The What and How of Holistic Pet Health
Health Care
Choosing minimally invasive health care for your animal companion means asking lots of questions and often doing research on your own! It’s a great idea to have both a conventional vet and a complementary or holistic veterinarian so you can get second opinions and approach health concerns from different angles. It’s often possible to avoid invasive procedures like surgery and certain diagnostics.
Vaccinations
A conservative vaccine protocol is super important. A very general rule of thumb is to vaccinate only for life-threatening diseases that are prevalent in your area or a risk because of your pet’s lifestyle (such as frequent camping trips to certain areas).
Emotional Well-Being
Maintaining pet emotional well-being stems from lots of things. Plenty of exercise is vital to maintaining strong muscles, lean body weight and a healthy heart. Love and cuddles are essential for almost every dog or cat and help to strengthen the human-animal bond. Petting your pet can also lower your own blood pressure and can help to relieve stress and anxiety for both of you!
In addition, many higher energy dogs really thrive when they are given a job to do, whether it’s agility, fly-ball, carrying in your newspaper each morning, or something more serious like search and rescue work. Many jobs can help provide the mental stimulation necessary for a pet to be truly fulfilled and happy. Training a dog to do tricks (as well as normal obedience behaviors) is also great for self confidence and helps a dog to stay happy.
Alternative Medicine
Alternative or complementary approaches to medicine provide one of the final cornerstones to holistic health (but are not the sole basis of holistic pet care). Western and traditional Chinese herbs, acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, massage as well as magnetic and laser therapy are all modalities utilized by various holistic veterinarians and can provide a wonderful augmentation to a well rounded approach to total health.
