Traditional vets vs. Holistic vets
 

Hi. Have any of you switched your pets from traditional vets to holistic vets? For what reasons and are you glad that you did? What are some major differences on practical level (not on the theoretical b/c the very foundation of their practices are different)? Also, are holistic vets generally move expensive than the traditional? I'd apprecite your help!

I have no clue, but will say that I would only use a traditional vet. Traditional medicine is what I would want if my own child were sick, not holistic; therefore I don't want any less for my furbabies.

I just switched in January. We had an initial consultation at $95.00 that lasted little over an hour. Our doctor practices both General Western Medicine as well as Herbal, Accupucture, and other alternative medicine.

We switched because Jewel was diagnosed with GME back in June and was put on prednisone. She was not supposed to survive past July. Since she kept on fighting her illness and still on the preds we really wanted to get her off them because it got to the point where we couldn't tell if the side effects were worse than the illness. Our neurologist want us to start chemo on her and we said absolutely NOT! We found Dr. Gordorn and he has been the biggest blessing ever! We are weaning her off the pred and we can see improvements daily. He saw something in her very first blood work that our other 3 doctors before didn't mention, her thyroid level was low. We now giving her western herb for the thyroid and weaning her off the preds.

In a scale of 1-10 with 10 being Jewel before she was sick, her worst was about a 2. She is now about a 5!

Dr. Gordon also believes most pets are over vaccinated and he recommended a titer for Jazzie. She is skipping her shots this year because she still have pleanty of protection from her previous boosters!

My recommendation is:
Learn about the medicines prescribed to your babies. Most medicines now are steroid based and long term use can definitely do damage to your baby!

Follow your heart. If you are not sure read about it, research it.

We are glad we made the switch.

Please Educate Me...
 

I have heard a lot about holistic vets, lately.
Personally I also believe that dogs are over-vaccinated, there is too much steroid abuse, and antibiotic abuse. And not enough testing.
But what I don't know is:
Do these vets have to get all new education?
Do they do surgeries?
Do they even believe in vaccines?

Any info would be helpful.

Vets...........
 

My vet does both. I also believe that animals are over vaccinated and sometimes over medicated. I also do tons of research on everything concerning my furbabies. I have a very cautious vet. Thank goodness! :)

Doctors should be certified for each alternative medicine they practice. In order to be certified they are required to have additional education. Doctors varies but our doctor is also a surgeon and practices conventional medicine. Dr. Gordon does believe animals should be vaccinated. What he doesn't agree with it the frequency of the boosters. He told us many doctors follow a schedule of boosters set by the pharmacies that makes the vaccinations, gradually it has become regular practice to give boosters more often.

Here is a list of various Alternative Medicine recognized by the American Holistic Veterinary Medicine Association http://www.ahvma.org/ (I highlighted the ones Dr. Gordon Practices):

AC Acupuncture
AC(IVAS) Acupuncture (International Veterinary Acupuncture Society certified)
Acuscope
AK Applied Kinesiology
BF Bach Flower Remedies
BI Biotron II
CH Chinese Herbs
CR Chiropractic
CR(AVCA) Chiropractic (American Veterinary Chiropractic Association certified)
CN Clinical Nutrition
CT Color Therapy
CM Conventional Medicine
EAV Electroacupuncture according to Voll
GT Glandular Therapy
H Homeopathy
HC Homeopathy Classical
HC(AVH) Homeopathy (Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy Certified)
HO Homeopathy Other
HMTX Homotoxicology
IN Interro
NAET Nambrudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique
NU Nutrition
MT Magnetic Therapy
MAMassage Therapy
PMT Pulsating Magnetic Therapy
Reiki
VOM Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation
WH Western Herbs

Great Info! Thanks So Much!
 

Corrine,
Again your wisdom ceases to amaze me! :notworthy

Believe me, I'm suprised too! I wouldn't have known any of this if Jewel hadn't gotten sick. It just goes to show what we are capable of when we put our minds to do something. Sure wish I was this passionate when I was in High School! :lol tears

Dan & I knew there was a reason for Jewel getting sick. Not cause reason.. but what good will come out of all our worries and tears.

1. Our marriage is much stronger & closer
2. We can help others who a facing similar battles

But most importantly JEWEL IS STILL WITH US AND GETTING BETTER!

I would stick to traditional vets as with dogs you never know what effect a specific herbal remedy might have. The are sensitive to certain plants as it is. JMO. :thumbup: :animal36

Herbs: I Have Had It Happen To Me...
 

After my hysterectomy 5 mos ago I started taking an herbal supplement for menopause. I broke out in hives and had to go to the E.R..
Problem was there were so many different types of herbs and roots, that is was hard to pinpoint what I was allergic to. I have started taking soy and calcium supplements only. I know I'm not allergic to them.(I eat a lot of tofu)

That's why we chose a doctor that practices both and our doctor is certified in Veterinary Herbal Medicine so we trust him not to use herbs that are dangerous to animals.

We don't give our girls any medication until we research the side effects wether its conventional medicine or herbal. If the side effects are questionable, we do more research for other options. Then call the doctor and discuss it with him. He doens't mind at all that we question his suggestions and told us he wishes more pet parents would do so since we know our babies the best.

Had it not been for our choice to use herbal medicine, Jewel would be going through chemo therapy right now and going through the terrible side effects instead of getting better - pain free as she is now.

As far as her going into remission, we don't know. Will she live longer because we chose herbs over chemo? We don't know that either.

Everyone has different views on what is better medicine practice wether its for veterinary or people. I'm not saying our way is better or that one is better than the other. The choice is yours to make.

I just wanted to tell our story.

That must have been so scary! Was the herbal supplement suggest by your doctor? What did they say? I'm glad you're ok now.

I love Tofu!

No my doctor said there was no proof they worked. A friend told me about them.

I have had extremely positive experiences dealing with a vet who was original schooled as a traditional vet and later entered the holistic approach. I trust his judgement about which course of action to try first for any problem. He knows the pluses/minuses to both sides. Let me share a bit of my story and my experience with him and even a bit about how he came to be involved in holistic care.

I used to have a pair of Bichon Frises. One day, my male could not walk - I took him to my traditional vet and he said he had likely had a stroke. He gave Andre a cortisone shot and told me if I didn't see any improvement in 48 hrs, I would have to put him down. After 2 miserable days and nights of sleeping on the floor with my beloved dog - who had sired some of the earliest Bichons in Des Moines - I knew we were at the end.

But on the second day there was a story in the newspaper about a new vet in town who did accupuncture - I called Dr. Van up and he said he thought he might be able to help. Andre had one treatment and then we went back the next day - after the second treatment Andre got up and WALKED!! :) He was hesitant at first, but very quickly he improved!! :exclaim: He later would run :animal37

He lived for almost another 2 years because of the accupuncture treatment. He went on a regular basis for awhile and then on an occasional basis.

Dr. Gary Van Engelenburg and his wife, Vicki, and the rest of the staff at Iowa Veterinary Acupuncture Clinic are unbelievable. Dr. Van was a regular vet for years, but that did stop him from learning new holistic techniques.

In the winter of 1991 while attending a conference he was "made aware" of acupuncture. He was a total disbeliever and skeptic but attended some meetings out of curiosity to see what kind of "strange people" would try such foolish things in practice. After several sessions total disbelief turned into mild curiosity and Dr. Van started training in April 1991.

Now he travels all over the world training others about vet. accupuncture and he is used frequently with the large animals, ie horses, bulls.

learn more about accupuncture, herbs, and the best nutrition for your loveable furry friends at his site http://www.apvet.com or from a link on his page I found this site where you can search by your city and state for an accupucture vet: http://www.ivas.org/member_search.cfm

I have referred many friends to Dr. Van, all have came back with the best experience. Of course part of that is his calm demeanor, but wouldn't you want a doctor for yourself who is schooled in the most diverse methods? Why ask for less for your pets.

:aimeeyork :) Yorkiesmiles

I am a FIRM BELIEVER, that everything happens for a reasopn, it is up to us to find the reason and turn it into something positive.

When we lost our precious Yorkie last month, at first I wasn't going to get another one, but then couldn't bear the thought of not having one. Then it came to me that we should start breeding, so my journey started to learn all that I possibly can about the breed and about breeding. That is why I am here and all of you lucky people have become part of my life. And now you can't imagine your lives without me. ;)

Sorry to get off the subject.

I have never heard of this type of medicine, not even sure if any vets around here practice it. But I do agree that they are too quick to just hand you some pills and send you on your way. But it took insurance companies to change human medicine, so with the growing popularity in pet medice, I expect it will change also

Thank you for sharing your courageous story! I'm glad Andre got to spend a few more wonderful years with you. We are praying Jewel will do the same.

I also want to thank you for posting the link to the veterinary accupuncture site. I actually had a post asking if anyone tried it but only got one response from a person with second hand knowledge.

I'm planning on checking it out right away!

I'm glad I could help (actually, I was suprised by the direction this thread took). Anyway, I found another link you might want to check - I think some holistic vets belong to different organizations - see www.aava.org/ they also have a directory to find a vet. Also see http://homepage.tinet.ie/%7Eprogers/roghome.htm - there is a ton of info here about holistic medicine and research and links to other sites.

Andre is just one story I could tell. The herbs and alternative medicine really are affective. I adopted my Yorkies - 2 Years Ago Tuesday!! - anyway, the male, Bubba, came with medicine from the traditional vet for chronic ear infection. Dr. Van quickly gave us something else that helped much more!

Best wishes for health dogs and finding a holistic vet

It matters not if medicine is old or new
so long as it can cure.
It matters not if theories come from East or West
so long as they be true.

Jen-Hsou Lin, Taipei

:aimeeyork :) Yorkiesmiles

Just wanted to say
Hannah, thanks for starting this thread and
Corinne, thanks for the great info you've provided. I'm so glad that Jewel is feeling better.

I've been wondering about hollstic vets myself :)

I really haven't researched holistic vets but I would be concerned about the use of herbs. Since these aren't regulated I would be concerned about the unknown effects. I know drugs are pulled from market sometimes after bad side effects but they did know the potential side effects when they were marketed. With herbs I wonder if they know which side effects to watch for.

Wow. All the positive reports about holistic vets are convincing enough to make a switch! I heard that holistic vets attend the same vet schools and go through the SAME training as do the traditional vet, but in order to be considered a holistic vet, they need extra training in whatever their specialty is. Is that true? If it is, I don't see any reason why people wouldnt' make the switch to holistic vets. They can combine the best of both worlds to treat and care for our pets, right?

To me it is about having choices. Traditional medicine doesn't always work and I want to know what else is available if I need it.
Gus had a reaction to two of his puppy shots (kennel cough and rabies) so when it was time for the boosters I found a holistic vet to talk to about vaccinations. He was a regular vet for many years - still is during the day - but the hospital allows him to see people after hours for holistic care.
What I absolutely loved about him was he tells you about all the options available (traditional and holistic) and what he advises but also tells you not to just take his or anyone elses word about anything, to educate yourself.
I've never had a vet explain everything so thoroughly. We talked for about an hour and a half (about a lot of things). If all holistic vets are like this one, I would recommend them to everyone.

Also, I met the lady who had the appointment before mine on her way out, when she saw Gus she came over to talk. She said she had two yorkies - one of which had been ill from some disease (never heard of it before) and the traditional medicine was killing it. She told me the doctor saved it's life.

I too use a combo doctor who is trained in both western and hoistic. I have had the same experience as the others here and I have learned so much about over vaccination and its effects as well as over medicating period. I would recommend that everyone seek out the services of a holistic vet especially if they have a problem that has not responded to traditional treatment. These docs are absolute miracle workers in my opinion and they treat you like you want to be treated. I never \had that experience with a traditional vet.

I have never used a vet other than our traditional vet. I've never had a reason to need to. I will say though, that I have seen the benefits of using an alternative treatment method, depending on the situation.
For example, my aunt has a doberman that was diagnosed with Wobbler's Disease (a disorder where the spine and nerves do not work together as they should that causes pain and mobility problems) several years ago. The only method of treatment that a traditional vet could offer was a very expensive (like, thousands of dollars) and risky surgery with little chance of help. She opted to try acupuncture treatment and herbal supplements and has had GREAT success.
I guess it really depends on the problem at hand. :)