NATURAL HEALING GUIDE

There is nothing in conventional medicine today that treats chronic degenerative conditions as successfully as holistic therapies. - Joanne Stefanatos, President, American Holistic Veterinary Association

The principles of alternative medicine are as applicable to animals as they are to human beings. Alternative veterinary medicine is directed toward maintaining natural good health. Animal treatment and healing are not achieved using gentle yet effective methods, to treat not only symptoms, but to cure their underlying conditions.

Veterinary medicine has been revolutionized in the past decade. With both domestic and wild animals, veterinarians are now using the same alternative therapy used in humans, such as acupuncture, homeopathy, nutrition, vitamin and mineral supplementation, herbs, electroacupuncture biofeedback testing, and chiropractic, to directly stimulate an animal's immune system, strengthen its vital life force, and alleviate any disequilibrium in the body.

Christopher Day, M.A., who runs an alternative animal clinic in England says,

Medical alternatives such as homeopathy, acupuncture, herbs, aromatherapy, Bach flower remedies, and chiropractic provide a vast therapeutic armory that only outweighs modern conventional medicine scope, but also in capability. At our clinic we very rarely need to resort to modern drugs, and then only to provide symptom relief. Alternative medicine provides the key to cure, whereas conventional drug tend only to suppress.

According to Joanne Stefanatos, D.V.M., President of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, "There is nothing in conventional medicine today that treats chronic degenerative conditions successfully as holistic therapies." Dr. Stefanatos has found that holistic veterinary medicine has proven to be the best method of treatment for animal disorders such as feline leukemia; feline peritonitis (inflammation of the membrane lining of the abdominal cavity); radial nerve paralysis (loss of sensation and function in the network of nerves that supply the limbs); distemper; arthritis; cataracts; heart, liver, and kidney disease; chronic skin conditions; hip dysplasia (abnormal development of calcium surrounding the hip); and pesticide, metal, and chemical toxicities.

Other veterinarians, like Richard Pitcairn, D.V.M., Ph.D., of Eugene, Oregon, have found the treatment of chronic disease by allopathic methods to be frustrating and ineffective.

My change to holistic medicine has revitalized my practice. Success with homeopathy, especially with chronic disease, is very personally rewarding. I have used homeopathy as my primary means of therapy since 1978, emphasizing good nutrition and vitamin and mineral supplements. The reason for my switching to homeopathy is simple. It is much more effective than any other system of medicine I have used before.

The reason for this effectiveness and the consistency of the results can be explained very simply, according to H.C. Gurney, D.V.M., of Conifer, Colorado.

Animals do not have the power to reason whether a treatment is going to work or not, it either will or it won't. a drug placebo [a substance having no pharmacological effect] will not have the same psychological effect on an animal as it might on a human, and, likewise, an animal will not be skeptical of an alternative medical approach, as a person might.

Vaccinating Your Pet

Although vaccinations are part of a dog or cat's routine health care, pet owners should be aware of the side-effects. According to Joanne Stefanatos, D.M.V., of Las Vegas, Nevada, and President of American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association, the modified live virus used in pet inoculations can cause harmful responses. "Animals can either have an allergic reaction, in which they break out in hives, have diarrhea and/or vomiting, or can develop vaccinosis (a reaction of immune system suppression), which can occur ten days to two weeks after a modified live vaccine is given, causing lethargy." Animals are also sensitive to the formaldehyde and other preservatives in vaccines.

Rabies is the only vaccine required by law for pets in the United States, but vaccinations for contagious illnesses such as parvo, corona, and distemper are also recommended by veterinarians. "I advise pet owners to get these vaccinations for their animals," says Dr. Stefanatos, "but I also suggest using a killed virus (as opposed to a modified live virus), and not giving more than one vaccine a day." Dr. Stefanatos also supplements vaccines with the homeopathic Thuja 60X injection to prevent reactions.

An animal's system is so influenced by vaccinations that Dr. Stefanatos recommends using only homeopathic vaccinations for domestic animals over eight years of age, who have been previously vaccinated yearly. "Their system retains enough of the antibodies to fight against illness for the rest of their lives, even in dogs and cats living to age of twenty."