Nasty spiders with nasty bites

I was doing some research and came across an article by a holistic vet, Dr. Alfred J. Plechner, DVM, concerning treating recluse spider bites successfully with calcium montmorillonite, by turning it into a paste with water.  You can read the article on his website here, as well I have a copy of the article in the DoggieResearch.com Document Library.  

Reading the article reminded me of the time my little girl Penny (the red-head on the left in the above photo) came walking in to join the family on the couch for movie-night, limping.  Penny was always very stoic about pain, as many dogs are, but when I looked at her feet to see what was causing the limp, I was alarmed at how swollen it was right next to the pad.  Finally, we determined it was a spider bite from an agressive house spider, or hobo spider.  The picture is of the bite the evening after it occurred.  The bite progressed with more swelling, there seemed to be a hole inside the swelling, and eventually it started to drain out of the dark pink area you can see in the picture.  At the time she got bit, I had her on herbal remedies for Cushings Disease, which included one along the lines of the Essiac formulary, which is a major immune system supporter.  She healed just fine, but it took about two weeks and there was some necrosis, but nothing like you see with brown recluse spiders.

While I was reading the article, I realized that the calcium montmorillonite could have also been used to treat her bite, and the more I've looked into this clay, the more I think it would be a beneficial item to have in an emergency first aid kit for both animals and humans.  I think it warrants more research, but it seems to me you could use it for bee stings, infected slivers, septic wounds, etc.  The product is available on Amazon, here.  We also have it listed in our Products store, found at the menu at the top of the page.

Dr. Plechner says the treatment for a brown recluse spider bite usually involves steroids and anti-biotics.  He was able to heal a brown recluse bite with this clay.  The article makes for some very interesting reading.