As I mentioned on the Animal Healing Specialists / Animal Communicators page, I've consulted with Candace Wingo myself and would not hesitate to recommend her services.

I'll tell you about her in a bit...  But first, I'll share here a little about the experience that led me to her, because I think it will show you a way you might (and why you might want to) expand the healing possibilities for your animals.
  

Iris' first holistic veterinary episode

My elderly female samoyed, Iris, had been having some perplexing and worrisome health problems:  For three years (since our stressful move to another home), she'd had what was first diagnosed as kennel cough but later seemed to be a respiratory allergy (coughing and sneezing - wakeful nights!) - and this had just gotten suddenly much worse.  She also, from that same point on, began slowly to lose power in her back legs and was now having a painful and scary time ascending and, especially, descending stairs.

I should have done it three years before - but I finally arranged to take her to the only well-rounded holistic vet "near" me (a 4-hour drive away).  I'd just found out that this veterinarian did NAET treatments - which meant that she could diagnose Iris using applied kinesiology (muscle testing) techniques (see the Applied Kinesiology page for information on this and NAET). ...And since nothing I'd tried had alleviated this awful coughing thing, I determined to try NAET for her.  The vet also did acupuncture and chiropractic - and I thought she could help Iris' legs with that.  And she dealt with Chinese herbal medicine and homeopathy. ...A great package!

To shorten the tale, she found (via muscle testing and the application of principles of Chinese medicine) that Iris had a kidney/yin imbalance and an adrenal imbalance.  The kidney dilemma relates to the knees (which is where she found Iris' arthritis to be - the poor dear has given herself many a chiropractic adjustment by falling down, so her spine was fairly free)...  And the stomach (she'd just been diagnosed by my regular vet with having an incipient ulcer)...  And dryness of all the body's membranes.  

This dryness, she said, explained the respiratory distress much more than an allergy (though Iris was confirmed as being allergic to pines, firs, and spruce - all of which surround our home!).  She did an NAET allergy treatment for those allergens - but (perhaps since we had to drive right back into them before the usual 25-hour period of not encountering the substances treated for) that didn't seem to make much difference.

The adrenal problem and a general immune system inadequacy she related to the stress of the move on an older animal...  Which can certainly promote a host of other health problems (including arthritis and allergies, of course).

So...  Acupuncture, Chinese herbal pills, a glandular-based immune formula, a different dogfood (Flint River Ranch), and a homeopathic adrenal remedy were prescribed to balance the inner Iris.  But...

When I asked her about helping with the back legs situation, she said, "Well, she is a very old dog...  We'll give her glucosamine/chondroitin to get some more moisture into those crackly joints - but you can't expect her to regain strength in atrophied muscles at her age."  Acupuncture? - shake of the head. ...But much was underway, and home we went.

I'll also disclose an incident that made me wonder about this woman's perspective... though perhaps some will "side with" the vet instead of me:  

In describing Iris' hair loss situation (now thought by my regular vet to be due to "adrenal hyperplasia-like syndrome" - akin to Cushing's disease, which is adrenal- and other hormone-related), I mentioned that I'd noticed over the years that Iris often mirrored my own health problems - and that I knew my adrenals were exhausted.  (Once, as a for instance, Iris and I both had hurt right wrists at the same time - which my then-vet found amusing but not terribly surprising.) ...This vet assumed I was joking - or let me know that such a concept was a joke to her.  I thought:  Hmm... definitely a no-nonsense, scientific-based kind of holisticism here.
  

Why one highly adept holistic veterinarian wasn't enough...

A day or so later, I'd cogitated on all of this...  And come to the conclusion that this woman - whose skills and insights I highly admired and was grateful for - had a blind spot or so.  And that one of them, at least, was very problematic to us...  I could not believe that a dog's atrophied muscles couldn't be improved upon - and it was sad to think that this woman resolutely intended to scotch any determination I had to do so.

In fact, I found the idea absurd! ...People's atrophied muscles are redeveloped by physical therapists - why wouldn't it be possible to do so with animals?

I frustratedly didn't know what all I could do to improve them, but I was not going to accept that I couldn't.  The one thing I thought of was rebounding (jumping on a trampoline - which my dogs like! - to "be jumped", that is), as I knew it was used with elderly folks with no muscle tone.  I got out my little trampoline...  And made it known to the universe that I needed, somehow, to find other means.

...The next day, I got an email message from Candace Wingo, introducing herself, and mentioning that she did "body work".  Yes!  (Prayer does work. :^)
  

Candace Wingo - a complementary offering

If you'll take a look at Candace's website, www.Holistic-Critters.com, you'll see some of what she does...  Massage therapy, cranial-sacral therapy, homeopathy, herbs, etc. (which is only the beginning).  (By the way...  She tries every supplement she comes to recommend on herself first before "buying into" it.)

She's spent over 500 hours in training at a holistic animal healing "college" near Houston - and she avidly seeks to continually add to her healing repertoire.  Some of the graduates of this training school use only some of the techniques they learned, perhaps on only certain types of animals (sometimes just their own).  Candace has chosen the path of embracing all kinds of healing modalities, for all kinds of critters.

She does see many different types of animals in person (she's worked with llamas and alpacas, cats, dogs, iguanas, goats, among others) - but she can also bring her knowledge and intuition to bear in a long-distance exploration.  You don't have to go to Texas to get healing help!

These are some of the therapeutic strategies that cropped up in one phone conversation about Iris' lame legs and cough...

• A collagen-based liquid supplement that helps with joint movement and muscle development (which I purchased from her and she mailed to me)
• A homeopathic remedy for a dry cough (which I happened to have; I'd also just been researching this angle myself)
• Acupressure points for a dry cough (which led me to look up several more for joints and glandular/immune healing)
• Reflexology (fingertip massage) on the pads of the feet for overall toning (and concentrating on whatever sore spots are discovered), as well as other acupressure points for other problem areas
• Auricular therapy - acupressure point massage on the ear shells and a series of gentle "ear pullings" (which provide some of the benefits of cranial-sacral massage - a powerful means of adjusting the moveable plates of the skull)
• Tapotement (drumming-type) massage to stimulate the muscles (not for more than about 30 seconds - after that, it starts to relax the muscles)
• Color therapy - orange and yellow for respiratory problems (I had on hand an orange dog towel Iris then laid on)
• Magnet therapy - I happened to have a magnetic sleep pad to put under her (and wish I had a Nikken "Mag-Boy" to use on her legs - Candace says you can spin it up to two feet away from the body and feel the stimulating and balancing effects)
• Touch Balancing - for chakra energy balancing (place one hand on the back of the neck at the base of the skull - throat chakra - and the other on the root of the tail - the sacrum - your own energy connects and balances the critter's... rather as with a battery)
• Communication - place one hand on the animal's chest (heart chakra) and the other on the back of the neck at the base of the skull (throat chakra), and tell your pet what you want ("give it a job" - for it to concentrate on healing itself, to let go of pain, maybe stop taking responsibility for your problems, etc.) and picture it healthy!  (When I related to Candace the veterinarian's reaction to my saying that Iris tends to mirror my own health problems, she said, "What?!  But that's so common! ...Well, she just has a limitation there, your vet.  You can just tell Iris that she doesn't need to do that for you anymore.")

...Look at all I was able to add to Iris' healing plan!

Plus, Candace does remote energy balancing work (yep, it takes some trust to believe in that - but understanding isn't required to allow her to do it).  And while she certainly pulls from a storehouse of scientific knowledge and clinical experience, she also relies on a strongly-developed intuition to guide her in her choice of treatments - which is a boon in her long-distance advising.

Improvement for Iris:  Her coughing, while still a problem, was lessened.  Just before making the long trek to the veterinarian, Iris on the stairs had gone from daunting to frightening (to me); nor did she want to go for walks much anymore, and we had started to carry her down the stairs and follow her closely going up - depressing to one and all.  ...Within just a couple of days of my "shot-gun approach" tackling of her rear end situation, thanks to Candace's expertise, Iris decided to go on a long walk down, and up, a steep hill (and round and about in the woods in between).  And she was back to taking herself up and down stairs with a regular, instead of a frantic and "iffy", tread.  What a huge relief that was to all!
    

About alpacas... and a wonderful natural healing story

Candace and her husband also raise, and therefore specialize in, alpacas.  If you're interested in alpaca care (as well as in purchase), see her new website www.AlpacasALLNaturale.com.  Even if you're not concerned with alpacas, you'll want to read the article she wrote about the use of herbs in healing a very sickly young critter:  www.AlpacasALLNaturale.com/rehab_stories.htm.
 

Getting in touch with Candace

Check Candace's website for a description of her services and rates.  If your animal's briefly-described situation is such that Candace feels she can't help you much, she'll tell you that.  (A friend of mine consulted her largely about behavioral issues when she added a puppy to her multi-cat home, and she was very happy with the results.)  She's been aiding animals for a number of years now - but she hasn't encountered every single ailment that ever was, of course.  And, as she points out, sometimes an animal feels it's just time to go.

If you're seeking all the help you can get for your critter, from a compassionate healer, I encourage you to get in touch with Candace Wingo via:  candace@holistic-critters.com  Gosh, I like her!

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