Vestibular disease

Question
My dog is currently at a vet hospital for old dog vestibular issues. He has been there since Fri morning. Neurologically, he is improving. But he still won't eat or drink. At what point should be concerned with him not eating. Is there an option for temporary tube feeding
Thanks
Russ

Answer
There are some wonderful integrative veterinarians in NC trained with many options that can both get your dog eating again and maybe resolving the vestibular syndrome, for which conventional has little to offer. Please contact them before trying a feeding tube. Most dogs can be force fed. Have you offered real food - people food? steak, chicken, fish, dairy, bread, rice, chinese...anything your old dog has liked in the past.

Hopefully the clinic is giving vitamin B 12 injections as that can help stimulate the appetite.

You can gently rub some acupressure points (good books are at my site - Schwartz and Zidonas - and useful for all your future animal years). some that may help appetite are GV 7, 6 & 4 and GB 24 & 25. this chart guides you a bit - https://www.google.com/search?q=acupressure+points+to+stimulate+appetite+dogs&espv=2&biw=1250&bih=673&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicn6276tvJAhVDwiYKHej6CQUQsAQIIg&dpr=1#imgrc=GaOngO5tKNx5kM%3A

If they can temporarily disconnect him from his fluids (it is easy to cap off the IV), take him outside or at least to a different room. Offer any stimulation he used to love - toys, hugs, music, children.

Call an animal intuitive (www. animaltalk.net for referrals or my site) who may "hear" what he wants.

Again, the best would be to find a local vet to show you the spots, or a phone call homeopathic vet to help completely heal him.
FIND A HEALER
I strongly recommend finding an integrative veterinarian with whom to work. This is a person trained in many different approaches, including using conventional drugs only when absolutely needed. Working with one can increase the chance that your cherished companion can live a long and healthy life after recovering from this current problem. There are good ones and great ones, and a few homeopathic veterinarians will consult by phone or email. You can go to the web sites for each type of holistic practice and use their referral list to find one near to you - even the US organizations may list UK vets and I listed 3 UK sites as well. Many practitioners are members of only one or two of the organizations, so you do need to go to every site to find who is near you:
1. Wide range of treatments: www.AHVMA.org, American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association and www.civtedu.org.   
2. Homeopathic veterinarians (these can often help you by phone if no other holistic practitioners are nearby that you like): www.theAVH.org and www.DrPitcairn.com; bahvs.com abva.co.uk   and if you
3. Chiropractic and Osteopathic - www.animalchiropractic.org; http://equineosteopathy.org/ (they treat dogs, too)
4. TCVM (Acupuncture and Chinese medicine): www.IVAS.org, www.aava.org & www.TCVM.com - abva.co.uk,
5. Herbal - www.VBMA.org;  herbalvets.org.uk,


Ask for Reiki healing and schedule yourself to learn it for future problems:
REIKI:
Personally, I think every person who lives with or works with animals must know at least Level I Reiki. The practitioner offers this energy and the animal comes over to get it (or places her hands upon the animal), or it can be done from a distance, even around the world with the intent for healing to occur. The energy flows through the healer into the animal. This is based on directly applying Chi (energy) to rebalance the energy field so it no longer needs to produce the physical symptoms. It is a very good adjunct to any healing modality, especially to relieve pain and inflammation. I have seen cats who began to eat again when their food was treated with Reiki. It also "takes the bad out of" things. By doing Reiki on smelly water in restaurants I have been able to drink sweet tasting and smelling water. Use Reiki anytime that you must give injections, vaccines, drugs, flea or heartworm drugs, or other substances with potential toxicity. Reiki is great to calm animals, relieve discomfort, and can deeply heal some problems in some animals.  

1. Great information on Reiki - http://www.reikicourse.org.
2. Kathleen Prasad is a wonderful teacher and works with my favorite sanctuary and holistic education center, BrightHaven www.brighthaven.org. Kathleen leads a free monthly telechat for anyone trained in Reiki and using it with animals.http://www.animalreikisource.com/.

3. If you cannot find a Reiki Class near you (same class for people and animals as it connects you through an "attunement" to the healing energy of the universe, making you a channel of healing), the following groups offer long distance, free, attunements.

a. http://theholisticcare.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13,
b. http://freereikiattunement.com/
c. Christine at cbearse@earthlink.net, www.awakeningrainbows.com. To receive free distance Reiki send her your first name only, city and state, and whether or not you have had any Reiki training.  She invites you to include your pets as well.  She uses a teddy bear and does a full body Reiki distance treatment for one hour each Sunday evening from 9 p.m. until 10 p.m. EST.
d. And a team of over 100 healers will send free healing energy until you say not to. Email Barbara at nancelot01@aol.com with your healing request, name of animal, species, color & age. In the subject say request through Dr. Chambreau

4. for a fee:
Excellent recommendation in 2015 - http://reikishamanic.com/
www.ReikiBlessings.com offers many types of energy healing classes- search a bit to find the reiki ones or email them. Long distance healing and training is at www.animalhealers.homestead.com.
5. Get a free treatment for yourself at www.interdimensionalhealing.com.