Alternative Health Care

 Alternative Animal Care

Typically, conventional western (or allopathic) medicine compartmentalizes a patient into separate and distinct physiological systems, isolating and treating the patient's symptoms with surgery, drugs, chemicals or radiation.

Unlike western medicine, holistic or alternative care treats the whole patient because it works with the body's innate intelligence, seeing each part of the body as interconnected and interrelated to all others. The body has a profound self-awareness and an extraordinary ability to heal itself. Given the right energetic, emotional, nutritional, and spiritual environments, the natural state of the body IS perfect health. Holistic medicine recognizes perfect health in the balance of body, mind and spirit.

A holistic approach to a cure is not focused on symptoms alone, but the root cause of these symptoms. In integrative or alternative therapy, practitioners trained in diverse aspects of vibrational/energetic healing and medicine use their unique blend of skills to help animals achieve their own healing. There is currently no licensing or regulatory board for integrative therapy. It can include acupressure, acupuncture, herbal medicine, massage, aromatherapy, essential oils, Jaffe-Mellor Technique (JMT), Neurological Integrative System (NIS), crystals, color, reiki, chiropractic, energy and electromagnetic field therapies -- all natural elements, familiar to the patient's metabolism and physiology. Their impact is gentle, nontoxic and minimally invasive and they produce no side effects.

This page focuses primarily on alternative health care for pets. Please visit the holistic veterinary  & spiritual wellness pages for more information, links and resources on additional holistic methods & modalities.

ARTICLES: Alternative Pet Health (scroll down for articles)

• Acupuncture Helps Cut Costs of Treating an Arthritic Dog

• An Introduction to NIS - Neurological Integrative System

• Caring for Your Pet Costs Less with NIS

• Book Synopsis - Breakfast With Buster, By Valerie J. Wood
  

• Book Synopsis - The Healing Power of Dogs By Sharon Sakson
  

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Acupuncture Helps Cut Costs of Treating an Arthritic Dog

By Christina Fuoco, VMD 

As the economy continues to sputter and lurch in an attempt to get rolling, we are still trying to provide the best possible health care for our aging pets. Arthritis is one of the hardest disease processes to treat on a tight budget. As we watch our pets age, they slow down, but the fire is still in their eyes. We want to find the best ways to keep them active and pain free without breaking the bank. Acupuncture can help do that.

Veterinary acupuncture is a treatment option that is being accessed more and more frequently. It is a safe, effective, enjoyable option that many pet owners are trying in order to keep their pets happier and more mobile. So how does it work and how can it help keep the costs down?

NSAIDs are the mainstay of arthritis management in Western veterinary medicine. They reduce inflammation and help decrease pain. But they come at a steep cost both from a financial and a medical standpoint. The main NSAIDs – Deramaxx, Rimadyl, Previcox and Metacam – on average cost approximately $90 per month for a 75lb dog needing medication daily. This cost is increased if this same patient needs additional medications to protect the stomach from the adverse side effects of the NSAID.  Every six months, $100 worth of blood work will need to be done to ensure that the kidneys and liver are functioning normally. Finally, if any organ damage begins, there are the additional costs of prescription diets for healthier kidneys, hospitalizations to reverse the effects of the medications and further follow-ups to make sure the disease is not worsening. Although acupuncture has an up-front cost, the long-term benefits definitely outweigh the initial investment.

In the early 1900s, traditional Chinese medicine was touted as a way to bring affordable, effective treatments to peasants living outside major cities in China. Now, in the 21^st century, veterinary acupuncture is helping pet owners find natural, cost-effective ways of providing the best quality of life for their four-legged companions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Christina Fuoco, VMD is a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist at the University of Pennsylvania Ryan Veterinary Hospital (215) 898-VETS

                                                                                                                    Back To Top                                 

By Paul Hellings

It’s a known fact that we spend more on the health and well being of our cats and dogs than we do on ourselves. According to a recent APPA National Pet Owners Survey, an estimated $45.4 billion is spent on our pets in the U.S. Various studies indicate that the average family spends something in the vicinity of $13,000 to care for a pet over a lifetime. High costs can range over $40,000.

In difficult financial times such as the present, it is smart to evaluate where we spend our hard-earned money and where we can either economize or improve our financial habits. This includes our pets. From a holistic standpoint, taking preventative measures to ensure our pets become and remain healthy is the most cost-effective action improving our spending. My mother always reminds me of her experience during and after the second world war. Living in the United Kingdom was difficult. The family couldn’t afford to go to the doctor but instead visited the local herbalist for most of its medical needs and for non-life threatening health problems.

As a natural healing practitioner with over twelve years of experience, I have clients come to me for N.I.S treatment for their pets. By the time I see them, I typically hear over and over about the costs spent at the vets trying to resolve an ongoing health issue. They either hear about me through word of mouth or at various pet events and find out that there is an alternative and natural ways of health care for pets such as homeopathy, acupuncture, reiki, chiropractics, healing touch for animals, massage and more. While alternative care is an excellent option for the discerning pet owner, my question to those interested is how many visits and at what cost would you spend for acupuncture, reiki, chiropractic, healing touch therapy, massage etc in an effort to treat your pet for their ailments? All these modalities typically require repeat visits that add up to more out-of-pocket expense.

In contrast, an N.I.S consultation typically only takes one session to diagnose and treat an amalgam of issues and problems. N.I.S. is a paradigm shift in health care. Within the hour-long consultation acupressure points and kinesiology (muscle testing) are used to access the blueprint of the body held by the brain. This process offers the ability to check and have the brain reset if necessary the following ailments: allergies, digestion problems, hormonal and behavioral issues,infections, yeast imbalances, organ and gland functions, intermittent lameness and skeleton realignments that are more often than not dealt with without additional need for prescription, let alone repeat sessions.

ALL N.I.S treatments are gentle and non-invasive, and time is taken to allow your cat and dog to become familiar with me so that it is a friendly and stress-free experience. In addition, an N.I.S consultation is holistic when supported with dietary advice whereby I advocate biologically appropriate (natural) food to reduce any problems associated with incorrect diets, thereby reducing the amount of money spent on annual or regular teeth cleaning, grooming, anesthetics, steroids and antibiotics. This also reduces caregivers' stress over the wellbeing of their cat or dog; providing good food to your pet makes you feel you are doing something good and healthy for them in a preventative AND cost effective way.

The end result of an N.I.S checkup and an evolutionary decreed diet is a fit, vibrant, healthy, well-adjusted loving and happy pet, which is PRICELESS!

About the Author: Paul Hellings founded Animal Holistic Health, based out of New Zealand. He makes regular trips to the U.S. through the Natural Pet Expo. For more information, contact Paul Hellings at paul@ahh.co.nz, or visit www.ahh.co.nz

                                                                                                                    Back To Top                                  

BOOK SYNOPSIS: Breakfasts with Buster

Helping Buster Battle Bone Cancer: A Journey Through Holistic and Medical Treatments for Pets  By Valerie J. Wood

Breakfasts with Buster is a special chronicle of how author Valerie J. Wood  helped her dog, Buster, a brindle Boxer mix, battle bone cancer. 

When Buster was diagnosed, Wood did her homework and made dietary changes in conjunction with alternative therapies to prolong his life. She introduced a diet of flax seed, cottage cheese, sardines, fish and salmon oil supplements. She was able to provide him a better quality of life until the end. Breakfasts with Buster is part memoir and part animal cancer treatment guide. It is educational and informative for all dog owners who want to give their animals the best care possible, and serves as a primer to get them started on a holistic and natural path.

Wood shares a moving portrayal of the treatment protocols, gives insights about general health and nutrition, and provides an incredible resource for animal cancers. She shares what it took to keep Buster going after the grim diagnosis as she was able to help him beat the odds.  

                                                                                                                   Back To Top                                 

The Healing Power of Dogs

By Sharon Sakson

Dogs have always helped humans. Thousands of years ago, when the first canines showed up at the campfires of our ancestors, they decided to perform an amazing service. Instead of eating the game they hunted, they brought it back for their human friends. As time went on, canines discovered more ways to help. They barked a warning when warriors from a marauding tribe approached the camp. They chased hungry wolves from flocks of sheep.

In this century, dogs are bomb sniffers, guardians, sentries and arson detectors. German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois scan our luggage for explosives. The Beagle Brigade keeps uninspected meat and produce from entering our borders. Dogs act as scouts, trackers, messengers, minefield clearers, booby trap locators, tunnelers, and lifeguards. Many of the soldiers who slogged through Vietnam, tramped through Kosovo, and now trek through the alluvial plains of Iraq would not be here except for dogs who alerted them to trip wires and IEDs. The President of the United States does not go anywhere until the Secret Service has had dogs probe the area.

Dogs track live people and uncover dead bodies. They reassure children who are victims of abuse. They find lost toddlers and runaway convicts, look under collapsed buildings for people alive and dead, and spend hours comforting the survivors of tragedy. They rehabilitate prisoners. They do jobs no one ever thought to ask them about before.

Through years of being involved with dogs, I’ve come across remarkable stories. My book, Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs is a chronicle of some of the most extraordinary ones. Dogs promote healing in many ways. At the most basic, being with a dog relaxes tense muscles, lowers blood pressure, slows heart rate, and releases oxytocin into the blood stream. Amazingly, these benefits occur not only to owners, but also to unrelated people. That’s the basis of the ‘therapy dog’ movement. Surveys have shown that up to 80% of nursing home patients receive one or no visits in a year. Those patients are lonely. A visit from a therapy dog goes a long way to lift their spirits.

An outstanding invention of the last fifty years is the assistance dog, which is taught to help handicapped people by bringing pills, the phone, the remote, tugging on sleeves or removing shoes, turning on lights, fetching a book and 90 other things which give a handicapped person the ability to be a little independent, rather than institutionalized or a burden to family.

Some dogs have taught themselves to alert their owners if they’re about to have a seizure, heart attack, or stroke. Since you can’t create artificial strokes, heart attacks, or seizures, dogs have to teach these skills to themselves. We can’t show them how to do it; they figure it out on their own.

Other dogs became alarmed by skin, breast, or bone cancers and notified their owners, sometimes by nipping at the spot. Those people got to their doctors well in advance of any visible sign, giving them much better chances of surviving. Researchers had the idea to teach dogs to use their powerful sense of smell to distinguish cancer in urine samples or tubes of breath. Dogs proved to be better at it than MRIs, biopsies, bloodwork, x-rays, CAT scans, fiber optic scopes, pap smears or second opinions. They were able to detect cancer before it was noticed by any other method.

When you consider the world today, it’s hard not to notice that there are fewer and fewer human interchanges in our lives. Instead of a trip to the corner store, we email an order and get a delivery. No more friendly exchanges with a human bank teller, unless it’s from inside a car. No need to stop into shops for clothing or purses or stationary; it’s easier to order what we need online. Some of us are telecommuting so we don’t even have to leave the house.

It’s no wonder that dogs make up a significant part of many families--usually a loving, supportive part. Dogs don’t take sides in arguments and never shame, scold, or belittle. They offer the opportunity to give and receive love, without reservation or compromise. They are loyal friends and companions. They demonstrate loyalty, honesty, trust and unconditional love in a way which humans have never been able to match.

Dogs are friends who sometimes inadvertently bring out the best in us. They continue to admire us in spite of our flaws. Nearly every owner has a story that illuminates the spiritual nature and intuitive sense and quiet intelligence of dogs. Maybe, as some owners claim, they are really earth-sent angels and therefore divine. But maybe being canine is just as good.

About the Author: Sharon Sakson is a journalist and television producer who has worked for ABC, NBC, Court TV, Food TV, and local stations in Baltimore, Chicago, and San Francisco. She wrote Paws & Effect, the Healing Power of Dogs and Brussels Griffons: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual, and co-authored, with Neil Plakcy, Paws and Reflect: A Special Bond between Man and Dog. She is an American Kennel Club dog-show judge and a breeder of champion Whippets and Brussels Griffons. Sharon lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

                                                                                                                   Back To Top                               

DISCLAIMER