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Fevers
in Pets
The Good, Bad and Ugly
Fevers occur in animals and
humans as a consequence of bacterial or viral infections. But they
do have their good side, believe it or not. Andrew Lwoff was the
first to question the idea that fever was an intrinsic part of the disease
process and thus a phenomenon to be vigorously combated with drugs.
This somewhat eccentric Nobel laureate was working at the Pasteur
Institute in Paris in the last 1960's when he discovered that the
poliomyelitis grew well in tissue-cultured cells at 95 degrees F., but did
poorly as the temperature approached 104 degrees F. He and his
colleagues found that when dogs infected with the polio-virus vaccine were
given fever-reducing drugs, their chances of dying dramatically
increased. But when left alone and given only adequate water and
plenty of time to rest, they improved remarkably. The
bad side to fevers, of course, is that they can make us and our pets very
uncomfortable. Physical systems automatically become weakened as
body temperatures rise: Normal
temperature in a human is 98.6 degrees F. Normal
temperature in a cat is about 100.2 degrees F. Normal
temperature in a dog is about 102.8 degrees F. Obviously
anything over these respective figures constitutes a feverish state.
Fevers become ugly when they're prolonged (between 105 degrees and 106
degrees F) and can lead to dehydration, anorexia, mental and emotional
depression, cerebral edema, bone-marrow depression and
hallucinations. If left unchecked at these temperatures, they could
turn fatal. Fever
Busters During
their initial phase, fevers seldom are a serious problem so long as they
don't escalate into the stratosphere too quickly. The medical
evidence shows that fevers are in themselves an important defense
mechanism. The bodies of humans and animals are much wiser than we
are and give them credit for. We should not attempt to interfere
with normal physiological responses to illness just because we have the
drug arsenal to do so. There
are several wonderful herbs that make outstanding 'fever busters'.
These plants are in the mint family and should be taken in liquid (tea,
fluid extract or tincture) rather than capsule or tablet forms. They
belong to the mint family and taste great:
catnip
(which felines go crazy over),
spearmint
(which drives some dogs ecstatic, strange to say), and
peppermint
(which their human masters seem to like a lot).
WARNING: Do NOT use
essential oils on cats without the assistance of a qualified professional! If
making liquid from whole herb, add one heaping tablespoon of any one of
these three herbs to one-and-a-half pints of boiling spring or distilled
water. Cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain and have the
animal drink this instead of water. Fever
Miracle One herb
that always seems to perform a 'Mike Tyson knockout' in the fever ring is
wormwood.
It is bitter as gall, therefore, getting it down the gullet as a tea is a
tall order. Instead, use only one capsule for small pets (cats) and
no more than two capsules for bigger ones (dogs). The
Chinese have been using wormwood for several thousand years and consider
it to be a 'fever miracle' for rapidly eradicating the symptoms common to
this problem.
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