Allergies + Food Sensitivities Part Two

Hi, this is Rita Hogan, and welcome to the Dogs are Individuals podcast. I'm a clinical canine herbalist and I've been practicing for over 20 years. This podcast is all about your dog through an herbal lens. So let's get to it and dive right in. Welcome to this week's edition of Podcast. This is Rita Hogan. Hey. We are doing part two of talking about food sensitivities and like, kind of all the things that go along with that, which many of the parts would are probably going to end up being their own podcast someday. However, we're going to kind of go through it and if we get stuck, we'll do a part three. This is a really good subject to do and I hope you enjoy it. First, let's thank our sponsors. So I like to do educational sponsorship talks on this podcast because I just don't want to do the blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. I want to. Why do we have sponsors? And why should you care? So our first sponsor is real mushrooms.com so realmushrooms.com I sell many of their products on my website, but you can go to realmushrooms.com and check out all they have. They have human products and products for dogs and cats. I just want to highlight their chaga. So they grow their chaga on birch trees. And what do you use chaga for? There's a few things. There's, you know, it's its own podcast. However, let's just talk about a few really interesting things that you can use chaga for. One, I love to use a chaga paste. That's like mixing it with oil or water, usually water. Make a nice paste mix, make it kind of warm, and you can use it for interdigital cysts. I like to give chaga mushroom internally and externally for interdigital cysts. Also papillomas. It's great for papillomas. It's wonderful for mast cell tumor cancer. It's definitely a part of a lot of my mast cell cancer protocols for herbal support. Remember, I am not a veterinarian, nor am I a doctor. So I make her herbal support protocols for dogs and some kitties. So I just don't. Someone called me doctor this week and I was like, nope. Not that I don't provide treatments. I just help balance the body out. But chaga is a really good, important part of any, like, mast cell support protocol. Chaga mushroom increases immune health. It supports the immune system systemically, you know, in the gut, in the tissues. Helps the liver and the immune system work better together. Okay. So realmushrooms.com, check them out. You can go to their website. Lots of wonderful stuff, and we're gonna get to it. So part two of the podcast is I think we left off talking about antacids, or acid reducers. And there's a type of acid reducer called a proton pump inhibitor, PPIs. And for dogs and cats, most of the time they're prescribed omeprazole, which is like gastroguard, I think, Prilosec, Losec, things like that. And I think that, you know, people don't think that these things are a big deal. If you look up the side effects of PPIs, omeprazole included here, you're gonna see nausea, constipation, diarrhea, and then we have other things. The issue is that proton pump inhibitors reduce stomach acid. And, you know, we're talking about the important functions of stomach acid. And basically every cell in the body has a proton pump. Most people who use proton pump inhibitors don't really know kind of what that's all about. They just feel that if the FDA has approved them, then it must be safe. But the FDA has also recognized the dangers of PPIs. If you look into that and they talk about that, they should only be used for a few weeks. And I know when I get a client in that's had them, sometimes their dog is on them for over a year, if not more, and sometimes they're on more than three years. That's kind of crazy. So let's just pause and take a look at PPIs. Okay, first of all, like I said before, stomach acid is kind of your first defense in your dog's gut to neutralize pathogens.

Okay?

So dogs on PPIs don't have that super acidic environment, and it's going to allow different types of pathogens to escape the stomach, which we literally don't want. Like, in humans, you get a lot of, like, C. Diff, which is Clostridium difficile. You know, huge extreme risk of C. Diff. And C. Diff is not pretty. Okay? Not pretty. So on ppis, your dog has a higher risk of being hospitalized or going, well, basically going to the vet for gastroentis, which is basically an infection in the gut because of the fact that they have low stomach acid. And then it increases the risk of your dog getting sibo, which is another podcast, but it's small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and it's no fun either. And so it definitely skyrockets your dog's chances of getting sibo, of getting basically Overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. But what people get confused about is they're thinking, oh, those. It's pathogenic overgrowth. Yes, it can be pathogenic overgrowth, but can also have an overgrowth of good bacteria in the gut, which is not good. The microbiome in the gut in the large intestine is a balance. We don't really want overgrowth of anything. You want a balanced microbiome. That's why I always recommend that dogs and people eat a huge variety of fruits and vegetables and. And even meats to get a variety into their microbiome. So increased sibo and then it's. PPIs are very hard on the microbiome itself because of low stomach acid, and they also mess with liver function, and we do not want to mess with liver function. A lot of these different types of gut issues definitely have a direct liver connection. And we want the liver to be as healthy as possible. Okay, as healthy as possible. PPIs also increase the risk of your dog having a stroke. It definitely increases the risk of people having a stroke, but it can happen in dogs. Dogs can have strokes. The reason why is that it reduces the production of nitric oxide.

Okay.

And what nitric oxide does is it dilates the blood vessels and helps blood blood flow. So when you inhibit nitric oxide, you're not going to have good circulation like you need to. PPIs are not benign remedies. That's what I really want you to get. And I've had clients with dogs with chronic constipation and diarrhea, and they just didn't link it together. You know, anytime your dog is on a pharmaceutical, you want to know the side effects. Some herbs have side effects, too. You want to know those, too? If you can find out. Right? Know your side effects, your rare side effects, and your common side effects. We just want to be informed. Okay, so to sum it up, you know, acid reducers like PPIs and acids in general, they do a few things. Let's just recap, okay? They bring down stomach acid, which we're talking about. This type of suppression can cause allergies, pathogenic overgrowth, it brings down liver, detoxification it, and it messes with the balance of the microbiome, which is responsible for over 80% of your dog's immune system.

Okay?

Now let's talk about another thing that dogs seem to get a lot of, and that's antihistamines. So the Benadryls, the Zyrtecs, the Claritins, the Tavist. I think it's Tavist 1, the hydroxyzine. Hydroxyzine, I believe is a pharmaceutical based antihistamine. I am not a pharmacist, but I give it my best. Try again. Be informed. Look up your side effects of antihistamines. Let's just go through the list. Right? Nausea, diarrhea, constipation, loss of appetite, stomach pain, nosebleeds. Have you seen a dog have a nosebleed? I have, and it's not pretty. Eye discharges, you know, your heart, the heart rate can go up, painful urination, rashes, hives, basically weakness in general. And this can happen days after taking an antihistamine. And we really want to be intentional with antihistamines. I like natural antihistamines because they don't mess with the body and cause these types of side effects. But if you're gonna give a hardcore antihistamine, like Zyrtec or Benadryl or Claritin or hydroxyzine, you wanna know your side effects and you wanna understand histamine. Okay, Histamine is not the enemy. Let's go through the benefits of histamine. Histamine is everywhere in the body. We have receptors. Our dogs have receptors. You really wanna understand the role of histamine? We're gonna talk about histamine in terms tolerance someday on the podcast. So we'll go over it again, but let's just go over some of the benefits. So, immune function. You can't have a healthy immune system without histamine. Brain function, nervous system function, healthy stomach acid. Healthy stomach acid. Okay. Smooth muscle function, which also affects the gut. Okay, that's just a few benefits of histamine. And you know, I love histamine, and I have definitely had some histamine problems in my life. And I've learned so much about histamine just by having a histamine problem. And I've really learned to respect it. Okay, I respect histamine. Should make a little T shirt that says, I respect histamine. Let's just go through a couple of other things about histamine. Stomach acid is dependent on on histamine. It regulates the amount of stomach acid in the body. So you can see giving antihistamines might lead to food sensitivities. And stomach acid is dependent on histamine for killing pathogens and breaking down food. Stomach acid also helps with allergens in the system and it helps stimulate the liver and the immune system.

Okay.

So when allergens stimulate the liver and immune system, it releases histamine and we just need to know that we don't want too much histamine. But the issue isn't the amount of histamine. It's the amount of histamine that your dog's body can break down. And it breaks histamine down with a little substance called DAO and HNMT tea. We're going to talk about that in a minute. If your dog is having a hard time breaking down histamine, there's a couple of things you need to know first. Avoid fermentation. Avoid fermented products.

Okay?

It's going to mess with histamine because it's going to add way more histamine than your dog is able to break down. This is if your dog has a histamine problem. Okay?

Okay.

Bone broth, very healthy.

Okay.

Very healthy. If it's tested for heavy metals, sometimes it's high in heavy metals. So, you know, use companies that test for heavy metals. Bone broth is very, very nutritious. But not for dogs that have histamine tolerance or problem breaking down histamine.

Okay?

So you want to avoid that while you're working on balancing out the gut. Always give digestive enzymes when you're giving an antihistamine so that you can increase the chances of a higher level of stomach acid. Avoid leftover food that has come out of the fridge. You kind of want to thaw and fix or if it's dehydrated or. I mean, yeah, dehydrated is fine, but a little more high in histamine. Then freeze dried. If it's freeze dried, don't leave it in the fridge. Just hydrate it there and then feed it.

Okay.

Because leftovers are higher in histamine.

Okay.

When food starts to break down, it builds histamine. All right? So that's something you need to know. Now your dogs use an enzyme again called DAO and hnmt. I talked about this last year at the Thriving Dog Thriving Pet Expo. It's a dog and cat expo. I spoke there in Newport Beach, California. Had a blast going back this year. Hope to see some of you there. You can go to thrivingpetexpo.com I'll tell you about that in a minute. But yeah, I spoke about this about HMMT and DAO enzymes. Super important to understand how histamine is broken down in the body. And these two little enzymes are responsible for it. And DAO is found in the gut. And if your dog does not have enough dao, it can't break down histamine like it should or he or she should. Okay, I hate calling dogs it. Sorry. So what kind of, what is it that dogs need to have good, healthy DAO enzymes? Well, first they need good B6 levels, B12 levels. They need calcium, they need copper, and they need folate. Okay, Folate, not folic acid, folate. And they're very dependent on these. So you want to make sure that your dog's getting enough B vitamins, getting enough calcium, have enough trace minerals and folate.

Okay.

If they're eating a variety of things in their diet, they should be okay, but it's just something to check on. Now, a couple of things. Decrease DAO and HNMT enzymes and they are very much a ding, ding, ding, ding. So I hope you can see the patterns that are starting to kind of come out of this conversation. Antibiotics bring down DAO enzymes. They also destroy the microbiome. Antibiotics, antihistamines bring down DAO and hmmt, enzymes. Vaccines mess with dao. Poor diet, very highly processed diet, which is hard on the liver, also brings down these enzyme levels. And also things that when your dog has a lot of inflammation from food sensitivities, it can work as a vicious circle and bring down these enzymes. And then last but not least, NSAIDs, okay. Non steroidal anti inflammatories NSAIDs, they also can mess with DAO enzymes and hmmt. So you don't want to use NSAIDS for very long and always give an digestive enzyme when you're using any of these things.

Okay.

Leaky gut, which is very, very close to food sensitivities. Okay. Most dogs with food sensitivities have some type of gut lining barrier dysfunction. And decreased DAO is one of these issues that happens. So you need to fix the gut lining to increase DAO and work on the liver too. I've got some podcasts about the liver. Check them out. Work on the liver because low DAO puts a burden on the liver because it's not breaking food down.

Okay.

Food isn't being broken down like it should and a lot of times there's antihistamines involved. So low DAO enzymes need help. That is a call for help. Definitely a call for help. So what do we do? What do we do to work with this histamine cascade when your dog's not breaking food down, when they have food sensitivities and it's just this spiral of oh my God, I don't know what to do. And then you get to some points of where your dog can eat anything. I remember I was processing some St. John's wort this week and this weekend. And I was listening to Rodney Habib and Karen Becker. They had Katie Kangas, Dr. Katie Kangas, on, and they were talking about gut health. And it was a fascinating conversation. I was making comments I probably shouldn't have been. I mean, sometimes I slap my hand because I'm like, rita, shut up. But it was a wonderful conversation. And I remember Rodney saying that he had a dog that just could not hardly eat anything. I think the dog was eating camel at the time. And, you know, he realized that he just had to fix the gut lining. And we do. We need to fix the gut lining. And all of that other stuff tends to fall into place. It's just that when the immune system targets different types of proteins for elimination, we have problems. Because like I said in part one of this podcast, each even a piece of broccoli can cause a problem. You know, and you're just like, ah, so what do we do? You know, how do we bring down histamine naturally and not completely destroy it? How do we help our dogs with these types of sensitivities while we're healing the gut? The interesting thing is a lot of the herbs that are used also are gut lining healers.

Okay.

So we want to work with that histamine cascade. Some things that I like to use are things like chaga mushroom, reishi mushroom, cordyceps, quercetin, Turmeric. Turmeric's very warming, like cordyceps and ginger. Those are very warming too. So you wanna make sure that your energetics are right. If you don't understand energetics, go to my website, k9herbalism.com and check out my energetics course. Maritime pine bark, spirulina, chlorella, green tea decaf. Decaf. These are really good things to help with. Well, to have, like a natural antihistamine. So they're gonna help with histamine.

Okay.

Remember, your dog needs folate, so you want to make sure they're getting folate. Broccoli, blueberries, cooked apples, organic kale, rose hips. Rose hips is like the opposite of turmeric. Turmeric is very warming. Rose hips is very cooling, and they're both a really good anti inflammatory. I had rose hips in my smoothie this afternoon for lunch. I'm a warm person, so I had rose hips as an anti inflammatory. I love rose hips. They don't really taste like much. And I use wild Maine blueberries. And it's just a lovely, lovely, lovely smoothie. And again, avoid bone Broth, ferments and leftovers.

Okay?

That's a good way to bring down histamine. You just wanna bring down histamine naturally, which means watch the histamines going in. There's no way you can absolutely avoid histamine. It's just not possible. But you don't want to add extra histamines, you know, like bone broth, like fermented foods. Fermented foods are fabulous for. They're very, you know, they're warming, but they're fabulous. When guts are healthy and they can help keep guts healthy. But when there's histamine problems, then they are a no, no. Remember, guys, everything's connected. And one of the purposes of this podcast is that I want you to understand how everything's connected. I want you to understand how our choices are affecting ourselves and our dogs. And that by going back to nature and living a more simple life, we can get this under control. Okay, so let's talk about the liver. The liver is so important because it does so much for the gut. And a lot of people, like, if something's wrong with your gut, you're not going to go see a liver specialist in allopathic medicine, you're going to go see a gut specialist. And you might not talk about the liver, but you should be. Everyone should be talking about the liver. The liver can also cause and be a part of the cascade in the gut because it regulates excessive histamine and it also regulates blood toxins. It stores immune reactive toxins. And the liver cascade basically can definitely increase digestive upset, it can cause inflammation, it can dictate assimilation and elimination. And when your dog is being like having inflammation all the time, they're always reacting, okay? Especially if they're eating something they're reactive to and then they have a hard time breaking down that food. So that's gonna mess with assimilation and elimination and you're going to have a lot of that histamines and antigens, which are what your dog is reacting to through protein. It's a lot. I know, but let's talk about what you can work to avoid to increase liver health exponentially. And whenever you increase liver health, you're going to increase gut health. Okay, so number one, antibiotics. Remember, antibiotics only if your dog is going to die. That's my. It's just. That's it. You know, sometimes when your dog contracts really horrible Lyme disease, doxycycline can help. I'm not saying that, but most of the time Lyme disease can be dealt with naturally. However, you have to know what you're doing and work with someone. So the standard of care for Lyme's disease is doxycycline. And other than doxy, when it comes to severe Lyme, which can kill. So it kind of falls into that. But for me, I only give my dogs antibiotics unless they're gonna die. Only when they're gonna die. Like the vet says, if you don't give this antibiotic, your dog's going to die. I'm giving it, I'm giving it right now asap and I'm going to deal with the fallout later. But for a lot of people don't, like, a lot of people don't realize that dealing with the fallout is a lot more serious than people think it is. And it takes a lot longer and it causes a lot more problems than people understand. So antibiotics, stop using them for diarrhea, stop using them for things that aren't bacterial, stop using them for viruses. So think before you give the antibiotic. Try something different before you give the antibiotic.

Okay?

It wipes out the microbiome. Wormers. Don't worm your dog unless they have worms. And then if they do have worms, use a natural wormer first. Now, if your dog has whip worms, it's going to be really hard. So I can't say much about that. But that would fall into the basically the situation of your dog having worms. Don't give a wormer unless your dog has worms. Flea and tick medications. I have a free flea course that I give out. You can't really find it, but we will include that link to the flea course in the notes for this podcast. You'll definitely enjoy the flea course. Okay, I can't get into that right now, but the flea course is awesome. I'm coming out with a tick course next spring and it'll give you everything you need to know about fleas. Only use the big guns when you need to and if you're using them, make sure you're giving milk thistle and skullcap herb. You have to support the nervous system and the liver when you give those types of poisons. Cause they are absolute poisons. You can also get some great information on flea and tick meds, pharmaceutical based ones and the dangers of them@dogsnaturallymagazine.com or check. Go over to Dr. Judy Morgan's website. Dr. Judy Morgan goes over a lot of great information on flea and tick meds. And the dangers just again, inform yourself. That way you can make an educated decision.

Okay.

If you have to take out the big guns. You have to take out the big guns. But I would try the natural methods first. Vaccines. Don't over vaccinate your dog.

Okay?

I don't vaccinate my dogs. Every year I give them their puppy vaccines and then I do something called a titer. The rabies vaccine in the United States is. Is required by law every three years. So there's not a lot of things you can do about that. But you can prepare the body for the rabies vaccine, which I think I've done a podcast about, but I'm not sure. And if I haven't, I'll do one. Heartworm meds. Make sure you know what the vector is for your area and look at different methods of protecting your dog against heartworm. Look at the risks versus the benefits of heartworm and support your dog's body by. If you're gonna give heartworm meds, make sure your dog is on some type of liver support continually. You can mix the liver support up, but you need to have liver support for that heartworm med. And I would definitely use heart guard over trifexis. Air pollution. Remember how much your dog spends in the house.

Okay?

So we want to make sure we have clean air. I love the air purifier called the Air Doctor. It's awesome. I have three of them. I saved my money and got them because it's really important. And then I have another little device called Canary. It's a company out of Denmark. It's this little yellow bird that you put on your wall. And when the bird turns upside down, you need to open your windows or you need to turn on your air purifier because you have bad air quality. It is awesome. I love my little Canary. I've never seen it actually move, but sometimes it's upside down. So I'd have to just sit and kind of stare at it for a really long time, I'm sure. But it does move. So. Love Canary Heavy metals. I think it's a good idea to have your dog's metals tested every couple years. Hair testing, you can get that done through quite a few labs. But I use Dr. Peter Debias hair testing lab. Really great way to see where your dog's at with things like copper and lead and mercury and different types of metals. Aluminum is a big one. And then, like, what's in your house? You know, do you have a lot of carpet work to get rid of it? I love ruggables. Cause you can wash them and then, you know, different pesticides. Don't use Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides on your property or anywhere near your dogs. Okay? Just be mindful of that. There's some really great natural ways to help produce plants. Companion planting. There are some great natural methods for getting rid of pests in general that are on your plants. So look into that. I'll probably do a podcast episode about that. We've got a lot to do on the podcast, don't we? We're just going to keep on going. Water. Water is one of those things that we take for granted. And I know I've spoken about water on the podcast. Filter your water. Don't feed bottled water.

Okay?

Filter your water. Don't feed bottled water. It's full of endocrine disruptors, pharmaceutical medicines. They're hard on the body. They're hammers. Some dogs need them to live. No problem. Pharmaceutical medicine has saved my life many times. However, I work to get off pharmaceuticals. I don't take a single one right now. Neither do any of my dogs, but they have. But get off all of the ones that aren't necessary, okay? Household chemicals go through your house. Get rid of those nasty chemicals. I use vinegar and water for so much. And then I use some natural cleansers for the bathroom. I use natural. I use vinegar to do my mirrors. You really don't need a lot. I use natural dish soap. I use natural dishwasher soap. I use natural soap in my washer for my clothes. I use powdered vinegar in my clothes for stinky things and for like dog towels and stuff. You don't need a lot of that nasty stuff. So get any crappy household chemical out of your household organic food. Try to eat as much organic food as you can for yourself and your dog. Glyphosate is everywhere. I think Katie Kangas said it was in almost like 80 to 90% of the rainwater on the planet Earth right now. We have to get glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Roundup, out of our lives. Make flyers for your neighbors. Educate them on the dangers of glyphosate. It is a carcinogenic and it is not safe and it should not be for sale. Tell Lowe's and Home Depot to stop selling it. Tell your local hardware store to stop selling it. Educate them right? Knowledge is power. Some people don't even know. I remember I used Roundup like I don't even know 20 years ago, and I thought it was non toxic. And I could tell by the way it worked that it wasn't non toxic, so I stopped using it. Try not to use genetically modified organisms. Try to feed your dog the cleanest diet that you can afford. And I think that's about it. That is good. Like liver plan.

Okay.

The liver plan. And you don't have to do all that at once. You can work at it. You can work to do that one step at a time. Don't overwhelm yourself. Any steps that you can take to take the burden off the liver is good.

Okay.

Any steps to take the burden off the liver is good. All right. I think that we actually have hit part three. So we will be doing food sensitivities part three.

Okay.

I hope you're enjoying this little ditty on trying to take the burden off the liver and help the gut. There's so many podcasts. We can talk about the gut. So I'm excited to share. You know what I know. And that changes all the time. So we'll have updated episodes. I'm just glad that we get to spend some time together. Okay. So wanted to thank my second sponsor, which is Adored Beast. And I've got a little surprise. I've got a little surprise. Adored Beast has given our listeners a coupon code. It is Herbs Rock. All capitals herbs rock. 15% off@adoredbeast.com 15% off of all of their products. Woo hoo. I think that's awesome. And I am going to get that coupon going up on my website. Give me about a week. It is the 15th of July today and yeah, give me about a week and I'll get that coupon going on my website too. Again, Herbs Rock. I love adore Beast Apothecary. I think they're doing a really good job at putting out some really great products. I work with them on occasion. It's such a pleasure. I think I want to focus on their product called your go to. And your go to is a remedy that includes arnica and aconite. Homeopathic, Arnica and aconite. This is a really great product to have on hand. It's definitely part of an emergency kit. And we actually used it on our horse this past week. Our horse got out of their paddock. It was like it was in the apple orchard and these people were across the street and they were bringing out the mowers and the blowers and it really freaked out our young horse. He's only two and a half. And he jumped the paddock and caught his leg on it. So he had a small injury to his leg which the arnica helped and then he was frightened, which the aconite helped and this remedy can really calm the body and it can heal the body. It definitely is great for wounds and fright. So I love your go to and I usually give it when I think my dog is having an issue that I really can't figure it out and so I give them that Homeopathic Arnica and Aconite So check out your go to and that is found@adoredbeast.com and that's Adored Beast Apothecary your go to thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app. And don't forget, sharing is caring. So if you love Dogs Are Individuals podcast, share it with your friends and family who love dogs. This will help me so much. And remember, as a listener, I appreciate you much. Thanks to Resonant Media, my podcast production team. This podcast is produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. Any questions, email the show, go to k9herbalist.com Click podcast contact in the menu and then fill out that form and I'll answer any questions here online. Okay, so thank you so much for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals Podcast and I'm going to talk to you in our next episode. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for veterinary care. This podcast doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor, veterinarian or healthcare provider first before starting anything new and that includes herbs. I'm not a doctor and I don't treat disease or prescribe anything. I'm a traditional herbalist providing herbal support education only. Regarding any products I may suggest the statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here on the podcast is not meant as a substitute or alternative to information from your vet. Please consult your veterinary professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product.