GONE ON HOLIDAY!

Please be advised that we will be closed for a long overdue holiday from 16th to 26th May.

For non-urgent enquiries text or email and we will deal with your request on 26th May.

For urgent matters please contact your primary care vet.

BEING ‘GREEN’

As a practice which uses herbs to improve animal health and wellbeing it shouldn’t be surprising that we also care about the environment.

We choose herbs from suppliers that grow or gather ethically, and avoid using herbs which are rare and must be collected from the wild. The companies we use also ship their products by sea, rather than air, to reduce their carbon footprint.

RE-USE, RECYCLE

Where safe and possible we re-use bottles and tubs to supply herbs. You may also notice most of the padded envelopes we use are re-used too. This helps reduce waste and costs to our clients.

If you are able to return empty medicine pots and bottles we would be very grateful, if you can’t then please re-use or recycle them yourselves.

GARLIC IS GREAT!

Garlic is one of our favourite herbs, in fact it’s a whole medicine cupboard all by itself!

Garlic contains volatile oils and sulphurous compounds (which give it it’s pungent smell) as well as vitamins and flavonoids (anti-oxidants).

These active compounds have many effects including antimicrobial, antithrombotic (stop blood clots), expectorant, antioxidant, hypolipidaemic (reduce fat in the blood), hypotensive (reduce blood pressure), anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic and spermatogenic (increase sperm production).

Garlic has been used extensively in both human and animal medicine around the world. It is even written that the Romans would prepare huge vats of garlic and water to douse the wounds of their soldiers returning from battle! (And of course it wards off vampires…)

ISN’T GARLIC TOXIC TO DOGS AND CATS?

All the onion family are to some extent toxic to dogs and cats but garlic can be used in moderation. Take extra care if using garlic for cats as they are more sensitive than dogs.

Chronic overdose of garlic can cause problems with the blood including anaemia. Because it may reduce blood clotting garlic should be stopped before any planned surgery.

SAFE DOSES OF GARLIC

We feel that half to one clove of garlic (about 3-4g fresh garlic) is safe for a 20-25kg dog and about 0.5g for an average cat. We recommend giving it on 5 days out of 7.

We feel that the benefits of using fresh garlic far outweigh the aroma as processing and drying the garlic can lead the loss of volatile oils.

HOLISTIC DIAGNOSTICS

The Holistic approach to Veterinary Care takes a very broad view of the animal including it’s diet lifestyle and habits before making a diagnosis or recommending a treatment plan. Holistic consultations are usually slightly longer than conventional ones to allow time to gather all the relevant information from the owner and the pet. But even a great and thorough history make not give us all the answers we need and sometimes owners are taken aback that we may recommend conventional diagnostic tests before making a decision.

BLOOD TESTS, X-RAYS, SKIN SCRAPES…

When consulting at Companion Care Eastbourne or Goudhurst Vets we may be able to do blood testing or skin work ups on the day of your consultation. When home visiting or for radiographs we will recommend you visit your Primary Care Practice.

WHY DOES A HOLISTIC VET NEED DIAGNOSTIC TESTS?

All Vets face the problem that their patients can’t describe their symptoms so we have to rely on what we and owners can observe. In many orthopaedic pain management cases it isn’t essential to know what is the underlying cause of the pain and we can treat the muscle using acupuncture and select herbs to suit the animals needs. But if we suspect a disease which can be better treated surgically (for example a luxating patella (knee-cap) or cruciate ligament injury) or when manipulation could make a problem worse (for example a spinal problem) we need to gather more information.

When treating a skin problem most of them end up looking the same after the dog or cat has had a good old scratch; we will get no-where giving herbs for allergic skin disease if the dog has mange and will struggle to control skin infection if there is an underlying disease such as hypothyroidism or cushings.

Holistic Vets don’t have crystal balls to allow us to diagnose problems though sometimes our wider focus lets us pick up things a conventional vet may not consider but sometimes we’re still going to have to fall back on conventional diagnostic tests.