MY DOG HAS A HEART MURMUR

Every now and then, I have an experience in my life that I want to share – in hopes it will benefit you or someone you know.

This is one of them.

Last year my dog Ichi needed to have some of her teeth pulled.

This was a tricky situation, because I had discovered many years prior that she has a heart murmur.

It was about 10 years ago that I’d brought her to a woman who does non-anesthesia teeth cleaning. She listened to her heart and said, “I can’t clean her teeth, I don’t want to stress her out too much, because of her heart murmur. It’s a grade 3.”

At the time, there were no visible signs of heart issues.

I had a cardiogram done for her; the veterinary heart specialist told me I needed to put her on medication.

He told me that if I put her on the medication, that it would prolong her life and I might get an additional one year more with her from that point.

I felt a little funny about it, so I went home and did some research.

I ignored the sponsored links & sponsored studies, and dug deeper into pet owner forums, where people were able to tell the truth about their experience in the comments.

I read many, many accounts of pet owners giving their dogs the same medication Rx as Ichi was recommended – and many of them said it caused an exacerbation of existing symptoms, which led to new symptoms, and in some cases rapid death.

This was a medication that was originally created for humans, but in the human trials, they realized that there was NO benefit on human hearts, so they took it off the market.

Next target market? Pets.

Something really didn’t sit well with me.

The countless stories of unfortunate experiences was enough to convince me that I would never put her on this drug unless I absolutely had to.

I continued to give Ichi homemade meals and she’s been thriving for the last decade (!), with zero symptoms.

Fast forward to last year. I could tell she had some infected teeth and would need some extractions. She was already 15 years old, so I knew that this would be the last opportunity to take care of her teeth.

I took Ichi to several vets to inquire about her teeth; I wanted multiple opinions.

Most of them had scary stories.

The first one overlooked the teeth and said, “She has a mast cell tumor on her chest and needs to come back immediately next week for surgery, otherwise the tumor will take over her entire body. It’s an extremely fast-moving cancer.”

Hmmm.

I reached out to a veterinarian who came regularly to the SAN Center for acupuncture for advice. She said that in her experience, when you cut open a dog like that for tumors, the tumors have a tendency to grow more and more – and at a faster rate.

Sidenote: That tiny little growth on her chest? It has not grown one bit in 18 months! I started giving her mushroom powder in every meal six months ago – just in case – for good measure.

I obviously decided against the tumor removal surgery and was left with the tooth situation.

The vet (the one obsessed about the small growth) said that in order to extract Ichi’s infected teeth, I would have to put her on the heart medication I had avoided for so many years.

I felt a foreboding sense of doom.

I went looking for another option. I reached out again to the veterinarian who frequented the SAN Center. She didn’t do extractions, but gave me a referral for a dentist, and told me she was the best in town.

This dentist had hundreds of positive reviews online. I called and spoke to her. I explained the situation and made sure she felt comfortable doing the surgery. She encouraged me, saying that it would be fine and she’d be monitoring Ichi’s heart the whole time.

A few days later, the anesthesiologist that worked in her office called me. She bullied me about the medication – said that in order for her to be present at the surgery, I needed to put Ichi on this medication. She had an ominous, threatening vibe and at one point said, full of ego regarding the surgery, “I control her heart.”

I didn’t like her tone. I told the dentist I didn’t want that woman in the room and that I trusted the dentist herself to do the anesthesia. She agreed, and reassured me, “I got it.”

But after all that drama, the kind dentist was unnerved by the anesthesiologist and said she’d feel better if Ichi were on the meds a week before surgery, and a week after.

I debated. I felt strongly against any of it.

The dentist explained that after anesthesia, the blood pressure can bottom out.

Long story short – I agreed to do it, to get the bad teeth pulled out, knowing I would taper her off the meds after the surgery.

What ensued was worse than I had thought.

Even though I had put her on a regimen of less than half of what the cardiologist recommended, the moment I put her on the medication, her belly bloated up (initial signs of congestive heart failure). Her poops were black. Her energy tanked. She hung in there.

After a successful dental surgery, I began the medication taper. To my surprise, it took me 3 weeks instead of one!

My plan was to reduce the pill by 1/8th each day, but I ended up having to reduce the pill size every three days!

I felt I was in some kind of catch 22 nightmare, where – what she needed was to get off of it as soon as possible, but every time I dosed her down, her blood pressure would go wonky and I’d have to pop it back up to the original dose. Every three days I would make the taper leap, and push through some kind of bizarre symptom.

After a couple weeks of being on the medication, Ichi became confused.

She didn’t know where she was going and bumped into things. She was experiencing toxic overload that was negatively affecting all her systems.

I could feel in every bone in my body that this drug was harmful for her and it was accelerating a decline. On several occasions I witnessed it catalyze her into a near state of congestive heart failure.

As I tapered her, I introduced herbal tinctures like Hawthorn and Feverfew. I put them in her food and in her water if she needed a quick pick-me-up. I also gave her homeopathic and flower remedies and fed her seared beef heart.

After three weeks, I had successfully tapered her off the medication and onto herbs, homeopathy and flower remedies. It took some weeks of consistent nourishment, but her inflamed belly eventually reduced back to normal size, her poops normalized and she started running around again with joy.

This month marks one year after the teeth extractions – and ten years after the original recommendation for the heart medication.

After all that time in seemingly perfect health & vitality, Ichi is finally showing signs of her age.

At 16 and a half, she is sleeping a lot (mostly all day, except for meals and short walks outside).

As she ages, her heart shows occasional signs of fatigue. 

Regardless, I will never put her – or any dog – on that medication.

What I do instead:

• Regular diet of Force of Nature raw beef mixed with beef heart and liver
• Consistent supply of seared beef heart (I get mine from Nourish Cooperative or Tru Organic Beef online or from the local Farmer’s Market)
• A little bit of bean sprouts or chopped romaine lettuce for fiber to keep things moving
• Chlorophyll to enhance the body’s ability to make/utilize oxygen (put a dropper in her food)
• Herbal tinctures like Hawthorne and Feverfew - these are the champions (I love Herb Pharm tinctures)
• Homepathics from Energetix
• Flower remedies like Inner Peace, Open Heart, Truthteller, Divine Truth, True Strength, Luminous Chi
• Buddy Guard Mushroom Powder (especially to stop the expansion of tumors)
• Meyer’s Goat Yogurt for probiotics usually available at the grocery store
• Dog is Human Vitamins
• Lamb Lung treats from Oma’s Pride - break them into small pieces - it’s also crunchy so it helps clean their teeth
• Pawprint Oxygen - beautiful, quiet oxygen set ups, for both on-the-go and tents
• Evolve Oxygen canisters (can even find these on Amazon) - if your dog doesn’t like the noise or flow of air, put a little peanut butter on it. They’ll lick the PB and breathe in the oxygen.
• Pelsbarn non-toxic, machine-washable cooling bed
• Keep the house cool; keep them out of the heat
• I use a pendulum to dowse on what Ichi needs, and work with Dr. Elizabeth Anderson at the SAN Center to double check me and use Applied Kinesiology and muscle testing to figure out what she needs most that month. 

Up until a couple weeks ago, Ichi and I were going for long walks every morning. Now that it’s over 100 degrees consistently in the desert, we stay closer to home.

Ichi continues to go to the office every day and show visceral and corporal excitement at lunch time, lol.

She joined us for the 5-day meditation retreat with the team. And she enjoys hustling everybody for treats.

Recently I’ve invested in a couple Pawprint Oxygen set ups, so that if Ichi gets winded at the office or at home, I can turn on the flow of oxygen and give her a boost.

I know that one day, like all of us, Ichi will face her own transition and I hope I’m right there by her side to face it with her.

In the meantime, she’s almost as old as my previous dog, Joy, who lived to be over 17 years old.

With Joy, I learned to trust myself and my instincts, nourishing her with whole foods and flower remedies – and nurturing her back to normal after two strokes.

With Ichi, I went through a fierce bootcamp, being tested by 3-4 veterinarians, bullying me to do something that went against every fiber of my being.

In the end, with Ichi I chose the middle path, and was happy I did, because I got to know the effects of the medication intimately through the several week commitment and taper.

Most importantly, I will never be tempted to put her on this medication as she nears the end of her life.

Through my experiences, I’ve learned that veterinary medicine is similar to allopathic medicine.

Doctors have strong opinions about what they think you should/shouldn’t do – and what they’ve been trained to express as “right/wrong”. It’s rare to be encouraged to listen to your intuition of what your pet needs, or to question the status quo or system, even when it comes down to food choices.

Oftentimes veterinarians will even suggest or recommend “sending them over the rainbow bridge,” aka euthanasia, and every time I deny that, I’ve gained much more time than expected with my best friend.

I let my pets have agency over their time to go. I try to prolong their life with natural foods, supplements and flower essences, and in the end, they are the masters of their own destiny.

I share all this in hopes it inspires you to trust your intuition and question the system when needed, whether it’s for your own health, or that of a dear furry family member.

If you ever find yourself in a similar bind with your pet, here are a few suggestions, based on my personal experience:

• Always get multiple opinions. Never make a tough decision with only one advisor.
• Trust your intuition. If something seems off, it is. Dig deeper. Do research. Ask around. And keep checking back with your intuition.
• You know how to take care of your pet better than anyone. Trust yourself and your ability to find the answers and be able to give them what they need most to heal and thrive.
• Some veterinarians, like allopathic human doctors, have a tendency to feature worst-case scenarios and some even try to bully, threaten or guilt you into unnecessary surgeries and potentially harmful medications. This is not always the case, of course, but more often than not.
• Some of the best medicine is food. I’ve seen the best results with raw food and organ meats. You can seek out raw pet food, or use something that’s easy to find at the grocery store, like Force of Nature raw beef, venison, etc. If your pet is not used to raw food, integrate it into their diet slowly. 

I’ve framed all of these for pets, but they hold up for decisions about our own health as well.

I share my experiences in hopes it inspires you.

Of course – there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’. What is helpful or harmful for my dog may be the exact opposite for another. Everything is subject to changes.

The main point is that I want you to feel empowered, always.

I’m cheering you – and your intuition – on from the sidelines.

Endless love and soft fuzzy furry snuggles,
Katie 

P.S. I wrote all about my experience caretaking my precious dog Joy in several blog posts. Read them in this order:

1. The Magic of Joy
2. Part 1: Miracles & Caretaking
3. Part II: My Silent Teacher
4. Her Joy Overcomes Gravity ~ My Sweet Girl Died