Dr. Fox Clinic On Holistic Cat Care Enlightening

At the Dr. Michael Fox clinic on Holistic Care for Cats on Sunday October 26, I was reminded how narrow my approach is to holistic care. Even though I've been taking my pets to holistic vets for several years, I seem to forget the basis of the word holistic. My bandwidth of "holistic" seems to mostly embody using herbs to fix a health problem. While listening to Dr. Fox's presentation on Sunday, he reminded me to step back and think more broadly (holistically) in caring for my animals.

By Cheri Moon, Star Tribune Sales and Marketing

Last update: October 30, 2008 - 3:38 PM

According to Wikipedia, holistic health is:

A philosophy of medical care that views physical and mental aspects of life as closely interconnected and equally important approaches to treatment. While frequently associated with alternative medicine, it is also increasingly used in mainstream medical practice as part of a broad view of patient care.

My bandwidth of "holistic" seems to mostly embody using herbs to fix a health problem. While listening to Dr. Fox's presentation on Sunday, he reminded me to step back and think more broadly (holistically) in caring for my animals.

1. Understand the animal that is sharing your life (body language, behavior, expressions, etc)
2. Don't treat it like a human.
3. Try to buy organic.
4. Everything is connected.
5. The cleaner I use on my counters and floors is ingested by my animals when they lick their paws.
6. Large effects can be made with simple diet changes.

My list is actually longer than this, but I think you get my point.

I was "thrown" into a holistic-care approach when my dog's health began to deteriorate. I went to internists, allergists and put Meadow through a couple of biopsy operations.

In desperation and frustration, I made an appointment with a local holistic vet who said to me, "I think Meadow is suffering from over-vaccination." At which point I exclaimed, "I just do what my vet recommends!" To this, the vet replied, "I know."

Turns out Meadow was having vaccine reactions—6 months after she was vaccinated.

It never fails that before a Dr. Fox holistic health clinic, I am contacted by someone who wants to know if the clinic will provide information on a specific health problem and how to fix it.