WE NEED TO LOOK OUTSIDE THE BOX

 Ontario Veterinary College should teach their students both Conventional and Holistic
 Medicine.

By Dr. Nancy Scanlan, Executive Director of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Foundation

I started using nutraceuticals because I wanted to help a Boxer with heart disease. She was already on heart medicine, and after a year her heart was starting to fail again. Any increase in her regular medication would have been toxic. Nutritional supplements helped her live out her normal lifespan.
I started using acupuncture because some of my patients were in pain that was not well controlled with conventional medicine. Some of them were barely able to walk. Acupuncture got them walking and even running again.

Integrative Medicine to the Rescue

Whenever I had an unusual problem that was not helped by conventional medicine, integrative medicine came to the rescue. Those unusual cases kept increasing, as people learned that I could do things other veterinarians could not do. But many of my colleagues were doubtful. Some even recommended that my clients stop using the things I recommended. That is, until they saw some of the results.
I was not taught any of this in veterinary school. I had to take time out of a busy practice to attend special classes. Not all veterinarians are dedicated to learning a lot of extra skills that are different from anything they learned before. We have a hard enough time keeping up with all the advances that have come along since we graduated. It would have been so much easier if alternative and complementary therapies had been part of what I learned before graduation from veterinary school.

Holistic Therapies Need to Be Researched… But Funding is Hard to Find

Veterinarians use research as much as possible as a guide to which treatment protocols might be worthwhile. But it is difficult to find research funds to study herbs, or vitamin therapy, or massage therapy, or many other things that are considered “holistic.” Without that research, it’s extremely difficult to convince veterinary schools to teach about holistic treatments, or veterinarians to learn about them.
One of the goals of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Foundation is to grant funds for education and research in integrative holistic veterinary medicine. We need your help so veterinarians can learn alternative and complementary ways to help animals in trouble. Please visit AHVMF.org to donate online or to download a research application. Help give animals more options for good health!

How You Can Make a Difference

Pets bless us with their companionship and unconditional love. That’s why Mercola Healthy Pets has partnered with the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Foundation (AHVMF) to raise money for integrative education and research efforts. We were able to raise over $1 million in the last three years. Now through March 22, 2015, a portion of all sales at Healthy Pets will be donated to AHVMF. So, while you shop this week, know that each purchase will contribute to this very worthwhile cause.
Over 150 million people have pets. If just a small percentage of them donated there would be enough money raised for a trust fund that would generate the money we need for education and research. Veterinarians would come out of veterinary school with new treatments in their veterinary toolbox. Your dog will thank you for it and so will your cat, though it won’t be so obvious!
So please take a moment right now to be one in a million and make a donation to the AHVM Foundation. Come and check out our AHVMF.Org, read inspiring stories, see animal teachers, cute dog pictures, and make a donation today.