Vet smart: comprehensive health care for pets

Lori Tobias

Today, when a traditional veterinarian suggests that a four-legged friend might benefit from acupuncture or herbal therapy, most pet owners won't bat an eye. And when a holistic practitioner suggests surgery as the best solution, it's hardly shocking news.

Twenty years after complementary medicine began gaining a credible foothold in this country, the well-drawn lines that once defined "alternative" and "conventional" veterinary care grow increasingly blurred.

"Holistic care ideally evaluates the entire animal and then decides which tools, including conventional medicines, would best serve the animal. A good practitioner uses all the tools he has at hand," says Mike Kohn, DVM, president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association.

But while veterinarians from both approaches may swap tools, what often distinguishes the holistic practitioner from the conventional is time spent with the patient. "It takes a whole lot longer to practice holistic medicine," says Narda Robinson, DO, DVM. "It's because we don't tend to pigeon-hole a disease or say, 'OK, this is the problem, here's the medication and here is your bill.'"

Treating the Whole

According to Robinson, holistic veterinarians are more interested in the animal's full lifespan--not only the current illness, but any possible contributing factors. "Someone who practices manual therapy would be very interested in the palpation part of the exam, feeling the tissue, finding areas where an animal might be sensitive.

"That gives additional diagnostic information. An acupuncturist might look at the color or coating of your pet's tongue, which can reflect health or lack of it, how much vitality there is and if there are deficiencies or problems with digestion."

Holistic practitioners call this the "whole animal approach." Robert Poppenga, DVM and associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia, believes it may explain why more and more pet owners are turning to alternative care.

"Many conventional practitioners still don't focus on the animal as a whole. They're focused on the disease process and not the other factors contributing to it."

But Poppenga, who specializes in toxicology, says he has several concerns about the safety of alternative therapies, which led him to create a course called Perspectives on Veterinary Complementary and Alternative Medicine 3 years ago.

"I realized a lot of pet owners do use various forms of complementary treatments. I thought it important to give our students some idea of what's out there: acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy and herbal medicine. I think there's some evidence that, for very specific problems, acupuncture may be useful. There's certainly very good evidence that some herbs and supplements are useful. But just because something is 'natural' doesn't mean it's safe. Some of the most toxic compounds known to man are natural. Unless someone is trained in herbs, they could run into problems."

Quality of Care

Even when administered by properly trained practitioners, alternative treatments can interfere with traditional care. Herbs and supplements, for example, may cause adverse interactions with other medications--which is why both conventional and alternative veterinarians stress the importance of keeping communication open between all the practitioners involved in your pet's care.

Both types of practitioners also agree that, while in some states it may be legal, allowing someone who hasn't been specifically trained in the care of animals to treat your pet could lead to a misdiagnosis or mistreatment.

Janet Dunn, DVM, practiced traditional veterinary medicine for 14 years, but now she specializes in osteopathic manipulation and acupuncture. Recently, a client called to report that her Shih Tzu's back was out again. But as Dunn, who practices in San Francisco, soon diagnosed, it was not the dog's back but its knee, a problem that would ultimately require surgery.

"What she didn't tell me," Dunn says, "was that she had taken the dog to a human chiropractor the day before, and he had adjusted its back but hadn't even checked the leg. That's the problem with human chiropractors. They aren't going to look at the whole dog."

While holistic veterinarians utilize a full spectrum of treatments, ultimately holistic health care is very much about prevention. "We start with good nutrition as a base," says Kohn. "Diet is the foundation of all. If you don't have good nutrition, you don't have a good foundation."

Good nutrition, however, isn't so simply defined. The best rule of thumb is to ask your veterinarian for recommendations, and, says Robinson, "Ask yourself, 'How is my pet doing on this food?'"

Vexing Vaccines

Like their conventional counterparts, alternative veterinarians generally consider vaccinations a critical part of preventive care--though rarely as traditionally used. Most believe vaccinations have the potential to do as much harm as good.

It's a concern shared increasingly by conventional practitioners. "As humans, we all go through a series of vaccinations, and rarely do we have boosters given over a lifetime, so why would our immune system be that different from a dog's or cat's?" asks Peg Rucker, DVM, past president of the American Animal Hospital Association. "I think the reality is that, as a profession, we have been treating vaccines as a commodity. We've been pushing it like a flea product. Frankly, it shouldn't be that way. It's a medical decision."

Most agree it's not a matter of not vaccinating, but of vaccinating prudently. Says Kohn, "I take the approach that puppies or kittens should wait for the initial vaccination until they are at least 8 weeks. We don't want to get into eight, ten or twelve vaccines in the first year. Three is the maximum. At one year, we give a booster, and then it's up to the client."

Healthy Lifestyles

Finally, while many pet owners turn to holistic medicine for the first time only after exhausting conventional cures, practitioners say the best time to visit is while your pet is still the picture of health. "Even though animals might not look like they're in pain or having any ailment," says Robinson, "by using various techniques, we can help detect problems early.

"For example, puppies tend to be real healthy, their muscles are loose, they have a range of motion in their joints. But just in the process of living and playing, they can get stresses on their systems. Once the muscles become shortened from just a slight injury, if that isn't resolved, it's going to lead to more muscle strain. If someone is available to evaluate it, they may detect it early and fix it, and the body is returned to health."

And, in the end, whether its conventional or alternative medicine, for those of us who love our pets, optimal health is the ultimate goal.

RELATED ARTICLE: Butch the boxer: the healing power of pet acupuncture.

by Lori Tobias

By the time Deedee Pavlik rescued Butch from the Colorado animal shelter, the epileptic boxer had already been abandoned once and rejected by adoptive families twice.

"They told us he was epileptic," Pavlik says, "but I don't think anyone knew how bad it was. He had 17 seizures in one night. We carried him to the Colorado State University Veterinary Hospital. They had to take him in on a gurney."

Days later, Butch was released with a new regimen of several drugs. The medication helped ease the seizures, but it also sapped his energy and triggered bladder infections. Before long, the seizures returned, necessitating higher dosages of medication. And so it went for 3 years. Higher and higher dosages of drugs brought short-term relief, but the seizures always returned. No one was sure what would kill the boxer first, the seizures or the drugs.

"Finally," Pavlik says, "it got to the point where the doctor was giving him so much medication, he said, 'This is too much. Butch is the worst case of epilepsy I've seen. I don't believe in it, but there is a lady here who does acupuncture. I don't know what else to do with Butch.'"

Not so long ago, few, if any, doctors in the United States could have done much for Butch. But in the 1980s, veterinarians began looking more closely at alternative treatments. Now, treatments such as acupuncture, osteopathic manipulation, herbal therapies and dietary supplements are standard options. "I would say that today between 2,000 and 3,000 veterinarians routinely use forms of holistic care in their practices," says Mike Kohn, DVM, president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. "Twenty years ago, there were fewer than 300. It's exploded."

Following her vet's recommendation, Pavlik took Butch to Narda Robinson, DO, DVM, a traditional veterinarian who also practices acupuncture. "Acupuncture works mainly through the nervous system," Robinson says. "Various illnesses create imbalances in the nervous system. Seizures are a problem with the brain firing in abnormal patterns. With acupuncture, we can select points that help the nervous system come back into balance."

For Pavlik and Butch, the ancient Chinese therapy represented a last ray of hope, albeit, says Pavlik, a dim one. "The first day I walked in, I thought, 'This is hocus pocus.' Narda came in and put Butch on a mat on the floor, then started inserting needles from the crown of his head down his back to his hip and his legs. He just laid there very calmly, and eventually he fell asleep."

Pavlik wasn't convinced the treatment was anything more than a brief bit of calm, but, she says, "At that point, any moment he was feeling good was wonderful because he had been through so much."

Butch began twice-weekly visits to Robinson and soon showed such improvement that doctors were able to lower the dosages of his drugs. Three and a half years later, the boxer thrives on a program of weekly acupuncture and moderate doses of medication--and is nearly seizure-free. When he does have a seizure, less than once a month, it's usually mild and lasts only a matter of seconds. "That's a long way from 17 grand mal seizures in a day," Pavlik says. "Narda saved his life."

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