I have not written much about my healing practice here. It has mostly been a sounding board for things of a collective and political nature. Yes, even pet food has been politicized in this modern era.
Today I would like to share a special case I had last week, a case that brought me back to my roots in herbalism by an old ally, Milk Thistle.
What some people may know about me and some may not, is that I am an herbalist at heart. Long before attending veterinary school, I began a relationship with the plant world. As a child, rambling through my backyard playground of Pikes Peak National Forest, I began talking to the grand old Ponderosa Pines, the pasqueflowers peaking their heads through the snow-covered pine needles and the tall stalks of mullein I called the corn-cob plant because their dried flower stalks looked like corn cobs.
With my mother, I gathered wild raspberries to put on ice cream and chokecherries for jelly. Foraging was not a hobby or activity, it was something we just did. And something that kept us intimately connected to the seasons and the land. In winter we “foraged” for that special tree which would be decorated and made the guest of honor for Christmas.
As a college student, one of the grandmothers of modern herbalism, Susun Weed, came to town and did a workshop. This was my first formal introduction to the plants. She teaches the Wise Woman ways of herbal medicine, using the common weeds growing in our backyards as nourishing herbal infusions. She set me on a course that continues to this day.
Soon thereafter, I found myself on my grandparent’s ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This small mountain range, rising in the middle of the Great Plains was, and still is, a spiritual mecca for the indigenous peoples of the Plains. It is nicknamed “the medicine mountains” for all the herbs that could be found there, growing above caverns filled with crystals. The alfalfa pasture contained not only alfalfa, rich in minerals and vitamins, but numerous wild herbs. I spent the majority of my late summer visit digging Echinacea and Burdock roots and filling my grandmother’s canning jars with various herbs to make tinctures.
In veterinary school, I was blessed again by some amazing teachers. Three summers in a row I attended herbwalks given by Matthew Wood and Dr. Cheryl Schwartz on Dr. Mark Haverkos’ farm in Indiana. It was here that I was first introduced to milk thistle.
Matthew Wood told the story - he teaches by telling stories, as traditional knowledge has been passed from teacher to student for millennia - of a mushroom foraging trip out into the forest. The friend he was with took a bite of a mushroom that he had misidentified and began feeling the symptoms of poisoning. As they headed back to the car to drive him to the hospital, Matthew gathered some nearby milk thistle seeds and shoved them in his mouth. When the nurses identified the mushroom they were surprised his friend had survived at all and wanted to know all about milk thistle.
Nowadays, milk thistle, Silybum marianum, is one of the more well-known medicinal herbs. Many people take it to support the liver and give it to their animals for liver support. From Matthew Wood, I learned that it can remove toxins from the enterohepatic blood circulation which gives it its special detoxification properties that work for acute poisonings.
Fast forward 30 years, and I receive a phone call from a client on a busy weekend of lecturing. They were out of town for a few days and their son had been watching the cat. When they returned Mr. Kitty was behaving very strangely: circling the room, being overly affectionate, and then collapsing, laying limply in a lap, something he would never be caught doing. I referred them to an emergency hospital for bloodwork and an exam.
All the diagnostics came back normal and they kept him overnight to monitor and give IV fluids. When they brought him home the next day, he was still unable to walk or go upstairs. I directed them to order some milk thislte for overnight delivery as acute poisoning was on the list of differential diagnoses.
He had developed a habit of going out front with the feral cats and eating out of their bowls. None of them were sick or showing symptoms. There was also the possibility of him walking through pesticides or herbicides the neighbors spray with frequently.
I had them give the milk thistle every few hours and lo and behold, within hours of the first dose he began showing improvement, and was back to normal 24 hours later. My good old friend came through and Mr. Kitty is well and good.
I added in a few more supplements to help his body continue to detox and support his liver for a few weeks. i also suggested repeating the bloodwork to make sure there were no long-term effects.
We may never now what he had been exposed to. We live in a world full, of various toxins and it is very difficult to parse them out. This event happened during a time when hundreds of animals were getting sick from various brands of commercial pet food, and that was one of my concerns. It is still not ruled out. Just because the neighbors did not see the feral cats sick, does not mean cats were not in hiding, sick and possibly dying from some type of poison.
Another possibility is lawn care company trucks, pool maintenance vehicles, or just someone pouring ant poison on anthills in their driveway, could be the culprit. This is just one more reason to not allow your animals to roam freely in a residential neighborhood.
I recommend everyone having some milk thistle tincture on hand in your emergency kit. There is no predicting when it might come in handy and it will not harm anything if you give it and the animal does not need it. It will just help clean toxins out of the bloodstream that have been ingested.
Herbal medicine at its core is about developing a relationship with these plants. Listening to their stories, visiting them where they grow, preferably in the wild. Smelling and chewing on their leaves. Digging up their roots to experience their root structure. It is much the same as making friends with a new person. You learn what they like, what they don’t like, what their skills are and their weaknesses. Then you know how to support them and when to call on them. A good relationship involves giving and receiving from both sides, reciprocity.
If you want to learn more about traditional ways of living and healing using plants among other things, I will be starting a year long program, journeying through the seasons and the organ systems of the body using the 5 elements as our map. As within, so without. And you, too, can make some new friends!
MORE INFORMATION IS COMING SOON!
Special thanks to all of the teachers who have crossed my path, teaching me about the gifts plants have to give us. And special thanks to all the keepers of the land and the old ways, now, in the past and in the future. They will never be forgotten.
Wonderful healing story, Josie! I love Matthew Wood and did a weekend workshop with him many years ago. The animals (and their humans) are lucky to have you in their corner. 🥰
your writings are that of a good storyteller as well.....mullein does look like corn,cute. i use dandelion as greens in our salads as well.here's to a new year with more emphasis on health and well being....blessings to your world of pets,linda in az.