Meet The “Alt” Cat
Alternative healing addresses the entire body of your cats life – the body, minds, spirit, and environment. It’s an overall approach to treating any dis-ease your cat may have, or to keep your cat in optimum health. Alternative healing is less intrusive and less stressful than traditional medicine. Although there are many times when traditional medicine is required, sometimes alternative medicine works as well.
Always look for a professional veterinarian that has experience in alternative healing for animals. If given incorrectly some cures cando more harm than good.
Nutrition is a good place to start with keeping your cat healthy. Cats have very different nutritional needs than dogs. They need higher amounts of protein and fats than dogs. A cat (unlike a dog) should never be subjected to a vegetarian diet. Being natural carnivores, they crave meat. If your belief system is opposed to meat, please consider a different pet.
Nutrition will make your cat stronger and better able to fight off illness, but should you need more support, alternative healing offers a variety of ways to heal your cats system. Nutrition is the basis of naturopathy which is defined as “drugless system of therapy” and emphasizes supporting the body’s physical attempts to eliminate disease. Naturopaths believe that a major cause of disease is an excessive buildup of toxic materials which clog the eliminatory system.
Cleaning the body of toxins that build up due to improper diet or lack of exercise is central to alternative healing. Combining naturopathy with natural holistic, nutrition and dietary supplementation is very effective to support wellness.
A Matter of Balance
A holistic cat is one who is in a state of balance: physical, emotional, and environmental. Holistic healing is based on health and healing of the “whole” patient by focusing on physical and emotional balance and a lifestyle that supports wellness. This approach encompasses many forms of older, but effective forms of healing used alone, or with Western medicine. It is sometimes referred to as Alternative, Natural or Complementary Medicine. Many people seek alternative healing to avoid invasiveness, side effects, or poor results often seen when using Western medicines. Many Alternative Healing methods, such as Traditional Chinese medicine or Homeopathy, are based on balancing the body’s energy, or life force, a concept yet to be defined in Western-based Modern Medicine.
There are different forms of alternative healing for you and your cat, including acupuncture, homeopathy, flower essences, herbs & tonics. When using alternative healing, you need to be patient and observant. Patient because these methods aim to cure on a deep level any imbalance in your cats immune system instead of just covering symptoms. And observant as you note your cats progress or lack of progress. Sometimes symptoms disappear very slowly to the point that you forget they even existed. That’s a good thing. Also be aware that with alternative healing, the symptoms may reoccur, although weaker. This is a good sign as it means your cats immune system is fighting off the symptoms. So when symptoms re-occur, it’s easy to get discouraged, but if you’re observant, you start to see that your cat is actually healing.
Using Alternative Treatments Successfully
It can take between three and six weeks to start seeing changes in your cats well-being when using alternative treatments and changing diet. During this time of cleaning and detoxing, new cells are being replaced with newer healthier cells which bring change to your cats overal well-being.