holistic vets for your pets?

[boricuaqueen327]

I was just curious to see if you guys used holistic veterinarians for your pets. if you do, how have your experiences with it been? right now we are still going to a traditional vet becuase there are no holistic vets in our area but we might be moving and i would like to search for a holistic vet there.

[Melda]

I had a mobile vet come to my house last week to check out the pets and low and behold she was a holistic vet ... i did not know this when i called i just could not take all teh animals in and easier for her to come to me ... I have not read all her info yet on what she does to make her holistic but she seemed very nice ...

[boricuaqueen327]

thas awesome, i wish our town's mobile clinic was like that. when you read the info, post back more or less what she's about.

[~*max*~]

Yes! And it has literally saved my dog's life. My dog had 2 surgeries for torn knee ligaments, she was still in a lot of pain. All my traditional vet had to offer was pain medicine. I was on a waiting list for quite a while (like 6 months) for the only holistic vet in our state. She prescribed several supplements fo our dog and the possibility of accupuncture if the supplements did not work. W/in a couple weeks of the supplements our dog was pain free. It has now been over 2 years, and our beloved doggie is happy & healthy. I am convinced that w/out this approach we would have had to put her down from the chronic pain.

Another great thing about holistic vets is that they view vaccinations differently. For example, instead of just administering the required vaccines yearly, she does a titer to see what the dog needs. She also does rabies every 2 years instead of every year.

It is sooo well worth it. I hope you find one! (And if you do, call right away to get on the waiting list if they have one.)

[chersolly]

I worked for a holistic vet for a year and a half. Please ask around for opinions on the vet before making an appointment. This doc I worked for was all about the money.

[boricuaqueen327]

Originally Posted by chersolly

I worked for a holistic vet for a year and a half. Please ask around for opinions on the vet before making an appointment. This doc I worked for was all about the money.

that sucks. how do you know for sure though? i dont know many people who are into holisitc vets in real life though...only online.... i dont know how easy it would be to get reviews of the vet if we do fine one....

thanks though!

[DesireeH]

Do you holistic vets do spaying too? I just had my dog spayed and she JUST HAD vaccines in December and they made her get MORE for the spay (not a holistic vet.) Grr.

[shannon0218]

Unfortunately the situation chersolly desribed is far more common than you'd think--I think a lot of not so holistic vets get into it just because they can charge more-it's not nearly as regulated and there are fewer of them so the client can't exactly go to the guy next door if he's being ripped off by holistic vet A.
My own vet who I love dearly is far from holistic. However, my dogs see a chiro roughly monthly and when Havoc ruptured a disc in his back, on top of traditional medicine, he saw a chiro every other day and had a number of treatments from an accupuncturist. What bothered me is that everyone wanted me to only do their treatment--I just told them they could all take credit if they wanted--but I had a 100 lb dog who couldn't walk--we were doing every treatment I could think of!

[polka123]

sure, if I could find one.

some of mine have been to a Chiro & I've received great advice from a few Mamas here

[boricuaqueen327]

i thought we had found a vet we liked (non holistic, but the one who treated Tyson for parvo) but it turns out i dont like his wife (the other vet at the clinic) very much at all. plus the office is 20 minutes away versus other vets that are walking distance from our house. there are no doggy chiros or acupuncturists nearby either. thank goodness our dogs are healthy.

[Jennifer3141]

Oh boy.

We've had TWO holistic vets. The first was on the verge of retirement and literally left his practice to idiots about 2 weeks after our first exam.

Our second holistic vet was MUCH worse. We titer our pets instead of vaccination. We did a holistic nutritional analysis that cost about $400 annually for our dog. We had NO problem paying for good science/good research, etc. etc. Our pets are our first children.

But when our dog came down with a simple UTI, the vet first made us pay $120 for a $3.00 antibiotic (DH is an M.D. and was FURIOUS). But when the first antibiotic didn't work and our dog needed something else, I was out of town and DH was working a 36 hour shift. Neither of us could drive to the vet's office. So we asked him to call in a prescription to a pharmacy chain for pick up. He refused. Obviously, the mark up he received on the drug was much, much more important to him than our dog's health or comfort.

So right now, we use a traditional cat vet who has agreed to titers instead of out right vaccinations and we're still trying to figure out where to take the dog. I drive the parrot to an avian vet an hour and a half away for an exam every fall.

The dog thing annoys me every time I think about it. That's ILLEGAL for people doctors to do. It should be illegal for vets to do it too. We filed a complaint with our state but found out vets can do that.

Jen

[boricuaqueen327]

wow that really sucks! $120 for a $3 medicine. argh!

[MelKnee]

I just wanted to say that there are honest holistic vets out there. My vet is awesome. He always works with diet first. He recommends a raw diet. His rates are very reasonable, less than my previous mainstream vet. And he goes out of his way for me. He doesn't usually board pets, but when I went on vaction, he took my non-vacced cat for me when all the kennels and other vets required vaccs.
Just like every walk of life, there are good people and bad people.

[boricuaqueen327]

wow, you sound like you have an awesome vet. how awesome! it's just like people doctors i guess. some really shine while others...dont. how is the raw diet going for you? i have read alot about it but am still too nervous about it to give it a try.

[MelKnee]

Originally Posted by DesireeH

Do you holistic vets do spaying too? I just had my dog spayed and she JUST HAD vaccines in December and they made her get MORE for the spay (not a holistic vet.) Grr.

Mine does.