Kindred spirits: a holistic approach to our animal companions

Welcome to this new quarterly column on integrative holistic animal health care! There's a tremendous increase in interest in natural holistic approaches to both human and animal health care these days. As one of the pioneers in acupuncture and holistic veterinary medicine, I am elated to see this new enthusiasm. However, while practicing, teaching and writing on the future of this field, I have come to appreciate that there is a balance between exploring the benefits of natural health care and acknowledging the benefits of conventional Western medicine as well.

My philosophy reflects the insights that I have gathered over the past 27 years of practicing this integrative approach. What actually is integrative animal health care? The vision of this approach is to take the best holistic, natural approaches to animal health and combine them with the best of conventional veterinary medicine. No one form of medicine has all the answers, the cures to all problems. It just seems prudent to take the best from all fields and integrate them into a new comprehensive form of animal health care.

What this means in vet practice and to you as an animal's companion is that we do everything as naturally and consciously as possible to prevent disease in our furry friends. If this isn't enough and they become ill, then we look at the best approaches to both diagnosis and treatment of the problem. This may include conventional medical examinations, blood tests, X rays and so on. In addition, a holistically oriented veterinarian may look at other possible causes of disease, such as environmental conditions, nutritional deficiencies, potential vaccine reactions and so forth. Treatment might consist of conventional medications along with holistic approaches to help the animal heal more quickly.

For instance, if your pet develops a bacterial infection, the conventional approach would be to administer an antibiotic. This certainly seems prudent. However, from an integrative standpoint, one might also want to support the animal's natural defense systems with various herbs and nutritional supplements. An integrative approach may also include an evaluation of your pet's health to see if there was some predisposing weakness that might have allowed your friend to come down with the infection in the first place.

Getting Educated

As an educated animal caretaker, the first question you should ask is, "How do I get more information about an integrated approach?" There's an enormous amount of information on the Internet. However, as anyone who has surfed the Web knows, much of this information can be controversial, and there may be a conflict of interest when supposed medical information is presented solely to sell products.

My goal here is to be the animal caretakers' advocate and to educate you about different veterinary approaches, including their advantages and disadvantages, risks and benefits. There are numerous books available on natural health care for pets, and some are better documented than others. The classic standard in the field is Dr. Pitcaim's Complete Guide to Natural Health For Dogs & Cats. This is an excellent resource for novices. Other books include Anitra Frazier's The New Natural Cat, Cheryl Schwartz's Four Paws Five Directions: A Guide to Chinese Medicine for Cats and Dogs and my own book Kindred Spirits: How the Remarkable Bond Between Humans Animals Can Change the Way We Live.

Practical Advice

OK, now that I've defined the terms and given you an idea about where to find additional information, let me give you some practical ideas about exercise and good nutrition for disease prevention.

A regular exercise program can improve the loving relationship you have with your cat or dog. (Begin slowly at first.) Make sure to walk your dog at least two to three times a day, if not more. But, in extremely hot or cold weather, or if your dog has a debilitating condition, don't overdo it. You and your dog should have plenty of water to drink in hot weather. Exercise is also critical for cats. If your cat tends to be a couch potato, develop some games that stimulate exercise. (We will go over this subject in more detail in future columns.)

The cliche "you are what you eat" is true for our animals as well as for us. I rank pet foods on a scale from one to ten. Ten is the best--a homemade, natural, organic, balanced diet. There are many recipes available for diets like this. (We will review them in future columns as well.) The next best, a nine, is a commercially prepared, balanced, organic food. A diet ranking one is the worst. That is, a homemade, unbalanced diet consisting of the worst processed foods, grease, preservatives and so on--the same things that people should not be eating. The next worst, a two, is a generic processed pet food filled with artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and by-products. In between are all the processed pet foods. I'm always reluctant to recommend a particular brand because makers are continuously changing their ingredients, and something that might be great at one point may not be later on. The Whole Dog Journal (www.whole-dog-journal.com) offers subscribers thorough reviews of all the different quality brands of both dry and canned dog foods.