Learn all about allergies by reading this excerpt from Dr. Khalsa’s Natural Dog book.

Excerpted from Dr. Khalsa’s Natural Dog

The easiest way to understand allergies is to understand the immune system. Let’s try to compare the immune system to a large high capacity computer. This immune system computer registers various enemies, never to forget their identities. You probably feel secure that you’ll never get measles or mumps as an adult if you had them as a child. You know your immune system has compiled its own file on these attackers and will never again let them make inroads into your body. In the case of allergies, however, the immune system begins to register the ‘good guys’ as enemies. Common foods and pollens, along with lots of other innocuous stuff get posted in the system as threats to the body. Consider the child who is allergic to peanuts. One small bit of peanut in a candy bar is all it takes to initiate a severe allergic reaction. Why does this particular child suffer so with peanuts when all the other kids eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch? The answer to this is that the problem lies in this particular child’s immune system and not in the peanut. The reaction that he has to the peanut is so over-exaggerated that it actually becomes life threatening. His internal computer system, in other words, has been corrupted to behave in a self-destructive manner.

A similar, if not quite as severe, situation exists with typical allergies. The immune systems, not unlike virus-corrupted computers, has registered simple foods, vitamins, pollens, molds and many other substances as a threat that calls for some type of response. Some dogs may be allergic to several foods, for example, but simply being fed these items may not be enough in itself to get their immune systems hopped up to the point where itching or diarrhea occurs. However, when the pollens and molds of spring or fall are added to the mix, the total number of allergens present will have reached high enough concentrations, thus exceeding the threshold, to cause allergic symptoms such as chronic itching. In other words, dogs can have allergies to a number of foods, but these may not be sufficient to trigger an itchy allergic response until even more allergens in the form of environmental allergens come into play. The foods play a big part in the overall allergic reaction when it does occur, with the pollens acting the part of the straw that broke the camel’s back.

But why should a dog’s internal computer program go haywire in this manner. One likely explanation is that vaccinations have worked to confuse the immune system and cause this exaggerated response. The immune system, you see, was never designed to ward off simultaneous incursions by several different agents. I know of no recorded cases of a person being exposed to polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, whooping cough, etc. all at one time. Whoever designed immune systems was certainly familiar with the laws of statistics. But such a multi-pronged attack is exactly what multivalent, combination vaccinations simulate. The immune system is being asked to register and fight off, all at once, the vaccine components: Distemper, Parvo, Leptospirosis, Adenovirus, Hepatitis, Bordetella and perhaps Coronavirus, Rabies and Lyme disease. In addition to antigens and viruses, vaccinations contain formaldehyde and mercury. Our immune systems were not designed for multiple disease organisms, antigens, and toxic substances to be injected into the body all at once, as is the case with vaccines. Even more significant in these vaccines are the tiny bits of chicken and cow material left over from the chicken embryo and bovine serum in which the viruses are incubated. Unfortunately, however, when these food products are introduced to the body as an alien invader, that’s how the body’s internal computer is apt to subsequently identify it. Just imagine yourself living in a small house in the prairie and being attacked by a gang of a dozen or more outlaws. As you knelt by the window to defend yourself from the invaders, would you try to differentiate between them to decide if perhaps some were benign? Or would you register them all as enemies? Well, that is exactly what the immune system is prone to do.

It’s no coincidence that the first foods usually removed from the animal’s diet are chicken and beef, kissing cousins to the egg and bovine serum used to incubate vaccine viruses. A ‘hypoallergenic diet’, typically consisting of lamb and rice, is apt to be substituted, then fed to the dog day after day. But the proteins in lamb are not so far removed from those in beef, and because he’s fed the same thing every day, he’ll soon become allergic to that, too. The concerned owner may switch him to wild game, like venison or rabbit, but these, too, soon begin to trigger the immune system to put up a fight. After going through a veritable dietary petting zoo, the hypoallergenic ‘food of last resort’ is currently apt to be (believe it or not) kangaroo and oats or a special predigested protein. So palliating the problem by changing the food, as we can see, tends to be only a short-term fix.

This canine equivalent of a faulty computer program will find more and more things to become allergic to. As the years pass, the two-week summer allergy becomes a three-month allergy and finally results in year long itching as your dog becomes allergic to more and more things.

We’re itching to get to the root of this problem.

The increased frequency of vaccinations is only part of the explanation. How else did this sophisticated system designed by nature to ward off pernicious invaders come to mistake something innocuous for a source of imminent peril; and in so doing, cause such havoc inside the body it has been given the task of protecting? One thing is apparent; the incidence of allergies and asthma has been on the rise in recent years, corresponding not just with greater numbers of vaccinations, but environmental toxins, potent pharmaceuticals and chemical additives in the food supply. Unfortunately, nature did not design the immune systems of mammals to cope with this array of synthetic poisons to which we and our pets are constantly exposed, the result being that the delicate protective mechanisms we were given can be thrown out of kilter.

Veterinarians of a half -century ago, for instance, were far less likely to encounter animals suffering from allergic reactions. But then, feeding table scraps to dogs was far more common in those days, and vaccinations far more limited in scope, as opposed to the multiple shots commonly given on a yearly basis today. Pesticide use has also proliferated in recent years, and both dogs and children are particularly apt to be exposed to their toxic residues on lawns; which may also cause far more serious health consequences. Such factors could well account for many of the allergies we see in dogs today, as well as the fact that an allergic dog is more likely to breed progeny with the same problems.

But root causes aside, the thing to remember is that allergies tend to intensify and widen with time, unless aggressive measures are taken to nip them in the bud. That means that the young dog who develops an itch for a couple of weeks in the summertime might be tormented for the entire following summer, with the condition growing progressively worse until it is a year-round problem.

It should be apparent by now that there’s something wrong with the basic approach. The point being overlooked is that the best way for an allergy to develop and grow in intensity is through repeated and frequent exposure to something. Doctors, for instance, commonly become allergic to the powder or the latex in latex surgical gloves. This would not happen if they didn’t routinely use them. Or a woman who works in a hairdressing salon may develop allergic lesions on her hands when exposed to hair dye, while someone who works at a newsstand may become similarly sensitive to newsprint and ink. And as the immune system increasingly responds to such routine exposures, it also develops allergic responses to other items in the environment, such as dust, molds, fabrics, pollens, weeds, grasses and trees. Additionally, feeding your dog the same lamb kibble day after day after day because he was allergic to chicken and beef oftentimes results in a new allergy to lamb!

It all adds up

By varying your dog’s diet, and not feeding him the same food day in and day out, you’ll not only provide him with more balanced nutrition and make him a happier camper, but reduce the opportunity for food allergies to develop. Conventional kibble, in particular, can perpetuate the allergy cycle because they’re not only consumed on a daily basis, but contain various dyes, preservatives and poor quality proteins which can serve as red flags to a malfunctioning immune system. Variety will also allow you to isolate those items to which your dog might be allergic, and remove them from his diet.

Keep in mind that the intensity of an allergy might be the result of a synergistic effect of two or more allergens combining. Your dog might have a severe allergic reaction to yeast, for instance, and mild reactions to corn, wheat and soy. And while you might make a point of not feeding him anything with yeast, a food that combines the latter items might produce a reaction just as severe, if not more so. The fact that these three ingredients are present together will increase the allergic response, even though the allergy to each of them is not nearly as severe as the one triggered by the yeast.

Sidebar: The number of allergens in your dog’s environment plus the intensity of the allergy to each equals the total allergic reaction.

Another factor that influences the occurrence of allergic reactions is seasonal change. In northern climes, the coming of winter, when grass, weeds, trees and pollen become dormant and covered over, many allergy-prone animals may experience some relief, while others may actually suffer an increase in allergic reactions to dust, molds and debris from heating systems. In addition, romping in fallen leaves increases a dog’s exposure to such potential allergens as fungus, mold and mildew. Every season has its own allergy triggers, which affect different dogs in different ways. Whereas an allergy trigger might cause us our eyes to itch and water, it is more apt to irritate the area above a dog’s tail, along with other areas of his body. If we experienced allergies as dogs do, we’d probably be going around scratching our butts while complaining about how bad the ragweed is this year!

Saving your dog from falling victim to a vicious cycle

A dog afflicted with skin allergies may develop itching anywhere from his head to his tail. That’s because he has more mast cells than a human. These mast cells release compounds, which cause itching, and are distributed over a dog’s entire body. Mast cells release histamines in response to certain triggers, and this starts the actual irritation and itching. Just as your mother told you in the case of mosquito bites, ‘The more you scratch, the more you itch’. I’ve tried telling this to my allergic patients, but they just don’t seem to get the message, preferring to literally chew holes in themselves!

When the immune system begins acting like a fire department responding to a bunch of false alarms, it is diverted from its intended task, which is to fight bacterial infections, viruses, cancers and other alien invaders. What allergies do is to exhaust the body’s inherent defenses, cause imbalance and disharmony, and lead to the production and retention of toxins.

To make matters worse, the drugs routinely used to treat allergic reactions act to suppress the overburdened immune system. The use of corticosteroids, for instance, can send that devoted but confused immune system sprawling. In addition to being toxic to your dog’s liver, these drugs throw the pH balance out of kilter, with all the resulting problems. Steroids, while relieving the symptoms, only entrench the problem more deeply in your dog’s body, making it more toxic. Typically, if the allergens are still present, after a few days to weeks off of the steroids, your dog will need to go on them again. Steroids do not cure the problem, rather, they simply suppress the immune system’s ability to function. Antihistamines are the least toxic among the drug options, but also the least effective when it comes to reducing itching and may not help severely allergic dogs at all.

Sidebar: If your dog has been on steroids for a period of time, you will need to wean him off slowly, because the adrenal glands, which produce the body’s own natural corticosteroids, tend to atrophy with long-term use of such drugs and need time to learn to become fully active again.

To complicate the problem, conventional allergy testing methods, consisting either of injecting allergens into the skin or by a blood analysis, are likely to prove inadequate. One reason is that the actual number of allergens for which testing is done tends to be rather paltry, especially when compared to the thousands of potential allergy triggers in the food and the environment. While efforts are being made to improve the reliability of these tests, they now stand as less than 50% accurate. This means that, basically, it’s a toss up as to whether or not the results are correct. Combine that with the small number of antigens tested and it’s no wonder the allergy vaccines do not work in many cases. It’s simply a matter of statistics, and when the dice are thrown right, the therapy does afford improvement. In instances where allergens are identified and removed from the dog’s environment and diet, such measures are likely to only bring temporary relief. They won’t solve the underlying problem, because basically, the dog’s immune system is on a sort of witch-hunt, seeking out and finding new things to respond to with allergic reactions. The internal computer system is busy finding more and more items to which it will become allergic.

Rather than simply attempting to identify and remove the growing list of things that trigger your dog’s allergies, a much more efficient remedy would be to fix the faulty immune system; the computer that has, so to speak, gone awry in your dog’s body. And that’s where holistic solutions, especially homeopathy and Allergy Elimination, can be especially effective. An easy way to understand it is to make the parallel example of doing a virus search on your computer to clean up the glitches in it. The above-mentioned techniques work like the disc you would install to do the virus search

Nellie’s Story

Nellie, a wonderful golden retriever who is a patient of mine, can testify to the curative powers of these healing methods. Here, in her own words (with her owners help in providing a translation from “Caninese”) is her story – one dog’s odyssey through the medical system in search of allergy relief.

When I was a little over a year old, I began doing things like licking my paws and running my face along the carpets. My owners, who are very attentive, took me right to a veterinarian, who diagnosed my problem as an allergy and started me on the steroid, Predisone, every day. But even on a really high dose, I didn’t improve. We then tried antihistamines, but they didn’t help, either. I was then tested for a thyroid condition, and put on another drug, called Soloxine, along with more steroids and antibiotics, and seemed to improve for a while. But the steroids I was taking caused me to drink water constantly, but when my owners tried to cut back on them, I got very itchy again.
A year later, my owners decided to try another veterinarian. I went home with a new steroid and more antibiotics. Soon, my chest hair was gone and my skin had become thick and greasy. My paws didn’t look so good, either. We then went to a third doctor, who took a blood sample from me and sent it away to determine what exactly I was allergic to and provided my owners with a serum that they injected under my skin every week. While they were told that it would take at least nine months for the injections to work, I still was no better after getting them for over a year.

So the next stop was a veterinary school hospital (my owners sparing no expense to try to get me better), where this time I was given a skin test for allergies. From this test, another serum was developed. I was put on the new serum and back on my old friends, the antibiotics along with antihistamines, but I just kept getting worse.

By this time, my owners were getting pretty disgusted. At this point, the fur was gone from my paws, which had developed black skin with red, irritated areas. It was the same under my neck, which also had begun to ooze. I still itched all the time, my skin burned, I had no energy, and my owners were getting desperate and disillusioned.

Then, just as it seemed as though I would be doomed to a life of irritation and misery, my owners heard about Dr. Khalsa. Not particularly hopeful, we visited her office, and she immediately started me on homeopathic remedies, a rotating diet -so I did not eat the same thing every day, and an Allergy Elimination Technique. The improvement was noticeable after the very first visit! As the treatments progressed, I scratched less and less, the fur grew back under my neck and on my paws, and my skin returned to normal. After a few months, I stopped scratching altogether. My coat is now soft and bright, and I feel like a brand new dog!

Excerpted from Dr. Khalsa’s Natural Dog.