Newsletter Article

By Dr. Shawn Messonnier DVM

"Dr. Shawn, what do you do differently than other veterinarians?" is a question I get asked a lot from clients who are new to the field of holistic pet care. Each client has a different idea of what constitutes holistic, integrative care. Some think I use no conventional medicines or diagnostic testing, and are surprised when I recommend conventional medical therapies as part of their pets' overall treatment plan. Still other clients come in for their pets' initial visit wanting a certain type of therapy, such as acupuncture or homeopathy. And yet others have no real clue what to expect!

Every doctor's goal should be to help the patient heal itself; even when I was only trained to offer conventional medicine I knew that I didn't heal my patients: they healed themselves if they were able to do so. If I chose the proper therapy the pet and the pet's body was able to respond to the therapy then the pet recovered. If the disease was too strong or the patient too weak, the disease would win.

Now as an integrative doctor, what I do has not really changed all that much. I facilitate healing by moving the patient's own energy to heal itself. I have many more therapies I can use than when I was only practicing conventional medicine. Also, most conventional medications are designed to make the patient feel better (cover up symptoms) or kill something (bacteria, fungi, viruses, or cancer.) The goal of conventional medicine is not usually "heal the pet" but rather "treat the disease." A more holistic approach appreciates that doctors don't really do anything except facilitate healing by correctly diagnosing the patient's problem and then prescribing the best therapy for that patient.

Some skeptics may suggest that my patients would have recovered anyway, on their own, regardless of my special therapies. As you'll see with the stories presented throughout this book, many of the pets did not respond to conventional therapies prescribed by other conventional doctors. Their ultimate healing was neither coincidental nor the result of a placebo effect, but rather represents true healing as a result of the holistic therapies I prescribed for them.

I hope you'll agree after reading the heart-warming stories I've shared with you in Unexpected Miracles:Hope and Holistic Healing for Pets, that this more natural approach is the best approach to help your pet experience true healing and health.

At the time I discovered alternative therapies and holistic healing, I wasn't even really looking at the field of integrative medicine. Instead, I had become frustrated with the response, or rather lack of response, of all of my allergy cases to the treatments I was using at the time. Through my research I learned about many of the various modalities of alternative medicine that I thought might help my patients, including nutrition and diet, supplements, herbs, acupuncture, and homeopathy. I started using these therapies on my allergic patients and seeing much better results, that lasted longer, than I had when I only used conventional medicine. One thing led to another, and soon I was treating pets with a variety of afflictions (bladder disorders, GI problems, epilepsy, and even cancer) with these alternative therapies.

As I was learning about this fascinating new world of integrative medicine, I had to admit something that was quite a bit uncomfortable. Even though I felt that I was a good doctor when I began my search, I was forced to admit that there had to be more than simply what I was already doing for my patients. While I had been trained to be a good "diagnoser and treater" of disease, I had to face the facts that I was not a good "healer." My patients were feeling better, but the feeling was short-lived as their diseases returned and became chronic medical conditions. The end result was that my patients were not really healing, getting better and staying healthy, and many were dying at a younger age than I expected.

It would have been easy to continue doing what I had been doing since graduating from veterinary school. While many of my patients never really healed from their disorders, they did feel better (if only for the period of time they were taking their medications.) I was making a good living and was doing the best I could with the therapies available to me.

I knew however, that continuing down this path would not be the right thing to do. Simply taking money from a client and applying a Band-Aid solution to a more serious problem is not the road I wanted to continue to travel. I had seen the light, and there was no turning back for me. I wanted healing for my patients, and I couldn't achieve that with the therapies I had been using.

It was only when I admitted that I needed to become a healer of pets rather than a treater of disease that I could admit my own shortcomings and search for something better. This was not easy, because at the time I thought I was the best doctor and was doing all I could for my patients. I had to admit that I was wrong, which is never an easy thing. I also had to accept the fact that there were many pets that I knew I could have helped had I known about integrative medicine at the time. While I had to accept the shortcomings in my education and training, it was not easy and still is not easy to know that I probably could have saved many of my patients if only someone had introduced me to this wonderful natural world of healing. It wasn't really my fault since I had no clue about this alternative world of healing that I began to discover. This life-changing experience helped me realize that I shouldn't be too hard on my colleagues who have not yet been introduced to the wonders of integrative medicine. However, I don't have such a soft heart for those who've been exposed to alternative therapies, yet continue to deny the ability of these therapies to help their patients. Ignorance is one thing, but refusing to change your ways despite evidence showing the ability of these therapies to help your patients is at best neglectful and may one day even be considered malpractice.

My 5 goals of healing for the patients you will read about in Unexpected Miracles:Hope and Holistic Healing for Pets are:

• prevent disease, as most owners prefer healthy rather than sick pets
• say NO to drugs whenever possible, relying instead on natural therapies which tend to have few if any side effects when used properly, and often cost less than ongoing treatment with conventional therapies
• heal the pet rather than treat the disease, getting to the root of the problem and trying to find a long-term solution to keep the pet healthy
• reduce money spent on pet care, as no one wants to waste money on care a pet doesn't need

and finally and possibly most importantly,

• to offer "Hope for the Hopeless"

These are goals that I could not possibly have developed when I practiced only conventional medicine. These goals, which are the goals of the owners of the pets you will read about in Unexpected Miracles:Hope and Holistic Healing for Pets, are goals I hope you will adopt for your pets as well as you begin your road to achieving health for your pets!

So there you have it: my journey from beginning to the present. It's taken a long time to go from believing exclusively in the value of only one system of medicine to embracing all healing modalities. But in the end, all of my patients benefit from this journey and acceptance of new therapies. And now you can share in this excitement as well, as you discover the joys of healing as you read these remarkable stories of the pet owners who sought and found "hope for the hopeless."

About the Author:  Shawn Messonnier DVM is author of the award-winning The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats. He is also host of the award-winning show, Dr. Shawn-The Natural Vet, on Martha Stewart Radio Sirius 112/XM 157, Tuesday night from 7-8 PM CST. Unexpected Miracles: Hope and Holistic Healing for Pets can be ordered from Amazon or from your favorite book store.

Learn more about natural pet care at: www.petcarenaturally.com. Check out Dr. Shawn's new line of USDA certified organic shampoos at www.petcarenaturally.com or www.drshawnspetorganics.com.

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