Hi Stephanie,

I do try to take a holitistic approach to caring for may ferrets. I'm
no expert on any of this - in fact, I'm relatively new to a lot of
things that are commonly considered to be holistic medicine. I'll try
to explain what I do and how I use my version of the terminology so
it will make more sense. I'm sure everyone has a slightly differnt
interpretation, and I do not claim mine is "right" - LOL!!!!

I tend to think on "holistic" as an approach to caring for my animals.
My holistic care looks at all aspectes of care - food, supplements,
medicine, exercise, enrichment, wellness, and sickness. I tend to use
the word "holistic" to mean an approach to my animals care. To me
holistic refers to looking at the entire care package - not just he
meds.

Traditional Medicine - to me, traditional medicine western medicine --
antibiotics, surgery, etc. This is highly studied with FDA approved
meds and controlled medicine medicines and approved standard
procedures. I think this is often called allopathic medicine because
"Traditional" is a localized term. Traditional medicine in the western
might mean something very different in Asia! Again, these are just my
own terms that I use to categorize things. One more thing.....a GOOD
traditional vet will take a holistic approach by examining the entire
animal, asking about te animals life style(stress, etc), diet.....

Alternative Medicine - to me, this would be any professionall
prescribed/administered treatment that does NOT fall unter the caegory
of Traditional medicine. This would include things like Traitional
Chinese Medicine (TCM), Accupunture, Neutraceuticals and herbal
treatments, etc.

Intergrative medicine - Integrative medicine integrates traditional
medicine and one or more alternative meicines. The idea is that the
best medicine is used for whatever is being addressed, regardless of
whether it's a Chinese herb, accupunture, antibiotics, etc. or even a
combination of things

Do you strictly treat with holistic medicine only and if so, how has
treatment been on insulinoma, adrenal and lynphoma?
* I do not treat solely with alternative medicines.
* I use traditional and/or aternative medicines depending upon the
issue, the severity of the isue, and the nature and/or effectiveness"
of the treatments available. I have had good luck with both traditional
and non-traditional medicines combined for lymphoma. I don't know which
worked best and/or if the success was due to one medicine or the other.
I used the combined approach before I had an integrative vet...my
traditional vet said that the alternative med certainly would not hurt,
so we did both.

I started the combined approach with my current set of ferrets. They 3
of the 4 turn 5 in March. I started going to the integrative vet about
a year ago, and my kids have not been sick this past year. They have
been remarkably healthy so far. My one girl mat be pre-adrenal/very
early adrenal. Her blood work shows a very slight elevation in the
Spring. I give her lupron for about 4-5 months, and so far, her bllod
work returns to normal in the late summer through winter. I also give
her melatonin as recommended by my integrative vet.

Does anyone use a clinic that combines traditional and holistic and
how has that worked out? Yes - it's great!

I have a feret exepert traditional vet (close by) and an intergrative
vet who also has quite a bit of ferret experience. He is farther away.
I see both vets at least once a year. My kids have been remarkably
healthy. My integrative vet tends to focus more on
wellness/prevention/general healing while my traditional vet is more
oriented toward treating illness/ailments.

If not one clinic, do both vets approve of the others treatments and
how do you justify one to the other? Yes, and I'm very gratfeul fo
rthis. I think that you are MOST likely to find tradtional vet that's
a ferret expert. You Need a ferret expert regardless of what type of
medicine is practiced.

I suggested to each vet that one vet is more for wellness and the other
is more for holistic evaluation and wellness. I think this explanation
makes them both understand they have different tings to offer. I
eplained to eht integrative vet that I need a tradtional vet close by
for emergencies and off-hour support. Both are excellent vets who have
great respect for each other.

What I do NOT recommend doing is using a traditional vet who knows
nothing of alternative medicine along with an alternative medicine vet
that is not trained in traditional medicine. Therapies CAN interfere
with each other. Even simple herbs can do this. If neither side knows
anything about what the other is doing, you may end up with something
that does not work. I would also NOT use alternative medicine
prescribed by a vet who nknows nothing or very little about ferrets.
Just because something is "natural" or "holistic" does NOT mean it is
poison-free, without issues and "safe" for your ferret.

Has anyone used holistic medicine and ferrets have not responded to
this type of treatment at all? No worse than with traditional medicine.
I've seen medicinal mushrooms work better than antibiotics for a gum
infection. I've seen nutritional "super greens" added to my ferrets'
diet and had clear up constant/on-going mast cell activity clear up and
never return. I'm not kidding about this. My integrative vet thought I
should be providing some "supper greens" in my kids' diet. Two weeks
later all mast cell activity on my ferret was gone. It has been well
over 6 months - no sign of mast cell tumors - and this should be the
high time of the year for hormonal activity. I'm updating an ongoing
thread on the FHL and on the Holistic Ferret Forum to let people know
how this goes.

If you use holistic care only, what do you do in emergencies,
especially on weekends and nights? explained above.

I highly recommend the use of integraive medicines, but I'm also very
serious about using ferret-knowledeable vet for this purpose. If I had
to get rid of one vet, it would be the integrative vet just because I
have known my traditional vt forever and I know he can do the
surgeries. There are times when traditional medicine is the BEST. But
that's NOT always the case.

Best Regards,
-jennifer

[Posted in FML 6578]