There are many forms of natural animal therapy. According to Gina McCulloch, D.C., cats, dogs, equine in general and other animals can easily benefit from this form of treatment. The purpose is to boost the body’s innate healing process and therefore, reduces the need for drugs or surgery.

The type of remedy used is, as the name says, natural. However, this isn’t limited only to aromatherapy and acupuncture. Many more ways to restore the inner body’s natural harmony and balance with the outer world exist.

Naturopaths work with the belief that if you get a symptom, the idea is not to treat what we see, but to dig deep and find the source of the issue. This could very well be medical, but it could also come from psychological and emotional disturbances. The traditional medical field focuses mainly on treating the symptoms, which is often the reason why people lapse.

Furthermore, naturopaths prefer examining the entire body to ensure they have covered every aspect of a person; for example, they will go so far as to ask you how you are doing with your parents even if all you have is a nose bleed. For them, the human machine is extremely complex and should not be divided into pieces, as the medical faculty often does mistakenly. Isolating bits and parts only means that you are analyzing the ‘sick’ area, and might be missing the real issue. Another example that is more common is how a person who has heart problems will generally feel pain in the left arm. This is caused by the fact that a major artery runs from the heart into the left arm, and if doctors were to focus only on trying to heal the arm, they would completely miss the point. Thank goodness they are not that near-sighted, but they do often forget that humans and animals are a very complex body of intertwined systems that cannot be separated like a puzzle.

With that in mind, naturopaths who treat animals will work with stimuli and environment to begin the healing of the ‘dis-ease’ your pet could have. These include, but are not limited to, massage, manipulation, homeopathy, flower extracts (or essential oils), herbal medicine, and water, light, air and heat therapies. Basically, any naturopathic care that is available for humans is also good for pets.

And as I have mentioned in another blog post, nutrition is a key element in the body’s ability to heal itself. No matter which animal it is, the owner needs to understand what an animal eats when it is or was in the wild to ensure they are giving proper feeding. The actual living environment is also important, as well as good exercise, rest and relaxation.

Some of the ailments or ‘dis-ease’ that naturopathy helps to heal are, amongst others, arthritis, digestive disorders, internal health problems, metabolic disorders imbalances, reproductive problems, and skin problems.

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