55+ Living Guide Spring 2019 55 LG SPRING 2019 JOOM | Page 42

Treating the
WHOLE ANIMAL
By Laurie S. Coger, DVM, CVCP
Integrative Care: Combining Holistic and Traditional Medicine for Pets
Selecting a type of health care, for yourself or your pet, is very much a personal choice. Many people choose to investi-
gate holistic or natural methods when traditional medicine has exhausted all options. Others have seen or experienced
benefits with one alternative method, and want to explore other modalities. My interest in holistic approaches was
stimulated by my own dog’s autoimmune disease. His long survival with great quality of life using natural methods
convinced me to explore alternative medical methods for my patients. Combining holistic or natural methods with the
best traditional medicine has to offer makes great sense to me – what is commonly called an integrative approach.
While I want to be able to offer “something more” for my
patients as well as my own pets, I am not totally dissatis-
fied with conventional medicine. Instead, I find that the
traditional medical approach only includes one way of
thinking, while the integrative approach views disease
and healing in different ways. Combining complementa-
ry and alternative therapies with my conventional train-
ing goes beyond the limitations of just using an either/or
approach. It treats the whole animal.
An integrative approach to your pet’s care includes
consideration of lifestyle, nutrition, and medical condi-
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tions. Prevention of problems and supporting the body’s
own efforts to heal are major aspects of many alternative
medical techniques. Chiropractic and acupuncture both
emphasize returning the body’s structures and energy
to normal, so that healing can follow. Nutritional and
herbal medicine emphasizes supporting the body at the
cellular level, providing the raw materials each cell needs
to function optimally. Other natural supplements work
in a similar way, enhancing organ function.
Combining traditional medicine with alternative
methods lets us attack health issues from multiple angles.
May–August, 2019