Would you join us in reading the story of my trip to the veterinarian with my dog one year ago because this may save a lot of grief, heartache and loss? It may give us more time with the pets we love so much and help us avoid thousands of wasted dollars at the clinic treating problems which will handle themselves without intervention!
Welcome to day 176 of Happier People Podcast with me Jerry Banfield.
Read this Story Before Taking a Dog or Cat to the Veterinarian?
I took my dog Peachy one year ago to the veterinarian and she was given a death sentence. The vet said that her blood was a complete disaster, that her counts were even too low to do surgery and that she had cancer that would certainly kill her soon.
The vet said that my dog had internal bleeding and an abnormal heart rhythm. She said it will cost thousands of dollars to do surgery or she would be happy to put her to sleep.
The vet said that we had three basic options: put her to sleep, or we could go forward with the surgery for thousands of dollars, or we could just take her home and make her comfortable.
Thank God that's what we did because Peachy was not willing to let some diagnosis bother her.
In fact for most of the last year, there's been no evidence at all that she was ever even sick. She has been healthy. She took maybe a few weeks of laying around the house, not wanting to do anything and breathing heavily, but after that she simply recovered.
Today, there's no evidence that there ever was a problem she just went to the vet, a little while ago and got a full check-up. Everything is perfectly fine with her. Well, that's not completely accurate I said she got a full check-up. My definition of a full check-up now, is a little different from what it was a year ago when we went because here's what happened.
A year ago we took Peachy to the vet, right before all this happened. The vet said she was fine, beautiful, everything, no problems with her.
We then went back a month or two later, all of a sudden she is on the edge death with cancer, internal bleeding, and a few other diagnoses which were forgotten.
So how did that happen?
I had just spent almost a thousand dollars between Peachy and then Bow over here including getting all the tests and buying all the recommended medications. How was it possible that in just a month after doing what I was told now everything was wrong?
We had just spent almost a thousand dollars at the vet between getting heartworm drugs, between getting our shots, and between getting every examination that they recommended.
We had spent thousands of dollars at the vet.
What happened when we go back a month later?
After a dog being 100% fine before, it was time to put the dog to sleep, or spend thousands on surgery, or take them home and accept that they're going to die.
Today, I love vets because my mother is a veterinarian. I also realize that I don't need to do everything the vet says I need to do. In fact, our bodies, my body and our dogs’ bodies, are capable of miracle recoveries with no surgery, with no treatment at all, with no drugs.
A change in belief, lifestyle, or nothing at all can completely cure that which medicine believes impossible. Things like a change of diet, can provide a recovery by themselves. The one intervention we did do, we changed her diet and "you're welcome Bow, you've got a different diet as well." We changed our dogs’ diet when we went to the vet.
Now there's a bunch of studies that replicate these kinds of results in humans.
I myself changed to a whole plant-based vegan diet.
You can read about these studies in the book "How Not to Die," "Whole" and "The China Study," you can also watch "Cowspiracy" and "What the health."
There are tons of books by doctors showing how a change in diet can affect miraculous recovery, or you don't even necessarily need to change your diet, it can happen without it.
Now, my mother as a vet, and the vet I mentioned, were completely against this. Yet, here's the thing, the one thing I did do is change my dog's diet. We were feeding her some food that promised to be incredible and give dogs everything they needed, but she also was dying of cancer, having heart problems and nearly bled to death.
What I read online are stories of dogs living to almost 30 years old, on all plant-based diet. I researched and I found these basic food I gave my dogs every day now.
I gave my dogs a cup each of Quaker Oats and a can each of organic beans. Now, this is the expensive part, but you can make this a lot cheaper if you get beans that aren't organic. These beans are very low sodium, I like them and the dogs eat them too. I also gave my dogs some peanut butter, along with some fruits and vegetables.
This gives my dogs a diet that is proven, in human beings, to prevent cancer, heart disease and almost every single other thing that kills us. I switched my dogs to these diets after first feeding them for years, with the food promising it was so good for them. Food that is full of all kinds of nasty things, food that left my dogs on the edge of death.
I figured that if our dog was just going to die, I looked for solutions and the one solution I found, was a change in diet. Now, at first we changed her diet because she would not eat what we were feeding her.
Peachy said: “No, I'm not having any more of that disgusting food.”
She refused to eat the dog food we were giving her. She forced us to change her diet. She actually told us through her refusal to eat her food. She forced us to change her diet, she would not eat the dog food we were buying anymore, the one of the leading brands of dog food.
We started experimenting and we tried all these other kinds of dog foods. We ended up on this today, which is what I just showed and here's what it looks like.
Now it doesn't look too attractive, it's just oatmeal, cooked peanut butter and beans. They get to have a banana, you think I should feed them of a banana, look then they get to have a banana every day also. I just break the banana up, you don't want to give them a whole banana, or they will swallow it, then sometimes they may throw it up.
I started feeding her that food because she loves eating it, she tears through that food. Now, if you're used to leaving them inside a lot, this also produces a lot of movement in a digestive system. Therefore you might want to account for that when changing your dog's diet.
I am extremely grateful to have this to share with you today because the vet did not present this option, to simply take the dog home and change the dog's food.
No vet I've talked to, not even my mother, not any of the vets I've gone to, suggested a diet change, all of them were under the same assumption, that dogs because of the teeth have to eat meat.
The truth is that the dogs are perfectly willing to eat whole plant foods. The science shows that whole plant-based diets are the absolute best in terms of health outcomes. I'm grateful that it is the diet I eat and that I take the time to cook it for them every day.
One more thing in this story, we went back to the vet this year and Peachy did have one little problem. She had an ear infection and in her ear, it was all swollen because she'd been shaking her head. It was just blown up and it looked ridiculous.
Now the vet told me that she was going to just put some steroids in there because that would drain her ear.
I said, “No, we're not doing that, her ear will heal up all on its own.”
Dogs have been getting ear infections in shaking their heads since the beginning of time. I'm sure the dog ears are properly engineered to handle that.
Now, I realize that the vet probably has seen cases where the dog's ears have not gone down, but probably 99% of the time it does.
I did buy whatever they had me put in that ear and the infection went away.
I also opted out of what I knew was an optional procedure, but the way the vet pitched it to me did not sound optional.
I said, "No, we're not going to mess around and put steroids in her ear."
I think the vet was going to cut open her ear and drain in or something.
I said, “No, we're not doing that. Just give me the ear infection drops, we'll put those in there and the infection will go away.”
That's exactly what happened.
I think that when we can take this approach with our dogs, then we've got a lot better shot at taking it for ourselves.
You see it’s one thing with our dogs that we should be able to be objective. I used to lament that I could control my dog's food, but why couldn't I control my own eating?
If we can at least get a basic template of healthy life for our dogs, then there is a lot of hope that when we go to the doctor and he tells us that we have cancer, that we have to start doing chemotherapy, that we have to start taking these drugs, there’s a little bit of hope that we can say, "You know what? I'm going to go home and eat different, and if that kills me, then so be it. I will not subject myself to torture on the hope that perhaps I will get better.”
My father died going through a whole bunch of chemotherapy treatments, which did not help him recover at all. They poisoned him to death and made him suffer, then he died. He did not ever once have anyone mention to him that he could change his diet.
Just as with my vet, no one mentioned that possibility of altering the dog's diet. Although, as soon as you google it, you find stories of dogs just like my dog here living 30 years with a whole plant-based diet.
I hope this story is useful for you today, because this has been an extreme point of gratitude in my life for my wife, family, that we have our dogs today, both of them, still with us after contemplating losing them, after the vet certain diagnosis of death.
I am grateful today as my shirt says, “I am happy, joyous and free.”
I’m free to make my own decisions about life.
I'm free to love and appreciate each of us today and to know that each of us is doing our best, which means the veterinarian is doing their best recommending alternatives for treatment.
I'm doing my best by sharing my experience here with you, providing what I hope is another or an additional set of choices, both for our pets and perhaps for ourselves too.
I love you.
You're awesome.
Thank you very much for reading day 176 of Happier People Podcast, which was originally filmed as the video below.
I appreciate you being here and I hope you have a wonderful day today.
If you found this post helpful on Steemit, would you please upvote it and follow me because you will then be able to see more posts like this in your home feed?
Love,
Jerry Banfield with edits by @gmichelbkk on the transcript by GoTranscript
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I have a dog that's getting up there (2 years past the breed average), and I expect to have a very similar experience at the vet. I hope my outcome is as good as Peachy's!
"We changed our dogs’ diet when we went to the vet."
I changed my dogs to raw food a few years ago and the difference is very obvious, particularly in the quality of the coat.
"Now, my mother as a vet, and the vet I mentioned, were completely against this."
My vets always talk about how amazing the dogs look, until they find out I'm doing raw food, then they complain...
Much like doctors who get "benefits" from pushing certain drugs, vets have an obvious synergistic relationship with the animal-pharma companies. They always prefer to go with maximal chemical options.
"I did buy whatever they had me put in that ear and the infection went away."
Ear infections are extremely painful and pretty well-understood. I think it was good to use the ear medication.
It's as much a folly to ignore all medicine as it is to assume it is all 100% effective. Use a case by case basis. Would you let your kid scream in pain and drag their ears on the ground if they had an infection?
The more "removed" the treatment is from the effect and causality, the more skeptical you should be.
PS - My dog's diet is almost exactly what you showed, except I also add raw chicken thighs. FYI, I think this is better for them than all-plant based protein, but your diet is still better than every single pet food sold.
dogs cant consent to euthanisia. f that
Couldn't agree more.
hi @lexiconical nice meeting ya here again.
It just goes to show that modern medicine, animal or human based, is not the "end all be all" of medicine. They only practice what they are taught in school and that is often to rely on more tests, more surgeries, more stuff that costs money.
I am not saying doctors are out to hammer patients for money, they are just doing what they are taught. Natural medicine is not often taught in medical schools because the results are so hard to prove or duplicate in a laboratory environment. Such a shame too as for some reason, traditionally taught doctors are against natural medicines, that is often why they don't mention it.
Congrats on your four legged family member getting better. Great to hear stories like this.
About two years ago we had two of our smaller breed dogs contract Parvo and it nearly killed them. Docs were shooting them up with medicines and saying it may not take and they may not survive. We did a similar thing with them, we changed their diet from dog food to natural foods (oats and peanut butter being a part of ours too). Almost immediately we saw an improvement in their activities as we committed to a diet change and the water injection treatment the vet offered up.
Our four legged family members are just that, four legged family members. People that don't have dogs, or other pets, probably don't understand that bond but it is there. We have to protect them and do what we can for them. I am glad to know you are that type of person, Jerry. Again, congratulations on the success with Peachy.
Excellent comment, to the top with you.
Such comments on steemit are rare.
Both dogs look so well , cared and looked after!.. I guess it is one of those cases of trust your own instincts!...
so many lies with what is really in our foods these days.. so it makes sense that this is also the case for our Animals!
Good on you for pickling the right option... although I am sure your best intention at the time was for your sweet doggy to spend his last moments in familiar surroundings, and that you also get to spend valuable time with her!
& what a beautiful happy ending that turned out to be!.. you can see the happy glint in her eyes, & her coat sparkles out of the photograph!.. Its lovely to read such a happy positive story... & it must be said that it also shows the level of kindness that you have.. as that is shown from how we treat our furry friends!
We really are what we eat!
May Peachy live a long and happy life with her caring owner =]
ahhh... lovely story to come across! Cheers Jerry!
Your reply was also lovely to come across :)
thanks :] ... itwas such a beautiful moving story!
I had a horrible experience at a vet that was a bit similar. They told me Luna had months to live because of cancer, just by looking at her. She had a lump on her butt and the vet just told me he could tell it was cancer, that I should put her to sleep, that tests might not even be worth it. Really, worst week of my life, waiting for the tests to come back. When I found out it was an inflammation, I was ecstatic, but I will never trust vets in the same way again. And I think you're right about a lot of things you said here. Unnecessary procedures are the biggest vet scam ever, and it's just sad that this is the way it is. Anyway, thanks for sharing your story.
I'm glad the vet's super cancer vision was wrong & that you didn't take their advice. Whew.
That test was SO worth it.
Yo ,
Thanks for sharing
Consider putting DMSO into your pets water to prevent cancer and other inflamations.
awe shes such a beauty! :) I love dogs
A very chilled and relaxed dog (apart from when there's a possum around).
Gave you a witness vote. I'm a dog lover too. We gave our dog a pointless $2,000 surgery because the vet didn't realize he was whimpering at the dog in the room next door and not from her pressing on his abdomen. I tried to tell her she was wrong, but then she guilt tripped us by saying if he dies its our fault. Trust your instinct you know your pet better than any vet will.
@jerrybanfield I LOVE this Story and I am so glad that PEACHY is doing very well under the diet. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade but I am not a FAN of the Western Medical System. In my opinion and no I am not a doctor, I feel that so many of the problems that people have with their health is their diet and then on top of that is a doctor that prescribes different medications that really don't do anything to address the underlying issues. If I just saved you a $100 doctor office visit then I would be glad if you just UP Vote this Comment. That would be less expensive than the doctor visit......Thank you and I Love You all too............
dear @jerrybanfield wonderful story i enjoyed to read it a lot.
Do you take your peechy with you where you go?
Hi @jerrybanfield gave you a witness vote...hope you do okay. I am unsurprised that your dog became healthy with a change of diet. There is very poor regulation vis-à-vis pet food contamination. Looks like a job for Provenance. Having your dog become healthy again is also predictable based on the dietary regime. See the attached video:
Stay healthy !
Voted for you as a witness
Greetings from Ferdek :D
I am glad that you didn't listen to the vet but instead followed what you think would help your dog. Dogs are quite intelligent as well. They know what their bodies need. Our dog would eat up herbal plants too at our backyard whenever he's feeling sick and he heals on his own. I think your change diet plan did great and now Peachy is all healthy and well.I'll keep your diet plan for future references. Our previous dog died at the age of 12 because of oldness. Missing him at this moment. Please say hi for me to Peachy! Such an adorable dog! ❤❤
Your story is almost same with my story.
For a moment u remembered me my grandfather, who is no more right now.
But last year, he was also a cancer patient in his throat. And i and my father tried so much to saved him. And we did very well for one year. Then a moment come when my
Grand father's food pipe totally off because of extension of throat from inside. And he was unable to drink as well as eat something. He was only surviving by injections of power and glucose. But at the end, he died just a month ago.
Really missing my grandfather
Love you.
Thank you for your post. It is very helpful to know that a plant-based diet works for dogs, too. A lot of people tell me that dogs need to eat meat but I think they never tried a plant-based diet for their dogs.
Wonderful job bro.i always resteem your post @jerrybanfield
You And Your Dog Were Lucky.
Having Strong Believe Is Every Thing. If You Have Beleive You Can Fight With Any Thing.
What a wonderful post @jerrybandfield pls take care of ur pets
Very nice dog
Long time, no see. Happy to hear that she is ok. I had a puppy that got sick a few months ago and the vet wasnt able to help him. He didnt made it. That was really sad, i cryed like a baby that day.
SteemON!
I really like your posts, keep it up
That's very nice dog
I hope healthy is always be with him
my 2 dogs love eating vegetable and fruit I cant keep them out of my garden, or creeping in the kitchen when chopppin up veggies. so awesome to hear and see the amazing recovery of you beloved Peachy. my yellow lab is 110 lbs and 10 almost 11 years old I believe a good diet has kept him acting like a puppy all these years. At 10 yrs old he still gets the "zoomies" and goes runnin all over the house, Crazy
It is a very useful post. I have a beautiful dog also , called Ruff. Id be sure to follow your posts for more useful and beneficial updates. Thanks
@jerrybanfield, my vote for u! Thanks for post :)
Glad she's doing better! Thanks for the info.
I believe that feeding your dogs food other than the store bought food, is much healthier in the long term. But like you said Vets don't usually suggest that they prefer to promote meds and conventional dog food which is full of colorants and preservatives. God thing you listened to your "inner voice" which told you otherwise.
Diet is extremely important for people and animals! The first thing out of a Dr mouth should be talking to a patient about what they eat! Medical school should teach that, but they don't! Vets should also talk to pet owners about the importance of what they feed their pets! Each person should do their own research on what is the best kind of diet for themselves and their children. Thanks for making this point.
Peachy looks great, glad you made the right decision. I'm aware of going with your instincts. that worked out great- you need to move closer to your Mother in Law who is the Veterinarian as you could maybe get the "family free" discount lol!
Wow what a great story.
I am a animal lover and this made me read all your post. I normally skip sometime.
I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly.
- Albert Einstein
Nice post @jerrybanfield. It is always better to bake dog food at home rather than buying from store. I just wrote a post about the foods which can kill the dog. Have a look when you have a time:
https://steemit.com/food/@munawar1235/foods-to-absolutely-avoid-to-your-pets
Thank you for sharing this today, Jerry. We no longer feed our animals the junk food that most vets push. Ever smell that stuff? It's awful. Our animals started refusing to eat it about 2 years ago. I supplement the plant-based diet with occasional fish and organic chicken (we raise it here on the homestead) my dogs haven't been healthier or happier. We have 5 rescue dogs and ll are doing far better than the vets said they would...
What an amazing story, lesson on free thought, thinking and doing research for yourself while trusting within yourself.
oh, sweet baby
I'm very happy that your dog responded to the changes you made. Our pets bring us such joy. I know I would do anything t keep mine with me for a long as possible.
Thank you for he update and great work you do for this awesome platform!
i just voted for you jerry you are awesome.
hey @jerrybanfield I am big fan your Please help me for kind information. Please
I am so glad that this story had an happy ending :D and it is so good to see that they are great :D I almost cried with this story.
hello @jerrybanfield, @richforever here. Promoting steemit like crazy here in Ghana-West Africa. Emulating your skills. Thanks for all the support you've shown other steemians especially from Africa.
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aww poor dog. i never owned a dog before. But if I ever get one, i will be careful with the vet.
This was nice to read. So glad your dog recovered.
Thank you for sharing the story @jerrybanfield
@jerrybanfield thanks for your response on steemit.chat. I love pet but especially cat. Please take your time to check on my post https://steemit.com/steemit/@travelguide/best-online-image-editors-for-travel-bloggers Thanks
She is so cute. I am glad that she was OK
thx for sharing Jerry. i am so glad peachy is ok. my pets are like family members. i too am making the switch to a plant based diet, although i am struggling with a few things. lol. and i believe you are certainly correct in stating that an attitude or belief can cure what ails you. i see what i am sure are miracles of every size and shape on a daily basis. p.s. i have done the witness vote for you and cant wait to see you climbing the ranks!
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