Alternative Treatments for Animals: A Guide to Naturally Healing Cats, Dogs, Horses, and More for Owners and Caregivers

I was somewhat surprised by the previous reviews regarding this book, because I was both intrigued and overwhelmed at all the information available for researching my own animal pet care. Like it says: "Orientation" Before You Explore" and "List of Alternative Treatments", are just what I was looking for in my own research. This book provides suggestions and knowledge of unlimited therapies and natural treatments providing a direction for caring for your animals. This book is a guide providing case histories, and will help pet owners and caregivers understand and select from a wealth of options. By understanding the scope of illnesses and conditions that different approaches are intended to aid, the author covers the strengths and limitations of each alternative therapy, allowing readers then to get solid advice on choosing a practitioner and the appropriate integrating care for their pets. I recommend this book highly to those who wish to study an overall choice of options before beginning their pet care.

great book

This book was not what I expected it to be. All it did was briefly explain medical treatment methods through someone else's experience. IT DID NOT explain why these treatment methods worked. I could not read this book cover to cover, and therefore discarded it. Sorry I wasted my money.

I am skimming through this book and seems like many of these alternative treatments that are discussed in the book, are done so in a criticizing and negative manner. Definitely didn't expect that. On to the next!

This book was a big disappointment for me. I haven’t read cover to cover, but started thumbing through it and reading sections. This lady claims to have “studied” all of the therapies listed in this book, yet I find that really hard to believe. If she did, this book wouldn’t be written like it is. The tone & feel of the writing is off for someone who is a Holistic supporter.It seems like she tried to appear very neutral & unbiased but it doesn’t come across well. She’s a veterinarian who can’t deny the success of some therapies she’s witnessed, yet still seems to believe that the medical route is the better way to go on most things. Cautions people over & over on making educated decisions with their pet’s health (rightfully so) & tries to smooth it over by saying we shouldn’t discredit alternative methods because “we can’t scientifically prove our love for our pets & vice versa either”She doesn’t really understand the concept of Acupuncture & energy, judging from comments she’s made about the practice. She has a section on colloidal silver’s uses then tosses in the claim that a scientific study says its cons outweigh the pros. (Which is utter nonsense because I’ve personally used Silver for years on myself & pets, seen it work quite well & nobody has had any negative issues.)She includes a section on Bach remedies then states a study on those by Veterinarians was discontinued after the beginning of the study “proved disappointing.”This lady may have read about the *concepts* of these alternative therapies but she doesn’t fully understand them. She does not understand the difference between the *mindsets* of Natural vs Medical. You cannot use these alternative therapies under a medical mindset. They do not work that way, there is a big difference between the two & that's largely what’s missing in this book. (The discontinued Bach flower study is a classic example; of course ordinary Veterinary scientists aren’t going to have good results with the remedies in one of their studies. They aren’t going to know how to properly use them. It’s a complex layered system that will be ineffective if not executed properly. I dabble in them as a hobby so I can say that with confidence.)If you’re looking for a book that fully supports Holistic & Alternative medicine & is presenting the basics of many areas of the field so you as a pet owner can gain enough understanding of your options before contacting practitioners, then look elsewhere.

I usually don't write negative reviews, I like to keep my focus on the things I like and ignore the things I don't. But this book made me take action: you really shouldn't write a book about something and make people pay their money for it if you don't even know, or as well care to find out about the subjects you are covering in the book!You get short and shallow information about variuos alternative treatments, but a lot of the information has a seroius lack of knowledge and accuracy, for example in the part about acupuncture:"one wonders if an acupuncturist trained to work on people might try to target a horse's gallbladder meridian not knowing that horses have no gallbladder"Are you kidding me here, or what?!! You are not working on the actual gallbladder but the energymovement that the meridian supports, namely the wood element, that also effects for instance tendons and muscles. This is the most basic knowledge of TCM - Five element theory! And all the horses I have met had muscles. Actually a lot of muscles, therefore you use points on the gallbladder meridian quite often on horses. OF COURSE a horse has a gallbladder meridian, and anyone can check it up in 2 minutes from any website or book that teaches acupuncture or acupressure for horses. One wonders who is the one not knowing here...Or the description of aromatherapy: "a pleasant scent can affect ones mood". Eeeh, sure - but that's not aromatherapy! It's not the scent that affects neither you or the animal, it is the chemistry in the essential oil. You inhale the molecules that reacts with your body in various ways, like for example peppermint that has an anticonvulsant effect on smooth musculature - unregarding how pleasant you find the scent or not. And some oils does definitely not smell pleasant at all, but is very powerful anyway, and in a great bigger range than just your mood.It is obvious that the author doesn't know or understand the very basics in a lot of the methods that is presented. And if you don't even put an effort in finding out, then why bother writing a book about it? Sure, there is a great number of data listed for birthdays, books, historical events and so on, but knowing Hahnemann's birthday won't do you much good if your intention is to find out how homeopathy actually works and how to use it.So - this book is completely useless, save your money. You can find a lot more objective information with greater accuracy on Google in no time!