Storm's & Starr's Holistic Vet Visit:Update Starr's 2nd Holistic Visit 8-23-07

[Kater]

Oh wow, thanks for sharing. This stuff is right up my alley, so I hope you don't mind if I ask some questions.

I work with a veterinarian who practices Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine along with Western modalities. I think she identifies herself as a complementary practitioner, as opposed to purely holistic or alternative. So similar, but different.

What do you mean by "dry" acupuncture needles? I feel like I should be able to figure out the implication....but I'm not sure I've heard this term.
If you don't mind me asking, who was the manufacturer of the various herbals? We mainly use products from 2 companies and I'm interested to learn about the others ones out there.
Also, do you know where she got her acupuncture training? Her herbal training? I realize this is not something you probably discussed, LOL, but maybe she has a website or something?
Anyway, if you'd be more comfortable PMing me the answers to these questions, that'd be fine.

Sending lots of healthy vibes to your handsome boys! Herbs can be a bit hit-or-miss in my experience, but the fact that they are so much safer than Western drugs is a huge plus (ETA: This is not to say that the person doling them out does not need training or that they can't be dangerously misused).

Staci - OMG, Keegan too? I guess I didn't realize that she has hip *and* knee problems, just like a certain black and white boy I know! Alternative medicine and physical therapy got Kirkie walking again too...surgery-free. Waaay cool!

[shais_mom]

Staci - OMG, Keegan too? I guess I didn't realize that she has hip *and* knee problems, just like a certain black and white boy I know! Alternative medicine and physical therapy got Kirkie walking again too...surgery-free. Waaay cool!

well she wouldn't have if the klutz wasn't just that - a klutz!!
she was laying in my bathroom and when she stood up her back paw slipped off the rug resulting in injury - the doc didn't want to crack the knee just in case it wasn't torn completely or ruptured - with her hip issues he didn't want to ruin it -
so off to the our holistic vet we went and then after we got it allllll healed up - she was flying out of my car after a tennis ball at a park and I think she must have slightly torn the other one or deeply bruised it -
our holistic vet said that she has issues b/c she is so in tune with me that she felt my pain b/c of my broken foot and my ankle injury from a car accident - so I had to tell her she had to STOP hurting herself b/c with her hips - if she continued she may have had to be PTS....
sorry to hijack -
thanks to Starr and Storm for allowing me to blurb a second about a
shhhh d-o-g~~~

[Barbara]

Wow- that was interesting. The behavior reminds me of Filou's visit with the homeopathic vet. Filou went everywhere and was as curious and relaxed as he is in his best moments home. While I am not completely sure what I think of all the holistisc or homeopathic medication I certainly am impressed by the doctors.
Hope it works very well for Storm and Starr.

[Randi]

This sounds very good, Tracey. That vet seems to know what she's doing. I hope they'll continue to eat their supplements and feel better!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks again everyone. Starr had a slight set back since I fed him a lot of wet food last night. He had some runny diarrhea and a couple of spots of it on my carpet. This morning I'm only giving him half of his mixture with some wet and a little dry mixed in and he loved it. It must really taste good because he's very picky when it comes to taking meds. I fed him a bit more dry later on so and I also gave him his pred so I hope he'll be okay now. I'll give him his second half of his mixture tonight. Storm took his pill with his pill pocket without any problems and he wanted more.

Kater, here is her website and I think it explains all about the different types of accupunture: The Western Dragon. I don't have the pill bottles in front of me and I have to get to work so I'll give you this info later.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Starr seems to be doing much better since I spaced out his herbal supplements mixture. I've also noticed that he seems to be feeling a lot better too. He's seems much happier and active. Storm's herbal pills still haven't kicked in yet because he was chasing Sky last night and he had a spat with Pearl this morning. All in all things are getting better around here so I'm not dissappointed at all. I know that things take time and that it won't happen over night.

In case any one is interested in finding a holistic vet near them here are two good links that I found: American Holistic Vet Search and Vet Locator. I just typed in the works holistic vet lists to do the search.

Kater, the companies are Thorne Veterinary for the Feline Basic Nutients pills, Thorne Research for the GI-Encap pills, Plum Flower for the Calm Spirit Tea Pills, and Garden Of Life for the Primal Defense powder. I hope that this helps.

[ChrisH]

Sounding good, Tracey.

[Emeraldgreen]

Hi, you mentioned in your first posting something called 'pill pockets'. Do you mind my asking what those are? It sounds like something you stuff a pill into that a cat will eat but I've never heard of it before.

[Emeraldgreen]

Does Starr have IBD or IBS? I missed the original post as to why he is seeing a holistic vet. My cat Jimmy does and he is on prednisilone and has been for years. He has very, very soft stools and though he is mostly comfortable, I'd like to get him off the pred if I could. He also has asthma though but I do have a pump for that so he could get pred for his asthma that way rather than in a pill that goes into his bloodstream and throughout his body. Anyway, I thought I'd ask just in case it was IBD because it sounds like you are having great success with the holistic approach.

[Catty1]

These are Pill Pockets. You can get them from your vet, or some pet stores have them. Next time you're on the mainland....

[krazyaboutkatz]

Does Starr have IBD or IBS? I missed the original post as to why he is seeing a holistic vet. My cat Jimmy does and he is on prednisilone and has been for years. He has very, very soft stools and though he is mostly comfortable, I'd like to get him off the pred if I could. He also has asthma though but I do have a pump for that so he could get pred for his asthma that way rather than in a pill that goes into his bloodstream and throughout his body. Anyway, I thought I'd ask just in case it was IBD because it sounds like you are having great success with the holistic approach.

Hi, Starr has colitis and both of his large and small intestine are infected with eosinophlic cells. My vet said that this causes food allergies but I just looked up a link and it said that this would be Eosinophilic IBD. He's been on several different allergy diets and in the beginning they work as long as he takes his 5mg of prednisolone in the morning. Over time they stop working though and he starts having mushy poos and sometimes very runny diarrhea.

The holistic vet said that once his system becomes used to the new food that it then starts going haywire. I think she said it's due to the eosinophilic cells and the fact that his intestional system isn't functioning properly. I can't remember exactly what she said. With the 3 herbal supplements, they'll help to heal his insides and hopefully over time he'll only need to stay on a grain free diet. He's continuing to do very well.

For any one that has a cat with IBS or IBD, I'd highly recommend that you make an appointment with a holistic vet. I hope that this helps and that you'll also be able to get your cat Jimmy off of the prednisolone. It may be harder though since he's been on it for years. Starr has only been on it since about mid March of this year. He also had a surgical biopsy to confirm his diagnosis. Good luck.