This one is for all my animal and pet lovers!
Today, we're talking about something some of you may or may not have even thought of before, holistic wellness for our little fur babies.
Many of us who have pets at home think of them as family members; they are our own personal healers, and we need to make sure we are giving them the ability to thrive and live the bests lives possible. This may mean incorporating a more holistic approach to their health and wellness as we might do for ourselves. The health of our pets reflects the health of the owner.
What does a holistic approach mean?
Holistic medicine treats the animal as a whole: mind, body, spirit. It uses several different practices, including acupuncture, massage, herbal remedies, chiropractic treatment, aromatherapy, nutrition, and even sound therapy. Taking a holistic approach emphasizes preventive medicine by decreasing the risk of illness before it even appears.
By doing things like feeding your pet a high-quality diet, providing opportunities for exercise, promoting a healthy gut, and good oral hygiene, you are helping to support optimal whole body functioning for your pet.
With the pandemic came an uptick in animal adoptions and sales; I know many of you have a few furry babies at home, and I thought this would be the perfect time to talk about holistic pet wellness.
This week, I chatted with a good friend of mine, Dr. Bethany Howe, owner of Hawkins Animal Hospital and Wellness Center in Ronkonkoma, New York. Dr. Howe is amazing at talking about veterinary care from a holistic perspective and learning how to reinterpret and reimagine how you care for your animals.
How does a more holistic approach affect my pet?
I think sometimes we often forget that they are also souls; they are incredibly empathic. Our four-legged and feathered friends are also experiencing emotional shifts due to the energetic changes on our planet, and emotional and mental shifts of their owners.
Choosing to provide our pets holistically can free up any of their own blocked energy, release anxiety and fear, and help prevent potential diseases.
One of the ways Dr. Howe started to give her practice a more holistic approach was by learning Reiki, "I was attuned in the first two levels of Reiki and started using that for all of my patients, and then I had my whole staff attuned by a local Reiki Master. I will tell you, the [number] of people that would say to me, 'oh my gosh, my dog would never go to the vet,' and now they come running to the door."
Dr. Howe also tells me how a patient of hers completely turned around, "I have a patient, Coco, she’ been a perfect client for many years, with amazing owners who will do everything for her. I got a call late one night that Coco was in the hospital; that she was bleeding internally and had a large mass on her spleen, and the emergency room was telling her owner that she had to take Coco for immediate surgery or that they should put her down. The owner called me hysterical when faced with that decision. It was something that you could not have seen coming; Coco was acting fine, eating, drinking, acting like a normal older lab, and then all of a sudden, [the owner] was faced with this huge decision. And she had said to me, 'I just can't put her through surgery. I'm afraid she's not going to make it.' So, we made the best plan for her. We looked at her food, and we revamped all of her nutrition. [We did everything we could] with herbs, essential oils, and CBD. Coco was given a good three-month prognosis, and that was a pretty extended expectation, and we just passed the year and a half mark, and she's doing fantastic!"
Listen to my full conversation with Dr. Bethany Howe to learn more about holistic health for your pet. To learn more about Dr. Howe, follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/theintegrativevet/ or visit her website: http://www.hawkinsanimalhospitalwellnesscenter.com/.
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