For those of us who are dog owners, we cannot imagine seeing our beloved pets suffer, whether it is a short-term illness or a chronic disease. Often, this leaves the dog owners to seek different types of treatment for the pets. Many of us are choosing the holistic medicine for treating our pets. Many of us are very puzzled in terms of treatment for these different ailments that our pets are suffering. What is holistic medicine and what are the benefits, especially for animals?
What is holistic medicine and when it becomes an option for treatment for dogs?
Holistic medicine is an alternative type of treatment to traditional medicine. This is also the treatment that can be applied to humans. This is the prevention as well as treating the disease where the pet’s physical and social environment is taken into consideration. Holistic medicine as a treatment may require the pet to get homeopathy, acupuncture, and other types of natural medicines. The veterinarians may suggest diet adjustments to enable the failing organs to function. In addition to alternative medicine, pets may be required to take traditional medications.
The best time to choose holistic medication for your pet is when he/she has a chronic illness or disease that the requirement is to increase the doses of standard medicines which may create side effects that are unfavorable. In practicing holistic medicine, the possibility of reducing the dosages to more comfortable levels will limit the side effects; therefore improving the quality of life for pets.
How are these treatments performed?
The well-being and the health state of the pet and the alternative therapies that may benefit are assessed at a holistic consultation. This consultation takes approximately one half-hour, which consists of:
a.) assessment of the present complaint, the past medical history, and present chief complaint of the pet.
b.) a physical examination
c.) a Traditional Chinese Medical, or TCM, an exam which consists of tongue assessment, pulse, and various acupuncture points whose sensitivity is essential to the health of the internal organs.
During this examination, it may find early signs of disease that is naked to the eyes. Blood tests, x-rays, and/or other procedures may need to be performed in addition to the holistic examination.
One part of holistic medicine is homeopathy. Although animals have the gift of healing themselves, sometimes that is impossible. For example, if a pet has a chronic illness, his/her self-repair mechanisms are affected and needs the help of drugs are necessary to restoring health. However, the drugs are often short-termed and frequent administration is needed to accomplish permanent relief. It is very difficult to find any drugs for chronic disease that is used for long-termed and permanent relief.
The appropriate homeopathic medicine stimulates the pet’s ability to recreate metabolic pathways, tissues, and organs just to function normally. For chronic disease treatments, such as an allergy, the homeopathic medicines are prescribed depending on the condition of the pet and the syndrome that is bothering the pet. This is referred to the strange characteristics of the disease, such as a chronic diarrhea accompanied by bright, yellow stool, affected by pork and chicken, made worse by the night stress.
In holistic medicine, chronic disease treatments such as homeopathic must have a long-term devotion because chronic diseases are deep rooted and various remedies may be a requirement depending of the treatment progress. A re-check is a requirement between two to four weeks. After three or four re-checks within one to three months, this may be a requirement to bring the case to the conclusion of satisfactory.
References:
Holistic Medicine, Richardson Animal Hospital. Retrieved November 18, 2007 from the World Wide Web, http://www.rahosp.com/holistic_medicine.shtml .
