Five Ways To HaveA Healthier Animal
by Dr. Christina Chambreau, DVM
Founder of the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy
The following suggestions - applicable to humans and other animals alike - are five ways to help your companion animal live a longer, healthier life.
1. Feed the best diet.
2. Vaccinate the least.
3. Treat the underlying energy problems, not just try to get rid of current symptoms.
4. Know the possible outcomes of treatment, so you can decide if the practitioner you are using now is helping your animal as much as possible or is only palliating so you need to choose a different practitioner or modality.
5. Provide the best environment for that individual.
FOOD:
For the health of your animal and for the health of the planet, the ingredients should be the most consciously raised - organic vegetables, free ranging holistically treated animals. Briefly, the best diet is raw meat including raw bones for dogs and cats, grated raw vegetables as well as cooked vegetables, maybe some grains, seeds and nuts, and supplements. If bones are not eaten, then a calcium supplement is needed.
There are now many good books on home-preparation of food for your animals. Every animal needs and wants a different combination at different times in their lives, just as we do. If you also feed some commercial food, buy ones with the best ingredients, usually from health food stores. With any food, observe each of your animals for the effect that food has on them. You decide what is best. Experiment. Have fun. Other animals also need the least processed foods. Horses need oats and other grains, fresh hay - not pelleted food or pre-made molasses feeds. Tiny herbivores (guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, etc) should have fresh vegetables and raw grains appropriate to them rather than pellets. The best is to let them graze for themselves when possible. Avoid chemicals and processing just like you do for yourself.
VACCINATION:
Apply the same thinking you have about vaccinations for people to your animal friends. The researchers in conventional veterinary medicine agree that we vaccinate too often, in combinations, and that this level of vaccination, while possibly preventing epidemics, is harmful to the health of susceptible animals. The AVMA has recommended (1/98) that cats and dogs only be vaccinated every 3 years. They acknowledge that they do not really know how long vaccines last. Holistically, we find vaccinations one of the most harmful things we do to animals. I recommend no vaccines at all (except the legally required Rabies, which is a viral vaccine and so probably protects for a lifetime). I do not recommend using homeopathic nosodes for protection. Experience has demonstrated that building up the overall health of your animal and treating any illnesses wholistically is the best protection and the best way for a long, healthy life.
The insert in vaccine packages says "Give only to healthy animals", so if your animal is ill in any way, they should not be vaccinated at that time per the manufacturers directions.
Some animals, of course, are not bothered by poor nutrition or vaccination, however most that I see have life spans 30-50% shorter and 80% more chronic conditions that need treatment.
TREATING THE WHOLE ANIMAL:
There is no one right method of treatment. Some (although very few) animals just do not like acupuncture needles, some animals do not exhibit the characteristic idiosyncrasies we need to best prescribe homeopathically, some need the energy support of Reiki or therapeutic touch or Zero balancing to be the most healthy. Most will improve with any well-done treatment carefully selected by a trained professional. You will be responsible to decide if your animal is being cured, palliated or suppressed by the treatment given.
RESPONSE TO TREATMENT:
If you feel the practitioner you are using is palliating or suppressing, not curing, talk to them of your concerns and suggest a referral or simply choose another one yourself. A cure is when all the symptoms disappear, never to return, and the animal is glowing with health. Healthy animals can, and should, get sick occasionally with acute illnesses that resolve quickly with minimal treatment. Clues that you are progressing towards a cure are that emotionally your animal is happier and more expressive, and you sense that there is more resilience, more health even though the symptoms may be continuing. There will often be a brief return of old symptoms (this is good) or a short worsening of the current symptoms. Improvement should be quick if the animal has been sick a short time, and should take longer if the illness is longstanding.
If your cat has been itching for 5 years, it may take 5 months to completely resolve the itching. If the itching goes away in a day, palliation or suppression have probably occurred and that is not good in the long run. When there is severe diarrhea for one day, you could expect it to disappear in a few hours.
If you find you are having to re-treat frequently to keep the symptoms in check, or your animal feels worse overall even though the main problem is still gone, you need to talk with your practitioner or consult with someone else. With a cure, the symptoms slowly go away, and the animal feels better in every way.
Palliation results in a quick resolution of symptoms, but they keep coming back and need to be retreated frequently and there is no overall improvement. Suppression causes the symptoms to quickly go away and more severe symptoms appear along with the animal feeling no better or even worse.
Read, talk to other people, talk with your animal health care providers, and take courses. Pay attention to what works and what does not work. Keeping a journal is important so you can look back and see what has gotten better and if problems getting less frequent and less severe, which is your goal. This journal will help you patiently wait for problems resolve because you can see the pattern of the whole being changing for the better.
Patience is definitely an unsung virtue on the road to health. Even if the modality you choose turns out not to be curative, your animal may be healthier for using this approach. You may have a wonderful veterinary acupuncturist who thinks you should vaccinate and feed canned food. You certainly can use her or him for acupuncture, but follow your heart and feed raw meat and do not vaccinate. You stand firm with what you feel is working. You need to be flexible enough to realize you (or your practitioner) have made a mistake and it is time for a change. Again - you are responsible for deciding what needs to be tried next for your animal - maybe conventional drugs, maybe homeopathy, maybe intuitive healing.
THE BEST ENVIRONMENT:
What is the best environment for an animal? Again, each animal is different, just like each child is different. Some children can go to any school and do well, others must try out several schools before finding their ideal learning situation. There is no right answer, only the search for the best answer. Some horses love to race. Others, while appearing to enjoy racing, are sick frequently. Some dogs, even when very healthy, are basically couch potatoes and like a moderate walk or a short spell of ball chasing. To require this dog to go on 20 mile hikes every week-end may cause physical problems, even if mentally the dog goes to please you. A cat who really wants to be an outside cat may need you to play for longer times and more actively than one who is content with the indoor, more sedentary life. Maybe you will need to build a screened in porch in your 12th floor condominium to have a healthy cat. Even when we do not have the perfect environment for our animals, we can try to do our best by stopping and thinking about what they need.
The path to health for your animals can be fun and challenging. Your animals will love your experimentation with all the different forms of healing. You will learn how to be more healthy yourself. You will eat better because you are feeding your animal better. You will meet some other wonderful people committed to their animal's health. Have fun.
Christina Chambreau, DVM, is an internationally known homeopathic veterinarian. A dynamic teacher, Dr. Chambreau is chair of the board & founder of the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy and is on the faculty of the National Center for Homeopathy Summer School. She also teaches her own 1 and 2 day courses, and lectures at conventions, schools, clubs and to anyone who is concerned about improving the health of animals. Written up in and quoted in many magazines, Dr. Chambreau graduated from the University of Georgia Veterinary College in 1980, began using homeopathy in her veterinary practice in 1983, and has used primarily homeopathy since 1988. She is married to Dr. Mort Orman, author of "The 14-Day Stress Cure" and "How to Have a Stress Free Wedding". They have a 12-year-old daughter and live near Baltimore, Maryland.