Blog - Dr. Dee Blanco

How Glyphosate Can Cause Cancer in Your Pets (And What to Do About It)

August 7, 2020 by Dr. Dee Blanco

glyphosate cancer pets health

I wrote about the insidious and widespread use of glyphosate in my blog (we’ll link to the other one here), but in this article, I wanted to focus on the health hazards related to glyphosate and what that could mean for you and your animals.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classified glyphosate as a “probable carcinogen” in 2015. The presence of glyphosate was seen as a possible link to conditions including, but, not limited to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, pancreatic islet-cell adenoma, renal cell carcinoma, and skin cancer. The cumulative exposure to glyphosate over the course of our lifetimes from our environment, food and water reveals just the tip of the proverbial “iceberg” where cancer is concerned.

There are at least 3 pathways glyphosate can take to cause cancer in your pets.

The ways glyphosate can likely increase the risk of cancer are numerous; however, there are 3 pathways which tend to occur most frequently at the time of this writing:

1: Glyphosate attacks the gut poking holes through the delicate lining, causing the illness we call “leaky gut.”

Good gut health relies on the microbial co-inhabitants within the body. These friends, especially Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, are the powerhouse factories for B-vitamins and folate. They ensure the healthy synthesis and repair of DNA.

Glyphosate is an antimicrobial targeting these species of microbiota. Without adequate levels of folate, methylation is inhibited. Furthermore, the modification of heavy metals, regulation of gene expression and regulation of protein production/function is likewise hampered. Translation: No friendly bacteria, no folate. No folate, no healthy DNA. No healthy DNA, no healthy cells. Equals cancer.

2: Glyphosate attacks the natural resources we need to fight cancer.

Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate inhibits an enzyme (succinate dehydrogenase) responsible for suppressing tumors and the up-regulation (turning on) and increased efficiency of using sugar as an energy source.

When glyphosate is introduced into the body, tumor cells can use sugars more than 200 times better. Translation: Glyphosate converts sugar into turbo jet fuel for cultivating tumors.

3: If you want to detox it out, here’s the thing: glyphosate exposure inhibits the body’s ability to release toxicants of all types.

Glyphosate blocks the production and metabolism of sulfates, which are critical for the detox enzymes in the liver (CYP enzymes or Cytochrome P450 enzymes).

These enzymes are uber-important for the use of vitamin D in the body, for cholesterol balance and for the production of bile acids that break down fats and balance the metabolism of sex hormones, just to name a few. It’s thought that impaired sulfation capacity leads to slower metabolism of sex hormones and to subsequent increased breast density as well as an increased risk of breast cancer. With the current rate of one in three women contracting breast cancer, glyphosate could be a big contributing factor that’s rarely discussed.

Here’s an important challenge to the idea that early spaying and neutering of our pets can reduce their risk of cancer of the breast or prostate: if they are eating glyphosate poisoned foods during a time when their metabolism of sex hormones is decreased, you do the math! If they’re eating fresh glyphosate-free foods, hormones are our friends in cancer defense, so leave your dog or cat intact!

By blocking the Cytochrome P450 pathway, the body is inhibited from detoxifying many other toxicants, including glyphosate itself, effectively causing detoxification to come to a screeching halt.

In my practice, I’m seeing more animals with elevated liver enzymes than ever before. I’m also seeing it in animals who do not receive flea, tick or heart worm pesticides, or other toxicants. It’s more than probable that exposure to glyphosate is a contributing factor to their elevated liver enzymes.

Translation: Detoxification is blocked!

So, now what? How do I better protect my pets from the impact of glyphosate?

Spend your money lavishly on fresh foods for your pets – especially non-GMO, organic! Otherwise start saving for that $10,000 (at least!) vet bill when your six-year old dog comes down with cancer.
Feed sulphur-rich foods: cruciferous vegetables, garlic, fish, poultry, legumes, nuts, seeds.
Feed manganese-rich foods: spinach, nuts, seeds.
Feed folate-rich foods: broccoli, beets, asparagus, liver, avocado (no pits), legumes (yes for dogs!).
Feed mineral concentrated foods like spirulina, chlorella, alfalfa, or kelp; Combined in RoundUp, 2,4-D (aka Agent Orange) and POEA, an emulsifier made from animal fat which has been found to be 3400 times more toxic to human kidney cells than glyphosate itself making RoundUp an even more deadly cocktail than just glyphosate!
Feed probiotic-rich foods (fermented foods) or probiotic supplements.
Feed a fulvic and humic acid supplement to repair gut damage. (See Dosing Note below.)
Feed activated charcoal: only on a short-term basis, to bind toxicants. 1/4 tsp per 10 lbs added to food for about a week, from time to time.
Feed bentonite clay: only small amounts and infrequently, used to bind toxicants. Give 1/4 tsp per 10 lbs added to food 3 times a week for one week.
Glutathione or its precursor n-acetyl-L-cysteine, giving 250 mg a day to small dogs, 500 mg to medium dogs, 750 mg a day for large and 1000 mg a day for giant breeds.
If you must use commercial foods, choose GMO-free foods. Check out the Non-GMO Project’s list of non-GMO pet products at nongmoproject.org and look for their stamp on the food package. There are many other small companies with GMO-free foods. Support them!
Stop using herbicides (especially Roundup) or pesticides. Use biodynamic or organic pest control instead.
Politely educate your neighbors about the risks of glyphosate to their family members.
Avoid parks, lakes, schoolyards (yes!), golf courses or other areas that have likely been sprayed with herbicides. Do your research and ask public officials what and when they spray at your favorite dog park.
Give your dog regular detox baths using an organic, unscented shampoo.
Give your dog regular detox supplements for the liver including B-vitamins and amino acids. (See Dosing Note below.)

Dosing Note: When using supplements made for humans, assume the dose is for a 150 lb person and adjust for your dog’s weight.

What else can you do about glyphosate?

Aside from what you can do for your animal, there are a few more steps you can take on the behalf of all us!

Get active! Nothing about glyphosate use will change without public awareness and on-the-ground action!
Demand our public officials create legislation (as other countries have) to ban glyphosate and label all GMO products.
Demand protection from ALL veterinary medical associations, including the AVMA. Maybe they’ll actually protect our animals from these toxicants instead of claiming that the use of natural medicines is dangerous! Maybe they’ll put pressure on the food manufacturers whose products they sell in their practices to clean up their prescription diets.
Boycott pet food companies that support Big Ag’s use of dangerous products.
Support companies who are diligently sourcing clean products, even if it costs you more.

I truly believe that glyphosate could easily be the most biologically disruptive chemical in our environment, harmfully affecting ALL life forms now and into the future.

In our lifetimes, its dangerous potential is equivalent to that of DDT in environmentalist Rachel Carson’s day.

We (animals, humans and plants) need a new right. The right to NOT be poisoned. Without this right being honored you and your animals will never be free from human-created diseases.

Homeopathy for Epidemics: Reviewing Homeopathic Medicine in the Midst of COVID-19 (aka “COVID Syndrome”)

June 12, 2020 by Dr. Dee Blanco

epidemic pandemic covid19 homeopathy medicine immunity

The news of COVID-19 was both devastating and motivating. As a holistic doctor of veterinary medicine and a naturopathic clinician, I have frequently questioned the status quo of what I call “commercial medicine.” The history you’ll learn in this blog is part of what helped me find my path towards what is true for me, professionally and personally.

I started a webinar series to help myself understand scientifically and medically what could be happening with this “syndrome” called COVID-19. I also wanted to broaden the conversation around what we’re experiencing. What I see is the mainstream “fear media” does not portray the full picture, but, rather, it does promulgate fear and tension.

Here’s one installment of what we discussed during the webinar series:

Homeopathy for Epidemics: Important Definitions

Here are a couple of definitions which will make the historic use of homeopathy for epidemics a little easier to digest:

Nosode – a homeopathically prepared remedy made from an infectious disease product either directly from the bacteria or less directly from a tissue purported to contain it

Genus epidemicus – the name given to the medicine identified in homeopathy to be used for preventing infectious diseases

The group of symptoms which characterizes an epidemic. This “symptom complex” is then used to select a particular homeopathic remedy which can be used both curatively and prophylactically during an epidemic

The first practitioner to conceptualize and employ the healing medicine of homeopathy was German physician, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann.

Dr. Hahnemann established the preparation and use of the energetic medicine we use today at the turn of the 19th century. In 1799, he was the first to identify the use of Belladonna to treat a young girl exhibiting the symptoms of what we would now refer to as scarlet fever. In the same household, he thought to treat another, asymptomatic child with Belladonna and it proved to prevent the spread the sibling’s scarlet fever.

As scarlet fever seemed to spread throughout Hahnemann’s home country of Germany, he found he could also treat his patients with Aconite. This remedy was an effective treatment between 1801 – 1808. He was flexible enough to see how the conditions changed and altered his remedy accordingly. Today, we still use Belladonna and Aconite to treat fever.

Following Dr. Hahnemann’s revolutionary legacy, Dr. Dorothy Shepherd treated hundreds of children during the post World War II era using homeopathy alone.

Dr. Shepherd studied medicine at Heidelberg medical school and graduated from Edinburgh. She was raised in a home where the use of homeopathic medicine was commonplace. In spite of this, she studied allopathic (otherwise known as Western) medicine. Her interest in the medicine of her childhood remerged in adulthood and she went on to study at the Hering Medical College in Chicago to delve deeper into her homeopathic studies in 1906.

Following the end of World War II, she returned to Europe with her new skills. Her mission was to help the children of London. She saw countless cases of trauma and decided to open a hospital specifically for children living in poverty. The hundreds of children she treated using only homeopathy had contracted pertussis, diphtheria, polio, and so on.

Among Dr. Shepherd’s documented homeopathic studies was her work on preventing the spread of whooping cough.

In her study, Dr. Shepherd administered a nosode to 950 children; out of the 950, 945 successfully avoided the illness, 1 died, and the remaining 4 had been very ill for several months. All five of the cases where the nosode was not effective, Dr. Shepherd found the nosodes had not been administered properly. These were not hospitalized children; they were children living at home whose parents were charged with delivering the medicine with Dr. Shepherd’s instructions.

She was quoted as having written, “I must admit that homeopathy has never let me down. Homeopathy is a life-long study. It requires the burning of the midnight oil, but, it is worthwhile.”

Of the countless homeopathic doctors using homeopathy in the 1950’s for prevention and treatment of the syndrome known as “polio,” three practitioners stand out.

Dr. Taylor Smith of Johannesburg, South Africa used a known homeopathic remedy, not a nosode, to prevent the spread of “polio.” He dosed 82 children and adults with the remedy Lathyrus sativus. His efforts resulted in zero polio contractions in the 82 people he treated. What is particularly remarkable is out of the 82, 12 came into direct contact with “polio” and still did not contract it.

In a similar case in the same era, Dr. A. H. Grimmer of Chicago, IL also used Lathyrus sativus as a “polio” preventative. He treated 5,000 young children and all of those children avoided contracting “polio.”

Dr. Francisco Eizayaga of Argentina dosed thousands of patients with Lathyrus sativus in 1957 to prevent “polio.” He used the same remedy to preventatively treat 40,000 patients in 1975. All of Dr. Eizayaga’s patients were spared contracting “polio.”

To bring homeopathy to our current century, in 2007, an epidemic outbreak of the bacterial disease Leptospirosis occurred in Cuba while Dengue fever roared through Brazil.

There were limited vaccines in Cuba during the early 2000’s and 2.3 million people were affected by the outbreak. A nosode was created from 4 strains of the disease. It is my assumption that the vaccine assisted in the creation of the nosodes to provide those 4 strains. The country observed a significant decrease in infection rates as reported in scientific journals. No decreases were observed in populations not given the nosode.

In 2010, 90% of Cubanos were dosed with a nosode for H1N1 where, again, the country saw an enormous decrease in flu cases.

Currently, in 2020, Cubanos are using a nosode for the prevention of what I call “COVID Syndrome.”

Brazil endured what is now known as the Dengue fever in 2007. 156,000 doses of a combination homeopathic remedy were administered in Rio de Janiero. This combination included Crotalus horridus, and Phosphorus, Eupatorium perfoliatum – all in 30C potency. Rio de Janiero had a 93% decrease in all cases of the fever, a staggering contrast to the 128% increase in other cities without use of the combination homeopathic remedy. Additionally, ill patients in Rio de Janiero recovered 3.6 days faster when using homeopathy.

Dengue fever also showed up in Deli, India, Sri Lanka, and Honduras. Each of these three areas used homeopathy to decrease the infection spread. India created a nosode (30C) and dosed 39,200 people. The infection rate in those who took the nosode was only 0.125% compared to the 50% of those who did not take the nosode. In Sri Lanka, the remedy Eupatorium perfoliatum (30C) was administered to 14,000 people. Out of those 14,000, only 100 died from the fever. The rates of success when using homeopathy were similar in Honduras.

Was homeopathy ever used for widespread animal illness? Why, yes, as a matter of fact…

Remember the Mad Cow disease outbreak in Europe roughly between 1980-1990?

In England, 4 million animals were slaughtered in 1992 to “prevent” the outbreak of Mad Cow disease. The catastrophic loss of life was similar in France, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Germany, however, dosed their animals with Kali arsenicosum as a preventative. No clinical evidence of the illness presented itself in their animals and there were no mass destructions of lives. None.

Looking back again, in 1873, a statistic review of mortality rates was presented by Dr. E Kellogg (New York), Dr. P. Dudley (Philadelphia), and E. Russell (Boston) comparing death rates of homeopathic vs allopathic treatments.

Three researchers provided general reports, not pertaining to a specific illness, of death rates in their cities when patients were treated with allopathic medicine or homeopathy. These numbers were compiled between 1870-1872. While the totals of study groups varied, the totals were sobering.

From the groups compiled, 54,679 deaths occurred while under the care of allopathic medicine. How did homeopathy fare? 5,903 deaths.

Another general statistics study came out a few years later measuring mortality rates from 1874-1877. This study targeted diseases arriving in hospitals to include general, chlolera, pneumonia, and typhus fever. The mortality rates under allopathic treatments ranged from 10% to 54%; for homeopathic care, 5% to 27%.

Homeopathy has a long, rich history of offering life-changing support during times of epidemic disease.

As I type this, homeopaths all over the globe are treating the “Covid Syndrome” with great success and then sharing their information freely via webinars and social media with any and all of us interested homeopaths.

Clearly, with homeopathy’s long and successful history for prevention and treatment in epidemics, there is no need for the injection of toxic vaccinations, promoted and supported for every human on the planet, for COVID-19 or any other perceived agent of harm. More on this topic soon!

I suggest everyone interested in learning more about the gentle, but, powerfully healing art of homeopathic medicines to invest in a kit and to start treating everyday issues such as bruises, sprains, burns and anxiety. Please, visit my store for what I have found to be the most useful and cost-effective way to invest in this amazing medicine.

Charts for reference:

For more information on homeopathy’s success rates against allopathy, click HERE.

For fascinating accounts of homeopathic treatments during the “influenza pandemic” of 1918, click HERE.

Thinking Required: Dr. Dee’s Rebuttal to Anti-Anti-Vaxxers

July 30, 2019 by Dr. Dee Blanco 2 Comments

The article in Veterinary Practice News entitled “IS FEAR DRIVING THE ANTI-VACCINATION MOVEMENT?” by Dr. Brennen McKenzie is nothing original.

It’s one more fear-filled repetition of the same-old, same-old: ignorant pet owners and their delusional vets aren’t toeing the vaccination party-line. Drinking that Kool-aid is just what vet school taught us to do – and what a huge pitcher that is! But making endless pejorative comments about alternative medicine vets is forgetting that we’ve all had the same training. Some of us just elected not to become another mouthpiece for Big Pharma.

First Do No Harm

There’s a growing body of science that fractures the erroneous and long-held myths of vaccination protection, efficacy, and harmlessness.

Behind all the hype and fear are real dangers that conventional veterinarians refuse to see or acknowledge.

Think of this: your highly educated, super smart vet who knows a lot about animals will unequivocally deny that vaccines can cause harm to their patients, family, and friends.

That’s not science; that’s dogma!

Science is a methodology, not a belief system, and a dogmatic mindset is a violation of the oath to first do no harm.

Why is it we ignore great science if it conflicts with our beliefs? Even if it’s right under our noses as empirical evidence in our practices?

The answer might lie in something called conformational bias which occurs when we desire or prefer a particular idea to be true and then gather information from any source — social media, Google searches, other friends or colleagues — to support our desires or belief, ignoring other contrary data.

We all have a tendency to do this sort of wishful thinking which often stops the gathering of any new information that potentially contradicts our views or prejudices. Not very “scientific,” is it? It’s the “blinders on the eyes” effect.

No Thinking Required

Vet school didn’t teach us to think critically, connect the dots, or self-evaluate; instead, they initiated our training to become the mouth pieces of Big Pharma on the very first day.

They spoon-fed us everything we needed to consume, to digest and to excrete. Period. Nothing else. No thinking required.

After all of this spoon-feeding, what do we do?

We consume-excrete; consume-excrete. Mountains of information and minutia “consumed” then “excreted” in endless stressful examinations meant to make us vet automatons. A perfect terrain for Pharma and Co. to make vets eternally addicted to and pushers of often unnecessary and typically toxic meds — such as vaccines.

This ultimately leads to a practice model that is taking hold throughout the country — corporate medicine — what I call flow-chart or commercial medicine. The vets hired in these very efficient, regimented clinics are required to follow the party-line for every single animal, or close to it. This foundation now set in the vet schools is why the tradition of private practice will likely last for only one or two more generations. The home-grown vet practice is on it’s way out. Finito.

Welcome the vet conglomerates, pet insurance (because you can’t afford to go to those vet clinics without it), vaccine schedules enforced even in the very ill animals, and more toxic chemicals than ever before.

But, I digress… sort of.

This lays the foundation for a rigid mindset, which becomes a rigid mode of practice. And that deadly combination doesn’t bode well for our animals.

Modern Medicine and Its Casualties

I am old enough to have seen many cases of parvo in dogs, and leukemia in cats, AFTER the race to vaccinate massive numbers of animals with those brand new vaccines.

I saw litters of puppies die after I vaccinated them.

But, Pharma told me those animals were already incubating the disease and it wasn’t their vaccines that caused the disease.

My clients told me differently and I believed them. They knew their animals.

That started my deep dive into some self-examination and some critical thinking about vaccines. Those deaths of innocent animals were dismissed as part of the brave new experiments required to further science and protect more animals.

But, what if your animal was one of the casualties of modern medicine? I have lived now about 39 years knowing my actions (ignorant as they were) caused the deaths of some animals. It still impacts me.

The Scarlet Letter A

Questioning our actions, procedures, and methods when it comes to vaccinations is heretical. One is ostracized and punished by being labeled an anti-vaxxer.

But you know, I love and am proud of that name! After almost 39 years in practice, I have seen countless animals live really long and healthy lives — 15-20 years in big dogs, and 25-30 years in cats — with few or no vaccines.

If you want to count humans, I have experienced robust health (with a capital ‘R’), without chronic disease in my family members and countless children of dear anti-vaxxer friends. Amazingly, they have survived and now are thriving young adults with children of their own, without the “benefit” of the vaccine toxic soup being injected into their precious young bodies.

But, to nourish this sort of lasting health requires changing a mindset that pervades our culture so deeply, we’re not even aware of it.

Creating Robust Health for Your Pets

It’s much, much easier to support health than it is to fight disease. However, it does require changing a pervasive cultural view about health.

It means remembering that the body is a complex, amazing, and sacred vehicle, completely capable of self-protection as well as healing. Yes, it can do this on its own! With a little extra support from you robust, long-lasting, vital health, self-healing is attainable!

For the vast majority of vets who write these articles critical of anti-vaxxers, the possibility that the body can protect and heal itself is anathema. We are supposed to be the medical deities after all! We’re taught that we must initiate “protection” by injecting heavy metals, formaldehyde, other toxicants, and of course multiple viruses, all at one time, into the body or your animal will die. End of story.

Now who do you think is playing the fear game?

Sidenote: If I could, my alternative title here would be: “Is Fear Driving the Indoctrinated Vaccination Movement?” Or alternatively, “Are We Addicted to Vaccines?” Oh, but I think I’ve already done that in lectures and articles for Dogs Naturally.

How do I treat my pet for flea and ticks the natural way?

June 19, 2019 by Dr. Dee Blanco Leave a Comment

It’s the most itchiest time of year!

Have you ever wondered why there are more nasty bugs around in summertime and how you can get rid of fleas and ticks naturally?

If you want this to be fast, let me be real with you now – there is no fast natural solution; however, natural care for pests is not toxic like the topical ointments. You have to make your choice here, draw your line in the sand, and show the fleas you mean business!

If you want to get rid of fleas and ticks naturally, you need to understand what lures them to your sweet pets! Start by learning the flea life cycle:

What is it about your lovable dog or your mischievous cat that’s so appetizing to fleas?

The main environmental limiting factor determining the survival of a flea is warmth. That should make it obvious why fleas are worse in the summer. Freezing kills the eggs, but, our warm homes are the perfect places, any time of the year, to house these pests.

Adult fleas live for only 3 – 4 months. Within this time frame, the pressure is on to lay eggs someplace warm with enough “food” to provide for the young. When their eggs hatch, the larvae chew on what is referred to as “flea dirt.”

And… just so you know… “flea dirt” is the dried blood left from the adults chewing on your animal’s skin. (Ugh… I know… so gross!)

After a hearty first meal, the larvae form cocoons or pupas until they’re ready to jump onto a passing warm body. They are heat-seeking missiles and wait for your pet (especially the white ones!) to pass by, then jump onto them. This cycle runs over the course of about two weeks and, thanks to the summer heat, results in higher rates of infestation.

You may not see fleas in winter, but, sadly, that’s just because they’re hanging out in their cocoons waiting for warmth and moisture.

The best tick prevention starts with understanding their life cycles.

To reach full maturation, ticks must survive four life stages: Egg, Six-legged Larva, Eight-legged nymph, and Adult.

Upon hatching from the egg stage, ticks require the blood of a host to survive. It can take up to 3 years for a tick to grow into full adulthood. Many ticks die prior to full maturation for lack of sufficient hosts for each stage.

Ticks thrive in the heat and moisture of summer, just like fleas and many other insects. They are particularly fond of areas thick with high grasses where they’ll select a long blade of grass, hold on the grass with their back legs, and reach out to unknowing passerby with their front legs. When you or your dog brush up against these grasses on your walk, the tick is waiting and ready to latch on and hitch a ride!

Making your dog or cat an unappetizing host is the best natural flea and tick prevention plan.

First thing’s first – in all things regarding health and prevention, diet really matters. The healthier the animal, the less appealing they are to insects.

Most commercial pet food is made with poor quality or even rancid meat. This rancid smell then wafts out of the pores of your animals which make them highly attractive to pests. Since this food is not really nutritious or promoting the healthy well-being of your animal, fleas and ticks are able to detect this more “sickly” disposition and choose the animals whose systems are in less of a position to fight.

Fresh food is key to making your animals the least interesting thing on the menu.

Spend your money on fresh food! Stop the sentence starting in your head “I don’t have the money.” If you spend your money here, that’s less money you have to spend on diseases and conditions later. Remember: you can pay the grocer or pay the vet!

Have you ever heard about garlic being bad for your pet? Let’s get one thing straight – pests hate garlic and it can absolutely benefit your dog or cat when administered wisely.

Yes, fresh garlic is anti-parasite, anti-biotic, and it wards off fleas, ticks and even mosquitos to a degree!

There is never a shortage of bad information floating around and garlic has gotten a bad rap for our pets. However, I can tell you after 39 years in practice, I’ve never seen a garlic toxicity in a dog or cat.

Garlic is very safe for your dog. Fresh minced garlic cloves added into pet food daily will support the anti-flea patrol. As an added bonus, it’s great for many other things including liver detox.

You can use one to two cloves of garlic for a large dog every day. After you mince the garlic, let it set for 10 minutes before feeding. Do not use store bought in a jar minced garlic. It must be freshly cut.

Another way to use garlic is to spray a concentrated liquid in your yard. It will kill the fleas present and even protect other plants from insects in your garden.

For getting rid of fleas and ticks the natural way for cats, try adding nutritional yeast to their fresh food and brushing them regularly.

You can give cats a few pieces of minced garlic, but, they might really prefer nutritional yeast. Just a light sprinkle of this on their food will help build an unappetizing barrier between your cat and the pests! Nutritional yeast is loaded with B vitamins and help the body repel those pests. And most animals love the flavor, especially cats.

If your animal’s not a fan of the raw garlic, try yeast and garlic wafers. They have B vitamins, yeast, and a sulphur smell to ward of pests.

Flower essences can support your pets’ energetics against invasion.

Additionally, a few drops of beneficial flower essences in your pet’s water will further build immunity. I personally like to add Flea Free and Golden Armor to help with that subtle energy. Since we are mostly made of energy and a few other pieces of physical substance (Really – our bodies are actually not very dense – according to Quantum physicists!), it’s always good to address any physical issue, in this case the attraction of fleas and ticks, at the energetic level. The flower essences help guard and repel the insects but must be used daily and ongoing to help build resistance. And again, this is non-toxic!

In addition to home remedies to get rid of fleas on your dog or cat, you’ll want to break out the flea comb!

If you find any nasty little bugs clinging your pet, you’ll be able to pull them off and drown them in water with a little dish soap.

A good detox bath with hot water, natural soap, and a vinegar rinse will further soothe the skin of your animals and wash away any appetizing bits of broken flesh tempting the vampiric pests.

The best flea treatment for your home is to keep your environment clean!

Start with the inside and work your way out. Depending on where you live, especially if your residence is prone to pests, you may have to be exceptionally persistent in your cleaning efforts.

Wash bedding, your own as well as anything your pets sleep on, in hot water once per week. This will kill any pests lingering in the crevices of your belongings.

Vacuum your carpets at least once or twice per week. Make sure to get into the nooks and crannies where tiny creatures like to hide!

Using diatomaceous earth or borax powder (20 Mule Team Borax works) can help desiccate the fleas. Spread the powders in the corners of your home. Leave it for 24 hours, then vacuum carefully. Do not allow your pets to breathe these in as they can cause some irritation, especially in cats.

FleaBusters is a borax based product that can be used inside the house. Be careful as cats are more sensitive than dogs to any sort of chemical, etc. This is sort-of natural AND it’s better than toxic bombs, but, it does have pyrethrums extracted from chrysanthemum flowers which might have some toxic effects in sensitive animals and people.

The best flea and tick prevention is not a fast chemical process – it’s a well-thought out prevention plan to boost the natural immunity of your animal with a healthily, non-toxic lifestyle.

Fast solutions involve toxic chemicals, which only cause more problems for the animals and the planet and create more resistant super pests. Ask anyone who lives in a warm climate like Florida or California how difficult it is now to get rid of fleas and ticks. The use of massive amounts of pesticides have made not only super pests but also have poisoned many an animal and other beneficial insects.

Beneficial nematodes can be used around your house to kill fleas, but not in your home. These tiny microscopic creatures are parasites for the fleas and can be purchased and sprayed around your yard. Check out The Bug Lady’s site for more information. They are more specific for just fleas, so, make sure you purchase those.

You can also buy growth regulators online to hormonally regulate the maturation of fleas. Keep in mind, you must reapply around your house if it rains. Growth regulators are just what they sound like and apparently do not harm other beneficial insects. I cannot guarantee this and frankly, I do worry about it. But, I also know they work in desperate times.

Getting rid of fleas and ticks naturally is a multidirectional approach.

Here are some other things I recommend in my own summer pest control kit:

Sonic Guard is a tag emitting a very slight ultrasonic wave to deter fleas and ticks from jumping on your animals. You put it on a collar during the warm months. It makes an undetectable ultrasonic sound for about 5 feet around your pets head. It has a battery and lasts anywhere from 6-12 months depending on usage and exposure to wet.

VetriRepel made by VetriScience is a lemongrass spray you can use to get rid of fleas and ticks naturally or protect your animals when they are outside. Although this isn’t a noxious smelling product I wouldn’t use this if they seemed disturbed by the smell or inside the house. I’m very sensitive to smells and find this one tolerable.

If you use both of these items and the before mentioned flower essences together in a kit, you’re employing a well-rounded, natural approach to protecting your dogs and cats during flea and tick season!

Three Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW to Help Your Pet Live Longer

June 5, 2019 by Dr. Dee Blanco 2 Comments

We love our dogs and cats just like family and, yet, when it comes to how to raise our fur babies, we have limited examples of what promotes their health and well-being. If you grew up with animals, you are likely familiar with free-feeding (just keeping food available in the plastic FIDO pet dish all day), the pitter-patter of excited feet when your animals hear the crinkle of a bag, the *pop* sound of a can opening, an after dinner walk for dogs, a hands-off approach to cats, etc.

What you and your folks likely didn’t know, especially if you grew up in the city, is this is a commercialized, industry-driven model for pet care. Companies which benefit from making pet care convenient, packaged, and deliverable are the ultimate designers of this highly unnatural approach to raising animals. From pet food to toys and even stuff you heard at the vet’s office, we’ve got some cleaning up to do!

#1: The first thing you can do RIGHT NOW to help your pet live a long, healthy life, is clean up their diet!

I know it’s convenient to open a bag, pour the contents into a bowl, and call it dinner. We can all relate to those nights when we just don’t feel like cooking fresh food even for ourselves. Thing is, when we make the choice to eat out of a box or a can, we know we’re settling for a processed food. We don’t like to eat that way every day and neither do our animals!

Most of what you’re buying when you purchase commercial pet food is the marketing. You’re buying a beautiful package designed to entice you, not your animal. These foods are often made with substandard, rancid ingredients covered with artificial ingredients to make them palatable. YUCK! (Learn more about what’s not right with your pet’s diet in my three-part course on feeding fresh.)

I live a busy life, too, so, when I recommend you feed your pet a fresh food diet, it’s because I’ve found ways to make this healthy for my animals and easy for me! What’s really amazing is, when you take the time to make better food for your animal, who is completely reliant on you for nutrition, it takes over how you, in turn, feed yourself! Win-Win! When you buy the raw ingredients of a species-appropriate diet, you will save money in the long run which you would have spent at the vet trying to clean up the mess of inevitable illness associated with a deficient diet.

#2: Your second option for how to help your dog or cat live a vibrant, long life is to clean up their home!

I’m not picking on your housekeeping habits here – I’m talking about everything which comes into contact with your pet’s mouth. Think about the toys they have, the bedding on which they sleep, the bowls in which you give them their dinner, and so on.

Unfortunately, our homes can be an enormous source of toxicity, especially for those animals who never leave the home (which is not a healthy lifestyle at all). These animals are constantly exposed to off-gassing from furniture, carpets, plastics, cigarette smoke, electromagnetic poison from cell phones, portable phones, smart devices, burning plastic from cookware, air fresheners, incense, essential oils… and the list goes on and on.

Our homes are meant to be our refuge from the storm, but, these days, our homes are holding a constant exposure of toxicants for ourselves and our animals.

You’ve heard about the evils of plastic and BPA – if it’s toxic for you, it’s toxic for your dog or cat! If their toys, bedding, and food dishes are made with or lined with plastic, they are exposed to the sorts of chemicals humans won’t mix with their drinking water anymore. Find stainless steel, glass, or ceramic bowls for water and food dishes. You may also want to check for lead products or other harmful chemicals used to make their toys and bedding.

It doesn’t stop at the house! Are pesticides used at the dog park, or, are you using any kind of chemicals in your front yard? All too frequently, city parks use RoundUp to control weeds. RoundUp contains glyphosate (a known carcinogen) and 2-4 D (a main ingredient in Agent Orange, also a carcinogen). Your animals explore their environment with their mouths, noses, and foot pads. Anything your animals contact is most definitely coming home with you. This means those pesticides are on everything and everyone they touch. You’ll want to make sure you’re taking your pets to cleaner spaces and not trailing in poisons on the carpet and furniture where it can affect everyone in your home.

#3: To improve your animal’s vitality and help your dog or cat live a healthier life, cut out unnecessary vaccines.

After 38 years of veterinary practice, I’ve seen how animals react to vaccinations and it’s absolutely choking the life out of them. Vaccinations are filled with toxins, heavy metals, viruses, antibiotics, and carcinogens, just to name a few. And they encumber your animal’s natural resistance to infectious diseases, stimulate auto-immune diseases, poison detox mechanisms, cause brain-related inflammation, and chronic disease of almost any sort. I’ve seen countless vaccinated pets struggle with chronic illness and have counseled their heartbroken, frustrated pet parents who thought they were doing right by their dog or cat.

Do your homework when it comes to vaccines. I’ve now seen thousands of unvaccinated animals (and kids) who thrive beautifully and have all their defenses available to fight off disease naturally.

Does this sound a lot like detox? It is! Learn more about how to detox your pet in my course!

Now you know your pet needs a clean, natural environment as much as you do! Your pet needs fresh, whole foods, toys and other products free of chemicals, and significantly fewer if not completely eliminated vaccines. To fully understand how these tips work together and what other things you can do to improve your dog or cat’s longevity, take my course on how to detox your pet. I’ll talk to you about why our pets need to detox, how to start the process of surveying their environment, natural alternatives to what is considered the “norm” in pet care, and much more. Educating yourself on what your animal needs to live a longer, healthier life is the best investment in your dog’s or cat’s vitality.