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Nothing shakes us up more than having the veterinarian tell us that our pet has a serious illness.  Immediately, we go into panic mode and our thoughts start racing and our fearful emotions start to flow.  We are so wrapped up in the thoughts and emotions, we are no longer capable of even listening to…

Pancreatitis is a stubborn disease and has been since I started treating it in dogs and cats forty years ago.  It is stubborn because the symptoms are vague and the diagnostic tests for the disease are not exact.  At best, they point towards the pancreas and then leave it up to the doctor to make…

Yunnan Bia Yao (YB) is finally getting its due now that western medicine has started to open its mind about herbal therapy.  Ten years ago, you could not find YB in any veterinary hospitals.  Today it is in all emergency animal hospitals and most general practices.   YB is know for its ability to stop…

I am sure you have heard of the the butterfly effect, also known as the chaos theory.  The butterfly effect is the idea that small, seemingly trivial events may ultimately result in something with much larger consequences – in other words, they have non-linear impacts on very complex systems. For instance, when a butterfly flaps…

Nothing can cause more suffering than trying to make the right decision.  This can be especially difficult when trying to figure out what to do when our pet is diagnosed with a serious disease such as cancer.   Then, the options start appearing.  Should I have the surgery done?  Should I have chemotherapy done?  Should…

As you might already know, acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medical approach for treating health problems.  It is speculated to be somewhere around 3000 years old.  It applies putting stainless steel acupuncture needles into acupuncture points that will have specific benefits for the patient. But, how does acupuncture really work?  According to Johns Hopkins medical…

I am amazed at how may people post statements on different pet-related Facebook Pages that state that they love their pets more than they do people.  A lot of you might be shaking your head in agreement with their statement.  How is it that this can happen because true love is always unconditional?   Why…

I probably can’t count the times that clients have asked me what they can do for their anemic pet.  My immediate response is asking them what caused the anemia.  Anemia is not a diagnosis.  It is a clinical finding, a generalization, sort of like saying your dog is skinny?  Why is it skinny?  Is it…

    Do you remember grandma’s chicken soup?  Perhaps many of you had it served to you when you had a cold or some other illness.  Obviously it was effective, otherwise it wouldn’t have stood the test of time as a natural remedy. What was it about grandma’s soup that helped our body heal itself? …

For some bizarre, unexplainable reason, when I was a young pup of a veterinarian, I was intrigued by skin problems, particularly allergy.  Maybe it was because we were told in vet school that allergies were not curable and I love to prove people wrong.  I had even considered going back to school and getting a…