As you surely know by now, there is an enormous movement in pet health care towards a more natural, functional approach.  This is great, but as with any transition, there are some bumps along the way that we must face.  With the internet and other forms of communication, gathering information can be overwhelming.  Everyone and their grandmother has an opinion.   Since I started practice over 35 years ago, I have routinely been asked whether a pet should be spayed or neutered.  Years ago it was common to see intact dogs and cats, but with social changes this has become

Let’s begin this discussion with a definition of normal health.  In order to be healthy, we must be balanced in body, mind and spirit.  No exceptions.  Cultures from all across the world have made claim to this definition.  But, not so much here in the U.S.  The same is true for our pets.  So, let’s take a look at our health care system and see why it has no potential to create healing.  None. Traditional veterinary medicine (as well as human medicine) has done a great job with addressing the physical body.  Although from this perspective, we create great limitations,

A while back, I was reading an article written by a popular holistic vet that discussed the possibility that some people love their pets too much.  As you might expect, there were quite a number of people who responded to this article with objection to this idea.  Many people answered that they loved their pets more than life itself, more than people and so on. I think the article missed the point, but the reactions seemed to point out the author’s intent.  We humans have a very strong belief system and we make a concerted effort to prove what we

Once upon a time on a distant planet in a faraway galaxy lived a civilized people known as Ids.  Ids were a very evolved people, with great intellect, similar to us humans.  They lived in a civilized society with moral influences, hopes and desires.   The Ids were experiencing a significant rise in a fatal disease called Conx.  Conx had been around throughout the history of the Ids, but now most of them were dying from this horrible disease and there was much focus on the treatment and prevention of the disease.  Even though there had been some progress made,

I suspect most of you have heard this before regarding your health.  It feels a bit like a punch in the stomach.  But, in fact, it is the truth.  We just don’t understand how it works. Imagine the you are sitting in my office.  You have a pet with a chronic illness and you have spent months and enormous expense in order for your pet to get healthy.  You are obviously frustrated and exhausted.  Then, I tell you that in order for your pet to get healthy, it will require you to make a lifestyle change.  Pow, right in the

Imagine this happening to you.  During the night you hear your dog coughing and the coughing persists the next morning.  You take a look at her and she seems to feel ok so you go ahead with your daily activities and plan to come home at lunch and check on her. During your lunch break you run home and even though she is there to greet you, she starts coughing again.  You decide that she needs to be seen.  You call the vet, make an appointment for that afternoon and then contact your office and tell them what is happening.

I have a row of rose bushes along the pathway to my office.  Each morning I pass by them and most summers they are absolutely beautiful.  However, this summer, due to very high temperatures and smoke from surrounding wildfires, they appeared to suffer.  I tried to help them by watering more than usual, fertilizing and controlling pests.  But, they remained frail and refused to blossom. Then, the weather changed, and with the cooler, wet weather, they came to life and re-created their beauty. It made me start contemplating the life of plants.  There is wisdom there.  How is it that

In the last blog I addressed our distorted perception about life’s expressions and why it causes suffering.  I explained that when we created our ego-mind during our early childhood, we were led to believe that we are separate from those things “out there” and that our life “out there” is the cause of our happiness and our suffering. I also explained that this was not actually the truth.  This upside-down perspective deprives us of the truth of who we are and also creates great struggles, often leading to suffering.  The truth is that the “out there” is nothing but a

There is an angry storm brewing.  Flooding in the south, fires blazing in the west, earthquakes in Mexico, people fighting people over color of their skin, religion, ethnicity and political alliance.  In health care, the movement towards holistic health care is now strongly being opposed by conventional, allopathic medicine and the line has been drawn in the sand.  Reactionary emotions, angry thoughts and beliefs and actions that perpetuate more of the same. What is a person to do?  How in the world can this stop? The enlightened ones tell us that if you want to fix the world, you start

The most common musculoskeletal injury that we see in the dog is a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) in the knee joint.  In humans, this is called an ACL injury.  It is seen frequently in larger breeds, especially those that are athletic in nature.  Most dog caretakers report that the injury occurred during some physical activity such as chasing a ball or running up the stairs. The cruciate ligaments are a paired set of ligaments in the knee joint.  There is both an cranial (anterior in humans) and caudal (posterior in humans) cruciate ligament that cross each other as both

The other day, I had a veterinary colleague of mine remind me that alternative modalities, using acupuncture and energy medicine, weren’t scientifically proven.  I smiled, remembering that it is our old ultimate trump card when we want to deny any benefits of alternative medicine.  I know, I used to play the same trump card. The problem is that we conventional clinicians, both veterinary and human, rarely ever question this belief nor do we acknowledge that science is changing in spite of this belief.  This same veterinarian said he used laser therapy but relied completely on the scientific method for determining

Wrap your mind around this.  I am sitting in a class listening to one of the best veterinary gastroenterologist in the country at one of the best veterinary colleges in the country, and he tells us students that cats don’t get diarrhea.  All of us in the class made our simple note about this fact and we moved on to the next, important medical topic.  Now, remember, this was back in 1980 and certainly things have changed. How in the world could this have happened because we know that cats get diarrhea.  We know that they can get chronic diarrhea

Years ago when you went into a major retail store, a soft music played in the background.  Hidden in that soft music was a subliminal message that, without you knowing, told you that you needed to buy something.  It was so effective that the government passed a law that forbid its use. This is a great example of the mind’s influence on what we choose to do and how we create our reality.  If you use Facebook, you will see something similar.  The technology that Facebook uses allows them to assess what you like to read about and sends you

We clinicians, both veterinary and human, are steeped in science.  Science gives us confidence because it is based on what is real.  When we know what is real, then we can analyze it, see how it works and try to manipulate it for our desires.  There seems to be security in knowledge and since our knowledge is based on science, it is easy to see that if you threaten our science, you threaten our security. Since the time of Copernicus, medicine has focused on science and throughout the years, science has been a remarkable tool for learning about the body,

I am frequently asked what I think about pet health insurance.  It used to be easy because there was only one company that offered it.  Nowadays, pet insurance companies are like toothpaste, they come in all varieties.  This only makes things more confusing. My recommendations are:  Research the company and get feedback from people who purchased their policy.  Insurance companies, whether they are pet or human, are in the business to make money, not give your pet free vet services.  Most companies refuse to pay for pre-existing conditions and they will try to find every way possible to link the

I remember one time that I had a phone consultation with a lady in another state.  She immediately started telling me that her dog had cancer and that she had to do something now to stop it.  She told me that she was working with two veterinary specialists and two holistic vets.  I began to wonder why she was calling me.  It was obvious that she was in good hands and that what could be done for her pet was most likely being done.  It then came to me that maybe the reason I was involved in this experience was

Last but certainly not least.  The wood element is the child of water and the mother of fire in the five element system.  Wood provides the heat to spark the fire and unless water is in balance to keep it in check, it will rage and generate a lot of energy.  We all know people who are wood.  He is the boss that will motivate you to reach new levels in one minute and take you to your knees in humiliation the next.  She is the type A personality that forges new pathways and the lady that screams at people

If I were to choose an element in the five element system that is vital for balancing health, water would be my choice.  Water comprises about 60% of the physical body and most of the earth’s surface.  The yin organ of the water element, as you might guess, is the kidney.  Kidney energy is responsible for both prenatal and postnatal development, so any birth defects or developmental problems such as hip dysplasia in dogs, is the result of imbalanced kidney energy (kidney jing). The Chinese metaphorically describe the kidney fire (yang) as the pilot light that keeps us alive.  When

If you can’t leave the house without a list, carry a tissue around for a persistent runny nose, have moisturizer in your purse for dry skin, achy joints and you have defined boundaries that no one dare cross, chances are that you are of the metal element.  Metal element individuals are known for their high level of intelligence and their meticulous focus on detail.  When in balance, they love to work, are consistent with their daily routines and anatomically have lean body structure and defined angles.  Think of the distance runner (marathon runner or Greyhound) and you can picture the

Last time, I discussed the Five Element System in Chinese medicine and how it plays a role in overall health issues.  It is a system that we would do well to become acquainted with as it can help us promote well health for both ourselves and our pets. Earth, like each of the five elements, is part of a circular flow of direction and influence that an element has on the others.  The flow of influence is clockwise and each element acts as both a mother of an element and a child of another element.  The mother element must be