbers at 80%.
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Dog flu symptoms are clear. Most dogs follow this pattern.
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The same remedy that cures dog flu, is likely to prevent it. There’s a #1 and #2 choice remedy for dog flu spelled out for you, based on real world experience (tip of the hat to my brilliant clients, Sara and Karen).
Tell Us Your Experience
We all grow stronger and more knowledgeable by sharing our successes. Yours are welcomed in the comments below. Tell us if you’ve seen any canine flu around you, and especially if you’ve used homeopathy to good effect.
Now, put the remote down and back slowly away from that TV.
