Detoxification and Healing Crisis Information

Conventional pet care has created an overabundance of very sick animals. The procedure for undoing all that damage takes the body through a process of detoxification, sometimes referred to as a healing crisis, in which current problems may intensify and old problems may reemerge. But how do we know if the symptoms we are seeing are healthy and when they can present a greater risk?

Symptoms related to healthy detoxification include:

• Skin irritation and/or eruptions

• Mild vomiting

• Mild diarrhea or soft stool

• Clear eye and nasal discharge

• Sour breath

• Body odor

• Waxy build up in ears

• Mild lethargy

• Mild fever

• Any symptoms related to problems your animal has previously experienced

These symptoms all relate to the body’s attempt to push wastes, toxins and other causes of internal imbalance outward. The body does this in order to maintain, or reestablish, internal stability, also known as homeostasis. None of the above are serious cause for concern, however a competent holistic veterinarian should be consulted if your pet:

• Stops eating and drinking normally for more than 24hrs

• Runs a fever for more than 24 hours (normal canine and feline temperature range is 100.5 – 102.5 degrees)

• Has unusual symptoms not seen before

• Displays extreme lethargy

• Has liquid diarrhea for longer than 24 hours (soft stool is okay, and may take awhile to resolve)

We usually prefer a cautious approach when creating a healing program for an animal. The more tenuous the health of the animal, the slower changes should be introduced. The reason for this is that an animal that is highly toxic, and whose state of health is very poor, can actually be overwhelmed by the sudden release of too many toxins into their blood stream, in effect being poisoned by their body’s own healing process. To prevent more severe and uncomfortable symptoms, begin with half doses and build up to the full dosage. Also, dosages can be backed down, or the animal rested for a few days from the remedy altogether, if more undesirable symptoms appear.

As uncomfortable as it may be for the human caregiver, as long as your animal is displaying healthy symptoms of detoxification, it is important to maintain the course you have begun. It is at this time that your animal’s body is purging wastes and toxins from their system, and beginning the journey back towards internal balance and true health. If this process is interrupted with powerful pharmaceutical drugs, obvious symptoms may disappear, but the internal disease process will still exist and the chance for true healing will be lost.