Whole Goat Care

Here's my (Sue's) archived post on BoSe and how it works, which is essentially that
the presence of that 1 mg of Selenium with the 50 mg of Vitamin E in each ml
of BoSe makes the Vitamin E work 6 times more efficiently, while the
presence of the Vitamin E renders that 1 mg of Selenium in the product
non-toxic. You might want to present this to a vet you have a working
relationship with, and tell him it is important to you to keep your goats'
internal defenses strong. It would be helpful if vets would realize that the
owner has a right to maintain a strong immune system in his/her animals as a
management tool.

Vets should not be afraid of BoSe, which I believe is what we are dealing
with here, and further I suspect it is simply because of their own lack of
understanding regarding the subject. They hear that Selenium is toxic, and
by itself in large amounts it certainly would be, and as a consequence they
fear that by providing a client with BoSe they might be decreeing the death
of the client's animal, which is not good for business. But in fact the
issue has nothing to do with whether or not the area in which they live is
sufficient/deficient in selenium, but rather it is the presence of that 1mg
of selenium in combination with the 50mg of Vitamin E in the injection that
is so critical to the strengthening of the animal's immune system.

The vet meds reference book, called the VPB (Veterinary Pharmaceuticals and
Biologicals) does not address the detrimental effect on livestock of too
much available environmental selenium that worries vets so when they are
considering the potential use of BoSe, as it isn't really a relevant issue
in discussion of the BoSe product.

However, they do discuss the synergistic effect of selenium in combination
with Vitamin E. This synergistic effect may be a basic concept simply
understood and taken for granted by chemists and pharmacologists today,
although it appears, from the reticence of Vets to prescribe BoSe, that may
be an unproductive approach... I really don't know why you can't pick up
your average livestock management book and read about it... I guess it is
one of those things you soak up with research and experience along the
way... Who knows?

But what I do know is that a well-known and highly respected Caprine Vet by
the name of Dwight Cochran, a teaching Prof at Purdue University School of
Vet Medicine, gave a talk back in 1979 (and probably at other times as well,
but I only have a copy of this one) overviewing the research done by the
AASGP (American patootie'n of Sheep and Goat Practitioners) (currently renamed
AASRP, after they included Llamas among their interests) on this subject in
which he stated (and I am only giving you a pertinent paragraph here, as the
speech was very long):

To wit:

FUNCTIONS AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF SELENIUM-TOCOPHEROL

By Dwight E Cochran DVM

Selenium functions as an essential component of glutathione peroxidase, the
enzyme that breaks down peroxides, while tocopherol appears to function as a
secondary line of defense against peroxide damage. In the absence of an
adequate intake of selenium, tocopherol will act to protect the cell
membrane. Tocopherol, however, cannot replace the need for selenium. This
mechanism is the basis for describing tocopherol as an antioxidant for
Vitamin A and necessary polyunsaturated fatty acids. Selenium compounds
also function in the transport of tocopherol within the body. Further
biochemical interrelationships are beyond the scope of this discussion, but
it should be noted that various researchers have shown that there is a close
relationship in the biomedical activities of selenium and tocopoherol and
that there is a definite synergistic effect when the two are used together.
Tocopherol reduces the toxicity of selenium drastically and selenium
potentiates the effects of tocopherol as much as six times.

end of paragraph.

------Addendum------

My own approach, developed over the past few years through observation of
the results with and without the use of BoSe as adjunct therapy, along with
whatever else is being used to restore the animal to good health, is that
using BoSe to stimulate the immune system so that the body of the
debilitated animal can help itself while I treat it therapeutically speeds
up the repair time markedly.

My routine approach these days when treating a sick animal is the following:

BoSe inj (at the rate of 1cc/40 lbs SQ) is given once daily for 3 days...
Then it is given once every 2nd day for 3 doses... Then once a week for a
month...

However, in an animal that is older, so that his/her own immune system
functions less efficiently than it did in earlier years, and in particular
when there is some disease involved for which, in this older animal, there
is no known cure, I have found, much to my astonishment, that continuing
BoSe monthly on a permanent basis after having introduced the initial
regimen outlined above results in markedly increased health and greater
expectation of longevity in that animal.

To illustrate by drawing from my own experience:

A couple of years ago I discovered a large tumor about the size of a goose
egg on the front leg of my 12 year old male Australian Shepherd. Biopsy
revealed that it was a spindle-cell-sarcoma. The veterinarian immediately
suggested surgery to remove it, but I declined, having learned from
experience that once surgery is performed tumors generally metastasize
rapidly. I preferred not to put my old dog thru that stressful process and
opted instead to begin the BoSe regimen I spelled out above. I had hoped
that the stimulation of his immune system in this manner would keep the
tumor from enlarging more and/or spreading. Instead, a month later the
tumor had actually shrunk! It was all but imperceptible when palpating the
leg! About 6 months later I tried to skip the monthly BoSe injection, and
after 2 months went by I found it had started to grow again, so I
immediately went back to the month injections, which reduced the tumor once
again and kept it under control in an all-but-non-existent state for the
remainder of my dog's life. He passed away at just short of 14 years old, of
an unrelated cause.

Sue Reith
Carmelita Toggs
Bainbridge Island WA