Is There Still Life in My Old Pet? My Experiment with RNA and Aging Dogs


Wendy Volhard


Manfred, my 25-pound Standard wire-haired Dachshund, was enjoying his 14th year when in the middle of the summer he had an ischemic event much like a stroke.


Curled up to the right, with a slack jaw and right eye drooping, he obviously had suffered some neurological damage. Given that he’d been treated for liver disease his whole life, I didn’t feel I had too much of a chance of bringing him back to any kind of quality of life.


I thought it was worth a try to put Manfred onto a special diet and give him regular acupuncture treatments and chiropractic care. Over the next weeks, he slowly improved. He could walk—albeit in a large circle—his eye returned to normal and the only residual damage seemed to be an inability to completely open his mouth. Yet his illness never stopped him from eating and enjoying his food.


His main diet change was to use bison as a primary protein source, plus herbs that supported his liver, heart and circulation. It made a huge difference to his overall well-being and he managed to start walking in a straight line. Complete bloodwork was done at the end of January 2004. While triglyceride and lipase levels were lowered and the kidneys improved over his previous tests, the rest of his blood levels looked alarming. He had elevated liver enzyme levels, alkaline phosphatase (alk phos) that was sky high, and cholesterol and total protein levels were at high normal. Something had to be done and soon.


Manfred and RNA
A friend sent me a copy of Vitamin Research News featuring articles about Ribonucleic Acid (RNA). These reports mentioned experiments with several old dogs in their teens that were not in good shape. Just by adding RNA to their diets, the dogs had become puppy-like and lived many more years. I imwww.ely ordered some.

I began adding 1/8th teaspoon to each morning meal. Manfred became livelier and insisted on returning to his long morning walks. On his regular monthly visit to his veterinarian three weeks later the impacted anal glands Manfred had been bothered by were no longer impacted. I was sent home with the admonition to continue whatever I was doing!


The following month’s checkup revealed the same—no impaction. The vet noticed that Manfred’s coat and skin quality were improving. The fuzzy soft coat that had replaced his wiry covering in his last years was turning a deep dark brown. His skin, which was wrinkly with flaky spots, was changing for the better. He seemed to be stronger.


Diggy and RNA
Given this success, I introduced the same regimen to Manfreds half-sister, Diggy, who was just turning 13 1/2. Bloodwork had been done on her a month before and I was horrified to see that she seemed to be showing signs just like Manfred of elevated liver enzymes, very high alk phos level, a kidney reading just over high-normal, and high lipase and cholesterol.


I was obviously battling some genetic disease. At a young age, both dogs were diagnosed with hypothyroidism; both were on thyroid medication. Diggy had the added complication of large fatty cysts under her left front leg, over her spleen and in between her shoulder blades. They were beginning to interfere with her forward mobility.

At the end of July, we did a complete blood workup on both dogs, consisting of a CBC and chemistry screen plus a thyroid panel to see if there were any noticeable changes (Table 1). At the time of the 12-hour-fasting blood tests, both dogs had been receiving 1/8th teaspoon of RNA daily in their morning meal for 14 weeks.




It is interesting to note that the changes were different for each dog. Some levels went up for the female, but all levels listed went down for the male. I suspect their bodies were balancing out in their own way. We are still working on reducing the alk phos levels. The large fatty cysts on Diggy began to diminish and today are hardly noticeable.


Both dogs’ thyroid readings had been high and the vet suggested I cut the medication by half. After re-reading all the literature on RNA and noticing that the safety parameters were high, I decided to return to 1/8th teaspoon twice a day. Both dogs are very lively, enjoy their food, their walks and are playing with the Labrador and Dachshund puppies in the family. Their cognitive ability has increased and they are enjoying their newfound quality of life. At the end of January, their blood work will be done again and it will be interesting to see if more changes have taken place.


Other Successes with RNA
Buoyed by the results with my own dogs, I wove this information into my conferences and seminars, and introduced RNA to many of my dog associates.


Success stories include an 11-year-old Labrador Retriever stud dog that showed a dramatic increase in sperm count; a seven-year-old German Shepherd female whose anxiety around other dogs was calmed; and a 19-year-old cat that was aging rapidly, had lost interest in food and was sleeping most of his life away—now charging around, playing, going outside and stalking in the grass.


All the older dogs and cats that have had RNA added to their daily ration show signs of more energy and general overall vitality and cognitive ability.


References
Vitamin Research Newsletters 2003-2004 http://www.vrp.com/art/1129.asp.
Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog, Volhard/Brown, DVM, Howell Book House, NY 2000.
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