Interest in naturally occurring substances for medical applications is growing rapidly. One of these substances is curcumin, a major active ingredient found naturally in turmeric. Turmeric is a bright yellow-orange spice prepared from the rhizomes (spreading roots) of the south Asian plant Curcuma longa. It is commonly used to make curries and color mustard.
Curcumin’s use as a natural medicine...
A piece of kidney sits on a plate. Would you eat it? Would you offer it to your dog or cat? While most of us would recoil in horror, most pets would eat that slab of kidney with relish.
Dogs and cats are predators. For millennia, they’ve survived by eating other animals. The first parts eaten by wild carnivores are...
Regardless of the natural practitioner’s chosen modality -- whether it’s Western herbal medicine, traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda or even homeopathy -- the goal of improving the body’s protective and corrective abilities is at the center of the therapeutic effort.
For example, in the case of a viral infection that is producing fever, the goal of a Western herbalist is not...
Colorful scrubs with animal-themed designs are more than just a fashion trend. They help put clients at ease and subsequently enhance patient care.
When a client step into your clinic with her pet, the surroundings will have a profound effect on how comfortable she feels. Color schemes, lighting, even the quality of the chairs in the waiting room all work...
The term “separation anxiety” likely originated in the mid-1980s with Dr. Victoria Voith, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist and Dr. Peter Borchelt, a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. The scientific literature on attachment contains numerous references to separation distress as a normal reaction to separation from individuals with whom an animal has formed a social bond. Puppies for example will whimper...
Dogs and cats, like the proverbial canaries down the mine shafts, have become our sentinels. They alert us to health hazards in the home-environments we share and in the products and by-products of the same agribusiness food industry that feeds most of us and them. In the mid 1990s I began to suspect diet may play a role in...
When faced with a diagnosis of ulcers in their horses, many clients are shocked. “My horse could not possibly be stressed. I give him a great life.” Sound familiar? Many people think they are doing what’s best for their horses, but despite their good intentions they’re often working with the wrong information.
Stomach linings x 2
Horses are meant to graze...
In the first part of this series, we discussed the benefits and potential side effects of vaccinations, which provide an important means of protecting animals and people from clinically important infectious diseases. We also introduced the changing paradigm of vaccination in veterinary medicine. What impact has this change had over last decade on the way we approach this preventive...
SIGNALMENT: “George” Meyer 16 years Domestic long hair Male neutered Life style: House cat
HISTORY: George was adopted at 4-6 weeks of age. He needed to be hand fed kitten milk replacer. He has been generally healthy until three years ago when he was diagnosed by a kidney specialist with chronic renal failure. He is on a prescription low protein...
Holistic practitioners are often confronted with difficult decisions regarding which treatments to use for complicated cases. It’s not uncommon to manage a pet taking multiple medications, herbal products and supplements – but how concerned should we be about potential interactions between all these substances?
Unfortunately, the literature can be confusing or even contradictory. This is due to the way adverse...
