TEDDY / Elderly Dachshund

S* reached out because Teddy was not himself. He had been diagnosed with canine cognitive dysfunction - a condition that accounts for disorientation, restlessness and confusion in older dogs -and was on a regime of several strong allopathic medications. He was struggling. Before the session began, Vonne looked closely at Teddy's medication list. What she noticed was that drugs with opposing effects were being given at overlapping times - stimulants alongside sedatives, compounds that increase restlessness administered alongside those that induce tiredness. She flagged this gently and carefully, and encouraged S* to raise it with her vet.

S* also mentioned, almost in passing, that Teddy had experienced liver disease years earlier, but that he was fully recovered, a hundred percent. The liver, she felt, was no longer part of the picture.

Teddy had other ideas.

His very first selection in the Applied Zoopharmacognosy session was one of the most specific and well-documented botanical supports for liver health, known for stimulating the regeneration of healthy liver cells. He selected it strongly, processed it deeply, and came back for more. He went on to choose remedies for kidney support, antibacterials and immune stimulants along with remedies to support the kidneys, which would have been taxed by all of the medicines he'd been prescribed and affected by the UTI he had been diagnosed with. He then chose anti-inflammatories and a digestive aid. His session was, from the very first selection, a precise and eloquent account of an animal with active internal work to do.

Vonne noted the liver remedies in his report and raised the question gently, clearly, of whether the liver story was truly finished.

Days later, S* took Teddy back to the vet - she had decided to stop administering all except his UTI meds. His canine cognitive dysfunction diagnosis was reversed. The disorientation, the restlessness, the confusion - it was not a failing mind. It was due to a severe liver disease resulting in a decline in brain function, and expressing itself through his behaviour.

Teddy had known. He had said so, in the only language available to him. All he had needed was the right translation.

"A combination of intuition, compassion and medicine. It's difficult to put the experience into words, except that the effect it has had on my dog has been incredible." -  S*, Teddy's guardian


"Informative. Compassionate. Focused." -  S*'s three words for the session