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Natural Healing, Healthy Living for Your Animals |
I've also come to understand more and more about what I call here The Basics of health (animal or human) - how the body's systems work together and can get out of whack. ...Which I'll talk more about in the next section, but about which I'll say now... We each have a great deal of control over basic health factors without the need for intervention by a medical professional. (For our pets, we have control over their health basics as well as our own.) And when we do consult medical professionals, we'd do well to use our own brains too (or reap the consequences of their often narrow focus). That's point Number One -- Understanding The Basics is what puts us in control. You have to know something about how the body works in order to bring into balance what's out of whack. (...And medical professionals often don't see the forest for the trees.) Point Number Two is this -- I believe in the shotgun approach to healing. By that I mean, doing everything sensible you can think of to do to make someone well ("someone" means human or animal to me!), not just aiming at a single symptom. ...And keeping at it as long as it's needed - healing usually takes time, because it usually takes time for problems to develop. (And to me, it isn't sensible to simply take my dog - I have dogs - to my very nice, very analytical and committed, but very mainstream vet and then say "oh well" when he fails to cure her of some mysterious ailment. Nope, that's when I get to researching, and applying what I know of The Basics to the situation... and factoring in whatever clues he's given me. A veterinarian's diagnosis can be absolutely invaluable... Vets obviously know way more than I ever will about my animals' bodies. But overall, I have to be responsible for the healing process.)
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| Sure, the meaning of "everything sensible" may depend on whatever restrictions you're under - time, access to knowledge or supplies or maybe practitioners, perhaps money, definitely what the someones are willing/able to participate in. It's also dependent on what you understand of the basics of health - back to Number One. That's why I'm going to stress the importance of getting familiar with basic health principles - so you know what to look for. ...Particularly because your doctor or veterinarian isn't terribly likely to even be aiming for other than the relief of symptoms... Probably with surgery or drugs, whose side effects you'd probably rather avoid... if you knew what else to do - back again to Number One! (Not to mention the veterinary "remedy" of euthanasia, which has quite severe side effects itself - for you as well as the animal you care about.) When you know, for instance, that your dog has a lame front leg, you can apply the shotgun approach "on top of" The Basics... Knowing that the lameness might be at least partly referred from a spinal subluxation, so that simple chiropractic treatment might help; that acupressure and/or massage could be of use; that heat or cold might help; that the analgesic your vet prescribes can stimulate healing, but only if the causes are treated as well; etc. With myself, I'm sometimes interested enough in isolating the effects of some particular treatment to apply the scientific approach - one thing at a time. But in general, I've come to believe that this is a waste of time. ...That "shotgun" = holistic = greater healing. ...Because getting unhealthy is usually holistic, as it were - taking a number of things combined to create a diseased state... So it makes sense that a combination of remedies, acting on different facets of the body, would make healing more sure. (And I don't worry about the people who ask, "But which thing do you think worked?" I think they worked, synergistically; and because I did enough.) Too, people tend to be grateful for getting even just a little better. But with animals, it's much more difficult to tell how much a treatment is improving a health problem... You can't ask them, "How much better is it?" (Once they get used to favoring a lame leg, for instance, they might keep on doing so until the trouble is gone.) And frankly, I feel terrible when my dogs are in trouble at all. I want "well", not just "a little better" for them - since perfection is what they deserve! So attacking the problem on all fronts is what I call "sensible". So prepare for the One-Two punch! -------------------------------------------- The Purpose of This WebsiteThe purpose of this site, then, is to provide you with the knowledge you need to whittle down the restrictions you're under in facing your animals' health dilemmas. ...Knowledge you read here, knowledge in the sources reviewed, in the directories of practitioners listed, in some of the products mentioned. (And if you have other knowledge you'd like to share, please consider contacting me.) Such knowledge can do more than ease your access to information, supplies, and practitioners - though that's a lot... It can also save you time by leading you toward the best, logical remedies to try. (The shotgun approach saves time too!) It can save you money (you might want to spend money on instructing yourself in what to do, but then you can do much to take care of your critters yourself). And it can even go some way toward making it more likely that the "someones" will feel comfortable doing as you suggest (people will perhaps be convinced that you know what you're doing, animals will feel your confidence). Start with The Basics, so you can knowledgeably apply (or guide, at the hands of a practitioner) whatever treatments you choose... NEXT... "Understanding
the Basics - 1" AlternativePetHealth.com HOME
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