What defines a healthy companion animal?  Addressing the health and well-being of your pet involves much more than simply the "routine maintenance" of proper food, vitamins, checkups, and plenty of exercise.  Animal lovers need to think out of the box for optimum health and wellness for their pets. 

Holistic vets address the same health concerns as regular vets including life-threatening diseases.  This type of veterinary care focuses on treating the disease rather than simply addressing the symptoms of illness.  Holistic vets believe that weak immune systems cause most sickness in companion animals.  Boosting the immune systems represents the primary focus of their care plan.

What is a holistic vet?

Holistic veterinarians treat their animal patients differently than a regular vet by looking at the animal as a whole entity.  Instead of simply diagnosing a health problem, holistic vets choose a quite different approach.  Holistic practitioners address everything involving an animal's wellness including diet, stress levels, exercise, behavior and environmental situations.  They use alternative and complementary therapies to naturally heal animals with less invasive procedures to improve health and wellness.Holistic vets look at all factors of an animal's lifestyle to determine the best course of complimentary treatment. This could include diet, stress situations, behavior, medical history, and environment. Holistic treatment involves peeling away the layers to understand every aspect of the animal's life and health to find the best solution for treatment.  This type of treatment focuses on less invasive procedures or in the instances of necessary surgery, a complementary, integrated approach that blends traditional procedures and alternative care.

Types of Holistic Vet Care

• Herbal remedies-- plant-based, natural treatment regimens help combat illness and improve the body's ability to fight illness.  Vets carefully prepare herbal remedies from the stems, leaves, roots and barks of plants to treat a variety of ailments in pets.

• Acupuncture--non-surgical, traditional Chinese therapy involving the placement of needles at particular points on the body.  Acupuncture has been used effectively for pain relief and disease treatment in companion animals.

• Chiropractic therapy--therapy addressing the joints of the body and the body's ability t o heal itself through proper alignments of the spine, joints, and muscles.  This therapy can be quite effective on elderly pets and animals injured in accidents.

• Nutrition--focuses on providing an all-natural diet in the interests of keeping the animal as healthy as possible with a diet close to one as nature intended.  Nutritional therapy begins with the understanding that good diet prevents and treats a host of ailments.

Education

Existing veterinarians choose a continuing education course in holistic veterinary care that includes 128 hours of complimentary medical courses over 6 months.  The Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy offers certifications tests to veterinarians who have passed appropriate course work.  Make sure to examine any vet's credentials before allowing treatment for your pet.

Choosing alternative care for your pet opens up a wide scope of options.  Less invasive treatment plans offer fewer side effects to help your animal recover quickly.  By examining all aspects of the animal's lifestyle, holistic vets provide a valued service with gentle and effective methods that can safely restore many animals to full health.