I Did Everything Right But Vanya Still Got Kidney Dis-ease and Cancer

[Dr. Jeff]

A few times a month, a pet parent will ask me why their pet got sick even though they did everything right.

This is a very important question!

Doing "everything" right usually means:

1. Feeding fresh, sometimes raw, food
2. Minimizing toxins as in vaccines
3. Getting plenty of physical and mental stimulation

However, IMHO there are 3 other important factors, and these are:

1. Genetics and coefficient of inbreeding
2. Early age (<12 weeks) vaccination
3. Unavoidable and harmful environmental influences like poor air or water, negativity and fear, etc.

Even if we "everything right", there are still other important factors that influence that influence dis-ease development.

In some situations, like mine, all three are relevant.

Our pup Vanya is a 10-11 year young white Standard Poodle. She came to us through Poodle Rescue with all of her vaccines, emotional traumas and poor socialization.

She is a smart yet virtually untrainable dog. She has no drive for anything, so can't be motivated.

I tried many classes and teachers when we first adopted her, but she seemed to hate everything we did. As well as hating any new dog.

She came to life a little, 2 years ago when we adopted Archie. She started eating better and became a bit more social.

Vanya's background and emotional status are relevant because I believe they played a huge role in why she developed malignant skin cancer a few years ago, as well as what's happening now.

She is anorexic and emaciated and seems to be trying to starve herself to death.

She acts hungry and comes to eat at mealtime, but she then either sniffs the food and walks away or doesnt even come close to the food.

However, her BEAM and quality of life are still good.

She is still interactive and engaged and coming for her massages and sniff walks. IMHO where there's life, there's hope.

The point that I am trying to make is that even though Amy and I did everything right, our pup developed a malignant skin tumor and also now has progressive kidney dis-ease that can be called Lyme nephritis.

But she also a pure breed who received all the early puppy shots. In addition, she had unknown early traumas.

I can say that *we* have done everything right, but unfortunately that's not always enough.

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Thanks for saying this... it's a question I frequently encounter, too. As a student of epigenetics, it has become clear that what we do on "this side of the womb" can only carry so much influence. Multiple studies show that diet, emotional trauma, infections, and so much more can affect future generations. Something turning up in your dog today may have its genesis 8 or 10 generations back!

I also agree that air, water, noise, and light pollution have major effects on our pets (and us!). Not a whole lot we can do about that except move far, far away... but humans are even junking up distant planets! (Creating a dark, quiet, electronic-free "cave" for sleep is a powerful counterbalance that we can all use!)

You also aptly remind us that we do control our own state of mind, and I'm coming to realize more and more how urgent it is that we take care of our own stress and fear. Our dogs and cats suck up a lot of that, and it's hurting them. For us humans, EFT is a wonderful DIY tool... and we should also avail ourselves of other healing modalities including homeopathy (which is extremely good for emotional issues), Reiki, energy work, Qi Gung, Tai Chi, and yoga--forms of movement or meditation involving both mind and body are especially powerful.