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An Introduction to Holistic Veterinary Medicine
By Jordan Kocen, DVM, MS, CVA, Veterinary Holistic Center
“Holistic Medicine” has come to
mean any of the non-conventional
medical systems. Alternative and
Complementary are also terms that are used to
describe these medical therapies. At this time all
nutritional supplement tends to be classified as
Holistic and it is assumed that a “Holistic” practitioner
is familiar with all of the different medical
systems and products available to the general
public. The multitude of supplements flooding
the market make it almost impossible for anyone
to be familiar with all of the products.
The term “Holistic Medicine” doesn’t refer to
any particular therapy; it is more a way of looking
at the case. Holistic, in its broadest sense, means
that all of the symptoms are taken into account in
the case evaluation. This includes mental, physical
and emotional symptoms. The entire symptom
picture is recognized as inter-related, that is, the
whole animal is considered. Examples of therapies
that fall under the Holistic umbrella include
Acupuncture, Western and Chinese Herbal Medicine,
Chiropractic and Homeopathy.
By their very nature these therapies tend to
be “Holistic”. They focus on evaluating the entire
patient. They work by stimulating the immune
system and the medications used are usually of a
non-synthetic or unrefined nature as opposed to
modern drug therapies.
Many Holistic practitioners focus on preventive
strategies as well as working on current
problems. Issues that come up are diet, vaccination
protocols and lifestyle. Some of these new
therapies may be applied in a very “conventional”
way, but the results are much more significant if
the principles of a Holistic approach are also applied
to the case.
In my experience all theories are just a way
to explain observed phenomenon. And different
approaches are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
It is important to understand the strength and
weakness of each approach so you can determine
what the most appropriate therapy is for any
given situation. Holistic Therapies tend to all have
several things in common that differentiate them
from conventional medical therapy.
Self healing. A concept common to alternative
therapies is that the individual has the ability to
heal themselves and so therapy should be directed
at aiding that process. Therefore the doctor does
not cause the healing to occur; they only facilitate
the process. The more options the doctor has
available to offer the patient, the more efficient the
doctor can be at affecting the curative process.
Symptoms. Health is not the absence of
symptoms, but the absence of disease. Many
approaches view symptoms in quite a different
way than we do in Western medicine. Symptoms
are created by the body when it is in the process
of trying to re-establish a state a health. We all
recognize that a fever, for example, is a positive
process when a microbial invader is present. The
elevated body temperature will have a negative
effect on the organism and help to activate the
host immune system. A prolonged fever, however,
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