Martin Goldstein D.V.M.
The Nature Of Animal Healing
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I don't do that much fasting in my practice, only because so many of the pets I see are too weak and debilitated to withstand it, and because I've had such success with my program of supplements and homeopathic and herbal remedies. But occasionally it seems the right choice, not so much for dietary reasons as to help the body regain health. I fasted a five-week-old kitten once that had chronic diarrhea. Another veterinarian had put it on Kaopectate with a bland diet, Antibiotics , and then Lomotil, an almost narcotic suppressor intended to stop the intestines' reflex action. And that didn't work either. When I told the owner to put his cat on a fast even after homeopathics failed, he balked: the cat was so young and thin already. What he didn't understand was that the food going in was sustaining the diarrhea. It's called the gastrocolic reflex: the stomach fills, the colon empties. After a three-and-a-half day fast, the cat was able to hold down bland food; the fast had stopped his intestinal reflex and broken the cycle.