For seven months during 2009 I had as my ward three little sisters– red heelers that were neglected by their owners, a ranching family in the boonies of northern New Mexico. Certain groups of country people treat their animals as commodities with total neglect for their physical and emotional well-being, and some ranchers are crueler than others. I was a friend of the family (primarily the 90 year-old matriarch) where the three girls lived and didn’t want to care for them in an ostentatious way, for if I were to rub the brothers who ran the ranch the wrong way, I simply would not be welcome on their land, and thus wouldn’t be able to help the critters.
So I would go visit the dogs, care for them and feed them almost daily throughout six months. I would enter the road on their land approaching the house, and park at a place not directly visible from the house….then use a clicker to call the girls and they would come with great gusto. The family knew I would come but we didn’t speak about it. The little dogs bloomed, filled out physically and in every other way. I named them Cielo (heaven, sky), Sage, and Nube (cloud in Spanish).
It was the guys’ custom to get rid of a dog if it didn’t work cattle well or serve another purpose. This was accomplished by taking them out away from the ranch and shooting them…or sometimes by hanging. I got wind that they were going to get rid of Cielo……so, I asked them if I could find her a home…..and they went along with it. In mid-November Sage was in heat and became pregnant. Around the middle of December the men started feeding the girls more regularly and I didn’t go over as often.
On January 12th I went over to see how Nube and Sage were doing. Nube came right on over, whole body wriggling with energy and joy…she looked in very good shape. I was happy they seemed to be getting more food. Sage wasn’t around, but that wasn’t unusual, for it’s a big ranch and often just one dog would show.
I was there for a while and Sage wasn't appearing. Then I saw her lying on the ground, around the corner of the course, hardly responsive. Her back quarters sere soaked with blood and body fluids…...she had had a miscarriage. I asked the brothers what had happened to her. They said...she had been sick in the hay area where the dogs lived.
It was dead winter and very cold. I said that I wanted to take her home and treat her. I took her home and kept her separated from my dogs- in a closed off area as I didn't know what ailed her. You'll see the one attached pic her little healing area. On the table are potions I used and you can see one of my art pieces of Saint Francis there on the ground. She was on that chair for a week and a half.
She would hobble out and stand by the door for me to let me go out and do her business, but then would return and I would lift her up on the chair and cover her. This is amazing that she chose to do that as she had never before been in a hose...definitely had not been housebroken.
She couldn't take food...when she did she would throw up blood....even broth evoked this. I kept her alive with finger-fulls “of honey to which I added finely grated garlic…this, along with fasting are at the center of a healing course for distemper according to Juliette de Bairacli-Levy, the grande dam of natural healing of animals.
Also, she had what seemed to be pneumonia... coughing up blood...mucus filling nose and eyes. I had a pot of steaming Eucalyptus water by her, and would apply calendula cream with eucalyptus oil to her nostrils. I washed out her eyes with a very weak saline and camomille tea.
I consulted my homeopathic vet, Dee Blanco, daily and
administered to her that regime.....Dee is an expert on treating distemper and recognized the conglomerate of
symptoms which are characteristic of distemper: very high fever, miscarriage, serious respiratory situation,
copious mucous in eyes and nose, digestive failure, complete exhaustion.
Her breathing was greatly aided by periodic treatments of albuterol I gave her with an asthma nebulizer to keep
inflamed bronchial passages open. I was giving her a steady course of
glyconutrient powder mixed with water given to her through
a turkey baster (which I used also to keep her hydrated.)
I also gave her Reishi mushroom non-alcohol tincture for immune system, antioxidant, antibacterial and expectorant support. After a week and a half she finally could eat standing up...mainly broth and pumpkin to begin with...then she consistently improved.
It took about a month and a half for her to totally recover and regain her strength.
Related: How an Incapacitated Blind, Crippled, Poodle Puppy with Seizures Experienced 100% Recovery!