What problems can be treated with holistic veterinary medicine?
Holistic care can be used to treat any of your pet’s health concerns. That being said, traditional allopathic medicine is generally indicated for acute, life-threatening emergencies. In addition, sometimes it is useful to integrate allopathic and holistic medicine to optimize your pet’s treatment.
Holistic care is often the treatment of choice for chronic diseases that seem resistant to allopathic treatments or where the side effects of allopathic drugs are concern. A few examples of conditions treated with holistic medicine are arthritis, intervertebral disc disease, skin problems, geriatric problems, epilepsy, and many more
Does my pets have to be ill to see a holistic veterinarian?
Holistic medicine aims first and foremost at the maintenance of healthy lifestyle. Prevention of disease is always the ideal. Occasional holistic “checkups,” especially in sprint and fall, including acupuncture, detox treatments, and dietary consultation.
How is a holistic health exam different than an exam from my regular veterinarian?
During your pet’s initial exam I will take an extremely thorough history of all present and past medical concerns. In addition, I will focus on many lifestyle issues. Current medications, amount of exercise, diet, personality traits, household stresses past and present will all be areas of importance. Each time I see your pet, I’ll update this history. I will then do a “hands-on” Chinese Medical exam. I’ll check your pet’s tongue and pulse, both important diagnostic tools in Chinese Medicine. I will check various acupuncture points for heat and/or pain. I’ll pay attention to their demeanor, or Shen. All of these factors, along with the history, will help establish a disease pattern, upon which treatment will be based.
In addition, I will check your pet for chiropractic alignment. Finally, I will include any simple Western exam techniques indicated such as checking ears or eyes, or listening to the heart or lungs.
Based on my findings, I will put together a treatment regimen comprised of some combination of acupuncture, herbal medicine, homotoxicology, chiropractic adjustment, dietary change, and/or lifestyle change.
What if my pet needs more Western-oriented diagnostics?
While at this time I practice no allopathic medicine, I have over fifteen years of small animal allopathic medical experience. If I feel its necessary to do further diagnostics (lab work, x-rays, etc), I will recommend you to see your regular veterinarian for that part of the work-up and integrate those results into my diagnosis and treatment. Again, this enables your pet to experience the best of all forms of medicine.
How many visits are necessary to treat my pet’s problem?
The number of visits to treat a condition varies greatly. For acute conditions, where symptoms have just begun, one to three visits will often take care of the problem. However, most patients who come to holistic medicine have chronic conditions. Often, the symptoms have been present for years. These chronic diseases often require more visits. I will generally ask a client to commit to coming for 4 visits. After that time, the client and I will evaluate the response to determine whether or not to continue treatment.
The general course of treatment is an initial visit followed by a second visit 1-2 weeks. Depending upon response, the interval between visits will be prolonged so that eventually a patient will be on “maintenance” therapy of one visit per 1-3 months.
How much does holistic care cost?
In general, holistic care is considerably less costly than allopathic medicine. There is not a lot of expensive equipment and diagnostics involved and herbs and homeopathic remedies tend to cost less then pharmaceuticals.
New patient assessment: $ 110 – 150 (includes initial history, exam, and/or acupuncture, spinal adjustment as appropriate)
Return patient: $75 – 90 (includes recheck exam and/or acupuncture, spinal adjustment)
Spinal adjustment, initial: 60.00 (includes initial history)
Return spinal adjustment: 40.00
Phone consultation: 37.50/15 minute segment
New puppy/kitten health and nutrition consultation: $95.00
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