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HARD SKIN After years of conventional treatment one owner decided to take an alternative view

We acquired Cyd from Bull Terrier Welfare about 6½ years ago. She was about 2½ and came with a history of both health and temperament problems. Her initial aggressiveness dissipated as her confidence grew and she developed into the most loyal and feisty little dog anyone could wish for. She has, however, always had “skin problems”. Although she looked fine when we collected her due, I imagine, to a strong dose of antibiotics, her paperwork indicated she had been virtually bald when found wandering the streets. In the time we have owned her she has spent much of her life, until recently, on antibiotics and steroids, plus other medication, requested by us in our desperation to fix her physical condition. Although I didn’t understand why at the time, it was clear the conventional regime was unsuccessful in keeping Cyd’s condition under control, and thus we came to try homeopathy.

With hindsight it is easy to ask why it took me so long to realise what the actual “problem” was. I would haul Cyd off to the vets at the first sight of inter-digital cysts and other surface eruptions to be given a short course of antibiotics. Oh miracle, she was “cured”. Temporarily. I was happy. Temporarily. A few weeks after the medication finished the skin irritations inevitably started again. This cycle was continuous and Cyd was subjected to skin scrapings and biopsies, dosed with dozens of courses of antibiotics, numerous cortisone shots, underwent allergy testing under general anaesthetic and, latterly, was prescribed a serum, in conjunction with a six month course of antibiotics to inhibit the “allergic responses” that she was exhibiting. The dermatologist also suggested an exclusion diet.

The purpose of this lengthy course of antibiotics was, I was told, to control the secondary skin infection to enable them to treat the primary disease. I never actually established what those skin experts thought Cyd’s disease was. My concerns were brushed aside (“Cyd has already had a lot of medication? Well…not compared to some animals…”) and I was sent home with some very expensive pills and a promise they would try and establish a cheaper option for the duration. And so I ended up with a huge bagful of cheap medication which was to suit my pocket but not Cyd’s system. Four months into the treatment I noticed her drinking and urinary habits had changed and a blood test established Cyd had kidney dysfunction. During these months I had also observed that the “allergy serum” which I was injecting into Cyd had an undesirable effect upon her. She became “zombie-like” for a few days immediately afterward and it was too much of a co-incidence to ignore. To tell the truth I had never liked injecting Cyd with a substance which ran a risk of inducing anaphylactic shock but I was pretty desperate in my search for a solution. Kidney dysfunction, however, indicated a crisis point. I withdrew all Cyd’s medication, against the advice of the vet I might add, and considered my options.

Many would consider trying homeopathy an act of desperation and, nine months on with little positive change, I’m almost, but not quite, inclined to agree. One factor which has kept me struggling on has been the honesty of the practitioners involved in this discipline and the fact that they were prepared to address my niggling concerns and questions. I have found their attitudes very refreshing compared to those of the many conventionally trained vets and dermatologists I had visited. The homeopath who was recommended to me was not a qualified vet which was potentially a legal problem. It was not a difficult decision, however, because she was experienced with the breed and, basically, I liked her and trusted her. Having dealt for years with so-called experts who refused to admit they could not treat Cyd successfully the lack of veterinary qualification did not worry me.

“Why,” I asked, “Does Cyd keep on getting skin problems? Why don’t they permanently disappear with antibiotics? Why do the lesions get more aggressive each time they appear? Can I make Cyd better without medication that has potentially lethal side-effects?” When explained by a practitioner who is both compassionate and knowledgeable the answers seemed obvious even though they had evaded me for years.

Cyd, she explained, does not have an illness as such. She does not have a “medical condition”. Antibiotics treat a specific bacteria and they are not working for Cyd because there are no bacteria to treat. Cyd has allergies, resulting in skin eruptions, because her immune system doesn’t work properly. Her immune system is not strong enough to fight the irritants which a healthy dog would shun.

Some of the things which damage an immune system are, I came to learn, antibiotics, steroids, vaccines and a poor diet such as tinned dog food or kibble. A dog born with a strong immune system has no problem coping with these detrimental offerings but a dog which is born with an already-depleted immune system will inevitably have an uphill struggle to overcome these “poisons” which are regularly introduced into the body. It is accepted that highly-bred pedigree dogs are often not as healthy as mongrels. I consider a genetically flawed immune-system to be Cyd’s overwhelming problem, one of which I was blissfully unaware all those years ago.

And as for years of antibiotics, steroids, vaccines and a poor diet? Guilty on all counts. Each time I had diligently whisked my sick dog off to the vet I had inadvertently caused the skin problem to become more deep-seated by forcing it back into the body. Next time a stronger dose of antibiotic was required to tackle a continually worsening problem. What hadn’t occurred to me was the simple fact that the skin condition was a symptom of something else. It seems obvious now. That “something else” was the body’s immune system trying to tell me it couldn’t cope with Cyd’s environment because it (a) wasn’t being nourished properly and (b) was being bombarded with toxins in the form of medication and vaccines.

This explanation made perfect sense and this is how I came to try homeopathy with Cyd. I will not go into details of the remedies that she has taken because they have been many. She now eats a home-made diet and I have also stopped vaccinating her.

I didn’t expect Cyd to get better overnight. Not only had she lived with eight years of illness, she had also eaten eight years worth of nutritionally deficient food and had taken eight years of medication to compound the problem. No, homeopathy, a last resort, was never going to be quick. Even so, the last nine months have been frustrating. I have seen changes in Cyd, but it would be a stretch to call them “improvements”. More recently there have been very few changes. She appeared to be “stuck”.

We are currently trying some very high potency remedies which we all hope will “kick-start” Cyd’s system. Quite honestly, she has never looked worse. There are large holes in her skin which alternate between leaving patches of blood and poison all over the sofa, the chair, her bed, my bed, the whole house to be precise. These holes are interspersed with bald patches. She has swellings, lumps, bumps and spots. I could not pinpoint any part of her body which has not been affected over the last nine months. If she looks bad she smells worse. I have mostly stopped taking Cyd anywhere that strangers will see her…luckily I live in a very remote area! On the bright side I’m pretty sure Cyd is feeling, if not looking, better. She seems more energetic and has begun asking to play again. Just a few days ago she went on a 4 mile walk (wearing boots to protect her sore feet) which was the most “normal dog activity” she has undertaken in months. I knew she was perking up when she recently trapped a neighbour, whom she particularly dislikes, behind my living room door and refused to let him out!

I have endeavoured to give homeopathy a year. This is not a long time for homeopathy to treat a difficult case but it is, I think, a long stretch of a dog’s relatively short life. After that I’m going to, well, I don’t really know. I hope by then I will either see proof that homeopathy will make Cyd as well as she can be or I will perhaps make a decision to revert to a conventional treatment which will undoubtedly shorten Cyd’s life but may make the last months comfortable. Walkies without boots…those were the days.

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t found my first experience of bull terrier ownership stressful, upsetting and frustrating, not to mention expensive, Cyd is a fabulous dog who, after a bad start, deserved the best from life and seems to have been dealt a rotten hand. I don’t know whether I will get another bull terrier when Cyd is dead. When we first had Cyd I knew nothing of vaccine damage, the importance of diet, genetic illness caused by inbreeding and the fact that I could question the vet’s treatment for my sick animal and seek out natural alternatives. I also assumed I’d get another bull terrier. Now I’m not so sure. Part of me feels I could not bear to repeat the last 6½ years with another animal from a fundamentally sick breed. Part of me though, is certain that, if I got that dog young enough and fed it well, did not vaccinate it, and treated holistically – possibly with homeopathy – from day one I would not have the ill animal that I am responsible for today. Time will tell. I don’t feel certainty that homeopathy will fix Cyd but I do have hope.

In summary I found:

• The principle of homeopathy is not easy to understand. I don’t know why it works. I just know it does. Usually. As with allopathic medicine, there are no guarantees.

• Homeopathy works by helping the body to help itself. Thus it is not surprising that a very sick individual can take an exceptionally long time to get better. Improvements work from inside out and, generally, top to bottom of the body. The body heals “back in time” to the point where it previously did not exhibit the problem, if that stage exists.

• Although some would disagree I believe that homeopathy can be harmful. I personally would not experiment without the advice and support of a knowledgeable practitioner, particularly where problems are chronic rather than acute. However, with some advice, research or experience you should be able to safely treat acute problems, on a first aid basis, by yourself.

• It is crucially important to have a homeopath whom you like and trust. Whenever I felt I could not continue with Cyd’s treatment a phone call to her, or one of the people she had helped previously, renewed my belief that I should stick with the method and give it a  fair chance. Realistically this can take months, even years.

• A good diet is important. Whilst I have no doubt that healthy dogs can live, thrive even,  on processed dog food I don’t think an unhealthy dog can. Different people advise different foods but essentially a raw food diet consisting of vegetables, grains and protein seems to suit Cyd. Following experimentation I don’t believe food intolerances have contributed towards her skin condition.

•  I decided to stop vaccinating Cyd. Literature provided by the manufacturers of vaccines basically states that only an animal that enjoys 100% good health should be vaccinated. A dog that is stressed, unwell, “under the weather”, on drugs of any kind, or that has any sort of disease or illness should not be vaccinated. I don’t know about you but it seems as if all the bull terriers I know – a relatively small sample admittedly – do not enjoy the best of health.

• You will probably get depressed and upset and wonder why you are persisting. Simply because people often choose homeopathy as a last resort there is much more for the body to deal with than if the patient had been referred at the start of their illness. Don’t give up too hastily.

© Hannah Thompson (20/12/99) Please feel free to send me an email if you have any comments or questions. This article first appeared in "DOGS today" April 2000 issue. 

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