Hi and hello, welcome back. This is episode # 96 … so close to 100, I can’t even believe it.
I already know the topic for the 100 episode. I haven’t outlined it, but I know what I want to talk about. And it’s gonna be a good one. It’s gonna be about communicating with animals, but on a whole different level.
But today, we have something else to discuss.
You know, it is always so curious how these episodes come to me. Most of them literally find me in the days before the next recording. It would be nice if I had a stash of ideas I could record a bunch of them, can them, and then pull them off the shelf every week.
That’s not how I work.
Even if I make a list of topics to discuss, when the next recording is due, a new topic usually wiggles into my awareness and needs to be spoken about at that moment. I guess, in a way, creating every podcast in the moment is my way of living in the now and sharing what happens in the now.
This week's topic is brought to you by Pampers, Pampers Blowout. Just kidding, I am not sponsored by Pampers, though thinking about it, they should pay me for mentioning them on my podcast.
Anyhoo. A few days ago, I was watching TV. During a commercial break, one ad got my attention. As a former advertising executive, I often look for what distinguishes one brand from another, and that particular day, I saw that Pampers had introduced a new diaper design.
What’s different? It has a blowout guard. Yes, you heard me right—a blowout-guard.
It is located at the top of the diaper, where the baby's bum and the lower back meet.
Right there, the diaper has a special layer that acts as a guard if the baby has diarrhea. This guard will catch the poop before it can squish out the top.
Isn’t it amazing how often products come into existence to solve a problem without resolving it?
This diaper is not a solution to resolve the root issue, diarrhea, but a solution to contain the issue. For me personally the question is, why does the baby have diarrhea? Not how do we keep the diarrhea from spreading into the pajamas?
Now, this is of course not a Mommy and Me podcast.
But the same is true for our animals. I hear it every day in my phone sessions. The dog, cat, or horse has diarrhea, and the first thing we do is look for a fix. We often use a band-aid instead of looking for the root of the issue so we can solve it.
So, for those reasons, and since I often talk with the animals and their people about diarrhea, I figured I'd just give you a little rundown, haha. Pun totally intended. Come with me on a journey to explore different reasons and causes why your pet may experience a blowout and what to do about it.
I know this is old hat because I said it before: My dog Scout often has diarrhea when I am stressed. Turns out, I guess, thankfully, I am not the only stressor for Scout. Haha. What I mean is that by nature, Scout is a dog who worries. Most of the day he thinks and worries about making himself useful. Part of his self-proclaimed routine is carrying my socks around the house when we get ready to feed the horses. He also retrieves my gloves from the hearth of the woodstove and delivers them to me as I put on my jacket in the foyer.
His hard-working mind to find a job and his occasional touch of OCD induce stress that is part of his personality and can cause an upset stomach. It is important to find a balance when it comes to stress. We need to expose ourselves and our animals to a certain level of stress so that we can develop tolerance and resilience. However, it is important not to overdo it and remain at ease within reasonable limits.
Here is another cause for a blowout, in this case with horses.
In the last few years, it has been challenging to find good hay. Two summers ago, we had too much rain, and last summer was dry. Subsequently, hay is often moldy or dusty.
Because we have little room to store hay, I buy three round bales at a time and unspool the hay in layers to feed the horses. Every so often, the hay looks great, but halfway through, it is iffy, sticks together, not yet dusty or moldy, but smells not fresh, and you realize you can't feed it.
Now, in order to give the horses a variety of nutrients I try to get hay from different farmers who all have different grasses and various ways of preparing the soil. Each hay field has different nutrients and vitamins benefitting the horses. Some people say changing hay is not good for the sensitive system of a horse. I say, if our weather patterns continue to be unpredictable, the quality of our local hay will also be uncertain. In such a case, we may have to source hay from distant regions, which may not be native grass and therefore require more tolerance from our horses' gastrointestinal tract.
This winter, my two geldings, Cutter and Monarch have very sensitive bellies and sometimes diarrhea. So what do you do when your animal suddenly has a diarrhea attack? A blowout is happening, and no horse-size pampers are available for the rescue.
In those cases, I love using my pendulum to help me.
With the help of my pendulum, I can muscle test and ask my animal to help me figure out the cause and solution. Maybe I will start by asking if the blowout has something to do with me. I always start with myself because I am the closest herd member or pack member my animals have. If I am the source, I can work on myself by breathing more consciously, taking more time to enjoy time with my animals, and taking care of myself, which means I take better care of them.
If I am not the source, I will muscle test my way through the obvious: Does it have something to do with the herd? Is it something in the food? Something in the environment? Something related to feeling purposeless?
If you don’t use a pendulum you can use your entire body as a muscle-testing device. I have a couple of videos you can watch on how to do that. You can test thighs for yourself and muscle test for your animal by becoming your animal’s proxy. A proxy is a person who stands in for the other being. If we have done a phone session together and I did a chakra balance with your animal, you will have heard me ask your animal for permission to dive into the systems, energy body, physical body, emotional body, and spiritual body. With the animal’s permission, I then test for them as a Proxy.
The great thing is when you muscle test for yourself and your animals, you can get many answers rather quickly.
Let me give you an example right here:
Because Cutter had soft manure this morning, I will ask him right now here with you what the cause is.
Cutter, am I the cause of the soft stool? No.
Is your herd the cause? No.
Is the weather the cause? No.
After all, we suddenly had 40 and 50 degrees in early March, which was not normal at all. In the past, we had snow until late April.
Is the latest bale of hay the cause? Yes.
Is drinking more water the cause? Yes.
My horses have woolly winter coats, which are too warm for the current temperatures. Therefore, they drink more.
Do you have a health issue? Yes.
A belly issue? No.
A tooth issue? Small yes.
A headache? Yes.
An eye issue? No.
This is good information for me. I have had the vet out several times to check Cutter’s teeth. He got some help there, and his eyes seemed normal, according to the vet and the second vet I brought in to get a second opinion.
However, sometimes Cutter asks me to put my hand on his forehead and behind his ears. The area is sometimes warm.
So, by using my pendulum to chat with Cutter here, I am getting the sense that we need to bring in another professional to help him.
Let me ask him.
Do you need a chiropractor? YES.
A dentist? No.
Pain meds? No.
Well, there you have it.
This is so helpful for me to know what to do to help my horse feel better.
I will make the call and get a chiropractor out to check Cutter, Shana, and Scout while we’re at it.
I would have moved into different questions if Cutter’s answers had been different. If he had said he had a belly ache, I would have asked about probiotics, German Chamomile, or Slippery Elm. If Cutter had been concerned about a herd mate we would go down that path and see what needed to be taken care of to resolve the reason for concern.
Do you see now how easy it is to check if I need to be concerned about diarrhea?
Use your innate dowsing tool, your body to help you chat with your animal’s body.
And, if after the chiropractic adjustment, Cutter’s headache is better but he still has diarrhea I need to ask him more questions and find more solutions to help him feel well.
As always, the idea is that we eliminate the stressor to get back to ease. Diarrhea is a sign of stress. The stressor can be a person, another animal, a certain hay, or not having a job, as it often is in Scout’s case. Our job and responsibility is to support our animals' wellness, and muscle testing using a pendulum can be a fun and effective tool to get you there.
If working with a pendulum is intriguing to you. If you are ready to get chatty with your animals, I am excited to hop on the phone with you to learn how I can support you.
Let that sink in. In ahle through the nose, exhale through the mouth …
Until next time, episode #97.
Bis bald und Auf Wiedersehen.