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]