Balaram is a 6-7 year old pitbull (M/N). I rescued him 4 years ago in New
Orleans after Katrina the night Rita was coming him. At that time he was
unable to walk, emaciated, dehydrated and had completely given up on life.
After bringing him home he was hospitalized multiple times for chronic
regurgitation (11-13 times a day), refusal to drink (horrible hydrophobia)
- still have a hard time sometimes getting him to drink - fear of certain
water bowls - will lick water out of your hand but if anyone moves when he
starts drinking he stops, generalized emaiation - was x-rayed, treated
conventionally and rads with no change. That was around the time I was
starting herbal meds so I changed his food to a raw buffalo diet - was
actually cooking it at that time and placed him on Bao He Wan and Si Miao
San for around 6 months - got better. Now if he gets stressed he may
regurgitate - but this is not frequent and now can eat raw chicken,
turkey, pork, buffal, fish formula - cannot tolerate much raw beef okay
with occasional cooked beef but I rarely use beef with my guys maybe once
or twice a month. He gets finicky with food - if he is at all stressed or
if you stand near him, he will not eat. He is a very fearful dog but is
also very barrier agressive - brave behind a closed car or a fence ( was a
yard dog used for protection but never given any attention and definatley
abused). Growls at new dogs but does nothing to them, loves the girl dogs
and the little chihuahua in the house and great with the cats - they can
push him out of his food. Once he trusts you very affectionate and loyal
otherwise very scared and hides. Used to get horrible deep pustules that
would ulcerate open and basically be a really deep dermatitis almost
furunculosis which would not respond to antibiotics or steroids ( again
this was in the beginning while also trying to get his GI straightened
out. These lesions would manifest on the top of his head and side of his
face. Has only had one bout of this in the last 2 and 1/2 years and was
also when he had a bout of regurgitation - placed back on Bao He Wan for 1
month and this resovled. Has alwys had intermittent bilateral forelimb
lameness - worse on the left and chronically has c4/c5 body out to the
left - recent rads indicate a fractured anconeal process/elbow dysplasia
on the left. Fore limb lameness managed with acupuncture and chiropractic
- also takes a glucosamine supplement. When first got after strong enough
to walk, run , stand and putting weight on - after around 10 months -
noticed he would stand with right hind knuckled and occasionally left hin
- treated with course of steroids (before I was doing acupuncture) and
resolved though gait seems slightly off intermittently. He snores a lot
and very loudly actually has sleep apnea.
3 weeks ago started screaming in pain and holding right hind up -
non-weight bearing if tried to jump up on anything. Rads and subsequent
MRI revealed L/S disc herniation - ventrally herniated especially on the
right. Started acupuncture and was placed on gabapentin. Also have given
Nux Vomica 30c twice weekly for 3 doses. He is improving and is able to
run and play, though not jump and I try to minimize running. He has rare
episodes of pain. Does still have bilateral proprioceptive deficits with
righting from knuckling slow on both hind. When walks, weak on right hind
and very mildly ataxic - not anything most people will notice. The
neurologist would like to do surgery but I am trying to avoid this.
Tolerates acupuncture well. Hard to get powdered herbs into sometimes as
he will often not eat his food if they are in it, though I can force them
in. He does not drink enough and often has tacky mucous membranes.
He does get in some dark moods where he just wants to be left alone and
goes underneath things or in the corner of the bed and will growl at
everyone ( not so much aggressively and I have no fear of him - just
wants to be alone). He also emotionally holds onto the past disparities
that have been done against him and when he is fearful or in a dark mood,
i can feel the pain and fear emanating from him - and it is hard for me
to let go of it as well as he suffered horribly before and after the
storm - he was almost dead when I carried him out.
Tongue is lavender usually but occasionally purple, white coating, cracked
and ranges from dry to slimy - though not big - darker underneath.
Pulse : generally slow, bounding, hard to compress, broad but occasionally
is wiry, deep
Acupuncture points I have used include LI11 and 4, St36 and 40, SP 9, TH5,
BL17, 23, 25,27, 40, BaWei, GV4 and 14, GB 29, 30,34 and 39
Thoughts for herbs are combination of Xiao Huo Luo Dan and Xue Fu Zhu Yu
Tang or Si Miao San . He confuses me though because he clearly has
agitation, aggravation (fear based)/ regurgitaqtion affected by food and
emotion, lavender tongue ( Liver QI and blood deficiency/stagnation
possibly) and multiple signs of dampness ( broad, bounding pulse, snoring,
regurgitation, tongue coating) but also has some signs of dryness (cracked
tongue, tacky Mucous membranes, not drinking enough).