by Robert Eaton
Holistic Vs Traditional Vet Care
We have to understand that our bodies have more control over it’s own health than our medications in certain situations. By understanding the basic health mechanisms of our bodies, we can significantly improve our responses to illnesses and adverse factors. The same is true for our pets, and a holistic approach towards their health might be the right choice. Holistic pet care is based on understanding the pet’s needs and problems as a whole. Holistic veterinarians will approach a pet illness from a multi faceted point of view, not just treating a single health problem in comparison to traditional pet health care systems which aim straight at one problem, almost ignoring other related factors.
Differences between a holistic veterinarian and a traditional vet
In traditional pet medicine, if your dog or cat has a sore paw, the vet will look mostly at the leg. It makes sense, you will say. It does, but this also limits the doctor’s chances of finding correlated problems that might have lead to the sore paw. A holistic pet care approach will have a look at the “whole” rather than the “individual”. This means that the holistic vet will look for other potential, inner and outside factors that might contribute negatively to the problem.
Holistic pet care – a different approach
Holistic pet care aims to bring a multitude of healing elements for a multitude of potential problems, while classical vets target a specific element, using a one on one approach. This is not to say that traditional veterinary practices are obsolete – they do work well in most cases. However, the issue here is: can they be improved? Holistic vet care tries to find hidden factors for the problem, so that it will not become a reoccurring issue looking at the whole process, from past, to present and future. While traditional medicine focuses mainly on the consequences of an illness.
Work methods of the holistic veterinarian
A holistic veterinarian will show a more open-minded approach to an affliction. He or she will try to face the problem from a multitude of different angles, not just a one on one approach. Of course, the holistic veterinarian knows, as well as the pet owner does, that the treatments will not get a 100% response from the pet. However, since the problem is faced from different perspectives, chances that treatment will be successful are a lot higher. While traditional medicine should not be disregarded, every pet owner should consider a holistic approach to pet problems in order to ensure the highest chances of success and to improve the overall life quality of their animal companions.
Holistic pet care – is vaccination necessary?
Yearly vaccinations for our pet have become a usual thing, especially since traditional veterinarians tell us that this is the best action against all sorts of pet diseases. Many holistic pet care specialists have studied the effect of vaccinations on different sorts of pets and they found out that there might be more harm involved in regular vaccination than we would think. Most vaccinations occur in the multi dose pattern – which means that our pet’s immune system receives a large dosage of the vaccine. Repeating this process year after year may increase the side effects of the vaccine on your pet’s immune system. While holistic pet care is not against vaccination, many holistic veterinarians suggest more caution when vaccinating your pet.
Vaccination of young animals
In their early life stages, pets are supposed to get increased doses of vaccine, so as to develop a stronger immune system. Holistic pet care systems know that the baby animal gets the highest part of their immune system from their mother. This also means that a natural diet will help build a proper immune system, as the mother’s milk will have all the necessary nutrients. Holistic pet care focuses on natural nutrition as a way of eliminating many of the problems that plague our pets. Chemical and unnatural food, mostly used by pet owners today, diminishes the potency of the immune system, both in baby animals and in adults. Combined with pesticide prevention drugs, vaccines will only add to the dosage of unnatural elements in your pet’s life, thus actually reducing the strength of the immune system, instead of making it stronger.
Holistic pet care – why are vaccines potentially dangerous
Although our pets’ bodies do sometimes need outside factors to help their healing, in most cases, given the proper conditions, our pets are able to self heal. Vaccination brings a series of foreign elements in the pet’s bloodstream – and, as you know, vaccines actually contain a part of the disease they are supposed to prevent. The natural process would be for the pet to come in contact with the disease, get passed it and develop it’s own immune system then. Yearly introduction of the controlled disease found in vaccinations may have a series of adverse factors.
The pet owner’s choice
By constantly receiving small doses of the “disease”, through vaccination, your pet’s immune system is under constant pressure. Although this helps it get stronger for the actual encounter with the disease, it also wears out the immune system in time. Holistic pet care also notices several forms of negative responses to the forced immunization procedures. Allergies and skin irritations are sometimes found with pets whose immune system is unbalanced by the vaccination. Although the holistic pet care approach does not encourage vaccination, you, as a pet owner, should decide which option is best for your favorite cat or dog.
Mayra Alfonso, M.D. has released an extensive eBook on Pet Holistic Health Care. Check it out: www.pets-holistic-med.com
