ALTERNATIVE Dog MEDICINE

There are more and more people every time that trust alternative medicine, convinced that the official medicine doesn't always prescribe the most adequate treatments. This tendency is getting extended to the veterinary field and an increasing number of dog owners are already applying natural medicines to their domestic animals, both as an alternative way or as a complement to the conventional treatment. The alternative therapies not only limit themselves to attack a specific problem on an isolated way, they tend to consider the patient as a whole and see its health and well-being in a global way.

The alternative medicine is considered to be more natural and therefore, less aggressive and with less side effects than the official one. Some alternative treatments have been proven to be more effective than the classic ones, but others are pretty polemical and for the moment, it would be better not to use them without asking the veterinary first.

Many dog owner provide alternative medicines to their pets just because there is no need to buy a prescription. If we are talking about a not very important problem, there should be no consequences, but you should always take the dog to the veterinary anyway, so he can fully examine your dog and determine the real problem and the seriousness of the problem, that would probably be more serious than it seems just by looking. dog t shirt

Using natural medicines to avoid a visit to the veterinary can cause a lot of pain and suffering to the animal and a lot of unnecessary expenses to it master. Nowadays, many veterinarians combine official medicine with other alternative therapies and, if they do, they may be able to recommend their clients an alternative clinic or doctor that might be working around your area.

MEDICINAL PLANTS

The medicinal plants have very strong active principles, so they should be use with as much precaution as conventional medicines.

The healing power of plants has been used for thousands of years. In fact, the active principles of many of the current medicines have been taken from plant's extracts. The conventional medicine states that is it better to isolate the active principles from many of the current medicines and use them in their pure state in order to control its dose in a better way. The fitotherapy, on the contrary, prefers to use the entire plant, without refining it, thinking that in this way the side effects are reduced and the self healing of the dog's body is promoted. In any case, you should never provide any medicine to your dog without asking a qualified fitotherapist first.

ACUPUNCTURE

Consists on stimulating certain points of the body that mark the so called meridians of energy. According to the acupuncturers, diseases are mainly produce because the flow of energy is interrupted and it stays blocked in certain parts of the body, so, in order to stimulated the energetic flow some very thin needles are stuck on the corresponding points. Some variations of the acupuncture is digitopuncture (in which the finger's pressure substitute the needles) and moxibustion (here the needles are replaced by moxas). The moxibustion consists on stimulating the energy point through moxas (from the chinese mok-sa) some kind of herbal wicks that burn slowly.

The efficiency of acupuncture has been totally proven. It has been already used as an only anesthetic in surgical operations in humans as well as in animals. In scientific opinion, its efficiency to confront pain is based on the capacity to stimulate the production of endorphins, the hormones that block the pain. Acupuncture is particularly helpful when the disease provokes chronic pain, as the advanced arthritis, and also relieve the symptoms of many chronic diseases.

MANIPULATION

We include the physiotherapy, the esteopthy and the quiropractice under this epigraph. These are disciplines which efficiently fight concrete problems such as back pains is not doubted by anyone. It can also help dogs, even when it is more difficult to practice with animals than with humans.

HOMEOPATHY

Many dog owners assure that their dogs have been healed following an homeopathic treatment. As they use similar ingredients, people sometimes confuse the homeopathy with the fitotherapy. However, the basic principle of both therapies couldn't be more different. While the second one uses plant's extracts to counteract the effect produced by the diseases and chooses forms of presentation that allowed to administrate the exact doses, the first one (homeopathy) is based in the principle that "the same thing that harms, heals" and uses minimum doses of plants that will produce similar effects to the ones produced by the disease on the healthy individuals to relieve the patient. It is said that the homeopathic products lead the patient to the selfhealing, but that will happen only if the exact medicine is chosen, You should always have to look for a qualified homeopathic veterinary before applying any treatment.

FLORAL ESSENCES ("BACH'S FLOWERS")

This therapy, based on the investigations of Dr Edward Bach, energize the flowers by making them float in dipping water to work in conserving them. Many of the floral essences against the negative emotions are recommended in the case of conduct problems or dog's emotional problems. These essences can be bought with no prescription at the drug store, but never apply them without asking the veterinary or an expert first.
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