ARTICLE BY LISA S. NEWMAN, ND

[YEA]  06/28/2007: Ladybee from Oklahoma Ciy, OK writes: "Garlic, the Facts, by Lisa S. Newman, ND, Ph.D.

"When it comes to your pet's health, do you want to follow facts or fears? Unfortunately, garlic has come under attack. This is primarily as a result of garlic's close cousin onion's reputation for triggering hemolytic or "Heinz factor" anemia (where circulating red blood cells burst) through its high concentration of thiosulphate. With onions, a single generous serving can cause this reaction. Garlic simply DOES NOT CONTAIN THE SAME CONCENTRATION of this compound! In fact, it is barely traceable and readily excreted (not stored in the body).

Despite this fact, garlic is falling victim to mass hysteria spread through the internet. Yes, there are 51,174 sites devoted to warning about the "toxicity" of garlic, this hysteria has even prompted the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center to place a warning on garlic although there is little scientific data to back this claim other than the fact that thiosulphate is also found in garlic. Yet, there are also over 400,000 sites still proclaiming its benefits, many of them from reputable holistic veterinarians who have widely used garlic in their practice for many years! How can an herb suddenly turn so bad?!

There is no doubt that onion, due to its concentration of thiosulphate, will cause Heinz factor anemia. In addition, as stated by Wendy Wallner, DVM, "Onions are only one of the substances which can cause Heinz body anemia. Other substances such as Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and benzocaine-containing topical preparations can also cause Heinz body anemia in the dog." The latter probably accounts for many cases as it is prevalent in creams often recommended for allergy-suffering pets due to its ability to numb the itch. It is absorbed through the skin and builds up in the blood stream. This other substance is likely to have been involved in cases where garlic was suspect.

For centuries, as long as humans have been using herbs, garlic has been a primary remedy turned to in a majority of cases. For as long as people have been using garlic, they have also been feeding it to their animal companions. Its properties have proven far reaching, easy on the body and safe to use. In the past fifty years, during the rebirth of holistic medicine in the United States, garlic has been in the forefront. Every text that I have researched on herbal health which mentions pet care has recommended it, especially for its incredible anti-parasitic and anti-septic properties. In my own experience, garlic has also benefited pets with cancer, diabetes, liver, heart and kidney disease, uncontrollable staph infections and a host of other conditions, as well as been a staple in my recommended preventative protocols. It has been widely used by hundreds of thousands of pet owners with no reported negative side-effects - except its effect on their animal's breath - until now. This is the point; garlic has suddenly become a "suspect," not proven the culprit. Do not let mass hysteria determine a holistic care program for your dog or cat. Follow hundreds of years of "proven use" rather than recent "suspicions" in regards to this miracle herb, as garlic is known to be. As with anything, do use garlic in reasonable doses, and do know that you can trust history over hysteria.

------

GARLIC FOR DOGS

[QUESTION]  06/09/2009: Tommie from Phoenix, Arizona writes: "I just discovered that my 160 lb rottie/chow mix has ticks! I've always heard that garlic will keep them from getting worms, and it only makes sense, that ticks would not like the flavor, either. The products like Frontline, etc. are so expensive! I am going to start putting garlic powder in his food. I found that after he got neutered, and had to take pain pills, that if I put the pill inside a big dollop of peanut butter, I had no problem getting him to take the pills. I think I'll try it with fresh garlic, I cannot bare to live with gross ticks! I've had him for 6 years, and we have never had fleas or ticks, I think they must be coming from my new neighbor's dogs. I also bought some organic flea/tick dip, I'm going to give that a try, too. Has anyone had success with fresh garlic to keep ticks off their dog?"

04/21/2009: amanda from gainesville, florida us writes: "garlic is in the onion family and onions are toxic to dogs. they can cause hemolytic anemia (basically kills red blood cells). my dog had hemolytic anemia and it is no joke! a blood tranfusion and thousands of dollars in vet bills to get her better. she is a shih-tzu mix and I have heard shih-tzus are especially predisposed to h.a."

[YEA]  04/10/2009: BRAD F. from WESTPORT, CT. writes: "FOLKS- I HAVE BRED AND RAISED COLLIES AND SHELTIES.AS YOU MAY KNOW HEART GARD IS DEATHLY DANGEROUS TO ALL COLLIE TYPE DOGS.A FEW YEARS AGO I FINALLY BECAME A PURE NATURAL PERSON AND HENCE MY DOG CASH IS ALSO.

IF YOU WISH TO USE GARLIC - I DO - YOU CAN SUBSTITUTE GARLIC SPRAY WHICH YOU CAN GET IN STORES AND THE INTERNET.WHAT YOU DO IS SPRAY HIS FOOD AN HIS WATER BOWL.3 SQUIRTS.MY DOG LOVES IT - THERES NO GAS. OF COURSE ALL DOGS LIKE PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT.I WILL TRY THE OTHER ABOVE RECIPES AS WELL.

THE GARLIC SPRAY CAN ALSO BE USED TO SPRAY OUTSIDE AREAS TO KILL FLEAS . ITS ALOT SAFER THAT PESTACIDES.

ALSO FOR FLEAS INSTEAD OF USING ALL THESE SHAMPOOS- MIX IN LEMON JUICE. FLEAS HATE CITRUS.ITS A CURATIVE AND PREVENTATIVE ITEM.

SO MANY VETS HAVE SHOWED ME THEY CARE VERY LITTLE FOR YOUR PETS HEALTH. THEY GO RIGHT FOR THE MEDS AND THEIR OWN SPECIAL DOG COMPANIES FROM FOOD - ETC TO MAKE THEIR PROFITS.THEY KNOW NOTHING OF ORGANIC AND NATURAL REMEDIES. THEY CANT MAKE THE MONEY ON THAT."

[QUESTION]  03/24/2009: Susan (selddarlinmom@charter.net) from Seymour, Tennessee, US writes: "My 1 yo Carolina Dog / American Dingo (Cooter) has been scratching almost since I got him at 7 1/2 weeks. I didn't notice the scratching until after I used a rx flea med on him. I have tried everything for the itching! he was diagnosed with demoditic mites and was treated and follow up was negative for them. but he's still scratching, and biting himself. I would love to quit the rx flea/worm meds and start him on garlic, BUT I almost lost my last dog to heartworms ( which are really bad here in east TN). Is the garlic also a preventivive for heartworms?( I know they r caused by mosquitos which are really bad here too) I have already switched him to a commercial grain-free dry food, tea tree oil & sulfa shampoos, leave in conditioner, ointments, a round each of antibiotics & steroids, human allergy med -which only made him sleepy- not necessarily in that order! And still he scratches & bites himself all over! he weighs about 35 lbs, how much garlic & how often, raw/fresh or dried? Any other ideas????Help!He's driving himself & my family crazy!"

03/09/2009: Louis from Dallas, Tx writes: "Garlic Feeding Method: For the person asking how to administer garlic to her pet: my former wife found that unpleasant-tasting medications can be disguised in peanut butter. She wrapped the heart worm prevention capsule in peanut butter (this works great, assuming someone out there knows something I am not aware of relative to peanut butter and pets). Also, a woman I talked to recently says she feeds garlic pills to her three dogs once a month (she buys these pills at her nearby 99-cent store in 30-tablet bottles; however, I don't know the strength of these pills). Perhaps someone out there can tell us about how much and in what form?"

[QUESTION]  02/13/2009: Betsy from Colorado Springs, CO writes: "I have a question. I have a 50 lb Shepard mutt and a 25 lb Corgi. How much fresh garlic should I be giving them to keep them worm-free? Do I do it every day or a few days each month? What is the recommendation here?"

[YEA]  11/30/2008: Janice (janice@janicerowe.orangehome.co.uk) from Bodmin, Cornwall, UK writes: "my gran used to breed dogs for crufts many years ago, she told me she never brought flea or worm products but used cloves of garlic chopped up and put with the dog food once a month,i was dubious about this old wives tale, but there is always an element of truth in the old tales, ive tried garlic on my four dogs, ages ranging fom 16 down to 5 months, they are all healthy, havent seen no fleas or worms, im a believer."

[YEA]  11/25/2008: Nena from Johnson City, TN writes: "i have use garlic on my dog for years and they have no fleas and very heathly.and havent had to treat my home for fleas in years and i bath them in tea tree shampoo that adds to help flealess in tenn....just a speakle of garlic powder on their food each day"

[YEA]  11/18/2008: Raven from Bangkok, Thailand writes: "Recent research sets the LD50 (lethal dose at which 50% of subjects die) of garlic in dogs at approximately 5 grams per Kg.

So the dog who got sick from eating a whole bulb of garlic may have gotten a dangerous amount if the bulb was 50 grams like the ones I buy and the dog was 10 kg or so (22 lbs).

Smart per owners will keep all medicines, natural or not, in a safe storage.

That being said, much valid research seems to indicate nothing but good effects from a clove of garlic a day for dogs (use Google Scholar to search for and see all the papers on the web).

For tiny dogs a tiny piece is likely all that is needed.

My Thai Dog puppy loves garlic, but as he only weighs 12 Kg at 5 months old, one clove a day is all he gets. The vet says he looks great and tests show no intestinal worms."

[YEA]  11/04/2008: Jan from Niwot, CO writes: "I have 4 cocker spaniels. Anyone who has had cockers knows they have ear problems. Also they are prone to skin conditions. I had 2 previous cockers one that skin condition so bad at 8 years old.........she got so sick and died. The other I spent a fortune on medications again and lived to 7. I bought a very healthy male and female at 6 weeks old. Waited to make sure they had no skin or health problems. Of course they were on otomax every other month That's the ear thing. We breed them and had a litter of pups. We kept 2 of them. One of them has severe ear and skin problems. All of a sudden the Mom started the skin problem. Again vet bills on medications. I have changed food so many times figuring allergy. I finally went to a no-grain dog food. The ears and skin cleared up , but it kept reacurring every couple months. I finally did 2 days of searching on the internet. They are still on the no grain dog food........but, I am adding a teaspoon of chopped garlic packed in water to their dinner meal. Also a few squirts of flaxseed oil, and a little powdered Acidophilis. We keep treating a condition and not getting to the root!!! After 4 days.and a bath 2x a week with Selsum blue shampoo. my baby that has had problems all her life (3 years) does not scratch any more. great skin and coat. and no more bad ears!!!! The other three have had same diet and they are amazingly more happy and active. They don't scratch anymore either!!! I know it's the garlic!!! It is the best natural medication there is!!!! They all weight about 20 pounds each..........and for 3 weeks now.no side effects except i can sleep with out my bed shaking from dogs scratching , licking feet and shaking their heads!"

[YEA]  11/01/2008: Donna (donna.hubler@gmail.com) from La Luz, NM writes: "I was trimming my Bassett Hound's dewclaws and noticed under his tail, was some worms with "melon seed like pods". I immediately got him a "loaded" hot dog, loaded with 2 garlic capsules. I gave this to my other dog as well. I am not sure what type of parasite he has but he is not longer whining constantly, rubbing his backside on the ground, and the area beneath his tail no longer looks like an expressway. He was very happy and "bouncy" this morning even though he is at least 12 yeaars old. I dispensed another round of "loaded" hot dogs this morning and will repeat on a daily basis. I have 4 horses and give them garlic daily in their grain and their fecal tests come back negative on a 6 month basis. Garlic is a God send!!!"

[YEA]  10/17/2008: Tanya from Apopka, Florida writes: "I had been having trouble with ticks on my cocker spaniel. We started giving her one garlic pill everyday and we have not had any more tick issues. The only way she will take it is if I hide the pill in a small piece of banana. If the banana is too firm, she will break it and spit out the pill. So be sure it is a ripened banana."

10/15/2008: Corinna from Copperas Cove, Texas writes: "I have 9 dogs. 6 of them weight over 50lbs and the other 3 are 2 min. Yorkies and one min. Dachshund. I've been having a flea problem for a year now. I spent fortunes on all kinds of flea prevention and tried almost EVERYTHING there is. It got better but the fleas are still there. 2 days ago I started giving them garlic pills. 1 for each of the large dogs and 1/2 for the small ones. I also have 5 cats and give them 1/2 each. But it is a fight and hassle to make them eat the pills. After reading this blog, it seems to me that fresh garlic is better than the pills, but I can't just throw in their food 'cause they won't eat it. Does anyone know a dog-treat I could make and put the garlic in there so they will eat it? My cats already had tapeworms because of the fleas. I got rid of those but since the fleas are still there it will only be a matter of time until they get the worms again. I would really appreciate any suggestion on how I can give my cats and dogs the garlic."

[YEA]  10/12/2008: Larry (bigmackdaddyo@yahoo.com) from Okla City, Okla writes: "I have been feeding my dogs garlic for years. I just put it on top of the food in the diced form or cook it with meat. I always cook meat for them even though raw is supposedly better. I have also always used tumeric too to prevent inflammation, adding herbs last to the cooking process. I am still really fighting parasites. I think I have more of a problem than my dog. I bathe my dog pretty frequently but plan to bathe him more. I will also try cloves and cayenne. My chiropractor told me to drink cider vinegar water daily. I also was curious about the chewing tobacco deal. Thanks for this site. It is very informative."

[YEA]  10/02/2008: Karen from Reading, UK writes: "I have given garlic to all my dogs and they never have fleas or worms, and live long healthy lives. One Golden Retriever in particular was a real pig and would raid the shopping bags while you were getting the rest in. At one time he consumed 2 loaves of bread in a couple of gulps, another time a pound of sugar! Not to mention a lot of unspeakable stuff he would find in the fields. He had no ill efects and he lived to 17. Dogs usually have pretty strong stomachs! I do feel vets and feed manufacturers have a vested interest in bad mouthing anything natural. Our stable cats never have jabs or wormers and live to ripe old ages. They scrap and get a scratch or an absyss, but this disappears in a day or two on it's own, without sixty quids worth of antibiotics!"

[YEA]  09/28/2008: Cynthia from Pineville, LA writes: "hey my dad has been sprinkling garlic powder on his dogs food for about 16 yrs now. He used just enough to cover the top of food shake it into dry food or mix into canned."

09/06/2008: Estelle S. writes: "To whom it may concern at this site!! i have been researching garlic as a natural treatment for worms in my dogs .  when i came upon a website www.garlicvalleyfarms.com it gives a section on testimonials. as you read them , they all appear to have come from your site..  it seems to me this website www.earthclinic.com should be aware of the www.garlicvalleyfarms.com website because it's selling a product ..  some of the people doing this research might come across your site and then theirs as i have and then assume you are supporting or backing their product , because you have the same testimonials.. something to look into and check out ...   signed: estelle, a newcomer interested in true research ....."

[YEA]  09/02/2008: RhyDonna from Denison, Texas writes: "About the garlic being harmful, I fed my dog garlic for 20 years. She lived to be 21 yrs old. I also give it to the dogs I have now. Anything, anything is lethal in large amounts, you can even o.d. on water if you drink to much. Onions are considered lethal because of the chemical in it that makes humans sleepy, thats why onions can kill a dog, but not garlic. Like I said, my dog lived to be 21yrs old. She never had any problems."

[YEA]  08/29/2008: Anon from NY, NY writes: "I have been giving my dog one 1500 mg garlic oil capsule a day for over a month in hopes of curing her smelly/itchy ear problem. I have given her garlic in the past, so I already knew this would not hurt her. It hasn't seemed to help so far, but I can attest to the fact that GARLIC DOES NOT HURT DOGS."

Although the exact toxic dose is not known, studies unanimously agree that foods containing garlic should not be fed to dogs.

Full report available here -
http://www.petsbynature.com/Garlic.htm"

[YEA]  07/28/2008: Kate from London, ON writes: "I read the topic about garlic and dogs. Needless to say, I had to try it just because I don't believe in all the chemicals that the vets recommend and personally I think they cause alot more harm then good. Leaning towards the natural approach, both my dogs had fleas. I mixed olive oil and garlic powder. I have my lab (the one with the worse case of fleas) a small clove of garlic. The 8 month old pup I didn't give him any. So far my lab has not SCRATCHED ONCE, in the last hour. He was constantly scratching every 3-5 mins. This would go on all day. Finally I bathed them with the oil/garlic powder and then washed them with dish soap. All is well and they are both very happy dogs."

[YEA]  07/21/2008: Donyale (adkinsthebuckeye@gmail.com) from Columbus, Ohio writes: "I have 4 wolves. One is a Timber wolf/ German Shepard. The other three are all in the high 90's as far as the wolf. Very little dog if any. About three weeks ago my husband and I thought our babies may have worms. So we took a stool sample to our vet and he told us that all four of the wolves had hookworms. The meds for all four of our wolves would have cost us $65.00 in all for all of them.Now my husband and I are not rich people so I did some nosing around on the internet and read up on Garlic cause a very wise old friend of mine once told me that Garlic can expel worms in dogs and Garlic can also prevent a worm infestation. So before I gave my wolves Garlic I looked it up on the internet and did my research. After two days of research I broke down and went to the store and bought some Fresh Garlic in clove form, came home and gave one clove each of Garlic to the wolves and in four days later in their stool were these live hookworms. Garlic will not kill the hookworms, what happens is that the Garlic cleans out the digestive track, now worms need a unclean place so they can thrive. Now by using Garlic to clean out the digestive track the worm will fall off the intestinal wall.The garlic also makes the blood of your pet taste and smell very foul. In my opinion Garlic is a wonder drug that is not only good for us humans to take daily but it works wonders for our four legged friends as well."

[NAY]  06/18/2008: Melissa from Wellsburg, WV writes: "I hate to disagree with anyone about a flea remedy that works for them, but I feel I must say something about the people who support garlic as a cure. I found out the hard way that garlic can severly injure and even kill dogs. Our dog, Chewie, got a hold of a garlic builb and managed to eat most of it before my husband caught him. We didn't think anything of it, he gets into things all the time, but not even an hour later he started vomiting and shaking. He couldn't hold anything down, not even water. It was too late to take him to the vet at that point, so we had to wait untl morning. When we did him to the vet, the vet was just as confused as we were until we told him about the garlic. Then he said, "Oh, that's it."

He explained that certain plants, like garlic and onion, are actually lethal in certain doses. We were lucky because Chewie vomited so soon after eating it. If he hadn't he could gone into renal failure and died.

I don't want to sound like a spoiler for all those who support giving garlic as a flea remedy, but I just don't want someone to loose their pet by giving their dog too much."