| |
| |
|
Pets Information |
|
|
|
Lower Your Veterinarian Costs And Increase the Longevity of Your Pets Lives
What does doing natural preventative care mean? I thought vaccinating, prevention medicines, and premium kibble was natural preventative care. Hardly. Unfortunately the pharmaceutical companies and the pet food industry have really pulled the wool over everyone's eyes -but the wool is coming off! People are frustrated with the way traditional care has let them down and are seeking alternatives to help them not only give their pets more quality of life but longer lives. It seems as though we barely get our pets to a "settled" place in our lives before they're gone. It doesn't have to be like this. Please don't misunderstand, mainstream care does have its place but it should not be the only choice people and their pets have. In fact, I think it's the imbalanced lean towards allopathic medicine rather than including homeopathic and naturopathic and alternative therapies that is a big part of the problem. At some point where do we stop and say, what happened to "first do no harm"? Okay, so let's start with what preventative, natural, holistic care means with a definition of the words holistic, preventative and natural which I obtained from my American Heritage Dictionary: 1. Holistic: ?2) emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. 2. Natural: 1) present in or produced by nature; not artificial or man-made; 3) pertaining to or produced solely by nature or the expected order of things 3. Preventive: 1) designed or used to prevent or hinder; acting as an obstacle; precautionary. 2) Thwarting or warding off illness or disease. When we put all these definitions together: the whole of the parts working interdependently, without artificial ingredients or synthetics, in the natural order of things you will then ward off illness or disease! Now that we have the definition of natural pet care in place, let's go deeper into the how to do this and thereby lowering the costs of your pet care and increase the longevity of your pets lives. The first place to always start is with nutrition and that starts with what you are feeding your pets. My initial answer will be as species specific as you can get in a domestic setting. For dogs and cats that means that meat needs to be the primary ingredient of their food. Not kibble. Kibble isn't fit for anything or anyone to eat. There a couple I will recommend in the light of a very reluctant pet owner not being able to stomach the idea of feeding raw meat to their dog or cat, but I will say that as long as you adhere to kibble your pets will experience the problems associated with food that their bodies weren't designed to digest. There are many different forms of feeding natural for example in dogs you can choose a B.A.R.F. diet which translates to Biologically Appropriate Raw Food and can also stand for Bones and Raw Food. This diet consists of all raw meats, veggies, dairy products, and nuts. Some adhere to strictly feeding raw meat. Some to a cooked diet of meat and vegetables. I think that you've got to decide what will work in your household and do that and any of these, including the cooked diet is far better than any form of a kibble diet. Think of animals in the wild - they do not get kibble or pellets. Our domestic pets don't need those things either! I feed my dog a cooked meat diet along with a natural whole food liquid supplement. I also use essential oils to thwart parasites and help with the pain in his forelegs. He came to us as a very abused, starved, neglected nearly 5 month old puppy. Through trial and error we've found what keeps him healthy, strong and happy and he is completely natural. We do homeopathic for heartworm prevention. He actually runs with me and traditionally his breed is not a running breed - or so it's thought! So you also need to include some precautionary nutrition along with natural feeding. For horses you always need to be concerned with worms but there are natural ways like using food grade (ONLY use food grade) diatomaceous earth -this also works well in cats, dogs and other warm-blooded animals but I prefer to use essential oils in my dog. Next I would consider why vaccinating seems to be so important to your pets health. Let me give you just a few examples of why that could be the very thing that is harming your pets rather than helping them (information from www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com): "Routine" vaccination has adverse side-effects, either short or long term. With vaccines that are repeated year after year, the frequency and severity of these side-effects in our pets has increased dramatically. Most of the problems involve the immune system. After all, the immune system is what vaccines are designed to stimulate. But they do so in a very unnatural way that can overwhelm and confuse the immune system." Donna Starita Mehan DVM. I believe that Dr. Mehan is saying here that while vaccinations stimulate the immune system and that is supposed to rev it up, the vaccine actually not only does this unnaturally as Dr. Mehan stated but it also causes so much confusion in the immune system that much more harm than good is done by vaccinating. Dr. Ronald D. Schultz, Ph.D..- "Annual revaccination provides no benefit and may increase the risk for adverse reactions. The percentage of vaccinated animals (those vaccinated only as puppies) protected from clinical disease after challenge with canine distemper virus, canine parvovirus and canine adenovirus in the study was greater than 95%." Current and Future Canine and Feline Vaccination Programs. Dr. Ronald Schultz is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine, UW-Madison. Schultz, R.D. - Current & Future Canine & Feline Vaccination Programs. Vet Med 3: No. 3, 233-254, 1998 more. A chart provided in the report shows immunity levels for all vaccines currently given to dogs lasting a minimum of 5 years with most lasting 7-15 years! Don Hamilton, DVM -Yearly "boosters" are unnecessary, provide no benefit if given (will not increase immunity). Thus boosters are either a legal issue (Rabies) or a manipulation issue (inducing clients to come in for examination rather than directly suggesting an examination). Charles E Loops DVM - "Homeopathic veterinarians and other holistic practitioners have maintained for some time that vaccinations do more harm than they provide benefits. Vaccinations represent a major assault on the body's immune system.... Vaccine induced chronic diseases range from life-threatening conditions such as auto-immune crises to conditions destroying the quality of life of an animal as in chronic skin allergies." These are just a few examples with veterinarians leading the way in sharing this information which I find interesting since vaccinations and surgeries are their bread and butter. A few of the holistic/homeopathic vets I know started in mainstream medicine and became frustrated and moved into the holistic arena so they could do their patients the most good. Feed correctly with proper back up supplementation and your pets will have natural immunities that protect them naturally from disease. Another thing to do is to keep your pets stimulated mentally through exercise, play and training. Animals love to have a job and they love to be useful. The key to a good interaction here is training according to the natural interaction of the animal you own. What does that mean? For a dog it means approaching him or her using the "pack" mentality. For the horse it means approaching the horse the way another horse would. It all makes common sense really. Good practical common sense, do away with all these synthetics, using the natural order of things, and all the parts working together means you don't treat an illness, you treat the pet. I like what I saw Dr. Shawn Messonnier write recently to one of the groups I belong to, "I don't treat crystals in the urine, I treat the pet". That's what holistic means: all the parts working together interdependently. So not treating the symptoms but caring for the entire animal is the answer to lowering your veterinarian costs and increasing the longevity of your pets lives. Article originally published on and for http://www.Suite101.com under the Holistic Pet Care topic. Kim Bloomer is a preventative pet care consultant. She offers natural products and a business opportunity. She is partnered with a dog breeder and internationally known master dog trainer in their online audio pet care classes, All God's Creatures. Visit her website for details Aspenbloom Pet Care and her dog's blog Bark 'n' Blog
MORE RESOURCES:
Pets - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Protecting the Smallest Member of Your Family: A Step-by-step Guide to Pet Insurance Let's face it - Fido and Fluffy are an important part of your family. Do you want to have to assign a dollar value to them if they become sick or injured?That may well be the case if you don't have pet health insurance. How Many Dogs Are Too Many? I'm a pariah among the dog fanciers in my community. Why? Because I testified in support of a new regulation to limit pet ownership to no more than a total of three dogs and/or cats, older than six-months of age, in one household. Lemon Tetra - A Perfect Addition for Your Community Aquarium Lemon TetraGlassily transparent, the lemon tetra (hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis) could appear to be just a sunbeam flashing through your community tank if not for background elements like plants and driftwood. Another member of the large characin clan, the lemon tetra has a fairly elongated body like its smaller relative the neon tetra and like neons and other characins, the lemon tetra does best if kept in small schools of six to eight fish. Feral Cats - Societys Problem Children There is a lot of talk going on about what to do with the issue of feral cat population.Some measures have been proposed which will allow residents to kill what they perceive to be feral cats on their property. Love Your Animal Companion? Spay or Neuter Ozzie, my four-month old Rottweiler peered up at me with his big brown eyes, as I temporarily left him for a very important surgical procedure. As much as it broke my heart to drop off my "baby" at the local humane society, I know it was the responsible thing to do. Stop Your Dog From Pulling You Down The Street From the first day of life on a leash, most dogs learn that by pulling on it, they get to where they want faster. Its the behavior that so many dog owners struggle with. Your Dog is a Social Animal - and Needs You! Your dog is a social being, just like you! He/she loves walking in the park with you, playing ball or chase with you, and just being with you. Even when he/she's lying around the house or the backyard having a snooze, your dog is well aware of your presence, or absence, and appreciates every minute you spend with him/her. Dog Training - Early Training Is Essential Dogs are a fantastic edition to any family but like all youngsters they need training. If you do not train your puppy now it will take a serious amount of help from a training school to get him to be obedient later on. The Story Of My Amazing Dog Shandy This is the story of my dog called Shandy. He was my favourite pet and he was very lively, lots of fun and very obedient. Herding and the German Shepherd Dog Once other animals such as cattle, sheep and goats became domesticated, man became aware of the dogs herding ability. Tactics used by hunting wolves, witnessed by humans, such as driving and separating one animal from the flock, were further exploited and bred into these dogs. What Your Cat Wants You To Know If your feline friend could speak your language, here a few things she would probably like you to know.1) I am the boss of you. Westie - West Highland White Terrier Puppies - Fragile and Needful Of Protection Have you ever held any Westie puppies? These tiny creatures are cuddly and white furry balls, at least 12-15 inches tall, possessing a pair of coal black eyes and snubbed nose. They look fragile and needful of your protection and care. The Need for Pet First Aid Kits Even if you have the perfect first aid kit for you and your family, it might not help when Fiddo or Fluffy gets hurt. To help pets in an emergency, assemble a pet first aid kit. Canine Parvovirus Canine Parvovirus, is a viral disease that attacks dogs and if left untreated, it kills them within day's, usually due to dehydration and it's side effects.Parvo is caused by a virus present in the faeces of infected dogs. Training Your Dog Training your dog can be time consuming and frustrating at times, but it's well worth it. Here are several tips that should help things go much smoother and faster. Puppy Training that is Safe for Your Puppy Puppy training can and should begin the day you bring your puppy home, but only if it's approached in a safe manner for your puppy and his sensitivities. Housetraining your puppy can be a rewarding and non-stressful experience when you shape behavior from a series of positive experiences, instead of attempting to correct unwanted behaviors before your puppy has a chance to learn what you DO want. Tips for Finding the Perfect Family Dog If your kids have been begging you to get a family dog then this article is for you. Having a family dog can offer your family a great amount of fun and enjoyment. Materials for Snake and other Reptile Cages What kind of materials should you use when constructing a reptile cage? This question was posed to me once by someone wishing to build their own reptile cage. They were particularly asking about pine and cedar as they had heard these were no good. How To Raise A Goldfish Did you know that your goldfish can live for over 10 years? Under the right conditions he can live even longer but most never make it past the first year! If you want your goldfish to live long and healthy lives, you've got to provide the proper environment.It's a common misconception that a goldfish can live in a tiny bowl. Canine Mastitis Canine mastitis is a breast infection in brood bitches, usually occuring a few weeks after whelping. It is not that common, but you should be aware of it.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
