Understanding Inflammation & How to Listen to Your Dog’s Body

As a veterinarian who's spent over three decades helping dogs and their people avoid the overuse of pharmaceuticals, I often find the most profound truths in unexpected places.

Let me start this article not in a clinic exam room, but in the glow of a concert hall, because health—especially when it comes to healing and the purpose of inflammation—feels a lot like music to me.

A few years ago, I took my niece Veronika, the daughter of my late brother Martin, who tragically lost his battle with a brain tumour in 2005, to see the legendary Ennio Morricone in concert.

I think of Martin often and miss him very much; these outings with Veronika, who looks so much like him, have been a way to deal with the loss.

The concert was magic. Morricone, one of the most acclaimed composers of modern times, had a gift for crafting beautiful, emotionally charged music and film scores.

As the lights dimmed and the massive Prague Symphonic Orchestra, with over a hundred musicians, began playing, tears streamed down our faces.

I don't cry easily—but that evening, Veronika and I couldn't stop the tears.  

Violins and cellos blended seamlessly with the horns, each note landing perfectly, producing a sound where everything belonged.

After the concert, I had a thought: this is what true health sounds like—harmonious, vibrant, every part in sync.

And disease? It's the sudden discord, a clashing cymbal where a gentle flute should be, or pots banging in place of strings.

For our dogs, it's the joy of running up the stairs, turning sluggish and hesitant, walks becoming a struggle, and the eyes losing their spark.

I've seen too many cases where conventional medicine acts like earplugs at a storm—dulling the symptoms but ignoring the underlying cause. We're trained to suppress symptoms because they give us the quickest fix and a sense of normalcy.

But what if the acute symptoms are the body's way of signalling a problem, mobilizing its defences, preventing further damage, and restoring health?

The Body's Urgent Messages: Don't Tape Over the Dashboard Lights

Imagine cruising down the highway when your engine warning light flashes red. Do you slap black tape over it and keep driving? Of course not—you pull over, investigate, and get help.

Yet with our bodies and our dogs', we do precisely that: cover the signals of pain, fever, or swelling, believing the problem's solved because we can't see it anymore.

Pharmacy shelves scream "anti" at us—anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine, anti-acid.

But what if symptoms aren't the bad guys?

What if they're messengers, waving flags to say, "Pay attention!" or "Let's get to work and restore the balance"? Nature teaches us this: gathering storm clouds aren't villains; they're the signals of an impending storm.

Take diarrhea—unpleasant, sure, but it's your dog's (or your) efficient evacuation system, flushing out toxins or pathogens. Halting it prematurely? That's like telling the body, "Keep the poison inside a bit longer." Of course, we do not want acute diarrhea to last too long and become chronic, but a few runny bowel movements are the body's way of restoring harmony.

Vomiting works the same: I've watched countless dogs heave after eating something rotten, then perk up, tail wagging, crisis cleared. And fever? It's no breakdown—it's a strategic heat wave, making the environment tough for bugs while boosting immune warriors, the white blood cells.

Evolution didn't goof; this is defence dialled to perfection.

The Inflammation Paradox: Friend or Foe?

Inflammation tops the misunderstood list, slapped with a bad rep and targeted by drugs and medical interventions.

We gulp anti-inflammatories like candy, as if it's the main enemy. But no—inflammation is the repair team rushing in: blood flow amps up, immune cells deliver, healing factors flood the site.

That swollen ankle after a sprain (yours or your dog's zoomie mishap) isn't a mistake; it's nature's ancient protocol kicking in, drawing stem cells and nutrients to the site to rebuild.

Allergic red eyes? An immune system out of tune, begging for balance—not knockout drops. I know this firsthand from my childhood hay fever episodes.

Anti-histamines zonked me out, easing the itch briefly, but the symptoms came back. Suppress the surface, neglect the source, and the disharmony deepens.

When Suppression Turns Chronic: The Cost of Muted Alarms

Here's the real tragedy: repeatedly muting acute alerts doesn't fix the root; it buries it, forcing adaptation into chronic loops. Sharp warnings dull to persistent drones—fatigue, pain, gut grumbles, and accelerated aging.

These are the effects of unfinished healings, cycles stalled by unaddressed causes.

Like a car alarm ignored night after night, it becomes ambient noise, no longer alerting anyone. In dogs, chronic NSAID use—prescribed for relief—can erode stomachs, tax kidneys, and block healing signals that call in repair crews.

Prednisone? From my view, it's the darkest tool in the kit: it hammers the immune system, inhibiting key responses, leaving vulnerabilities wide open to infections — or, worse, to cancer — as defences nap.

It's like credit card debt at sky-high interest—quick ease, long-term wreckage—or a sedative while flames engulf your home.

Witnessing the stories of irreversible damage: years of steroid puffers for asthma, then joint shots for joint pain"relief" often lead to the immune system failing to prevent cancerous cells from spreading.

Restoring the Rhythm: Natural Ways to Support Healing

An integrative, holistically minded veterinarian asks differently: "What are the symptoms telling us? Where's the core of the problem?"

Symptoms clue us in—diarrhea might be surprisingly coming from a back injury in the lumbar region, or licking the forepaws from neck issues.

Rashes? Probe nutrients, toxins, immune agitators, fleas, thyroid glitches and hormonal balance.

Of course, pain control has its role when appropriate —surgery, IVs, additional supplements and even antibiotics are sometimes necessary. But we should always focus on determining the cause, not settle for claims that infections, injuries, and organ failure are just bad luck.

We must learn to trust the body's wisdom, and also to understand and translate what it is trying to convey.

Fever?

Rest, hydrate, support the fight. It takes patience from you, dog lovers, and open-minded vets. Pharma saves lives sometimes, but not as a default.

For acute hits—a ligament pull, sudden swell—rest, JointPowder, and a triple dose of FeelGood Omega are my go-to, combined with laser (shoutout to Dr. Laurie McCauley's courses, which I swear by), chiro, and acupuncture to guide recovery.

Chronic arthritis? Often caused by weak muscles and ligaments due to a luteinizing hormone elevation after conventional spaying and neutering, and fueled by processed food and nutrient deficiencies.

I am sure that long-term use of NSAIDs for osteoarthritis accelerates destruction, and I know there are better and more effective methods to use.

A Call to Collaborate: Your Dog's Healthy Code Awaits

Despite all this, I am hopeful and clearly see that many dog lovers have shifted from suppressing symptoms to learning to understand them and support the body in healing.

Thank you for reading these lines, and for your interest in decoding your dog's signals.