Pet Grub

Throughout the duration of The Sick Pet Project, Jumbo the sick Chihuahua, was fed based on my method of feeding. The primary meats fed were beef and chicken. The supplements used were EggShellent Calcium, FloraZyme LP, Pet GO, Rena GO, Thyro GO and Trace AniMinerals.

Another good day but the period of constipation has begun in earnest.

Some more puss or something like that came oozing out of Jumbo's body again today near the base of the spine. It wasn't as much as before, but my goodness, not even a skunk smells this bad.

Overall, more energy than before and he wanted to eat around noon. Then at 10 PM, I fed him some more food.

Jumbo is healing nicely, but he's still a little bit lethargic today, still smells and of course, he's constipated. The good news is that his urine is normal.

I won't give a laxative yet. I really want his body to solve the constipation itself. Usually, it's been my experience that after a dog or cat experiences constipation during the detoxification experience that it is followed by loose stools — not always, but this often happens. So I am hesitant to give a laxative in case I give too much and then instead of having a healthy bowel movement, it becomes more like diarrhea. If I did give the laxative and it became like diarrhea, then it would only be temporary. But still, it would be a huge mess to clean.

When the body is constipated, it means not enough moisture is in the bowels. To have a healthy bowel movement, the stools need moisture. When there is not enough water or moisture, the stools become hard and dry. So, if I do give Jumbo a laxative, I won't give him fiber nor will I give him a laxative made from petroleum jelly. The petroleum jelly has so many negative side effects. Essentially, the petroleum jelly just makes the waste slide out. But what we want is to bring more moisture to the bowels.

Fiber is not a good idea because carnivores actually need a low fiber diet. The fiber can irritate the intestinal tract and bowels. Furthermore, fiber is only beneficial if there is moisture in the bowels. If there is not enough moisture, the fiber will just get stuck too — adding to the problem.

My preference when resolving constipation is to use Chinese herbal remedies. The Chinese have always known that the key to solving constipation is to use herbs that bring moisture to the bowels. So, if I do give Jumbo a laxative, then this is the approach I will follow.

The lethargy continues — it's been weeks now of lethargy! Physically he is still looking better but the odor, oh, that odor is unbelievably bad. Although his odor is still bad, it's not as bad as when he smelled like death.

He had a small bowel movement today but he had some serious straining, the stools are hard, dry and small — clearly constipated.

He ate a good meal today, almost 250 grams of chicken. Although he ate a good meal, I didn't add any of the herbal remedies today — just the calcium, Pet GO, Rena GO , Thyro GO, homeopathic kidney remedy, bentonite clay, aloe vera, FloraZyme LP, and probiotics. Jumbo is looking better each day due to the fact the scabs are disappearing.

Jumbo is still constipated. He had a bowel movement; it's just a healthy bowel movement. There was a little bit of blood on the stools due to straining.

His appetite remains excellent. Urine slightly concentrated, but not as bad as before. Still has body odor but looking good.

He does need a good bowel movement though. I will give a colon cleanser tomorrow if he is still constipated.

While he may not be totally healthy, he still responds to a bitch in heat!!!

Jumbo is still constipated, so I gave him a laxative today. Tomorrow I will know if it worked and/or if I gave the correct dose. The Chinese herbal remedy I am using as a laxative is very small and I only gave him 1/4 of a tablet.

He wasn't that hungry tonight, although he ate some food. I suspect he wasn't hungry because he is so heavily compacted.

He has some new skin eruptions happening, although I suspect that it is more from being constipated causing toxins to be stuck inside the body with nowhere to go but out through the skin.

What I've noticed about Jumbo is that he is very good at manipulating the owners to give him what he wants — he's clearly dominating the owners. When he didn't want to eat, it's possibly due to the fact he is constipated, but I also noticed that he was being distracted by other dogs, people coming and going and of course, the bitch in heat.

So tonight, I put Jumbo into his place and I clearly let him know who was boss — me.

I let him know that I was in charge and that he was not. Based on his reaction, whereby he tried to bite me, made a lot of whining and tried to escape, it's a sure sign he thinks he's in charge and was trying to see if he could scare me away. But it didn't work.

To quote the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, I put him into a more calm and submissive state. I then kept Jumbo's attention clearly on me. Oh he tried to get sympathy from the owner but I told her to ignore him. If anyone has ever seen Season 1, Episode 1 of the Dog Whisperer TV show, then you will have seen a Chihuahua in that episode have a conniption fit. This is what Jumbo did too — but with no success.

I wanted Jumbo to eat more but because of all the distractions, he was loosing focus — he was controlling the situation as he has done so many times. Jumbo has many fear issues which, he uses to get sympathy — I can clearly see it but the owner cannot. Ultimately Jumbo's ploy to get sympathy didn't work. His reaction to my discipline was actually a good sign, well, a bad sign too. Only a dog that thinks he is the boss is going to react the way he did while a submissive dog would go straight into submission. But the fight he had was a good sign. It shows he still has energy and in fact, tonight was the first night he has barked in a few weeks. So it's a good sign even though the barking was due to distractions.

I've noticed, over the time I have spent with Jumbo, that he appears to be a dominant fearful type of dog. He wants to do things his way, on his terms yet he is also scared and nervous. I am not sure if his features have added to his health problems or not. But as I told the owner tonight, it's very easy to get attached to your illness and sometimes you need to change your attitude and stop feeling sorry for yourself — to stop looking for sympathy. So that's why I encouraged the owner to take Jumbo outside, get him off the sofa and help him feel alive. Of course, rest is important for Jumbo too, but so is a proper attitude. The discipline tonight was also to help kick Jumbo in the butt, so to speak.

Tomorrow, we will feed him inside the house with no other dogs around so he is focussed. He's been catered to quite a bit. He's like the King who gets hand fed and while that was important when he was really weak, we don't want to continue babying him — otherwise he will remain in that state of mind.

It's time to change his mindset from feeling sorry for himself and seeking sympathy to a state whereby he thinks he is healthy. There's no point in nourishing the sick state of mind especially since I am officially declaring that all major healing is done!

He needs to get up and start moving. Of course, he is still weak and thin — there is no denying that, but he's not so weak that he can't stretch his legs. It's also possible that once he has a really good bowel movement and really good bowel cleansing, that his state of being will change. There is no doubt that a clogged bowel can clog your mood and affect how you feel too.

Although I officially declared all major healing was finished yesterday to change not only the mindset of Jumbo, but the owner too, the reality is there is still on major issue to solve — the constipation.

Even though I gave him a laxative last night, nothing happened. So tonight, I gave him the laxative again but I doubled the dose. We will know if it worked by tomorrow morning.

It's obvious that Jumbo's colon, which is a muscle, is lazy. There is probably a lot of old fecal matter stuck inside his body which, has compacted along the colon wall. The old fecal matter is probably so thick and hard; it is more like concrete now. In hindsight, I should have probably given Jumbo the laxative when he first showed signs of straining. But I thought the problem was going to rectify itself but it has not.

He still ate some food tonight and even had a good bark. But until he has a bowel movement again, I won't be happy. He reminds me of my cat, when he was 16, and kept having constipation issues due to a weak colon and as a result of eating commercial pet food for 15 years of his life.

Jumbo finally had a bowel movement. The laxative worked quite well. Initially the bowel movement was hard, but then it became soft. He seems to have more energy, is barking, etc. His urine is more normal.

I had a chance to see Jumbo early in the day and he actually looked thinner. But I suspect that's because a lot of waste has been eliminated from his colon. Although he is thin, what I noticed today was that I could see the color of his eyes — brown. Today was the first day that I could really see the color of his eyes.

He has a few new wounds on his body, but I suspect they will go away faster now that his colon has been successfully cleansed. There is also some more discharge coming out from the base of his spine towards the lower back area of his body.

Today, his appetite was big!

Jumbo has a lot of energy today. In fact, he went outside numerous times and his appetite was big again today. His eyes are very clear and full of color. The right eye was a little foggy but you could still see the color. Hopefully he will start putting weight back on due to his healthy appetite.

Jumbo still has good energy and a great appetite. However, it appears he has not had a bowel movement and so I gave him the laxative again. I suspect that the reason why he still has some skin problems is due to a dirty colon causing toxins to be floating around his body. His urine is good though. He ate a lot of food and got a good amount of herbal remedies tonight too. His body smells — the smell is getting better, but nonetheless, he still stinks.

What a massive appetite he had tonight. He ate exceptionally well. Probably the most he has eaten thus far and with all of his supplements added too. His body did not smell as much today and his energy was good again. His skin is still healing and so he doesn't look normal yet, but we're getting there.

Jumbo ate a relatively small meal especially when compared to the last two days of eating. However, he ate so much food the last two days that it doesn't surprise me that he ate a small meal today. It looks as though Jumbo has put on some weight. He is really itchy because he wants the scabs on his body to come off.

I have to say, it's become apparent that the root of Jumbo's massive health problems is a dirty colon.

According to Hering's Law of Healing, the body heals in reverse order. That is, the problem that started the actual health problems will be the last problem to be solved.

Now although Jumbo still has plenty of more healing to do, it's obvious that since the constipation is happening at this point of the healing process that the constipation itself is the underlying cause of Jumbo's health problem.

Of course, a poor diet is the ultimate root cause of Jumbo's health problem. But that poor diet really caused problems in his colon. Now that we are feeding him a wholesome raw meat diet and cleaning out his colon, you can see him really starting to get stronger and healthier.

To continue reading my notes or to view pictures of The Sick Pet Project, just choose a link. You can start from the beginning, the middle or the end — the choice is yours:

• Introduction
• The Sick Pet Project Begins
• It's Starting
• It Takes 30 Days For The Skin To Heal
• A New Clue
• Eye Witness Healing
• He Smelled Like Death
• The Mystery Has Been Solved
• It's Mating Season, Not To Mention A New Beginning
• The Hair Is Growing