Health and Golden Retrievers
 

Health and Golden Retrievers: can you even put the two things in the same sentence?  It definitely seems to be a paradox.  Every breeder, including myself, have had people come to us who have lost dogs to cancer, amongst other health issues.  I've had 2 or 3 families just this week.  What is preventable to the best of our abilities?  We can do all of the health testing, but that means little if the new family doesn't feed quality food or if the dog is constantly in a cloud of fake scents (which can cause cancer in humans, let alone in dogs), or if a puppy is not permitted sufficient exercise to allow it's bones to grow strong.  

All of that does not even touch on the monthly "heartworm" medication causing seizures (just one symptoms among many unfortunately), the vaccines causing tumors at the vaccination sites (amongst other issues) and on and on it goes.  

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So, what do we do?  I do not claim to have all of the answers.  Not even close.   I read the research and try to implement alternatives when and where I can. 
 

Food: I incorporate raw foods as much as I can afford.  It is important to make sure that it is balanced if it's around 50% of your dog's total intake.  They absorb the nutrients so much better from raw foods than from kibble which also means there isn't as much stool to pick up in the yard. 

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Vaccines: I use titers to determine if a booster is truly necessary to minimize the dog's exposure to formaldehyde, aluminum, and thimerosal.  I also use several homeopathic remedies to help dogs and puppies detox after receiving vaccines to help their bodies recover from the shots.  I have personally witnessed reactions in puppies and they are not fun.

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Cleaning products: fake scents give me migraines.  I try to avoid products that have strong smells and I absolutely do not use fake scented candles, scentsy, etc for the same reasons.  They are bad for humans; they also are bad for your dogs.  I do use limited essential oils, but I am very careful what I use around the dogs and I rarely diffuse anything.  Some EOs can cause seizures.

 

Dewormer: I stopped using heartworm meds about 4 years ago and have been using herbal mixes.  The dogs both tested clear for heartworms this spring when I had them checked.  The research I'm seeing for my goats is to run fecal tests prior to deworming with chemical dewormers because the routine usage of the chemicals is causing parasite resistance.  Why should we expect anything different with our dogs? 

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My intention with this page is to give me a location to add the research I've seen on these subjects.  So far I have a page compiling some of the research I've done on vaccines and titers. 

 

Stay tuned!  More to come!