I adopted Lewie (aka Big Lew), a gorgeous pure bred German shepherd in June of 2003. Even though he was only a little over a year old, I was his fourth owner. Lewie had a rough life prior to my adopting him and partly because of his mistreatments he had some behavioral issues. Besides his behavior issues he had a lot of health concerns including chronic ear infections, allergies, dry itchy skin, hot spots, symptoms of arthritis & hip dysplasia and digestive issues. He really was a "mess". I brought him to several allopathic vets in the Chicagoland area and amongst other things they prescribed; antibiotics, steroids, and "prescription" food. Not only did none of their prescriptions help, the side effects of some of the medications were worse then the original problem it was meant to treat in the first place.
I knew there had be a different way, a better way. Through many channels I was eventually introduced to Pat McKay. Pat is an acknowledged pioneer and leader in the development of the raw and fresh food diet, animal nutritionist, classical homeopathic practitioner, counselor and author, Pat McKay is nationally recognized by animal health care professionals for her contribution to the raw food revolution for cats and dogs.
She has devoted over 30 years researching and completing thousands of case studies where her findings consistently reveal that a raw food program insures maximum health results from her animal clients.
Her present companions are Bogie, Belgium shepherd/Golden retriever, who is 21 years old…yes, an 88-pound dog who is 21 years old; Jacques, a black standard poodle, 15 years old, and Dutch, a Dutch shepherd, who is 14 years old. All of her dogs are rescues.
Pat instructed me to start feeding Lewie her raw recipe and start him on ESSENTIALS4ALL supplements and stop all poisons. Since doing this Lewie has had no more ear infections, allergies, dry itchy skin, hot spots, or digestive issues. He is a healthy nine year old GSD with a gorgeous skin and coat who has more energy then when I adopted him. If he had been on these supplements and eating Pat's raw recipe he would never had any health issues to begin with. For my dogs' health I feed Pat's raw recipe and give ESSENTIALS4ALL
Symptoms of Psora
Signs of Chronic Illness in Dogs & Cats
by Pat McKay
On your own you can observe symptoms of early chronic illness in your own dogs and cats.
A few homeopathic terms must be defined before reading this list of psoric symptoms.
Samuel Hahnemann = a medical physician (1755 - 1843) the founder of homeopathy.
Psora = Dr. Hahnemann was able to determine that there was one very common form of chronic disease and though this condition manifested in many different ways, it was still the same disease in all these patients. The "different ways" that the chronic condition showed up in conventional allopathic medicine are called "diagnosis" in which a disease is considered to be named and seen as a discrete and separate illness unconnected to all the other diagnoses that may be made. Dr. Hahnemann was able to show this was not the accurate understanding of disease, that actually they were all the same condition taking these different forms. He called this condition "psora" and identified the most common form of it as a skin itch, at least at the beginning, and that this itching condition would then go on to develop other forms of internal illness.
Miasm = Hahnemann called the class of chronic illnesses "miasms" which is (for us now) an older term that refers to something like a contamination that has affected the individual. He identified 3 miasms, the one called psora, the chief and most important one and the focus of this article.
Latent = dormant, quiescent, veiled. Latent emphasizes the hidden character or the dormancy of what is named: latent qualities, defects, diseases. The potential exists in an as yet undeveloped state, but is thought of as capable of coming into full being or activity at some future time.
The reason this theory of latent psora is so critical—and the reason for this article is—because every day as guardians of your animals you see these symptoms or signs of disease and often don’t recognize that they are systemic disease. Or if you do, and you take your animal to an allopathic veterinarian who doesn’t acknowledged the symptoms you observe. Most often you are told: “It’s really nothing,” or “Wait and see what develops,” or “You are probably just imagining things,” or “You worry too much.” Or worst of all, your dog/cat receives an antibiotic injection and pills to give every day so that these wonderful symptoms that your animal’s body is presenting are now suppressed, never to be seen again…until the drug wears off…and then back again to be given even stronger drugs.
Anyone reading this article is very definitely concerned about the health of their beloved companion, and you want to act early on any ailment that you observe. The problem is there aren’t enough Hahnemannian homeopathic veterinarians, so therefore, you don’t have the choices of medicine you would like.
The Society for Animal Homeopathy hopes to help you find the right veterinarian and provide information, so when you see these symptoms, you know your animal needs homeopathic attention, and that the signs you are seeing are not simple, acute illnesses that will go away on their own. It is typical of these chronic illnesses that they continue indefinitely, and though they may be allayed by use of drugs, not really cured in the same way that homeopathic treatment can permanently remove them.
The following is from Dr Pitcairn's Writings
Psora can exist in 5 phases:
1) Primary manifestation—skin disease, terrible itching or itching eruptions. Can sometimes be small areas of involvement with milder itch.
2) Latent psora—from inheritance, or after the initial primary manifestation, or after palliative or suppressive treatment. Symptoms are mild, common, often not noticed.
3) Active psora—skin symptoms are a noticeable problem, persistent, progressive, recurrent. Skin includes the outer covering of the body (in general), the ears, eyelids, and conjunctiva (the clear membrane that covers the sclera (white part of the eye) and lines the inside of the eyelids), hair, orifices of the body.
4) Secondary psora—focus of the disease has moved to the interior of the body with involvement of tissues and organs other than the skin.
*The condition becomes more complicated.
*There is more interference with and loss of function. (like digestion for example.)
*The senses are especially affected—sight, hearing, sensations.
5) Developed psora—Secondary psora has become advanced with development of pathology, loss of organ function or organ failure. Several parts of the body have been affected, history of repeated treatment, evidence of deterioration.
Dr Richard Pitcairn has compiled lists for you to use as a guideline for many of the symptoms you will be able to see for yourself.
The following lists of common symptoms, as seen in both dogs and cats, are typical of latent chronic disease that is relatively "quiet" and not yet manifesting in fully developed illness. They are signs that such development is possible and indications that measures are to be taken to improve health — improved nutrition and constitutional homeopathic treatment for example. These signs, as listed, are all minor presentations and in themselves would be dismissed as common or considered to be insignificant.
Latent Psora in Cats
1) Thirst (a healthy cat does not drink).
2) Gum inflammations; red line along gums; diffusely red gums.
3) Tooth decay; cervical (neck of tooth) lesions ; root decay; abscesses.
4) Skin not healthy—slightly itchy; dandruff or flakiness.
5) Coat not looking good—rough coat, or dry or lusterless; change in coat color to lighter color or “reddish” or “brownish” cast.
6) Bladder trouble—urination too frequent; spraying urine; straining; inappropriate places of urination.
7) Bowel function disturbed—soft stools, occasional diarrhea, especially from change of food; constipation tendency.
8) Appetite problems; “finicky,” wants to eat little and often; malnutrition.
9) Low level conjunctivitis, a little too red inside lids; watery discharges; mucous accumulation in corners, especially reddish (almost bloody looking at times) discharge in the inner canthi (inside corner of eye).
10) Change in color of iris.
11) Discomfort after eating; vomiting tendency (eating too fast, or different foods); gastritis.
12) Ears irritated, itching; dark or oily or waxy discharge seen inside ear canals.
13) “Wasting” tendency; towards thinness or even emaciation.
14) Coughing, asthmatic tendency (though not full display of asthma).
15) Dark discharge around the base of nails.
16) Mental/emotional disorders:
a) Fears—of people, noise, movement.
b) Aggression—unfriendly, attacking other cats, dogs, people.
c) Hatred; jealousy—hates other cats, quarrelsome.
Latent Psora in Dogs
1) Poor development; uneven, small body; irregular or small teeth.
2) Hair does not grow in well; thin, poor color; loss of undercoat; dry, lusterless hair.
3) Doggy odor; skin odor; oiliness of the coat.
4) Itchiness (mild) without evident lesions. Tendency for base of tail to be first affected area, or the feet.
5) Licking front feet excessively; licking them for long periods, especially in evenings.
6) Ears have oily dark brown discharge. Oily, itchy, warm to touch.
7) Conjunctiva (the clear membrane that covers the sclera (white part of the eye) and lines the inside of the eyelids.) too pink; mucous in corners of eyes; rubbing eyes on furniture or bushes.
8) Stiffness, restricted movement of rear legs on running; difficulty rising from the floor; joint pains.
9) Hip dysplasia and associated symptoms.
10) Nose too dry on surface; cracked; loss of pigment; watery discharge drips out, especially when eating.
11) Tendency to diarrhea; happens with change of foods; occasional mucous or blood in the stools.
12) Offensive flatus (gas)
13) Nails not healthy—distorted, brittle, crumble, fall off
14) Eruption between toes; fistulae (Fistula = An abnormal duct or passage resulting from injury, disease, or a congenital disorder that connects an abscess, cavity, or hollow organ to the body surface or to another hollow organ.) Eruption between toes is often thought to be a foreign body, but is not.
15) Anal gland problems—leak, don’t empty on their own, get inflamed.
16) Craving for manure, dirt, rocks, sticks.
17) Excessive, especially ravenous appetite; overweight as a result, if food is not restricted.
18) Scoots bottom on floor or ground.
19) Mental symptoms:
a) Fears—of noise, storms, people, crowds, wind, to be alone.
b) Suspicion of people at door, of other animals.
c) Unfriendliness.
d) Tendency to bite or act aggressive; to hunt other animals (cats especially, but also poultry, sheep, ducks, chickens).
e) Destructiveness (of surroundings, especially clothing, blankets).
f) Mentally slow, difficult learning or remembering.
g) Nervous hyperactivity.
