I can’t imagine anything more frightening for a pet caretaker than to witness their beloved pet having a seizure for the first time.  Seizures appear so violently.  They come on without warning and cause uncontrollable thrashing of the body as we sit by helplessly, unable to do anything about it. The first and foremost thing that we need to know about seizures is that seizures are a symptom, not a disease.  Unfortunately, many people, including some vets, loose sight of this.  All symptoms, whether they are seizing, vomiting, diarrhea, drinking excessive amounts of water and so on, are indications of

On the average, most vet clinics schedule appointments about every 20 minutes.  In a busy practice, it is not unusual for a vet to see about 30 patients a day.  Throw in time for surgeries, dental work, emergencies, in-hospital patients and so on, and you can see how chaotic a day can be for the average small animal vet.  I know, I did this for many years. Imagine what is going on in your vet’s mind when he or she walks into the exam room, 15 minutes behind, lab. reports needing to be read, clients waiting to be called and

For as long as I can remember, I have always liked flowers.  Being a southern-raised child, we usually had a veggie garden somewhere, and the moms and grandmas spent lots of time talking about how to grow the best tomatoes.  But, my interest, other than eating those delightful, healthy veggies, was to see the colors and smell the fragrances of the flowers, especially the roses. I can’t seem to ever pass up a rose along the way without stopping, and experiencing its beauty.  So, it was no surprise yesterday when the first bloom popped on one of the rose bushes

We humans know all about being tested.  Sometimes it feels like we get tested on a daily basis.  It can be tiring, but I have always relied on the saying that we are never dealt something that we can’t handle.  At least, so far in my 67 years, that seems to be the case. There is a concept that has always been important to me:  integrity.  Since integrity is a word and all words are concepts or abstracts, there is no absolute truth in them.  So, we have to define those words ourselves.  Integrity, to me, has always represented the

I belong to a number of pet-related forums.  I enjoy the interaction among fellow pet caretakers and there are times I can give some helpful advice.  One group that I particularly enjoy is the iHeartSeniorDogs group.  I mean, who doesn’t love old dogs.  Even the old Tom T. Hall song, “Old Dogs and Children, and Watermelon Wine” says, “Old dogs care about you even when you make mistakes.” One thing that I constantly notice when people introduce their old dog to the group, they immediately point out its medical problems.  A great example was this morning when a lady posted

Each winter, I like to go to Sedona, Arizona for a couple of weeks.  It gets me away from our snowy winters and gives me a chance to get another energetic tuning while out hiking in the red rock country.  Most people are aware of the magical, mystical energy vortexes around Sedona, but few people know what the energy is and how it works.  I don’t want to take away the mystical appeal, but the energy can be explained scientifically and it is now available for you and your pets without having to go to Sedona. Years ago, the local

With the current movement towards a more natural approach to health care for ourselves and our pets, I often get asked the question, “How do I find a holistic vet?  Often, I see pets who were brought to me by people who have already taken a natural approach to health care that want to do the same for their pets.  Also, I have those people who contact me because they are frustrated with the conditioned approach to conventional pet health care, looking for other options.  They are introduced to a different mindset for pet health care and see the success

It has become a popular practice these days for the self-help people to do “mirror work.”  The late, great Louise Hay initiated this practice and chronicled a lot of success stories about people who routinely used it.  Years ago I was at a Byron Katie retreat, she called “The No-Body Retreat” where they passed out paper bags to everyone and told us to go back to our hotel room, punch a couple of eye-holes in the bag, strip down naked and stand in front of the bathroom mirror.  Then, we were supposed to listen to what our mind says and

Last time, I discussed the epidemic crisis of emotional and psychological health in our country and how it gets started, perpetuates itself, is commonly treated and how it affects not only our health, but the health of our pets as well. In this blog, I will address what we can do in order to heal ourselves from these health issues instead of depending on drugs and therapy in order to help us get by with our disease.  Depression, anxiety, and all persistent harmful emotions, from a conventional medical perspective are the results of long-standing hurtful feelings.  These harmful emotions and

  “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” ~ Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled) I read an article the other day that said one in six people living in the U.S. are taking antidepressants.  The use of these mood enhancing drugs

Albert Einstein once said, “Science will ultimately lead us back to spirituality.”  What he was indirectly saying was that in our attempt to use science to understand the truth or reality, we will be led to the awareness that there is no such thing.  Now, this is pretty heavy stuff, even from the master of intelligence. As an author whose book was published by HayHouse, I am on their email list.  This morning I received their email notice with the headline, “What to feed your pet to prevent cancer…”  Oh, my.  I thought, that really isn’t what I read.  I

It is hard to imagine that next week will be the last week that I see pets in my office.  It is almost hard to even imagine.  It seems like just yesterday.  I was sitting in my new hospital in San Antonio waiting to see my first patient.  I had planned my opening the following Monday, but Saturday night I got a phone call from a lady with a sick dog.  I jumped at the chance to get this career started and since those were the days before emergency clinics, at 10pm, Saturday night on an August night in 1981,

Like all major transitions in our lives, change usually involves some bumps along the new pathway. When we are carving a new pathway, there are going to be obstacles, but the important thing is to realize the progress and keep moving forward. The transition from conventional pet health care to a more holistic and functional approach to health care is also experiencing some bumps. That’s ok, as long as we keep moving forward without looking back. Imagine that you have had pets for many years and have become pretty conditioned with their health care. You listen to your vet, do

The Buddhists have a tradition where they hang bells in strategic areas, so that when the bells ring, they are reminded to return their awareness to the present moment.  They call these bells, mindful bells.  Being mindful essentially means that we focus our awareness only on the present moment.  Most of us spend very little time with our awareness on the present moment.  Instead, we spend a great deal of time listening to the brain chatter that is constantly going on.  We listen to our thoughts remind of us the past and how we could have done things differently and in a moment it

It can be very difficult to detect subtle, chronic pain in cats and dogs.  Most pet caretakers are looking for signs such as crying or whimpering, but this rarely happens.  Pets are great compensators.  They don’t like to hurt and they will alter their movement in order to relieve the pain.  This might be a subtle shift of their weight to the other, non-affected leg.  If the hindquarter; back, both hips or knees hurt, then they shift their weight forward.  This can go undetected by the caretaker for years until there is no longer a way to compensate and then

Imagine waking up one morning and noticing that your cat is ill.  He has vomited a couple of times during the night, and he is listless and has no interest in his food or water.  You gather him up and rush him to the veterinary clinic.  The veterinarian examines him, takes some blood for analysis, and informs you that your cat is in kidney failure. “How can that be?  He was fine yesterday,” you say. “That is how kidney failure works,” the veterinarian answers. Statistics tell us that one in every three indoor cats will die from kidney disease. There are very

Stella was brought to my office because for the entire 14 years of her life, she lived in fear.  The little Terrier mix dog trembled when she looked at me and scrambled to hide behind her caretaker.  Stella’s caretaker had tried many types of treatment and medications and none had worked.  Everything frightened her; noises, people, other pets, life itself.  When the dishwasher was turned on, she trembled to the point that she wet herself. I spent several appointments visiting with Stella and her caretaker, trying to make some sense as to why she was so frightened and why nothing that

“Hello.  I am Dr. Whitecoat.  I am certainly happy that you would choose to come to our veterinary hospital.  We are aware that there are many other hospitals in the area, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to help you with your pets.” “You know, I have been a vet for a long time and I have seen a lot of pets over the years.  We have had great success with our diagnostic abilities and treatment protocols and if you check our website, you will find several testimonies that will help you if you have any doubts.  I

On occasion, I have a client tell me that it is not in their budget to feed fresh food to their pet.  I sympathize with this as most of us live on a tight budget.  But, if you are concerned about the cost of health care for your pet, you might need to look at things a little differently. Each year, here in the US, we spend billions of dollars for veterinary care for our pets.  A pet health insurance company recently wrote that here in the US, every two minutes a person is paying a vet bill that exceeds

Just this week a new client shared this story.  See if you can imagine this.  This fellow notices that his six-year old dog is limping with one of his front legs.  He gives it a feel and can’t find the reason, so he calls and schedules an appointment with his vet.  The vet comes into the exam room, examines the dog and tells the fellow he needs to take an X-ray of the leg.  The caretaker gives the vet the ok, and the films are taken. The vet returns to the exam room and tells the fellow that his dog