Understanding the Dog's Immune System & How Herbs Can Support It: With Rita Hogan, Canine Herbalist

Okay, so welcome to Wholesome Dog. We're joined by Rita Hogan, canine herbalist, for tonight. If you could please add, put your questions in the chat, and as we go along, I'll feed those questions to Rita. We are recording this for tonight, and so we will be posting it on our YouTube channel in the coming days. So without further ado, Rita, welcome.

Hi. Hello. How are you? Hi, everybody.

You're great now that you're here. So thank you for joining us.

I am so welcome. I, I. You're so welcome. I'm so glad I'm here. I love talking about these types of things, as you know, and I'm glad to spend some time with everyone.

All right. And if you want, while we're getting set it, feel free to just put in the chat where you're from, what kind of dogs you have. If this is your first time learning about herbs for your dog, or, or perhaps you're a current or former student of Rita's. She does teach classes. We'll talk a little bit more about ways that you can learn more from her, including her upcoming book that we're so excited about out later this year.

So.

So, Rita, tell us all of the things or whatever the things you want to share tonight, because I'm sure you could spend days talking about it, about our dogs, their immune and lymphatic system, and herbs, and how all of these things work, particularly in the fight against cancer.

Yeah. So for those of that you don't know me, I am a canine herbalist. I'm not the canine herbalist. I'm a canine herbalist. There's other others of us out there, a few trained by me, and I work out of Olympia, Washington, and I do a lot of formulating and consulting and teaching and writing and a whole bunch of stuff, alternate herbs. I've been doing this for over two decades. It's my passion, and I'm happy to share it with you. So I think the theme here is cancer this month. Right. And I happen to be a cancer survivor, so I can talk firsthand about cancer and what it is and how you should deal with it in your dogs. And more coming up from a preventative mindset versus a reactionary mindset. And one of the ways that we can deal with that is through the lymphatic system. So we're going to talk about that. I'm going to give you some herbal tips tonight, but I really would like you to walk away knowing what the lymphatic system is and knowing how it works, because one of the things about the lymphatic system is a lot of people don't even know it exists. They don't know what it is. They don't know how important it is, how it is integral for avoiding cancer and dealing with cancer and curing cancer. So I think that it's a really good subject to talk about tonight, and I'm hoping that I can answer your questions and you'll definitely walk away knowing what it is and how important it is. So let's just start talking about it. I'm going to share my screen for a little while. And you know, Julian, if you have questions, just interrupt me and I'll just stop sharing my screen for a minute and answer questions and go back. Okay, excellent. So if someone has an imperative question, we can. We can go there. So I really want you to see what the lymphatic system looks like. And here it is. And so again, a lot of people don't realize that the lymphatic system is here. And one of the most important things is these are a bunch of nodes and vessels, right? And then you map over the venous system, which has all your veins and arteries, and then you can map over the nervous system. And our bodies are just filled with all of these little networks of things that come together as one, because everything is connected to the body. There are no separate parts. But this particular component is the lymphatic system. And you have these little nodes here, and I will tell you how they work. But the lymphatic system goes down into the tail, not to the end, but goes into the tail. And it's pretty much everywhere else you can think of, including the eyes. So one of the things about the lymphatic system is one of my mentors who is named Matthew Wood. He said the most amazing, amazing things to me when I was learning about the lymphatic system. And that is the lymphatic system is the vehicle through which the immune system acts. And if you take that in, you know, people are always saying, well, we need to boost the immune system. We need to modulate the immune system. We need to up the immune system. The immune system needs to improve. Right, but how do we actually do that? And the immune system is what keeps dogs and people from getting cancer. And if I mention anything about people, I'm applying it to both dogs and people because they're pretty interchangeable in this conversation. The lymphatic system is the vehicle through which the immune system acts. And that's what you kind of need to Understand. And some of you may say being like, what? Like, I didn't even know the lymphatic system was there. I didn't know it was important. Like, what is this? What. How does it work? And that's what I really want you to walk away with tonight, like, understanding that this is in the background of your dog and yourself and it needs help. And our lymphatic systems are so stagnant these days because we live such a. We live a more of a sedentary lifestyle. A dog only gets about 15 minutes of exercise here in the United States a day, which is a travesty. Right?

That's really. That's the statistic.

Yes. Less than. Less than 15 minutes on average. And some people, because of our hurried, stressful schedules, will literally come home from work, let them out in the morning to go pee, come home from work, let them out before they sit down for dinner.

Yeah.

And then let them out again when they go to bed. And it's a go out, come back in. Oh, it's freezing. Go out, come back in. You know, and a lot of dogs, that's it. Unless they run around the house. You know, little Chihuahuas maybe might be able to get their game on around the house. If you have a big house. Right, right. But, you know, look at, like, a Great Dane, a, a. A Labrador retriever. And there's actually more, larger dogs than there are small dogs in this country. I can't speak to other places, but a lot of people, if you travel outside this country, you're going to see dogs get more exercise and be outside more. But here in the United States, we have a big problem. So there's. The lymphatic system really deals with stagnation. And if you look at this slide. Right. If you look at. Oh, I don't know what I just did. Oh, hold on. If you look at this slide, these are all the things that lymphatic system deals with. And a stagnant, which means a very slow lymphatic system has a tie in with all of these issues. And if you look at them, they're pretty much all the things that our dogs are dealing with. You know, I don't need to, you know, if you want to take a snapshot of this, this slide, you know, cancer, which we're talking about today, liver enzymes, which can be a component of cancer. Anxiety. I can tell you whenever someone has cancer or a dog has cancer, there is always an emotional component. The nervous system is always at play. And some people can say, well, my Dog's not stressed. But my question is, is how stressed are you? Because our stress is their stress. And their stress may not always be our stress. They may have stress that we don't even know about. Like when their dog's stuck under the, when their ball's stuck under the couch for two days and no one knows. Right. They're stressing out about it. But like our hurried lifestyle completely affects and bleeds over into our dogs. So we want to look at that. You know, I had a client this week who has a very, a dog with like colitis, has a lot of nausea. And I had him a few weeks ago track how his day was compared to the flare ups of his dog. And they, they were one to one, completely coincided. Right. You know, he's got distress.

Yeah. And I, I will also testify to that. Is, and I tell this to, to folks all the time. Like, our dogs are some of the biggest empaths out there. You know, we already know that they know when we're not feeling well or when we're stressed. But I don't think people often take into consideration that the physical ramifications that our stress has on our dogs. Right. And, and it's not just the ramification. Oh, they're worried about us. Like there's, it's a whole physiological manifestation. Right. Whether it's in the gut or it's in the nervous system or, or whatever. So thank you. And also feel free to repeat yourself because I tell people all the time, I say if you, you know, you have to maintain your own mental health and if you don't do it for yourself, you need to do it for your dog. Right. Or your cat.

Absolutely. And I think a lot of people just are living too much of a stagnant lifestyle because when you get, when you have a moment of fight or flight, or when you have a moment of high anxiety, something happens where you're like, oh my God. And it can be something really great and it could be something really, really terrible that kind of disrupts you.

Yeah.

If you just sit around the house or lay down or sit on the couch, that energy has nowhere to go. And so you got to get out, move your body so that the energy can get out. Or practice, you know, mind body connection like qigong or meditation to also calm down that nervous system response. But for our dogs, we really need to get them outside and get them moving. Age appropriate exercise, but just breathing fresh air can help a lot. So you'll see that, you know, the lymphatic system ties in With a lot of these issues. And a lot of these issues are immune issues, they are nervous system issues. And again, everything's connected. So the more that you can look at the body as a whole and as an ecosystem, the better you will get at navigating disease in general and chronic to toxicity. So that's just another little view of, of the lymphatic system after we just spoke about like how much it's tied into all of these chronic conditions that we have. And you can, as you can see, it's everywhere. And the, the thing is, is it functions as a unit. So you know, like this vein, this system over here, okay, is not a vessel, is not separate from this over here. It functions as a unit. If it's clogged up in one area, it's going to put pressure on everything else and again, everything's connected. So it's a dual, it's a two way or I'm sorry, a one way, two way system. So it's a one way dual system. And that means that transports pathogens. Okay. But it also is responsible for these ones right here, these fat soluble vitamins. It's a fat soluble nutrition based network. Okay. So it's how you feed it is part of how you're going to feed the cells. But these guys right here, speaking of cancer, okay, Vitamin A, vitamin D, E and K. This little guy right here, vitamin D and vitamin K. I guarantee you if you have a dog with cancer, they will be low in vitamin D. When I had cancer, my vitamin D levels were 18%.

Well, and, and Rita aren't many. Most dogs, I'm going to go out in one and say most and it doesn't matter if they're, they're almost all, all kibble fed dogs are likely deficient in vitamin D, but also a good number of raw fed dogs as well. Like if it's, if you're not actively maintaining a fresh source that's, you know, like a cod liver oil or something like that. Aren't many dogs under or like deficient in vitamin D just. Yes, to begin with.

They absolutely are. And stress will bring down vitamin D. And the stagnant lymphatic system is a huge reason for low vitamin D levels. Because it's not, it doesn't. Just because you put something in a dog's mouth does not mean it gets absorbed.

Right.

That's what people need to understand. Like it just doesn't get absorbed. If you have a stagnant lymphatic system, it's going to be a lot Lower. And we need these macro vitamins in our dog's life. Now, I always recommend people get their dog tested before they start giving certain vitamins. And you want to give vitamin D with a fat, but because it's fat soluble, and then it's also responsible for fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are not going to be absorbed and transported to the cells where they need to go. If the. The lymphatic system is stagnant. And then you look at all the other things, it is responsible for destroying viruses, bacteria, pathogens. Okay. And it's. Again, it is a system of vessels with nodes. And I'll talk about these nodes in a minute. But vessels with nodes, that's really just important to keep in there. And it interacts with the liver, the kidneys, the urinary system, the large intestine and the stool, the like. And it goes, obviously, as you see from the photo that I shared, it goes everywhere. So the lymphatic system is a huge part of the immune system. And it's not just those nodes and vessels because it interacts with what is called lymphatic organs, and I'll talk about those briefly. And it also interacts with the circulatory system, the heart system, the, the veins and arteries, and the nervous system. So when we put everything together, we have almost every system. Well, basically every system inside your dog's body has a lymphatic component. And the lymphatic. Lymphatic system will clean the immune system. It's going to strengthen it. It offers nutrition and cleansing to every cell in the body. Well, almost every cell. And it's responsible for removing waste and cancer is toxicity. It is physical toxicity and emotional toxicity. And for me, the emotional component is not separate from the physical component. I was just writing something for my course today, and I was mentioning that when you have. I was discussing dogs as an ecosystem and that concept, and it's really how I kind of drive things for my practice. And you know, as a person, if someone, if you're having a hard time mentally, if you're having some mental anguish, some depression, anxiety, things like that, people send you to a psychiatrist or a therapist. And as much as that's going to help you to kind of to release certain emotions, a lot of that is driven nutritionally.

Yeah.

And so, you know, that's a real failure to what is happening in this country. And I'm going to be doing an anxiety workshop. And it's pretty interesting. The nutritional component to anxiety and also the microbiome and different toxins in our environment that increase histamine almost 80% that a lot of people don't even know that they're interacting with. So the lymphatic system, again, is responsible for removing a lot of those toxins. So how do you know if your dog has signs of lymphatic congestion? Cancer is a big one. Early aging. If you look at the onset of early aging in dogs right now and them showing signs of congestion, it's rampant. And then, so, like, early graying is definitely a sign of lymphatic congestion and also nutritional deficiencies and stress, parasitic infections. You know, you can look at the list here. Dementia, lipoma, itching, arthritis, obesity, stiffness, food sensitivities, autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disease is really tied in with lymphatic stagnation. There. High liver enzymes. You know, so many things that our dogs, again, are dealing with. And it's. Everything is connected. So we always have to think about the lymphatic system and what it's doing. And again, this is what should be being. Being shouted from the rooftops. And it's not. No one's even talking about it. So. And I know when I learned about the lymphatic system from my teachers, it was one of those components that just blew up my practice. Like, oh, my God. And working with the lymphatics before you start detoxing, you know, you'll see people with like, detox, detox, detox, detox. Well, one of the problems with detoxing and one of the questions I get from a lot of raw feeders is, my dog's raw fed. I don't understand why he's getting lipomas. One is that he's too damp. Number two, there's stagnation. And number three, we're not working with the dog's lymphatics. And a lot of times these dogs don't get a lot of exercise. They might be fed the best food on the planet, but they're not getting fresh air, they're not getting exercise, they're not getting mental stimulation, and a lot of them are high anxiety. So we really want to come together and get that mentality that the lymphatics are always at play. And we can't detox the body until we get these lymphatics moving, because it will trap. It will trap toxins in the body. And the body is beautiful in that it forms a tumor to help save your life and wall off toxins, because the liver can't handle it. The liver cannot Handle it. And when you have a stagnant lymphatic system, you have a high probability for a stagnant liver. Here's a few more things you know, and sebaceous cyst, wart skin, lung congestion, greasy skin, leaky gut, acid reflux, trouble digesting fats. You get fats in the stool and yeast overgrowth, which is a huge problem for a lot of dogs. Another little view of the lymphatic system. Just after that type of conversation, as you can see, it kind of starts taking on a different meaning, right. When you hear about these types of things with the lymphatic system now where it's not just a whole bunch of gob all over your dog, it's starting to mean something more. And notice how far reaching it is. Okay, so again, it's not just a bunch of vessels and. And vessels and nodes. These are the lymphatic organs. We have the spleen. And today I was talking to a client who wanted to know if she should remove her dog's spleen because her vet told her, wait for it.

Oh, no.

That the spleen had no use. What? Yes, it's true. The spleen had no use. The spleen. You don't need a spleen. The. The statement should be, you can survive without a spleen, but can you thrive?

Yeah.

And the answer is no. The spleen is a huge lymphatic organ. Okay. The. It's a huge lymphatic organ. So this directs directly interacts with the lymphatic system. Okay. Then we have the thymus gland. The thymus gland. I don't know if you guys know who Dr. P.J. broadfoot is. Yes, he is a pioneer in the holistic veterinary industry. She is so good at cancer. She's very good at healing cancer. And one of the things that she supplements in a lot of cancer cases is thymus gland, powdered thymus, Thymus extract, different derivatives of thymus. And the thymus gland takes on fat as dogs age and as we age and so it gets congested. And having a good lymphatic system can help decongest this organ and make it work better. And this is definitely an anti cancer organ. And then we have the tonsils and adenoids. And yes, dogs have tonsils and adenoids, and they are a part of the immune system. I know that when I was a kid, they used to take out tonsils like crazy. I think they still do it. And the answer is, don't do it. Heal your tonsils. They are part of your Immune system. And if you don't have tonsils, know that your immune system needs a lot more support. If you don't have tonsils.

Rita, I have a question. So in traditional Chinese veterinary medicine, there's one of the most familiar things that we hear all the time is feed. Like with. Like. Right. So do you. Do you recommend feeding thymus gland to dogs who are struggling with lymphatic issues and. Or cancer?

Yes. Yeah, of course. It's not going to. It's not going to resonate for every dog.

No.

But, yes, I definitely do. I definitely do.

Okay, that's good to know.

Yeah. And then bone marrow. The lymphatic system is directly related to bone marrow because it. It contains bone marrow cells. And then pyre patches. Pyre patches. A lot of people. If we could ask anyone. Does anyone know what a pyre patch is?

I don't.

Most likely would be no. And pyropatches are lymphatic organs inside the digestive system that are responsible for so many things in the lymphatic system and in your digestive system and your dog's digestive system, and they need to be cleansed. And they are a huge part of lymphatic movement. These little guys do so much, and again, they're the unspoken heroes. But I love them, and I've. I have fallen in love with pyrus patches.

Are they. Are they found mostly in the large intestine or the colon, or are they small intestine. I'm sorry. Small.

Small.

Small. Okay, good to know. Haley says she's a nurse, and she's never even heard of pyres patches, so I feel a little bit better. Thank you, Haley.

That does not surprise me. Haley. That does not surprise me. But look them up. They're lovely little creatures. Okay, so here's a little. Just a little rundown. You have stem cells in the red bone marrow, okay? And they give you these lymphocyte. These lymphocytes are cells in the lymphatic system, precursors. You need the red bone marrow. Okay. So the lymphocytes, and they're called B cells, which mean basically bone marrow cells. Okay. They travel to the lymph node, and they help kill things. And T cells are thymus cells. Okay? So thymus cells go into the lymph node. So bone marrow and thymus and those make up part of your immune system. How many people have heard about bone marrow transplants for cancer? Certain cancer people, sure. Right. That's why. Because they have the powerful cells and it helps work with your lymphatic system. Okay? So both T cells, thymus cells and bone marrow cells are transported to the blood to the lymphatic system. Okay. Through these organs. We love them, and that includes our spleen. Here's a little kind of view of what happens. Okay, so remember I said it's a one way system and there's a bunch like if you pictured, all of the little cells in the body are all around here, right? And the lymphatic system has these little capillaries that it sits inside what's called the matrix, which is like the interstitial fluid. It's the fluid between the cells. Okay? It has, you have a cell and then you have fluid around it. And that fluid has to be cleaned. If it's not cleaned, you or your dog will die. Okay? So we have these little lymphatic capillaries and it brings it through. See right here, this is the liquid, it's called the lymph fluid. Brings it up through and around through these little nodes. And the nodes are kind of like if you were on a highway and you see those truck stops where the trucks have to go and you see like cop cars and stuff, the state police checking to see stuff, police checking to see if the weight is off or if they have anything bad in their trucks, things like that. That's basically what the nodes are doing. They're going, okay, what viruses and pathogens are in this liquid that I need to destroy? And that's what the lymph nodes do. And stagnant lymphatics can transport cancer. And the lymph nodes, when they get super stagnant and sick, they don't destroy cancer like they should. And that's where you get metasis. So we want a clean lymphatic system. And then eventually they empty in to the pulmonary system, the heart system and the lungs. So. And then it just gets recirculated and it happens all over again. So basically the blood circulation in plasma, it. It empties into there as well. I don't want to get into all of like, there's some really great videos on how the lymphatic system, like where they'll show you exactly how it works. But because of time, I'm going to kind of like skip over that. But basically what you really need to know is that it cleans the blood. It clean, it helps clean the blood. It cleans the lymph. The lymph which is part of that liquid that surrounds the cells and it helps destroy Pathogens, and it feeds the entire system of your dog along with what's called the portal vein. And the portal vein is like a telephone line between the liver and the liver system and your dog's small intestine. And it's how the blood. The blood. That portal vein is also a dual system. It. It's blood waste and blood nutrition. And then this one is fat waste and fat nutrition. Okay. That's basically how the body cleans everything. So that's the inside of a lymph node. Things come in here, and the fluid is circulated around here, and we have those T cells and B cells and antibodies to pathogens, and it kills things. And then it sends that liquid to the next node, and some of that liquid veers off to where it needs to go. I discussed the spleen. It's the largest node. It's the largest lymph node. It controls blood in the circulation. That white pulp right here, this is all lymph tissue. So when someone says that the spleen doesn't do anything, it's not true. And it removes faulty red blood cells and pathogens from the blood. So when a dog has their spleen removed, they have a much higher risk of getting cancer. And it also helps the liver and gallbladder and pancreas support digestion. So it is very integral into having a healthy system.

So a question on that, Rita, we had was from. I believe, Haley or. Sorry, it was. No, it was from Wendy. The question was when you surgically alter the lymph. I think the lymph system.

Yeah. When nodes are removed.

Yeah. How does. Does the lymph system heal itself? Like finding a workaround. And also with that, how do you eliminate that stagnation in lymph nodes?

Well, I'm going to talk about that later about eliminating stagnation, but it depends on how many nodes you have. You need your nodes, you know, Modern. I did. I. I don't think that I had any lymph nodes removed when I had cancer surgery. No, I don't think so. But when they remove a bunch of lymph nodes, like from your armpit or like with breast cancer, they move a bunch of lymph nodes here. It depends on how many. But you need. You're still going to have to work hard. You need your nodes, you know, Modern. I didn't. I. I don't think that I had any lymph nodes removed when I had cancer surgery. No, I don't think so. But when they remove a bunch of lymph nodes, like, from Your armpit or like with breast cancer, they move abunder. At lymphatic stagnation when you have any nodes removed. Remember, it works as a unit. The beautiful thing about the body is that it does compensate, but it also puts pressure on other systems. So you just have to. You're going to have to use things. You kind of can't use things to help stimulate it. And instead of kind of left to your own devices. Lip notes here. It depends on how many. But you need. You're still going to have to work harder at lymphatic stagnation when you have any nodes removed. Remember, it works as a unit. The beautiful thing about the body is that it does compensate, but it also put, you know, and my biggest thing is definitely getting in a preventative mindset and don't ever believe, you know, well, it won't happen to me. That definitely was my belief. Pressure on other systems. So you just have to, you're going to have to use things. You kind of. Even though I was not taking care of myself and I was stressed out of my mind when I got cancer, can't use things to help stimulate it. And instead of kind of left to your own devices. But you definitely want to get in a preventative mindset. You don't have to live in fear, you know. And my biggest thing is definitely getting in a preventative mindset and don't ever believe, you know, well, it won't happen to me. That definitely was my belief. That's not what I'm saying. But you definitely need to take action. And if you really. Even though I was not taking care of myself and I was stressed out of my mind when I got cancer later on, a couple years from now, I'm. I'm going to be putting out a book called the Seasonal Dog. And it, it literally is about living in the seasons, working with this. But you definitely want to get in a preventative mindset. You don't have to live in fear. That's not what I'm saying. But you definitely need to take action. And if you really. Later on, a couple years from now, I'm. I'm going to be putting out a book called the Seasonal Dog. And it, it literally is about living in the seasons, working with the seasons to help prevent disease. It's a wonderful way to not be stressed about things. But that's another conversation. Pyre's patches. Just, you know, if you want to take a picture of this, of this slide, I don't know how to move it over. I don't Know if everyone can see these videos. I can, but. But, you know, they help transport nutrients, they absorb fats. They're full of nerves and hormones. Hormones are big. They protect the mucosa and the beneficial bacteria. They are in the. I'm sorry. They're in the small intestine and large intestine. I apologize. They are in the long intestine. That first. They are the first defense against a microbial attack. Okay. And your stomach is the first defense against pathogens in general. And they help protect against leaky gut, which is super important. So again, taking a look, just so you don't forget, there it is in all of its beauty and that it is the vehicle through which the. The immune system acts. And that's how it does act, because that is all part of the immune system. Those B and T cells moving throughout the lymphatic system are so important. Plus, it's a dual system. So you have all of that nutrition. So you want every health. Health is 100% assimilation and elimination. When we are not assimilating correctly, we are not eliminating correctly. And if we. We can put everything in the mouth, but it doesn't mean that it's assimilating. And we definitely want good elimination. We want our elimination organs working very, you know, well, like, dogs should poop more than once a day. People should definitely poop more than once a day. If you are not doing that or your dog's not doing that, you are stagnant. There is something wrong in your system. And a lot of people. I literally had a house guest whom I love. I know I do not open my mouth unless I am asked. So I learned that. I learned that cancer taught me that to shut up, definitely, because I used to get stressed about people. Now I just don't stress at all. But if someone asks, I will open my mouth, but I will not open it walking through the kitchen. I'm just going to do an impression. If she knew I was doing an impression, she'll never see this. But if she knew it, she would love me still. But she walks through the kitchen, she's like, yeah, I only poop once every four days. It's just who I am. And, oh, my God. And I thought she goes, yeah, you know, it's just normal for me. And in my head, I was thinking, not normal. No, but there are a lot of people that feel that is normal because that's always. That's kind of always how they've been. And it's not normal.

No.

So it's not normal. And. And the immune system acts through the lymphatic system. And that's what we really, really need to take away is you kind of see how it works. You see that it's everywhere and it's fat soluble nutrition and pathogens. Okay, okay. So keeping a healthy lymphatic lifestyle. And for me, one of my taglines, if you don't know who, if you haven't followed me before or anything, is a healthy dog is a way of life. It's not a one off, it's not you. The issue with that and it's, it's for us as well. The issue is that you can get yourself super healthy and then just stop doing any kind of maintenance and it just starts plummeting. And we live in a very, I, we live in a very stagnant environment. We have a lot of pollution, we have a lot of environmental stressors. It is not the environment of like, of my mom. My mom's 93. You know, she talks about what life was like. Yeah, there was a lot of problems in the United States back then. You know, maybe social issues, but it was a much cleaner environment. And you didn't, when you were go, went outside in the country, you didn't breathe in toxins immediately. You didn't have to worry about in the country, you didn't have to worry about glyphosate. You know, you didn't have to worry about the air being polluted wherever you are. So now more than ever we have to take care of our lungs and our livers and modern medicine can really help, keeps us keep us alive. And I love modern medicine. They've saved my life a couple times. However, they know hardly anything about prevention and thriving. You know, it's more than just being alive. You want to thrive. You know, you think about people from the ages of 70 to 90, you know, you can limp on for years and years suffering, right? And we don't want to suffer. We want to thrive, you know, until we kill over. That's what I want to do. I just want to be walking along some street someday laughing and giggling and I'm done. You know, I want to go out feeling strong and thrive. So here are a few things that negative and positives, WI fi and devices. You know, if you are sleeping with your WI fi on, turn it off. Oh, but Rita, we have a nest and we have a, a WI fi based security system. Get a deadbolt and call it done. Go back. Smart houses are sick houses. Smart houses are not smart. They're dumb and they fall into the category of just because you can doesn't mean you should. They have. They have not been tested on anything and they cause stress. Stress. So turn your WI fi off at night. Turn it off when you leave the house. Your dogs don't need WI Fi. Your cats don't need WI fi. It will help their stress and will help you turn your cell phones off at night. Oh, my God. I have to keep it on because someone might call me. My mom will tell you. She's 93. She lived, I don't even know, like 60, 70 years without a cell phone. And she did. Okay. And if you really want that, get a landline and forward your cell phone to your landline while you sleep. Landlines are super cheap and they actually still do exist. And a lot of people are going back to line lines just to do. To do that, to not have their cell phones on in their house. It's going to lower your stress. Fresh air. Ding, ding. Number one, your air outside is better than your air inside. Save up your money and get some good quality air filters. I love the air doctor air filters. They work really well.

Yeah.

Massage, chiropractic, any type of movement massaging. I can tell you that this were this book is worth its weight in gold. It is four Paws five Directions by Cheryl Schwartz. Everyone should have a copy. It changed my life like over 20 years ago. I've had it for over 20 years. It's I kiss it. I love it. One thing in here is she has these wonderful pictures of the acupressure points. I am not a TCM herbalist, but I do use acupressure. She has these great diagrams of how to stimulate your dog's lymphatic system and their body. And this is amazing. And you can do massage. Massage is wonderful for getting the lymphatic system to move. So we'll just put that back later. Acupuncture, exercise, and I just put a.

Link to the book.

Yeah, you know, sorry. Make sure that if you're feeding kibble, make sure your dog is getting lots of hydration. Make sure that if you're feeding freeze dried or dehydrated, that you fully hydrate that food before you feed it or if your dog won't eat it with hydration, that you get hydration in their. Their body through bone broth or a nice type of broth or a mushroom broth. Something that they will eat and drink so that they get hydration. And I have to say it, if you're feeding your cat kibble, stop. Especially cat than Feeding your cat your dog kibble. If you feed your. Your kibble, Cat kibble kills the kidneys in cats. So. And there. Cats are really, it's really hard for cats to get hydration through water, so they usually get it through blood and they're obligate carnivores. So it's super important for kitties. And I happen to have two lovely kitties that I love so much. I'm a dog person who loves a cat. I'm not a cat person who loves dogs. I'm a dog person who loves cats. Heavy metals are really hard. Get your dog tested for heavy metals. I'm going to be having some testing on my website when I get back from Europe and I'm super excited about it to start testing for heavy metals through saliva and hair. Air pollution. I'm talking about inside the house. Get some air filters going. Rodney Habib, I heard him speak last year at the Feed Real Summit, and he gave a great, he gave a great. Like, if you can't afford a good air filter, a cheap air filter. He said that a scientist told him to take a charcoal filter, a big charcoal, like a square filter, and attach it, tape it to a box fan and turn it on.

You know, he just, he and Karen, Dr. Becker just posted a thing over the last like two or three days. They just posted a video on the Forever Dog Facebook group and the, or the, their page and the Instagram and they actually showed people how to do it.

Oh, well, excellent. Yes, excellent.

Yep.

You know, I can't get to the, the, that group on Sundays very often, but I, I am a member of the Inside Scoop. I don't get there very often, but I'm a member and it's from anything that I've went on there to look at. It's worth its weight in gold. It's $10 a month.

Yeah.

Love it. Okay, so another thing. Make sure that your dog has trace minerals. Very important for kidney and lymphatic function. And zinc is very, very important. So you don't want to overdo it. But a lot of dogs are low in trace minerals, even raw fed dogs, because our soils are depleted. So a good trace, you can take Himalayan salt. Add just a size appropriate pinch. Okay. Size appropriate pinch onto the food once a day. Adds a good amount of trace minerals. You can also use humic or fulvic acid. Fulvic acid has humic acid in it. So you can just use fulvic acid if you want. Yeah. Or something like ion. Ion.

I was just gonna say ion Gut health. Yes.

Yeah. So a lot of people, A lot of dogs that I work with have some problems with that. Really sell it in my store. But yeah, it can.

It can.

That one can be pretty harsh. I think it might be because they dilute it down so much. It's, you know, it's in those big. I mean, it. They take it and they add a lot of hydration to it.

Okay.

That may be the issue. I'm not positive, but. Yeah, but it does work for a lot of dogs. Okay, so let's talk about a couple of things, and then we'll take questions. So I work on a system of energetics. That's a different conversation. But it's good to know if your dog is warm or hot or cold, like warm or cool. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll tell you about a course later. But it's very, very. This is the key to using herbs correctly. So. But if you don't know if your dog's warm or cool, pick the. Just assume that they're cool. Okay. Assume that they're cool and use that. But here's the two things. So there's two herbs that I use to get the lymphatics going, and I use these herbs usually before I start other herbs. If you're on other herbs now, you can add them to there and use it. But like, if I'm starting a protocol for someone, I usually give them some type of lymphatic herb in their protocol to start first to get things moving. If I see that it. It warrants. It warrants moving it, like starting right away. Especially if they're detoxifying, especially if they're adding. They are eating a lot of detoxifying things. Oh, the first one is cleavers. So cleavers is cooling. It's for dogs who are warm. And it's my number one lymphatic for warm dogs. It helps the kidney, spleen, and liver. It nourishes, cleanses, clears out the lymphatic system. It has a liver skin connection. That means if there's skin issues in the dog, it's well indicated there. It increases elimination. It's a diuretic, so your dog may pee a little more. And you don't need a lot. So you can use a glycerin or you could use an alcohol tincture. These are one drop dose per five pounds. You do not need to worry about the alcohol in a tincture at this type of dosage, unless your dog has histamine Intolerance or diabetes. Okay. Those are two things that I do not give alcoholic tinctures for. Alcohol messes with dogs with. With histamine intolerance. And also it's. It's not good for diabetes. So glycerates are fine for this herb. It's nice. It has a lot of moisture, so a glycerite will work. Three drops per five pounds. You can take a picture of that slide, a screenshot, and then this is my. Again, my cool, my warm dog. It's cooling lymphatic, and I keep dogs on this for long periods of time unless they get dry. If they start show signs of dryness, you're going to have to add something or just give it a break for a while. Usually at that type of dosage, you don't get a lot of dryness. What time is it right now, hon?

We are good. It's 10 minutes to eat or.

Okay, I want to have questions, so.

Yeah, you're good.

You're good. I'm going to go. I'm going to go to this one. So this is my number one lymphatic for dogs that are cool. And like I said, if you don't know if your dog is cool or warm, take my energetics course. But if you can't do that, then pick this one. Calendula has so many wonderful uses, but mostly pool dogs have more pathogenic overgrowth. They have more yeast overgrowth. They have more things that are from. They have more stagnation in general. Warm dogs are more hyper. They're more in your face. They're busy, busy, busy, busy. Cool dogs are much more chill. They love to be bundled up. They are much more, I would say, lethargic in nature. Much more kind of dude. Dogs like, hey, what's up? I'm not like, hyper spaz. So that predisposes cool dogs to pathogenic overgrowth and growth and yeast issues. So this is my number one. It's an antifungal. It supports the liver. It's a bacteriostatic, which means that it doesn't kill bacteria. It keeps bacteria, pathogenic bacteria from having a party. And we don't, you know, it's like frat boys. They're fine individually, but when they get together, they're rotten. Okay, so I keep looking over at these videos. I'm supposed to look here. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

So you're fine. And I love your analogies.

I keep looking over at you guys, but I. I got to look at you guys. So yeah, but that's a bacterio static. You know, frat boys are great by themselves, out to lunch on a Sunday afternoon, but when they get together with their friends, they cause a lot of problems. And that is pathogenic bacteria. And this calendula doesn't allow them to get together, so it keeps them in their own corners. And we love that about this herb. It's bitter, so it helps with digestive juices, it helps with assimilating nutrients and it gets the lymphatic system moving. It's lovely. And again, it's the same dosage. It's one drop per five pounds. Very low dose for me. I have a very simple way of dosing this one. It has to have, you have to have an al. Alcoholic tincture. So it's too resinous. You can find, you can find a glycerin tincture, but you want to make sure that who's ever making that glycerin used alcohol first, otherwise you're wasting your money. There are some people that can it usually it's kind of big manufacturing. They can do an alcoholic tincture first and then get rid of the alcohol and preserve it with glycerin. But it has to be, it has to be taken with, it has to be macerated with alcohol first because it has a lot of resin. If you touch the underbelly of a calendula flower, you're gonna, your hands are gonna get sticky.

Yeah.

And glycerin will not extract that. So. But I usually do like a chihuahua sized dog. I, I do like, maybe if it's under £5, I'll do, I'll dilute a drop. I'll take like 15 mils. I'll put a drop in and then I'll give a dropper of, of that liquid, of that water. And then like a pug. I do one to two drops. Spaniel. That's a medium dog, like corgi. I'll do two to three drops and then a big dog, like a golden retriever, three to four drops and then a big, big dog, five drops. And I usually, that usually is fine long term. But if we have a, like a cancer, you're going to need a lot more.

Yeah. What are your thoughts on pulsing, Rita?

Pulsing is very herb specific, but pulsing is fairly good for things that are much more diuretic. Okay. Or things like Oregon grape. But if I find people on herbs way too long. Yeah, that, my book will help deal with that. Or my course. But they're on herbs way too long. And you should pulse it's Like A, the 6 ratio is 5 days on 1 day off or 5 days on 2 days off. It just depends on what you want to do. Then you do like three months on, one month off. It. There's a whole bunch of different pulsing schedules. Yeah, it depends on what you're doing, giving the herb for. There's no pulsing when it comes to cancer. Right, right. Yeah. So you can do herbs for a certain period of time and then stop them for a little while to give the, the liver a break and then do it again if it's something like Oregon grape or golden seal or something really high in alkaloids.

Okay. Just as a follow up question, Annie was wondering, is there a benefit to providing these as dried herbs versus tincture or making a tea?

Hold on. I don't know. Am I there? Can you.

Yes, you're still here.

Okay. So the, the dried herbs can give benefit, but they don't do as well because you have to assimilate them. They have to be digested. They're seen as a food, so they have to be digested by the gut. So you got to remember, if you have a stagnant lymph system, the assimilation is going to be pretty low. So you want to use a liquid extract that goes right into the blood in the mouth. You could drip it on a, like a little treat, or you could put it in just a tiny, itsy bitsy broth if you want. But for me, I put it in the mouth. I, I will dilute for taste. I taste all my dog's herbs. Like I taste them to see how roots usually taste pretty nasty. I'll taste them, but I'll put them in water and then I'll syringe them in the mouth. And the biggest thing giving a dog a tincture is don't come straight at them. That's very threatening to a dog. I don't care how much they are your baby. It's dog language. Just don't come at them. Coming at them. Here, take it. You know, here, take it. Go around them. If they are a little dog, I usually put them on the counter. I put them on the counter and I gently hold them between my, my, my forearm and my chest and I squeeze just a little. And I'll come from the side and put it in the side pocket. Yep, Right. Or I'll have someone help me. But usually medium even. My pug, my, my, not my little pug, but my kind of normal 20 pound pug.

Yeah.

I put them between my ankles, gently squeeze. Then I will take my hand and I will cup his mouth like this. Just kind of hold it. Just support it. Not squeeze. Just support it. And from behind. From behind. It's not as threatening. And the gentle squeezing, like my big dog. My big dog, Gertie, she's 65 pounds. I straddle her with my thighs, and I gently squeeze and I cup her mouth and I put it in the side pocket. But when I come at her, when I come at her directly, she's out, she's gone. Right. Don't. What is she doing, you know?

So do you also use the same delivery for. I know we haven't gotten into it for this, but I know you're very familiar with flower essences. And. And when you're incorporating flower essences, you know, do you approach the dog with the flower essence in the same manner?

Yes, I do. Otherwise, if there's, like. If they're super, super sensitive dogs, I might start out with a flower essence, like in the ear, on the tips of the ear, right inside here, or maybe between the toes. But usually I put it in the mouth or I might mix it with a tincture. But, yeah, I don't ever come straight on at a dog. I used to do dog behavior for a long time when I boarded dogs, and it's very threatening to them.

Yeah, that's helpful. Can we take a couple questions?

Yeah.

Okay. So Annie is asking in terms of the abstaining, uncertain protocols for dogs who.

Are either diabetic glandula at all. But there's other. There's other lymphatic stimulants. You know, even herbs like Hawthorne is a lymphatic stimulant. Prickly ash is a lymphatic stimulant. Red root is a lymphatic stimulant. Burdock root stimulates the lymphatics as well. There's a phytoembryonic therapy, which is a plant stem cell that I love for lymphatics. It's called Sweet Chestnut. And you hardly need any of that. The dosage for, like, a big, big dog is less than five drops. So just depends on what lymphatic the two that I use the most of is the cleavers and the calendula.

Awesome. Lisa asks, it was recommended to me by an herbalist to add boiling water to a tincture to evaporate the alcohol. Would you recommend this? Yeah, I was gonna say not to.

Add the boiling water to the tincture, but you take a tincture bottle, put it in something with pyrex and you can put the hot water around it and let it sit. There's ways to boil off the alcohol for sure. And that's one of them.

Okay.

Yeah. And you. And it will evaporate with the heat. But you don't put the t. You don't put the water in the tincture. Well, I mean. And again, again, as an herbalist, I can tell you, and as an herbalist, I've been an herbalist for a long time. Is there's different ways of practicing.

Sure.

So that's the way that I practice.

Sure. Another question. A dog will just not take anything with milk thistle. Just like refuses, smells milk thistle and runs the other direction. If you're trying to detoxify, don't watch this. Right. Obviously. Because listen to the dog. Right. Treat the dog in front of you. What other general detoxifying herbs would you recommend?

One, I would start moving the lymphatic system. But I mean, oh my God, there's so many dandelion. There's dandelion root, there's burdock root, there's artichoke, there's caraway. There's a whole bunch of phytoembryonics that detox by the liver. There's white birch, which works really well as a phytoembryonic. That's a stem cell tincture. I sell those on my website. Juniper, which detoxifies the liver and the kidneys. There's blessed thistle instead of milk thistle. There's just so many. Well, like water extracts of certain things. Like Adored Beast has chelidonium and barberry. You wouldn't want to use those as alcoholic tinctures because they're really high in alkaloids and they're not for alcoholic tinctures and dogs, but they use a water extraction of barberry and chelidonium. Those are very good, safe alcohol. Water does not like alkaloids. So alcohol loves alkaloids, but a water extraction is not going to give you those alkaloids. So that one's a good one too. There's just so many.

Yeah. Okay. I'm going to share my now because I would love for you. We've gotten some questions including where do you get your tinctures from? Rita? So here's the time to talk about your website and your shop and stuff like that, so.

Oh, okay. Well, that's my website. That's my consulting website and my store. I have a shop and yeah, there it is. It's not the best shop in the world. I'm working on getting a search button, because I can't have a search button. But all my tinctures are there. Under tinctures and phytoembryonics. Towards the end of the year, I'll have a lot more glycerates. I'm still looking for a good glycerin maker. I make some of them, but I want to make them alcoholic and then get rid of the alcohol and preserve them in glycerin when they are indicated in alcohol versus glycerin. But that's for consulting and my store. And then I also have a service called Ask the Herbalist on there. And that is. It's under consulting, I think. Ask the Herbalist. That is a question. You can ask me a single question, two questions or three questions if you need to get a hold of me right away. And then I have another website called canine herbalism.com. look at you. I love this. This is so fun. Herbalism.com.

See, you can tell I've been to your website before.

Look at that. So that is my courses and my community. So I have a dog. Our individuals community. It's $10 a month and you can ask me anything. You can ask me anything dog related, human related. It really is the best way to get a hold of me. It's cheaper than Ask the Herbalist. And you can quit at any time and then you can rejoin anytime. I don't care.

Is this. Is this Jacqueline from functional Canine? This quote.

It's Jacqueline Zahara.

Yeah. She runs the functional canine. She's fabulous.

I don't know. What if she runs that? I have no idea.

Oh, well, she's okay.

She's in Australia, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, awesome.

And. And we also do trainings on the dogs or individuals community. I do trainings and live Q and A every month. And then you also get a discount, so that pays for the membership. And then on my store, and then I have my canine energetics course.

And is that back on your other website?

No, it's on there. It's down there. It. There it is. Canine Energetics. And then I have my upcoming level one canine holistic canine herbalism course. Level one. That comes out March 1st. And then I have a podcast that's free.

Yeah.

And super fun. It. I have a episode that comes out every week and that's a lot of fun. I love that. And then I have canine phytoembryonic therapy that's using stem cells for disease. And that one is open right now. And then I have an upcoming dental course that's coming out in a couple weeks.

Really? Oh, that. I'm. Okay. I'm gonna. I'm gonna find out more about that. Well, the other thing I wanted to share is you announced, I think, either earlier this week or last week that your book is coming out later this year.

It is. It's coming out in October, November, or December. I don't know which one. My publisher's trying to get it together. They've been running way behind, but I'm finally on the schedule, so I'm super excited. And, yeah, this will help people so much. That's. It's not a grab and go. Part of it is a grab and go, and part of it is learning about the lymphatic system, about the digestive system, about how to truly get rid of yeast and leaky gut, and. And how the body works as an ecosystem. So it's great. It'll be a great companion to my. My online course. And. And just for everyone, no matter if they're a vet or if they're just a person trying to help their dogs, just learning how to use herbs according to herbal. Herbal language. Because right now they're being used according to allopathic practices that we've been conditioned for. So. And then I have a private Facebook group called Dogs or Individuals.

Awesome.

I have a business page. I got an Instagram page. That's all really, I have.

That's. That's all.

That's all. That's what I got. That's a lot.

That's a lot. And I know Wendy is currently in. Wendy, which. Which facet of Rita's universe are you in right now? Because I. I'm in all facets of.

Rita's universe right now. Thank you, Wendy.

I do. I do the monthly program. I'm in the energetics class. I'm going to be in the herbal class. I'm. I'm a bit obsessed, I would say.

Well, in our monthly program this month, I will tell you it is worth six grand because I'm sharing my CCL tear and. And that's worth about six grand. So.

Wow.

$10 a month. Six grand.

She gives great advice. Yes, yes, absolutely. Rita. When I was on the free. I'm going to call it a masterclass that you gave about the respiratory illness. When you talked about, like, how often dogs should poop, people's minds were. I mean, were blown. And. And they were like, what do you mean? My dog has to poop more than, you know, once a day? Like, my dog only poops once a day. And it's like, well, that might be.

Part of your problem, you know, More than once a day.

Yeah. That's awesome.

Twice a day. So, yeah, they definitely need to poop more than once. Is there a dog out there that pooping once a day is normal? Sure. I mean, I'm not going to say. I can't say that. But definitely when you start pooping, more things start to move. Like your toxins are. Get out. They need to get out, you know.

Absolutely.

Our toxins just need to pee and poo. They need to get out. Or. And I'll tell you, when you have skin issues, that is the liver pushing out to the skin because the hooper and the peeper is not working correctly.

Yeah. And. And if you've asked, ever asked anybody who's had like themselves, any sort of chronic illness, you will appreciate how the body needs to work.

Right.

How it might not be working. Right. That's, that's a very real thing.

Yes, absolutely. It just needs to, it needs to work better. And it, and pooping is, you know, everyone poops. I hate to say it, it's just like the book, dirty subject, but everyone has to do it.

All right, one last question before we let you go. Kate asks, do you work with humans?

I do. She does. I do.

And I, I assume they can also get a hold of you through the website, your, your many websites.

They can get a hold of me through the canine herbalist.com website. Canine herbalist, yeah. And it's not a quick process. It's. I, I only take a few humans every month and I, you know, I'm booked out probably till the end of June for that.

Good for you. Yeah, good for you.

Got to keep down, ladies.

Well, and I also just appreciate, you know, how much education you do and obviously, you know, giving of your time tonight to come on and share with us is like really valu. But, but noting that we need people like you to educate the next generation of herbalists and holistic practitioners, whatever that looks like. So I also just want to thank you for that because knowledge is power, but it also has to be passed on. Right. It is, it is not osmosis.

It does. And I try to do as many of these things as possible. You know, when people ask me to be on, I say yes, I, I can tell you. And it is no disrespect, but if you email me questions about your dog, I will not answer them. And please just understand. I get like 100 emails a day. I have a full time assistant just to deal with my Emails. So, yeah, I. The best way to get a hold of me is to listen to these wonderful people. Absolutely. I do a lot of these things and I speak and I do that kind of stuff. That's all like, you know, this is free information. But I give a lot of free information. A lot of free time of my time. But when you email me, I do not give free information out. Some people get confused like, I don't understand. But just multiply yourself by about 200 people and I'd have to quit my job and. And just answer free questions. So the best way to do it is to join my subscription group from k9herbalism.com the dogs are individuals. Or I can be found in my private Facebook group. I answer questions every now and then. But I have some really great herbalists in there. I have some vets in there. I have some really great people in there that answer questions for me that have been working with me for a really long time. So you can do that or use the. Ask the herbalist.

Awesome. And last question from us, which is, I know we're going to see you at least one or two different conferences that we're attending, but do you want to tell folks kind of what your. Your conference schedule is for this year?

It's called Dogs or individuals. Is my page Facebook page or Canine Herbalist? Either one. I am going to be in Albany, New York.

We'll see you there.

What. What is that?

The. The Healthy Dog Expo.

The Healthy Dog Expo. And I'm doing a workshop there as well.

Awesome.

And then I'm going to Europe. I'll be in Ireland, Scotland and England. I'm taking a little in Denmark. I'm taking a break in Denmark and Norway. And then I'll be back in England to speak. And then I am speaking at such June. In June, I'm speaking in Portland, in Seattle. In June. July. July. Oh, July. I'll be in. I'm not speaking, but I will be at the nautical dog event, hanging out with some of my peeps.

Yeah, we'll see you there. Yeah.

So I'll be a participant there, hanging out with some of my favorite, like Katie Woodley speaking. And I want to see Katie and two crazy cat ladies, Jay and Adrian. Love them hanging out with them. So I'm going there to have a little fun. And then I think I'm going to speak there locally with the BK pets, though. Okay. Somewhere there. And then that's July. And then August, you're at Judy's conference.

Right.

I'm going to be At Judy's concert. That's in October.

October. Yeah.

I pretty sure I'm going to be at the real Feed Reel. I've got a busy here and then I'm going to be at the BK Pets. They're having something in September in Chicago.

Very cool. Very cool. Well, on that note, it sounds like you should get some rest.

Right? I get a lot of rest. I don't work past I. I don't work past six. I hardly ever work past five. I don't start my day until like eight. So good for you. I get a lot of rest and I hardly ever work weekends unless I've got a course coming out, which I do. So I'm working this weekend, but I'm getting ready to go to Europe, so I have to work a little bit in order to have fun.

Good for you. Well, Rita, on behalf of Wendy and myself and the entire folks here tonight, thank you so much for your time and your wisdom. And everyone is sign go up to her website to sign up for the book when it comes out and take her classes and join all the things and listen to the podcast. Yes. And if you're on our email list, which since you signed up for this class, you are, every month we send out a newsletter with links and actually for the February newsletter, we link stream to your podcast about Maitake mushrooms. So yes, thank you. Because mushrooms are magical and super medicinal and especially when it comes to cancer. We didn't even talk about that. But that's because in two weeks we.

Can talk about mushrooms later.

Well, in two weeks your friend and ours, Angela Arelino, will be talking about hemp and mushrooms.

So excellent.

Covering the whole gamut. So yes. So thank you again so much everyone. Have a great evening. Be sure to check out our other classes that are coming up. And thanks so much, everyone. Thank you so much. Thank you. Take care. Bye bye.

Okay, bye. Bye bye.