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What is Holistic Pet Care and
 How Can It Benefit My Pet?
 
By Susan Blake Davis, CCN and Dr. David Gordon, DVM

Holistic pet care is the examination and diagnosis of an animal encompassing the entire “whole” picture of the patient including not only the symptoms and disease patterns, but the emotions, nutrition, exercise and other lifestyle factors as well.  Many clients come to us and may be skeptical at first because they may not understand what holistic pet care involves.   Holistic pet care is NOT a substitute for conventional veterinary care which involves laboratory testing, XRAYS, examination of your pet, etc but rather encompasses it and offers much more.  In other words, holistic pet care offers natural options to treat your pet including supplements for pets, nutrition, special homemade diets, acupuncture based on the findings using conventional veterinary care to make a diagnoses.  In other words, your a holistic veterinarian will rely on the same laboratory testing of your pet's blood and urine, XRAYS, ultrasound and other testing to make a diagnoses.  But along with conventional veterinary treatments such as medications, holistic pet care offers treatment alternatives such as custom diets, natural supplements, pet chiropractic, acupuncture and much more.

When your pet receives a holistic pet care examination, conventional laboratory testing and diagnostic techniques will be utilized, but these other important factors will also be addressed in developing your pet’s individualized treatment plan.  Holistic pet care will treat the whole body, not just an isolated area, all the while attempting to minimize side effects and potentially harmful invasive procedures.

The goal of the holistic veterinarian is to examine the patient’s present state of disease and ask the question, “Why?”.  A simple appearing symptom may have many levels of causation.  While conventional veterinary medicine may use pharmaceutical agents and surgery to treat the symptom or disease, holistic pet care will use these conventional tools along with a comprehensive protocol of holistic pet care modalities which include changing diet, adding nutritional supplements, chiropractic and acupuncture treatments to name a few.

As practitioners of holistic pet care, our goal, when you schedule a holistic veterinary consultation, is to completely assess your pet’s state of health and provide you with options beyond conventional veterinary care.  We offer nutritional consultations to help you provide your pet with the optimum diet to address their present health concerns.   In addition, we offer the following holistic pet care treatments:

Acupuncture For Pets

Acupuncture is one form of holistic pet care.  Acupuncture involves for pets involves the practice of stimulating certain locations on the body by inserting needles into specific points influencing the physiological functioning of an area or the whole body.  The needles stimulate the sensory afferent nerves which send impulses to the spinal cord and then to different parts of the brain.  When these nerves are stimulated, they release different biochemicals and neurotransmitters throughout the body. 

Acupuncture has been used  in China for at least 3000 years to treat many ailments.   Acupuncture is used all over the world, either by itself or in conjunction with Western medicine as a form of holistic pet care, to treat a wide variety of maladies in every species of domestic animal.  We use various acupuncture and acupuncture-related techniques including acupuncture, acupressure and aquapuncture.

Acupuncture can be helpful for any condition to increase blood flow to the area and enhance the pet’s overall immune function.  For example, if a pet is suffering from liver or kidney disease, acupuncture can be used to help improve the function of those organs.  Traditionally, acupuncture has been used to relieve pain and inflammation associated with musculoskeletal problems involving arthritis or vertebral disc issues, but many pets have benefited from acupuncture with other conditions as well.

Acupuncture is based on the Chinese concept of energy transformation called “Chi”.  Chi encompasses all vital activities of the body including physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  According to ancient Chinese medical philosophy, disease is the result of an imbalance of energy in the body in any of these areas.  Acupuncture is believed to balance this energy and thereby assist the body to heal disease.  Although many of acupuncture’s physiological effects have been studied, not all of its benefits are completely understood.

Chiropractic For Pets

Chiropractic adjustments are another form of holistic pet care we can offer. Chiropractic for pets involves restoring misaligned vertebrae to their proper position in the spinal cord.  Adjustments are performed manually by corrective pressure.    The underlying philosophy of chiropractic is that disease, human or animal, results from a disruption of nerve function.  This results primarily from displaced vertebrae.  Thus, when a veterinary chiropractic procedure is applied, the goal is to manipulate the spine to relieve the pressure on the nerves.  Veterinary chiropractic holistic pet care has been used successfully in treating pets with pain and inflammation associated with musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis and injury.

Diet and Nutrition Consultations For Pets

Diet and nutrition is a powerful form of holistic pet care that can make a significant difference in your pet's well being.   We have all heard the saying “You are what you eat”, but you may not be aware that many health conditions are the result of poor or inadequate nutrition.  Many pets, even those that are overweight, may be suffering from malnutrition, lacking essential nutrients critical for good health.  A holistic pet care nutrition consultation will help you understand how you can use foods to optimize your pet’s health and help control any potential health conditions your pet has.  For example, if your pet has a liver condition, a holistiic pet care consultation can help you understand which foods to give your pet and which to avoid in order to therapeutically support your pet’s liver.

Herbal and Nutritional Supplements For Pets

Holistic Pet Care almost always involves the use of herbal and nutritional supplements for pets. Herbal supplements can help support your pet’s health by providing vital nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants.  While a balanced diet can surely help your pet, supplements can provide gentle support and even sometimes resolve a pet’s health condition.  Some holistic pet care supplements are considered essential and your pet, even with a balanced diet, may not be getting enough of them.  For example, essential fatty acids, found in fish, flax and other oils may be lacking from your pet’s diet, resulting in dry skin and dull coat.  Some pet supplements may also contain glandulars or extracts from the glands of an animal.  For example, a pet thyroid supplement may contain purified extracts from the thyroid gland of a cow, based on the principle that supplementing the gland of a sick animal with healthy parts of another will provide vital nutrients to help restore normal glandular function.   As holistic pet care experts, we have researched herbal and glandular supplements from around the world and carefully selected a select few based on scientific research and the quality of the ingredients.    

Homeopathy For Pets

 
The word "homeopathy" is often mistakenly interchanged with "holistic" when in fact they have separate meanings.  Homeopathy is a form of holistic pet care and is different than using an herbal supplement.  Homeopathic remedies can be tinctures, small pellets or pills.  Homeopathy is based on the principle of “like cures like”.   Homeopathy embraces the philosophy that the body can heal itself and that symptoms are a signal that the body is in a state of repair and is attempting to restore itself to health.  For example, swelling and inflammation following a trauma may be a symptom but are also the body’s natural response to try to heal the wound.    When a homeopathic, diluted, minute dose of a substance is given, it is intended to treat the deepest constitutional causes of the illness.  Homeopathic remedies are made from plants, minerals, drugs, viruses, bacteria or animal substances.  One way to understand homeopathy is to think about inoculation, for example, against allergies.  If you use a very small quantity, over time, it may stimulate a response in which the body is able to rebuild and repair on its own and the person is no longer allergic to that substance.

We hope this overview of our holistic pet care services has provided you with a better understanding of the type of assistance we can provide.  We look forward to helping you and your pet to attain optimal health!