PUPPY STAPH INFECTIONS AND ANTIBIOTICS?

​Are there really all Natural Antibiotic Alternatives?
Antibiotics can be lifesavers but their use has come at a cost...
Antibiotics destroy the intestinal flora and recent research shows that much of the beneficial bacteria is "Permanently Destroyed", even if probiotics are given after antibiotic use.
Martin Blaser of New York University’s Langone Medical Center argues that antibiotics’ impact on gut bacteria is permanent  and so serious in their long term consequences that medicine should consider whether to restrict antibiotic prescribing to pregnant women and young children.
Early evidence from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people’s bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease. Overuse of antibiotics could be fuelling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations.
Previous studies on farm animals have also shown that antibiotic use leads to an increase in antibiotic resistance in animals taking the drugs as well as in people working on the farms where those animals live.
Even when farmers stop using the drugs, resistance persists for years, as mothers pass their drug-resistant flora down to their offspring for generations.
Fortunately, there are natural alternatives to antibiotics. Instead of using antibiotics as a first line of defence, try one of the many natural options available.
They can be quite effective and they just might help your dog avoid immune system complications and inflammatory diseases that can be caused by antibiotic use.
Here Are 3 Natural Antibiotic Alternatives For Your Dog:
1. Oil Of Oregano. Oregano oil has earned some media attention lately for its use in chicken feed. Many farmers are using oregano oil to replace antibiotics to keep their poultry and livestock free of disease.
Scott Sechler, owner of Bell and Evens in Fredericksburg, Penn., a provider of antibiotic free poultry has been using oregano oil in his feed for three years.
Despite his concerns about flack from naysayers, Scott claims oregano oil has provided the best antimicrobial results since he stopped using conventional antibiotics.
Science has now proven the health benefits of oregano oil are derived mostly from carvacrol and thymol; these are powerful phenols that have the ability to kill harmful bacteria and microbes.
Studies have shown that oregano oil has antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic and anti fungal properties.
Oil of oregano can be applied orally, topically or diffused. Try two to three drops, three times a day. If using it topically, you can mix 1 drop of oregano with a teaspoon of coconut oil to up its antibiotic power.
(Resource – Oil of Oregano – Mother Nature’s Antibiotic)
2. Colloidal Silver. Silver was used 1,200 years ago by Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, sailors, and then by American pioneers. Colloidal silver is a suspension of submicroscopic silver particles in a colloidal base (A colloid is a particle of some substance, broken down and mixed into or suspended in liquid).
Proponents of silver claim that one of its most important properties is its ability to strengthen the immune system.
Particles of silver are small enough to penetrate on a cellular level and destroy pathogens of all types, including bacteria, fungal spores, parasites, and viruses.
Colloidal Silver– combats fungus in the body
– kills disease, viruses and other harmful bacteria
– improves the immune system’s ability to fight against viruses
– soothes burns, repairs skin and tissue damage
During the 1980s, studies done at Syracuse University and the UCLA School of Medicine demonstrated how colloidal silver was highly effective against bacteria, viruses, and fungal organisms, even those that had become resistant to antibiotics.
There is no indication of any pathogens, viral, fungal, or bacterial developing a resistance to silver solutions, ionic or colloidal. The only side effect of concern is reducing probiotic bacteria, the way antibiotics do routinely.
Colloidal silver can be taken orally, or through the airways (nebulizing). Five to ten drops, two to three times per day is a typical oral dose.
(Resource – Five Immune-Boosting Uses of Colloidal Silver)
3. Manuka Honey. Manuka honey hails from New Zealand and Australia, from the nectar of the manuka tree (tea tree). Manuka honey is an excellent topical antibiotic.
Medical researchers are showing an interest in the honey’s antiseptic properties because of the prevalence of antibiotic resistant super bugs.
Researchers have found some honeys, especially manuka honey, effectively prevent the growth of MRSA, a nasty super bug that has invaded hospitals.
All honey has the antiseptic hydrogen peroxide, but it is very unstable, easily destroyed by catalaze, an enzyme found in human skin.
But more than 20 years ago, a New Zealand biochemist discovered what the ancient Maoris had always known. After you take the hydrogen peroxide out of manuka honey, there remain additional phytochemical antibacterial factors that are powerful and stable and which years of research have failed to identify as anything other than “non-hydrogen peroxide activity.” This does occur in some other forms of honey, but is most powerful in manuka.
“Not only has it the potential to limit the growth of wound pathogens, but there is evidence that honey has the potential to promote healing,” says Rose Cooper, a microbiologist at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff. “No other antimicrobial agent possesses these characteristics.”
While it shines as a topical antiseptic for cuts, wounds and abscesses, manuka honey is also reported to be effective in treating gastritis and other digestive problems, due to its anti-inflammatory and probiotic characteristics. Its antibiotic, anti-fungal, and antiviral properties also make manuka honey an effective remedy for kennel cough, ringworm, and many other conditions.

SEE THE  ARTICLE ON TREATING YOUR DOBERMANS STAPH INFECTIONS AT HOME. 
"Suds over drugs" Daily bathing beats antibiotics for resistant skin infections in dogs
Are you the owner of a dog suffering from drug-resistant skin infections? There's good news is that coming from the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Dr. Fadok speaks about treating staph infections without potentially harmful antibiotics.

In addition to her recommendation to bathe dogs daily to treat skin infections and reduce symptoms of atopy, including itching, she went over a number of shampoos, rinses and sprays she'd seen good results with -- both veterinary and over-the-counter products. These included:
Duoxo (her biggest thumbs-up)
Zymox (over-the-counter)
Vetericyn VF spray

A number of chlorhexidine-based shampoos were also highly recommended -- I'll pull a complete list from the session CD when I get to a real computer. I can tell you they covered all price points.
Other important recommendations were to wash daily or, if that's truly impossible, to use one of the more effective topical products on the whole body every day that a bath is not given.
Leave the shampoo on for 20 minutes, and shampoo the dog from head to toe every time, using a sponge to get the area around the eyes.
It's pretty intensive, but it's cheap, almost any dog owner can do it, it stops contributing to the emergence of resistant staph, it's very safe, and it actually works better than the more expensive and riskier pharmaceutical alternatives.

One more note: She also talked about the use of desensitization for allergies, something else we're doing with Rawley. But, she said, not all dogs with chronic skin infections and itching have allergies. Some of them are sensitive to staph itself. I've heard about this before, and am going to be checking around to see what, if any, research has been done on the topic.