Paws, Reflect & Heal with Dr. Randy
This channel appeals to conscientious pet owners who prioritize their pets' health and well-being beyond conventional treatments. They are curious about holistic and integrative veterinary approaches and seek to understand their pets' behavior, nutrition, and health issues deeply. They value expert advice that combines traditional medicine with alternative therapies and want to be proactive in preventing and managing their pets' health problems. The channel resonates with those who view their pets as family members and are motivated to provide the best care possible through education and open-mindedness.
Paws, Reflect & Heal with Dr. Randy
Holistic Solutions for Dog Environmental Allergies & Chronic Itching
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Pet parents seeking holistic solutions for dog environmental allergies and persistent itching will benefit from this Q&A where Dr. Randy Aronson, VMD, CCRT, CVA, shares integrative veterinary medicine advice on managing chronic skin issues. He and his cohost, Olivia Socci discuss the crucial role of omega-3s (like wild-caught sardines), the surprising benefits of local honey for desensitization, and why switching from drying shampoos to specific dog bath soaks is essential for skin health.
Dr. Randy dives into a complex case of a dog named Tucker suffering from severe environmental and suspected food allergies. He explains why environmental and food sensitivities often go hand-in-hand, emphasizing the need for comprehensive testing like microbiome testing and full allergy testing. Learn the difference between bathing with drying shampoos and moisturizing soaks using ingredients like Epsom salt or apple cider vinegar to soothe irritated skin. Discover Dr. Randy's "pearl" of wisdom about using hyper-local honey to naturally inoculate your pet against regional allergens and why a sufficient amount of omega-3 is non-negotiable for skin, coat, and joint health in dry climates.
#DogAllergies #HolisticPetCare #IntegrativeVeterinaryMedicine
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Products and Resources I Recommend
Microbiome Testing
Animal Biome - Gut Microbiome Health Test
Nutrition
K9 Natural
Other...
Dr. Randy here, and today we're going to answer a question from one of our followers on environmental allergies.
SPEAKER_01:Perfect. So this question comes from Susie, right here in Scottsdale, Arizona. Susie! Um, and so Susie has a dog named Tucker. He's got severe environmental allergies accompanied by itching. Um, she was recommended to give him wild-caught sardines in water. She bathes him about two times a week with the Dukeso shampoo. He gets allergy shots. He's on a low-protein prescription diet from Just Food for Dogs. She doesn't necessarily want to bathe him twice a week. I completely understand that, Susie. Um, and so she's looking for what else she can do to help.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. This is a uh pretty complicated type of question. So we'll try to boil it down. So we don't know for sure that it's just environmental allergy in this dog. And as we talked about in many of our QA's and our podcasts, uh, it could be um uh food sensitivity, a food allergy uh with the environmental, often they go hand in hand. Now, on environmental allergies, her question was about the sardines. Well, sardines are a great source of omega-3s, and we love our animals all being on omega-3s. Right. Susie's dog, especially in Scottsdale, because we're also in Tucson. Yeah, it's so dry here, you've got to have a sufficient amount of omega-3 in your animal's body to help with inflammation and moistening your skin coat and joints.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. And added bonus, my dogs get sardines and they love me more every time I give it to them.
SPEAKER_00:Some people can't tolerate the smell, but as long as you can do that, it's great. Now, on environmental stuff, the other thing that I recommend is go to one of your uh local farm stands and get uh local honey.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Because local honey will have some pollen in it that the bees are picking up, and that actually inoculates your dog into small, small amounts of desensitizing against some of the environmental stuff.
SPEAKER_01:I didn't know that. That's so interesting.
SPEAKER_00:But it's gotta be local. So you're getting, you know, if you're in Arizona and you get a California honey, it's not gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01:Because it won't have the same like allergens that you would have. That makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_00:And I also am not a big fan of this bathing situation because most shampoos are very drying. They can really, really dry out your dog's skin. I love soaks uh where I'll actually do cool water soaks in either Epsom salt or uh 50-50 with apple brags, apple cider vinegar, um, or even a really nice natural bath oil. There's a bath oil we use here called Desert Dogs. It's made with levit lavender and uh lemongrass oil. And you can actually put some of that in this in the in the water, soak and really emoliate. You can really moisturize that coat and skin.
SPEAKER_01:I recently learned that word emollient in school.
SPEAKER_00:Much, much better than shampoos in my world. So again, that was a dog that I would certainly look at uh microbiome testing, and I would also look at allergy testing. Uh, but I hope that helps Susie in our answer.
SPEAKER_01:Perfect. And thank you, Susie, so much for your question. Thank you, Dr. Randy, for this honey uh advice. I didn't know that would existed. That's so cool.
SPEAKER_00:I have a few little pearls that I could share with you still.
SPEAKER_01:It's almost like you've been doing this just for a few years, only 43 coming up. Young.
SPEAKER_00:I love a young 43. Hey guys, thanks for listening to us. You can follow us at Dr. Randy PetFet or at Dr. Satchi on YouTube, on Instagram. Please subscribe or follow us. It really makes a big difference for us bringing you more of this information.
SPEAKER_01:Perfect. And thank you guys. If you have any other questions, feel free to comment them on any of those platforms. Um, and we're happy to see what you guys ask us and respond to next time. So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks.