Lymphatic System - Mini Episode

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 the Dogs Are Individuals podcast. Hello, my name is Rita Hocan, and we are doing a short session today. We're going to talk about the lymphatic system, and more people should be talking about the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system does two things. It helps drain the ecosystem of your dog, and it works to clean up and defend your dog's immune system. So basically, it gets rid of wastes, and it also helps neutralize toxins and. And give nutrition to your dog's cells. So the lymph system is the. I would say the forgotten component of the immune system. It protects the body by filtering out harmful waste as it returns circulating fluids back into the blood. So the lymphatic system consists of these venous tubules that flow in one direction only. And these start out as these small capillaries and work their way into a large vascular system. So the lymph system has lymph nodes which clean and filter the fluid that passes through the entire system. And that fluid is called lymph. So we have lymph fluid, and then we have lymph nodes, and then we have the venous system of the lymph tubes. The lymph system has these sets of highly permeable lymphatic capillaries, and they bring in material from between the cells, which is called the matrix, and it's also called interstitial fluid. The lymph system can trap things like pus, dead cells, pathogens, metabolic wastes, which are just waste from your dog kind of being alive. And the most important thing to remember is that the lymphatic system doesn't have a pump. There's nothing pumping these wastes through the lymphatic system or the nutrition. The blood system is a little different than the lymphatic system. And the lymphatic system has to be manually stimulated through exercise, movement, and herbs. So the lymph vessels really only travel again in one, one way. And the lymph fluid travels through the system slowly. So There are over 100 lymph nodes in your dog's body. These are these little stopping points where the immune system gives all of that liquid a check. These types of lymph nodes can swell when your dog is fighting an infection. And through this process called a process called phagocytosis, lymph nodes take in pathogens and break them down into these harmless wastes before releasing them back into the lymph system. Lymph nodes are really like small organs of the lymphatic system, and they contain these cells called lymphocytes. And these lymphocytes work with the immune system, determining what types of threats your dog is having to deal with, for example, bacteria and viruses. And as an herbalist, I have to keep in mind that the lymph system, I mean, basically I have to keep the lymph system in mind whenever I'm working with a dog, because using herbs, we don't want to trap toxins in the body. We want to stimulate the lymphatic system so it can process and filter lymph fluid. So stimulation also increases the production of these lymphophatic cells, lymphocytes, which helps your dog fight infection. And the lymphatic system works with your dog's organ, like the spleen and the liver, as well as the microbiome, which is the gut based immune system. The spleen is part of the lymphatic system. And when the spleen is swollen, it usually indicates issues with lymphatic drainage. So a healthy lymphatic system helps ensure a strong immune system. The lymphatic system is definitely one of the major players against stagnation, which is like stagnant energy, a slowing down of everything in the body when energy gets stuck and fluid can accumulate in the tissues and create slow elimination and the processing of toxic waste. And that also can slow down the assimilation of nutrients in the gut. So western medicine doesn't put much emphasis on the lymphatic system. But as holistic herbalists and holistic practitioners, me being, you know, one of them, it's a really important system of the dog as ecosystem model, which I follow. The lymphatic system helps process fats and oils in the body by absorbing fats and minerals from the small intestine, where there's a high amount of immune response of lymph tissue. And it gets filtered through the lymph tubules, where the immune system, or basically immune cells. These lymphocytes are standing by to process any pathogens. They're taking care of your dog and they're taking care of you. After the lymph fluid gets processed, it returns to the blood and to the liver. It's definitely a dual system of waste elimination and nourishment. And as part of the circulatory system and the immune system. The lymphatics is basically broken down into, again, the lymphatic fluid, the lymphatic nodes, or checkpoints, the tissues of the lymphatic system and the vessels. And remember, your dog is an ecosystem. And the cool thing about the ecosystem is that it adapts. This is also true of your dog's lymph system. It works with the immune system to imprint incoming stimulus or stimuli, and it learns to create antibodies with the spleen to overcome certain pathogens. Again, the spleen is the largest part of the lymph system, as it helps keep circulating fluids moving while it holds blood along with the liver. And the spleen is part of the lymph system's kind of duplicity in that it directs wastes and it nourishes the body. But the good thing is, is the lymph nodes know the difference between nourishment and toxins, so it lets nourishment pass while keeping toxins back to neutralize them. Another way the lymphatic system adapts is through the small intestine and the information it receives there. So the villa, these little hairs that kind of move around in the small intestine feed the lymph system, and they absorb nutrients, fats, oils, and lymph fluid. And as a ruler of your dog's kind of internal waters, the lymph system is much like a regulating system for fats, oils, blood, water, you know, and the moisture element of the body, because everything is connected. And it's an amazing, intricate system that just moves along in the background, Cleaning and nourishing, cleaning and nourishing. And the only time we really think about it is when there's a problem. And that needs to change. We need to think about the lymphatic system when there isn't a problem. And the lymphatic system can get a lot more complicated than that. But we want to think about stimulating the lymphatic system as we come into the fall season, because it's so important for the lymphatic system to keep moving. And that's where herbs come in. We can use herbs like cleavers and calendula in tincture form or in tea form. Cleavers needs to be a cold tea. You can do dried cleavers in cold tea water and let it sit overnight, or calendula as a tincture, cleavers as a tincture, and you're just going to give. As a tincture, you're going to give 1 drop for extra small dogs, 2 drops for small dogs, 3 drops for medium dogs, 4 drops for large dogs and 5 drops for extra large dogs. You're going to give that twice a day in the mouth or dripped on a treat. You can also use tea. You just give a size appropriate liquid like for the bowl, cover their dog food size appropriate and do that twice a day during this fall season to keep the lymphatics flowing. That's it. That's the short short. So I will see you again in the next episode and I hope you enjoyed this short session on the Lymphatics. Take care. Thanks for listening to this episode of Dogs Are Individuals. If you enjoyed this episode, please please leave a review in your podcast app. And don't forget, sharing is caring. So if you love dogs or 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.