Holistic Vet OR Conventional Vet? Need your opinions on which one you feel is best?

[sadiesamie]

During our search to find a NEW vet for my 2 yorkies I have done some research on Holistic vets since I have come across it numerous times on the YT. I was lucky to find this one that is only 15 miles away from me. The rep I spoke with from Natures Variety referred him to me. She said that people fly in from all over the world to visit with him and have him talk about nutrition and care for their precious yorkie kids. and he is so CLOSE to me!!! I called yesterday and left a msg but I haven't heard back from him yet. In the meantime I am anxiously awaiting any feedback my YT friends may have on Holistic Vet verses Conventiona Vet? Are Holistic Vets what are tiny little fur babies need for the best care? Especially for aging Yorkies? Mine are 10 & 11 and we are experiencing some issues with protein loss in the urine (related to kidneys) and also allergies- licking paws, excessive ear wax, one of mine her hair right before her tail seems thinner and I can tell she has lost some hair.

This also started in searching for a Nutritionist for my girls to talk about raw diet. THen when I saw how CLOSE Dr Shawn is to me, I may just decide to keep him for our regular vet? Because we also do not have a regular vet anymore- we fired our last one for mistakes she made with my girls and costly unnessary tests and over medicating- I could go on and on, We love our specialist but he is VERY VERY expensive and I really just want to take the girls to him for complicated issues. Not routine visits and labs. The bills get close to 1000.00 for labs on both of my girls when the specialist does the labs. Plus the hours he is open is only mon-thurs. I need a vet that is at least open 6 days a week.

I don't have any knowledge on Holistic vets and the things I read about this Vet sound AMazing! I am wondering how many YTers take their furbabies to holistic vets and what benefits you have had.

Which is better? Dying to hear some feedback on what everyone has to say. :-)

Here is a link for Dr Shawn- please click on it so that you can help me in choosing. After reading this link I was totally blown away. But- I still want to pray that I am making the right move here and I just need the help from my YT friends first before making the decision :-)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...4/ai_n20512914

[sadiesamie]

this link has more info:

http://www.petcarenaturally.com/index.php

[sadiesamie]

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?vid...uSUW1SjcYPo_hQ

[bjh]

I am a firm believer in holistic health, not just for pets but for myself also. I use a vet that practices holistic health but for emergencies I use a traditional vet. Thanks for sharing the website. I am a firm believer that if you do not over vaccinate and you feed your dogs a healthy diet then your pet should have very few health issues.

[sadiesamie]

Next Friday with the Holistic Vet. the visit will be 1/2 hour to 45 min. they charge 67.50 for the visit. I hope we have enough time as we have lots to cover. I plan on putting together a history so that we can get through it quickly and then get right on with the nutrition. This vet supports RAW and all of the sudden I am scared to death as to what our outcome will be next week. I am sure we will leave there with supplements too bc when I was talking to the receptionist that made the appt for me. I was trying to figure out how long we would be there. My work is letting me come in late to make this appt as I can't get in on a saturday until the middle of May. I don't want this to wait any longer than it has to.

The receptionist said you will be here 30 min maybe longer and then if we need to fill some supplements for you count on being here at least an hour maybe a little longer. I am not opposed but this sounds as if we will talk about holistic supplements and leave there buying some of it.

any pointers i need to be aware of or things to ask about feeding raw or homecooked. I really am scared I am going to come home with a bag of raw food and ... i don't know what- ?? :-) I am so scared the raw may cause other problems. I have read good things about it and YTers that feed raw diet rave about it and the great things they have noticed since making the switch. Why am i so scared and do I have any reason to be?

This appt is with Dr Shawn and the crazy thing is they told me the visit is 67.50 for 30-45 min. The last nutritionist I spoke with said the visit was 1 hour 30 and it would cost 215.00! He seems pretty well known and I have seen some of his videos on youtube.

Oh- i am still so nervous. The girl told me people come form Califorinia and everywhere to get an appt with him. I only have to drive 15 miles. which is not super close or anything but dang... calif?!?! :-)

please- open to suggestions- OR anything- to ease my mind. I want to get the most out of our visit. OH btw- he also can suggest home cooked too and has recipes they said. I just don't know what to choose- home cooked or raw?? I guess we will have to see what he thinks is best for the girls and i just have to trust him.

[bjh]

Be sure to ask him about kennel cough. My vet uses a holistic formula for kennel cough that is some little tiny bb size pellets that you put in their mouth.

My vet also sells the Nature's Variety Raw diet and the Canidae and Solid Gold dry foods. You might want to ask him about those. Also ask him if he feels it is necessary to use a probiotic supplement when feeding a homemade diet.

I will be looking forward to hearing how it went. Good luck.

[sadiesamie]

67.50 does not seem like a lot of money at all?? I checked out the BNaturals website and they also have a lot of supplements. I wonder what he will give us and if I should just price check while we are there first. I have read some amazing things on bnaturals website!!!

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by bjh

Be sure to ask him about kennel cough. My vet uses a holistic formula for kennel cough that is some little tiny bb size pellets that you put in their mouth.

My vet also sells the Nature's Variety Raw diet and the Canidae and Solid Gold dry foods. You might want to ask him about those. Also ask him if he feels it is necessary to use a probiotic supplement when feeding a homemade diet.

I will be looking forward to hearing how it went. Good luck.

what do you currently feed your dog? dry kibble or RAW? or Homemade?

[bjh]

Originally Posted by sadiesamie

what do you currently feed your dog? dry kibble or RAW? or Homemade?

My adults are on Canidae dry and the puppies are on Chicken Soup Puppy dry. I do mix in a little Pedigree canned food with the dry food. What are you currently feeding?

[sadiesamie]

Wellness Wgt Mgt- it was the lowest fat i could find and the highest fiber. The specialist we saw wants them on 5% fat and at least 15% fiber. this was the closest "non prescription" food I could find until we see the nutritionist. They have been on wellness since december and we don't see any improvements- still high lipase and amylase bc of the raised bun (60) so it is causing pancreatitis symptoms now.

Protein loss in the urine pointing to Glomephrentitis (spelling) disease. AKA as Glomelur disease. Still learning about this all- upc ratio was 7.3 -this is very high. they are currently on benezaperil for the protein loss.

I used to feed Canidae All life stages (lamb) until the kidney issues arised then we had to switch.

[Kris Christine]

We switched to a homeopathic/holistic vet after Meadow developed cancer and we learned (after an open admission) that our former conventional vet had been giving all our dogs annual vaccinations they knew they didn't need.

Meadow had 3 1/2 wonderful years under our homeopath's care -- he was given 4 months by his former conventional vet. We'll never have any other than a homeopathic/holistic veterinarian ever again.

You can do an online search for one in your area at these websites: American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association http://www.holisticvetlist.com/, Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy http://www.theavh.org/referral/index.php

Kris

[Ellie May]

I think holistic and conventional both have good and bad sides.
I would be concerned about conventional vets over medicating and holistic relying too much on supplements and not wanting to use things like steroids when they are really needed. Ellie goes to a convential vet and probably always will but we don't vaccinate every year and I feed homecooked. Her vet is in agreement and she referred me to the nutritionist. You just have to find a vet that you are comfortable with.

As far as feeding raw, I would say to study all of can. Don't take other peoples word for it and don't feed it if you aren't comfortable.

Whatever you feed (kibble, canned, homecooked, raw), it is so important that you are comfortable with that choice.

As for this vet giving you a whole bunch of supplements, that is something I personally wouldn't get into. There are good supplements and there are useless ones. Ellie takes one for her liver and she will be getting fish oil but that is for a particular health problem. Some of the ones I do not think are necessary are things like digestive enzymes (I think the pancreas produces 70X more than what they need to digest a meal). This may be different with pancreatitis but that is just an example. I'd want to know exactly what each of them are for and how necessary they are.

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

I think holistic and conventional both have good and bad sides.
I would be concerned about conventional vets over medicating and holistic relying too much on supplements and not wanting to use things like steroids when they are really needed. Ellie goes to a convential vet and probably always will but we don't vaccinate every year and I feed homecooked. Her vet is in agreement and she referred me to the nutritionist. You just have to find a vet that you are comfortable with.

As far as feeding raw, I would say to study all of can. Don't take other peoples word for it and don't feed it if you aren't comfortable.

Whatever you feed (kibble, canned, homecooked, raw), it is so important that you are comfortable with that choice.

As for this vet giving you a whole bunch of supplements, that is something I personally wouldn't get into. There are good supplements and there are useless ones. Ellie takes one for her liver and she will be getting fish oil but that is for a particular health problem. Some of the ones I do not think are necessary are things like digestive enzymes (I think the pancreas produces 70X more than what they need to digest a meal). This may be different with pancreatitis but that is just an example. I'd want to know exactly what each of them are for and how necessary they are.

I cannot remember what you feed? I know the specialist that we saw said NO to raw. But I'm afraid after visiting next week with the raw he will want us to try it- otherwise it's home cooked. i am so confused on what to do and I pretty much am relying on others and what they feed. Feeding them the kibble they are on now- they are pooing a lot and large amounts it seems to me.. this week it's been a little firmer- but the first poo is harder than the second. It's not runny at all- just soft. i've noticed the anal glands filling up quicker with my other dog that never scooted and the last time i cleaned her anal glands she was very full and it had only been a couple weeks since the last time i did it. firmer stool i think would take care of that.

[Ellie May]

Originally Posted by sadiesamie

I cannot remember what you feed? I know the specialist that we saw said NO to raw. But I'm afraid after visiting next week with the raw he will want us to try it- otherwise it's home cooked. i am so confused on what to do and I pretty much am relying on others and what they feed. Feeding them the kibble they are on now- they are pooing a lot and large amounts it seems to me.. this week it's been a little firmer- but the first poo is harder than the second. It's not runny at all- just soft. i've noticed the anal glands filling up quicker with my other dog that never scooted and the last time i cleaned her anal glands she was very full and it had only been a couple weeks since the last time i did it. firmer stool i think would take care of that.

I feed homecooked.

[sadiesamie]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

I feed homecooked.

I think i am leading towards home cooking as well especially if i can make a large batch and freeze in tupperware. i just worry about not putting the correct amount of supplements. I worry about feeding raw just because I hear it can cause a lot of problems. They would love home cooked. do you have any examples on how you do it and what you use? I am just really curious on how much work it would be, what I would be getting into. where to order supplements?