About AHVMA

Holistic medicine, by its very nature, is humane to the core. The wholeness of its scope will set up a lifestyle for the animal that is most appropriate. The techniques used in holistic medicine are gentle, minimally invasive, and incorporate patient well-being and stress reduction. Holistic thinking is centered on love, empathy, and respect.

This mixture of healing arts and skills is as natural as life itself. At the core of this issue lies the very essence of the word "(w)holistic." It means taking in the whole picture of the patient - the environment, the disease pattern, the owner-pet relationship - and developing a treatment protocol using a wide range of therapies for healing the patient.

The holistic practitioner is interested in genetics, nutrition, family relationships, hygiene, and stress factors. The holistic challenge lies in the question "why?" By a series of analytic observations and appropriate testing, the goal becomes finding the true root source of the pathology. A simple symptom may have several layers of causation. Only when the true cause of the ailment has been found is there the possibility for a lasting recovery.

It is at this point that the most efficacious, least invasive, least expensive, and least harmful path to a cure is selected.

In many acute situations, treatment may involve aspects of surgery and drug therapy from conventional Western technology, along with alternative techniques, to provide a complementary whole. This form of treatment has great value for severe trauma and certain infections. It often outperforms other methodologies. Once the symptoms have been treated, the task is not complete until the underlying disease patterns have been redirected. Then the patient, as well as the client, will be guided to a new level of health.

~ American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association