Splenectomy

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. Hi, everyone, this is Rita Hogan, host of the Dogs Are Individuals podcast. Welcome to the podcast. This week we are just chugging along here in this podcast journey. I'm loving it. I hope you guys are too. Today we are gonna talk about splenectomies. I had someone write into the podcast and ask some really interesting questions about their dog after a splenectomy. And I decided to dedicate a podcast episode to splenectomy. But first, I wanna thank my sponsor, realmushrooms.com I carry real mushrooms in my store@k nineherbalist.com and you can also purchase mushrooms for yourself and your dog or cat@restemushrooms.com or in my store. So, reishi mushroom. I wanted to go over reishi mushroom because it's such a great mushroom for the wintertime, and since it's, I would say it's warming, slightly warming to warming for most dogs. Remember, dogs are individual and how they react to things are individual. But inside the realm of canine energetics, reishi is warming. And in wintertime, a lot of dogs that can't necessarily tolerate reishi on a consistent basis in, like, the summer months or the late spring, late summer, early fall, they can tolerate it in wintertime, especially in cold climates. I just have found that to be kind of true over the last couple decades that I've been doing this. So reishi, its Latin name is ganderma lucidium. And just a couple things about reishi, I've talked about it before, but you're gonna use the fruiting body. Sometimes I mix it with the mycelium. With real mushrooms, you're gonna get pure fruiting body. Reishi has kind of a downward movement, and that's kind of the movement of wintertime inward and downward towards the kidneys. It has a systemic effect, meaning that it moves through the body. It's really excellent for those dogs that need restoration. It's very restorative, especially on the liver. It decreases histamines, it decreases oxidation, which brings down free radicals, which gives your liver a break and helps it detoxify chemicals and foods and everything it needs to do during the day and evening, it helps it because the less free radicals it's producing, the better. And reishi brings down inflammation, and we can all use that. So a little Thing about Reishi is that it's drying, and I would view it a little more balancing because it nourishes the body. It's full of vitamins and minerals and beta glucans. It also has an affinity towards the nervous system, which is wonderful for this time of year for ourselves and for our dogs, because they're stressed when we're stressed. So that's a little bit about Reishi. So check it out@restemushrooms.com and you can also purchase those things in my store. Let's talk about spleens and actually the removal of spleens. Splenectomies are, well, getting very common in dogs these days. So I just wanted to take a look and kind of explain a splenectomy both, you know, allopathically and holistically. I'm sure you've heard before. But I have a viewpoint looking at the a person and a dog as an ecosystem, and everything's connected. So I think a comprehension, understanding of the connection between the spleen and other organs is required when considering kind of effective dietary or herbal support choices. And so first, let's look at the allopathic view of the spleen. So your spleen is, well, your dog's spleen is located right below the stomach, and it's full of, well, what would be called highly vascular, but it's full of veins, it's rich in blood. It consists of like two types of tissue which are referred to as red and white pulp. I know, kind of weird. The spleen is an integral part of your dog's immune system and their body's blood production because it uses this red pulp tissue for processing red blood cells, and it also stores excess blood, and that provides a lot of support when kind of like Gondor calls for aid. Right. For those of you Lord of the Rings fan, but actually when the body calls for aid. So the spleen circulates red blood cells and it sorts out all these older cells, which are called erythrocytes. And like the kidneys, the spleen filters the blood, but it also creates new blood cells, and it does this through the bone marrow. And then those red blood cells kind of circulate throughout the body, and that's through the vascular system, which is, you know, the veins and arteries. And the lymphatic system produces white blood cells called lymphocytes. And it does this through the spleen and this white pulp. So the spleen is part of the immune system, and a lot of people don't realize that. So when the splenectomy When a splenectomy happens, you're losing part of your immune system, and your dog is losing parts of its immune system. So that's basically, I would say, an allopathic view of the spleen. So let's look at the spleen holistically from a western herbalism kind of standpoint, Holistic anatomy. So many people don't again, realize there's an immune component. There's a lymphatic component, there's a digestive component of the spleen. It's all involved. And then you can add in the musculoskeletal system, because the. It. It helps keep the muscles, tendons, and ligaments moist, along with the kidneys. So you're going to lose moisture in those areas, and you're gonna need extra moisture when there's a splenectomy. So the spleen works with the immune system, and it imprints these blood chemicals and pathogens, and it creates antibodies for your dog's body to use in the future. So when there's a pathogen and it's recognized by the immune system as, like, kind of a, you know, an invader, the spleen helps create these antibodies that destroy pathogens, and it works with the lymphatic system as well. So when your dog doesn't have a spleen, they have a much higher risk of pathogenic overgrowth. So you want to look at that as well. It's another component of how to support your dog when they have a splenectomy. So when your dog's spleen is actually removed, the kidneys, the liver, the lymphatic system, they take on a bigger load for helping the body compensate. And I would say that the immune system is pretty severely compromised. And it does need support, because without a spleen, your dog. I mean, like I said, your dog's risk of infection goes way up. But don't fret, because I have seen a lot of dogs live pretty healthy lives without a spleen and live, you know, a long time. So I look back at a lot of my splenectomy cases, and I've written about the spleen before, too, and just kind of compiling a list, there's a few things that you have to worry about when your dog has splenectomy. And these are things I would say are in the first six months to a year. So they're very high, susceptible to nausea, thin stools, diarrhea, like alternating with constipation, lethargy, fatigue, like I said before, an increased risk of infection. They can have A loss of appetite, they can get more dry. Dry lips, dry gums, dry skin, dandruff. They can also get excess dampness in the form of lipomas because the lymphatic system is going to get more stagnant if it's not supported. And a lot of people don't even know what the lymphatic system is. I was speaking in San Diego a few months ago, and I asked the audience if they knew what the lymphatic system was. And out of like 200 people, one person raised her hand and we'll talk about that later. But we should be shouting lymphatic health from the rooftops because it really does keep our bodies and our dog's bodies. Well, it's, you know, one facet of that. So almost all splenetic dogs, I would say, are cooler after surgery, and that can balance out, but their energetics go down considerably as far as cool. So if your dog is cool, it's going to gravitate more towards cold. And if your dog is really warm, it's probably going to not be so hot. And like I said, this can balance out. But from the first six months to a year, you want to take that into consideration. Kind of observe your dog and see how they're doing. And, you know, what does that look like? Seeking warmth, trying to sleep under blankets, becoming more inactive, becoming more intolerant to cold weather. So if your dog had a spleen removed in like, say, winter time, it's going to be, you know, it's going to be harder on them. So splenectic dogs, they sometimes have, you know, like I said, less appetite and they can lose weight, and keeping weight on them can be an issue for that first year. And then you again, you might get increased infections, you might get more lethargy and fatigue, because as the body cools down, energy decreases and that vitality decreases, the vital force decreases and everything just kind of, you know. And that type of condition energetically is really great for pathogenic overgrowth because as the metabolism falls, so does the ability to move wastes. And so we have to take in consideration bacteria, viruses, fungi, candida, overgrowth. These are things that can happen with dogs that have a spleen removal. So what do we do? What do we do? Well, I'm happy to answer that question for I believe her name was Roxy. Roxy, if you're listening, this is to answer your question, what type of herbal support can help with splenectomies? First and foremost, you want to deal with diet, okay? And there's lots of plants in diets. So you want to deal with diet and you want to get together with someone that can help you with a diet and troubleshoot what you might wanna give your dog. Atolosplenectomy. I recommend cooked food and digestive enzymes, probiotics, sometimes Saccharomyces bolidarti. If your dog already has digestive issues in that first year and then I've seen dogs go back to raw after that and then, you know, if they are getting a kibble diet, I would highly recommend switching to a fresh food diet. There there's companies like Green Juju that can offer a lot of support through their products. There is like All Provide which is an lightly cooked food company, dog food company. You can, you know, cook your own. There's people like Monica Siegel, Katherine Lane and let's see, Neely Piazza. I work with her a lot. There's a lot of nutritionists out there. So I should probably start making a list of them and keeping it on my website. So I'll probably do that. There's keep the tail wagging. Kimberly Gaultier. She has a lot of experience in fresh food feeding and dogs. So there's some resources out there. There's Dogs Naturally magazine, there's Dr. Judy Morgan. She has a recipe called Puploaf. There's Adored Beast. There's lots of resources that you can use to learn how to cook for your dogs. But let's talk about herbs. So step one, you want to stimulate the lymphatic system. So I've been talking about that and you definitely want to stimulate the lymphatic system. So why? Because we want to avoid circulating toxins building up because the immune system is being compromised. So we want to get the lymphatic system circulating, we want to stimulate it, we want to move it, we want to decrease stagnation within the dog as ecosystem. So the best way to do this is make sure your dog's getting at least 30 minutes of consistent age appropriate movement each day. And we can all use that. Right. And support the lymphatics with herbs. So for almost all splenectic dogs, the herbs that I start out with are calendula or cleavers depending if the dog is warm or cool. Calendula for cool dogs and cleavers for warm dogs. We're going to lean towards calendula in this case because of that cooling down you don't need a lot. I use a tincture for this. Calendula is very tincture oriented because it's really high in Resins, you need alcohol to dissolve those resins and you only need a little bit. And for those of you that are worried about giving your dogs alcohol, which is another conversation, but if you are worried about it, just give your dog powdered milk thistle while you're giving your dog the alcohol. Milk thistle helps protect the liver from alcohol. And we are talking about minuscule amounts of alcohol. There's more alcohol in a ripe banana. A piece of ripe banana. So but in the banana you get all that fiber and you get the flavor, so you don't really taste the alcohol. We'll definitely talk about alcohol on one of my like shorts episode. Let's get into calendula. So what's the dosage? And remember, always visit your vet for more information on these types of things. And what I'm saying here does not equal the replacement of good holistic veterinary care. So dosage Calendula, we've got extra small dogs. One drop. That's one single little drop. And you can mix it with a little water and syringe it in the mouth. It's important that you put it in the mouth, not in the food. If you have to, like, if your dog's gonna bite your arm off, fine, drip it on a treat, give it in, get it on, give it on a treat. But I prefer that it gets absorbed into the bloodstream. So two drops for small dogs, three drops for medium, four for large, and five for extra large dogs. Like a Irish wolfhound. Okay, not a lot. You're going to give that twice a day and then that's going to help stimulate the lymphatic system. And then remember, age appropriate exercise. So step two, let's support the immune system because a big part of it is has disappeared. So a splenectic dog's immune system definitely needs constant support for the rest of their lives. And feeding a fresh food diet, helping the immune system work better can go a long way. Giving superfoods greens. Like I said, if you don't want to get involved with that kind of stuff, you can go to companies like Green Juju and add things from their line to your dog's food if they're energetically appropriate. And if you don't know what I'm talking about as far as energetically appropriate, see my website@k9herbalism.com and take my energetics course. It's fabulous and you will love it. So one of the remedies I use for immune support in splenectic dogs is a remedy called black currant phytoembryonic therapy or general therapy. It's an anti inflammatory that uses plant stem cells to help support the immune system at a cellular level. And that's what we really need with splenectomies. You don't want to use it too much on a dog that's had a history of seizures. So we might want to find something else to do with that. Like phytoplankton is a good, is a good answer for immune health. You can use that Adored beast carries that and then. But if you can use the blackcurrant, it's wonderful. And I sell that in my store. You can also get it online. There's a 1 to 200 and that's called a general therapy. And that dosage is extra small dogs. We're gonna do six drops small dogs, 10 drops medium dogs, about 15 drops large dogs, about 20. In extra large dogs, about 25 drops two to three times a day in the first three months. And then you can drop down to two times a day in like six months to a year. You want to get some guidance for this. You don't want to like go out on your own and just try to like manage all this. But this is a good option. And then there is a stronger dose called, I mean remedy for black currant called a mother dose. I carry that one in my store as well. And you don't need as much. Extra small dogs are like one drop. And an extra small dog is like a chihuahua, like a teacup chihuahua, and a small dog like a pug. I would say two drops, two to three drops medium dogs, three to five drops large dogs, five to six, seven drops just in between there and. And then no more than 10 drops for an extra large dog twice a day normally, if not three times again right after they get their spleen removed. Another good herb is astrologous. And astrologous is warming. Like calendula and blackcurrant. It increases the appetite, it helps with stress, and it supports the immune system. It helps splenectic dogs get rid of a lot of those wastes that are building up. And you can use this herb in either a tincture or an herbal powder. So a tincture dosage would be extra small, one small, two medium, four, three or four large, five to six extra large dogs, seven to eight drops twice a day. And that's in the mouth. And you can dilute that with a little water and syringe it, drip it on a treat. Dried herb, you're gonna do about 40 to 50 milligrams for every 10 pounds of weight, and that's given twice daily with the food. There's a lot of other good immune support out there. Mushrooms are excellent immune support. We talked about reishi mushroom. Almost all the mushrooms, the cordyceps, the reishis, the shiitake, the maitake, the turkey tail, the. The chaga, those are all really good support, immune support things, herbs and substances like, you know, mushrooms. But you want to make sure those mushrooms are well indicated for your individual dog. And I would probably pick turkey tail if you didn't know anything about your dog's energetics or if your dog is real cool. Cordyceps is good. And then chaga mushroom. I like to use chaga for things that need antioxidants and quickly. Chaga's super high in antioxidants, so you can use chaga mushroom for that. Make sure your chaga mushroom has come from an ethical source because it is endangered in many areas. And also, I like pinus pinastor, which is maritime pine bark. You can use that as a powder. And it's about 150 milligrams for a small dog. I would say 250 to 3 for a medium dog or like a pug. And a medium dog would be like 400mg large dog, 500mg twice a day, and extra large dog between 500 and 800mg twice a day. Maritime pine bark is extremely high in antioxidants. That's gonna help with pathogens. It's gonna help with oxidation and help the liver do its job. Okay, so then we need to support elimination, and we want to open up the elimination channels when we're dealing with splenectomies. So supporting elimination can be a part of the diet as well as supplementing with herbs. And when you're looking at elimination support, you want to make sure that it's supporting the liver and digestion and gallbladder. So I love burdock root for that. Burdock root supports the body's detoxification systems and it increases the elimination of waste. So it adds moisture. It helps the body process fats and oils. Suggested dosage is given twice daily. You can use a tincture. Extra small dogs would be 2 drops small, 3 medium, 6 medium large, 8 extra large dogs, 10 dogs twice a day. Or you can use a dried herb at about 150 milligrams for every 10 pounds of body weight. With food, you could do between like, I would say 75 and 100 if you wanted to like be careful with the dosage. So it just depends on your dog. And you know, you can get some, some coaching around that from an herbalist or a holistic vet on how much burdock root you can give your dog. Dogs are individuals, so that's just kind of a general guide. In the first couple months. I like to give walnut, which is Junglin's regia. And I want to make sure that you understand I'm talking about a gemotherapy for this. That is your 1 to 200. You can get it in my store, you can get it at Lauren Hooblet's store. You can google it. It'll probably come in like a 2 ounce to 4 ounce bottle. It's antibacterial, it's antifungal, it's anti inflammatory, it's anti parasitic, it's a stem cell remedy, it's homeopathic and it supports elimination and it systemically strengthens the body. And that's what you need in those first three months after the splenectomy. You can give it twice daily, extra small dog, three drops small dog, five to six drops, medium dog, eight to 10 drops, large dog, 12 to 15 drops. And extra large dog would be about 20 drops. And that's two to three times a day for the first three months. And then you can give dosages probably twice weekly for maintenance. And again, that's the one to 200 gemo therapy of walnut, not the full plant tincture. Now there's a lot of ways, other ways that we can support dogs with splenectomies. And these are just kind of a way to start out. And there are many, many herbs to support the immune system. There's many, many herbs to support the digestive system. One of the things that I feel that is very important for all dogs that get a splenectomy is the use of digestive enzymes. Because digestive enzymes are our first kind of like our first line of defense against pathogens. So if a dog does not have healthy digestive enzyme production, we need to add those enzymes, especially if they're getting cooked food. And we want healthy, healthy digestive enzyme levels when dogs have a splenectomy because they need that to destroy pathogens. So definitely be adding digestive enzymes into the diet. And another thing, never overlook stress. So having an organ removed is highly stressful for your dog and for yourself. You could use rescue remedy flower essence three times a day for about a month after the surgery. You can use Homeopathic Arnica 30C daily. You can Also use remedies like Skull cap, which you'd use a tincture and 2 drops for extra small dogs, 4 drops for small dogs, 6 drops for medium, 8 drops for large and 10 drops for extra large dogs twice a day and can be used three times a day. Another remedy that's really good for after splenectomy is CBD oil. Cannabis sativa. I carry a bunch of CBD oil in my store. I carry CBD Dog Health and my brand of CBD that comes from Colorado, it's organic. Make sure that no matter what CBD you're using, make sure it is organic. Do not use non organic cannabis products. CBD can offer a lot of benefit there. It supports the immune system, it binds to cannabinoid receptors in the body, it helps the digestive system, the nervous system. So that's really good to use. You can use Passion Flower if. If your dog is more on the cold side. I think Passion Flower is more beneficial if they are still pretty warm. California Poppy works well given a few times a day in the same dosages as pretty much the Skull cap. I like to use tinctures, but you can use powders for Passion Flower tincture for California Poppy. You can use a glycerit, which is a glycerin extract for Passion Flower and California Poppy if you want. And I think that's about it. I mean, it's a big deal. Diet is everything. Keeping weight on these dogs is really important. They can have problems with assimilation, so make sure you're looking at that. They need a lot of love after that spleen is removed. And again, sometimes they're. Vets will. Allopathic vets will recommend like antibiotics constantly after a spleen is removed. And I definitely would not do that. I would only use antibiotics if you absolutely need to because it's going to further bring the health down of your dog. And we don't want to do that. There's lots of natural remedies that you can use to keep pathogens from basically overgrowth. And calendula is one of those things. The Walnut Gemotherapy is another. There's a lot of wonderful things that, you know, maybe we'll do a podcast episode on, you know, keeping pathogens at bay. But strong stomach acid is really important. Okay, so that's it for the splenectomy. I mean, just a really brief summary of some of the things that you'll have to deal with and some of the things that you need to do to support your dog, especially in those first few months. I Think that's about it. If you want to write into the podcast and ask a question, go to k9herbalist.com and write into the podcast. I want to thank my sponsor, Adored Beast for sponsoring my podcast and allowing me to do this like podcast every other week in the full format. And on the opposite weeks in my shorts I have a new sponsor, Real Dog Box, and I'm going to tell you about those little peeps that I adore on my next short. So one remedy that I love during the winter time from Adored Beast is their Easy peasy protocol. And the reason why I'm kind of highlighting this remedy from Adored Beast is that the winter time rules the kidneys. And for those dogs that are prone to urinary tract infections and urinary tract imbalances, it is a wonderful time to support and treat the kidney with herbs and homeopathics so that you're strengthening the kidney throughout the wintertime. And Adored Beast Easy Peasy has a lovely homeopathic remedy called Easy Peasy One and it's mix of hydrangea and berberis in water and glycerin. And I really love that remedy for helping prepare the renal system and strengthening it and basically bringing more vitality to that area and circulation. And then we have the ECPZ 2, which is like a nutraceutical powder and it's a blend of cranberry, dimanose, N acetyl, glucosamine, marshmallow root, uva, ursi, nettle leaf, and I believe larch, arabanin, galactin. I'm not really good at pronouncing that, but those herbs and nutraceuticals are really excellent for supporting and strengthening the kidney. And that's what you wanna do during the wintertime. You want to strengthen the kidney. So even if your dogs don't have a kidney problem, there's nothing wrong with going ahead and acting like they do during the wintertime. And now I'm talking about dogs prone to kidney issues. Okay, prone to kidney issues. If you just want to go ahead and support the kidney in winter, use like a nettle infusion or rotate a nettle or parsley infusion. Those are good ways to support the kidneys. That's what I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed it again. Thanks my sponsors, realmushrooms.com and adoredbeast.com 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.