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Veterinary Naturopathy: What It Is & What It Is Not

Published: 01/16/2009 by Dr. Kim Bloomer

Since veterinary naturopathy isn’t widely used in the United States, I often get asked what exactly it is I do and most often I’m mistaken for being a holistic veterinarian. Therefore the goal of this article is to set that record straight. Interestingly enough, many people in this country don’t seem to think that health care is an issue UNLESS one is sick – and that same mindset holds true for animal care as well.

However, health care is preventing illness not waiting until you or your pets are sick and that is what naturopathy is all about – for both humans and animals. It’s about supporting the vital force (life force) within our bodies. Disease is really not “disease” in the allopathic sense of things. It is when a body goes out of homeostasis (out of balance) that a body – human and animal – becomes “dis-eased”. The body always works to put itself back into that harmonious balance. The way naturopathy looks at illness, particularly an acute illness is the body is working to remove any of the “morbid matter”, clean house, and get things back into harmonious working condition. Modern medicine tends to look at all germs as the enemy to be eradicated. But germs are all around us. If we try to eradicate them we’re killing off ourselves as well. Naturopathy looks at illness as a form of healing. Our focus is always on healing and health rather than disease.

People have come to believe that their health and that of their animals isn’t a daily lifestyle but something you surrender to your doctor to tell you what to do when you do get sick. That is not health nor is it health care. That is disease care.

For us, the cornerstone of health is nutrition. What we feed our pets is critical to keeping their bodies in balance. It’s also about understanding our animals’ wild nature and honoring that rather than subjecting them to more and more toxins in the form of traditional “preventatives”.

Naturopathy is all encompassing as it can and does include all natural modalities with the foundation being nutrition, good rest, fresh air, sunshine, regular exercise, hydrotherapy, and pure fresh water for us and our animals. To me naturopathy is “nature’s way” of healing and even better of PREVENTING illness and/or disease. As I stated previously, naturopathy’s primary focus is on wellness rather than disease; focused on maintaining homeostasis or the natural balance; health and wellness.

Naturopathy seeks to allow the body to heal itself if one does become ill by supporting the immune system while easing symptoms using natural modalities such as herbs, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, massage, chiropractic, etc.

Naturopathy approaches health or disease with the whole animal in mind, not just symptoms of disease being the determining factor on whether or not an animal is well or sick; mind, body, and spirit being the integral, interdependent parts that make up the whole animal.

Naturopathy also understands that as the body purges itself of toxins, right down to the cells that symptoms may manifest in the form of a fever, cold, cough, etc. and rather than suppress the toxin elimination the practitioner seeks to support the animal’s body naturally without the assistance of synthetic drugs, but assists the process with nature itself.

Naturopathy believes that there really is not a variety of “diseases” but rather that each individual animal’s body may go out of balance (homeostasis) and how long and far that is allowed to go can manifest itself in a variety of symptoms more commonly known as “diseases” by the allopathic community.

Naturopathy is respect for the animal as a whole, and seeks to support the animal as mind, body, and spirit, in totality rather than as parts of that whole. It seeks to instruct and empower people to be responsible for the health of their animals rather than surrendering that power.

Let’s make a comparison for you to see so when you decide to contact a veterinary naturopath for assistance you’ll understand that it is best to contact us when you first bring your pet home to live with you and not wait until they are sick:

1. Veterinary naturopaths do not diagnose disease. Instead we perform a health or a lifestyle assessment of your pet and their daily routine.

2. Veterinary naturopaths do not treat disease. Instead we promote health by educating the pet owner on what health is and what it is not.

3. Veterinary naturopaths do not prescribe medications. Rather, we again educate our clients on nutrition, species appropriate feeding, herbs, aromatherapy, homeopathy, etc. and other natural healing modalities.

4. Veterinary naturopaths do not perform surgery or any other type of invasive procedure. Again we educate on how to help your pets live a healthy lifestyle, teaching you how to create and maintain good health in your pets.

Let me give you a couple of definitions so you can begin to see clearly what and who we are as a profession. The original meaning of the word “doctor” is “teacher”. The word “physician” comes from the Greek work “physis” which means “nature”. So truly we are nature teachers. We help to educate you, the pet owner, so you will know what your animals need to thrive and not merely survive until they fall ill.

I hope this encourages you to enlist the services of a veterinary naturopath either before you bring home a new pet or as the first line of defense for your pets’ health rather than as a last ditch effort to try to save them. And the REALLY good news is that it will save you not only a LOT of money in the long-term but it will also help you ensure more quality of life for your beloved pets and their longevity as well.