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Selecting a type of health care is very much a personal choice. For those of us who have chosen an integrated approach, combining the best of conventional medicine with the best of complementary and alternative therapies, the road began with a search for 'something more' that conventional medicine was not able to offer.
Part of the journey for me involved a search to offer better care for my patients, and one fork in this road convinced me to share my healing discoveries with others through a series of books. These books, which became the Natural Vet Series (published by Prima,) allowed me to share with other doctors and pet owners around the world everything I had learned about natural pet care. As a result of this series, those of us who believe in the importance of integrative medicine are now changing the way we care for our pets.
The desire to offer 'something more' to my patients as well as my own pets in no way indicated any displeasure on my part with conventional medicine. Rather, I concluded that conventional medicine had certain limitations. The integration of complementary and alternative therapies with my conventional training allowed me to go beyond the limitations of just using an either...or approach.
Why is it that some veterinarians and pet owners seek 'something more' for their pets? For some, it is a dissatisfaction with conventional medicine. Many doctors and pet owners are tired of treating chronically ill pets with the same medications that may temporarily fix the problem but offer no long-term solution.
Others are using an integrated approach to their own health care, and want to extend this type of care to their patients and pets.
Some want to experience true healing rather than simply treating a problem.
In some instances there are no conventional treatments available. For example, milk thistle is a wonderful herb to help heal the liver; there are no conventional medications that can do this. Probiotics and glutamine are wonderful complementary therapies to heal a diseased intestinal tract, yet there are no conventional medicines that can do what these complementary therapies do.
Sometimes a complementary therapy is chosen to minimize side effects from conventional therapies. Referring to probiotics again, these supplements can minimize damage to the intestinal tract when antibiotic therapy is needed.