Thank you to the lovely human being who took the time to write to me just to let me know supplements are crap and can't treat dog's medical conditions; you're a lovely person!
Look, that supplement powder your friend is selling in some MLM scheme is crap, and you shouldn't take medical advice from the Internet (especially not from me), but I don't agree that all supplements are crap, especially when supplied by a actual doctor/vet/naturopath.
We've always treated our pugs with a combination of Western medicine and Natural and Traditional Chinese medicine. Way back when I had cancer, my doctor also practiced a form of traditional Chinese medicine and supplemented my Western treatment in a cohesive and thoughtful way with science behind it all.
So thank you, kind person, for claiming I was killing my dog with junk supplements. Actually, I used a medically sound Traditional Chinese Herbal Supplement along with a diet change to help break down a giant bladder stone in a dog, all backed by actual vets.
Since our natural vet can't perform ultrasounds, our path was bookended with trips to the ER and a vet to perform ultrasounds. Stone was there--was told at the ER it was way to big to pass or break down and we'd likely need surgery. Our vet told us to heal the UTI first as the bacteria can actually make the stone appear larger. That vet told us not to worry about diet changes yet but we'd do that after a recheck and another round of antibiotics. Our natural vet agreed that we needed antibiotics and prescribed a specific probiotic and an herbal supplement. Since we had recently changed Lenore's food, shortly before the stone, we decided to switch immediately rather than wait, because it's not as if we were changing a food that had been working well for a decade.
Fast forward to the ultrasound and no stone! Either it broke down enough to clear or wasn't too large to pass. Luckily no blockage, and we were concerned after the ER visit. We'll continue monitoring for the next several months to make sure there isn't a recurrence of infection or stones. Because once a bladder stone forms, more may follow.
We agree, not all supplements live up to their promises. But don't dismiss an entire area of medicine just because you don't know anything about it. Here's a quick rundown from a vet that isn't mine. And because this person was particularly dismissive of cranberry, I figured I'd share an article about that as well. I did give Lenore some treats with cranberry in them, mostly as a just in case it works kind of measure. Very little research has been done on the efficiency of cranberry in animals, but what little has been done basically said it may work sometimes with some bacteria. It's not a cure, so don't treat it as one.
So yes, please don't give your dog random supplements promising a cure without consulting with a vet. Treat your dog the way you would treat yourself. But please random person, treat your dog better than you treat strangers on the Internet.
And we'll knock on wood that Lenore is, well, out of the woods.
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