Each month we will cover one of the Keys to Health - you can see the whole list on my
.
Think of an artist's palette with many different colors of paint as the holistic approach we have been discussing. The palette is the approach of focusing on the whole animal and paying attention to the response to each treatment. Each different color of paint is a type of treatment-conventional drugs, conventional surgery, conventional lab work, classical homeopathy, combination homeopathy, needle acupuncture, laser acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, network chiropractic, herbs, flower essences, massage and more. Your animal's life is the painting. Some paintings (animals) need only one color and others need many different colors to be beautiful. Conventional treatments, or homeopathy, or herbs or another may be the only approach needed to maintain health, or many different treatment approaches may be essential. You can learn to use these different colors if needed for your animals. Get trained now so you are ready.
While improving the diet, not vaccinating and understanding about response to treatment will help build health, some animals will still have problems - first aid or more severe. Many of the different approaches above can be learned and used by you. Some take a lot of training, others a few nights to weekends. This month we will look at a few of my favorites. The first 3 are my all time favorites because they are easy to learn, often deeply healing and can never cause any harm, nor make your animal worse.
Are you keeping a journal yet? This is a critical step in self healing, because you are now responsible to know if what you are doing is palliating, curing, suppressing or merely soothing. Buy your journals now or start one of your own.
Reiki
: This is my favorite of all therapies because you can help pain, help healing, help emotional problems, and lots more. And it is totally safe, never causes side effects nor interferes with any other treatment. And it can be learned quickly. The practitioner places her hands upon the animal (or better yet it can be offered from a distance to allow the animal to choose to accept the energy) with the intent for healing to occur. The energy flows through the healer into the animal. This is based on directly applying Chi (energy) to rebalance the energy field so it no longer needs to produce the physical symptoms. It is a very good adjunct to any healing modality, especially to relieve pain and inflammation. You can use Reiki to "take the bad" out of a substance, like a vaccine or a glass of stinky water. By using Reiki on the site of the required rabies vaccine, your pet may not become ill from the vaccine. Different levels of training enable you to do hands on, long distance (thousands of miles away), just physical, just etheric body or both. www.reiki.org is one site. Locally in MD we have the wonderful
Animal Reiki Alliance that offers classes in Reiki and other holistic modalities. If not in this area, go to your local health food store or holistic healing center. If nothing is local to you, there are on-line attunment/trainings at
1. Holistic Care
2. Reiki Blessings
3.
Animal healers
Flower Essences
: Totally safe liquids extracted from flowers and other substances, these are wonderful support for healing of animals and people, never suppress or harm, and you can use your intuition to select the essences. Some are labeled as homeopathic and those should not be used. The homeopathic preparation uses shaking/succession to alter the water molecules. Flowers essences are safe because they gently made by floating the flowers in water, or even having the vibrational pattern intuitively infused in the water. They are especially good in emotional problems. Some books on treating animals are now available and there are a large number of web sites to help you decide on the company you want to use and the which essences for your individual animal. Green Hope Farms, Spirit Essences, Anaflora and New Millennium have combination flower essences that are very effective in preventing fleas and ticks on your animals. The "emergency" essences are great to have on hand. Remember that you may need to take the same essences as your animals. Always have at least Rescue Remedy on hand and USE IT!
Tellington TTouch: Every owner and person working with animals will love this easy to learn healing technique. TTouch is a method based on making gently circular movements of the fingers and hands all over the body, including the face and even the gums. The intent of TTouch is to activate the function of the cells and awaken cellular intelligence. TTouch can help animals learn better, relax, pay attention and can heal many ailments. EAM
Massage: This is always nice for all beings. It stimulates the body to heal by relaxing muscles holding the bones, joints and organs in improper position and everyone can do it. Michael Fox's Healing Touch is one good resource. His other books, some now out of print, are excellent-Touchlings and One Mind, One Earth. There are many animal massage training programs in the country. Some caution is needed as some apparently "sore muscles" may involve some nerve damage. The best guide is your animal - if not comfortable - stop.
Essential Oil therapy
: uses aromatic, volatile extracts of plants to treat emotional and physical problems in animals and people. Basil, Geranium and Lavender, among others, have a calming effect. Lemon has a cleansing effect. Use caution with cats as some essential oils can be toxic, so hydrosols may be more effective. Their smell is so acute that they may be bothered by the oils diffused in a room they cannot leave. Good sources are Forever Green, www.Aromaleigh.com and www.thePetWhisperer.com.
Healing Touch for Animals:
HTA/KHM uses bio-field therapies - recognized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - to integrate, balance and clear the energy body. It works by releasing endorphins to establish a deeper relaxation and state of being, allowing the body to function at a greater level. By allowing muscles to relax, circulation is increased, sending more oxygen, nutrients, and hormones into the body to support healing. HTA/KHM works on all levels of the body: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. These techniques allow the animals to come into a deeper instinctual presence of their body. Courses taught around the country. www.HealingTouchForAnimals.com
Pressure point therapy: Chinese medicine is based on the principles of energy flow throughout the body on meridians. There are specific points that access these meridians. Anyone can learn how to press on these acupressure points to relieve symptoms or assist with healing. Four Paws, Five Directions by Cheryl Schwartz is a wonderful guide to this therapy. Learn from your acupuncture veterinarian specific points to help your animal's problem.
Herbal:
Use of the medicinal herbs in their material form to treat specific problems, conditions or to enhance overall vitality. Mild ones like slippery elm, burdock, dandelion, comfrey, dill, Echinacea, eyebright, garlic, ginseng, goldenseal, horsetail, kombu, myrrh, nettle, parsley, plantain, psyllium seeds, and others are fairly safe for you to try on your own. Remember that some plants can be toxic. Books by Tilford, DeBaircle Levy, Wood, Yarnall, Frazier & Pitcairn cover herbal treatment of animals. One of the problems is administration-especially in cats. Animals' Apawthecary has glycerin extracts that are very good for cats and dogs since they are more palatable. Herbs can be toxic. (www.ChristinaChambreau.com
- click on Animal Essentials for now). Since herbs can cause harm, you do need to read up on herbs you give, or know the company well. Please select organic or sustainably raised (or ethically wildcrafted) ones.
Nutraceuticals and food supplements:
Nutritional substances used to enhance the body's function. Again, the problem is often in how to administer these to cats or small dogs, so you may need to experiment with the different companies to find ones your companion eats readily. Glandulars are animal tissues are harvested, preferably from organic, free range reared animals and are prepared by freeze-drying and defatting, then using a vacuum process to dry the glands after freezing. No heat or chemicals that can destroy the enzymes are used. These protomorphogens, or extracts of tissues from glands such as adrenal, pancreas, pituitary, thyroid, and ovary, are given orally to help support those particular tissues in humans and animals by offering the precursor substances that the glands can use to enhance their functions. The glands, like foods, supply basic nutrients, such as amino acids, oils, vitamins, other active ingredients, and a potential "life force," where a drug will not. Some evidence from radioisotope studies suggests that glands, when eaten, do in fact get to the human glands and influence them. Other nutrients like chondroiton sulfate or glucosamine have healing influence on mucus membranes from joints to the digestive system. When using nutriceuticals long term, stop them every month or so to see if the symptoms are improving with other treatments you are giving, or if you need to continue for symptomatic relief while seeking deeper care. There are many companies. Two I love are Standard Process and VetriScience. You can order the VetriScience from my web site, and for the Standard Process supplements, give me a call or email.
Healing/Animal Communicators: A leap in faith for some, these modalities can produce miracles. The next 50 years will find many more people being healed by directed energy methods that intuitive healers can use. Each communicator receives "messages" from your animal friend in a different way, always requiring their interpretation. As with all methods of treatment or input, you need to notice if what they say fits and improves your animal's life by keeping up with journal entries, especially for a short time before and after the consult. Email me for more information and a list or go to Penelope Smith's site.
Homeopathy: System of medicine started in 1800 that uses substances (in their energetic form) to correct deficits in the vital force so symptoms resolve and overall health is enhanced. Remedies that produce symptoms in tests (provings) are given to ill animals (or people) who have the same pattern of symptoms. Remedies can be used by you with some training to treat specific acute problems like injuries. Using homeopathy for more serious or long standing problems is best left to trained professionals. Remedies are very powerful, and can stir up the body to create more symptoms, so you do need to have some familiarity unless using the remedies for just a day or 2. Get a group of people and have me come to your town to teach as much homeopathy as you want to learn.
