piglet and i went there today. dh came along since he's been home sick (today's the first day he's felt remotely better and wanted to get out of the house). the vet blends eastern and western medicine. he said that if we had brought piglet to him before having the teeth removed, we may have been able to save them. my hackles went up on that one because the vet dentist said piglet's canines looked like swiss cheese on x-ray. i'm planning on calling to get copies of her x-rays from there. holistic vet said to tell him everything, so i told him... well, everything. what precipitated our visit today (after having all four canines removed, i wanted to treat piglet's ckf as holistically as possible) and what drove us to the surgery and why the old vet said she had ckf... i even went back further, telling him we suspected herpes (which he said is very easy to test for - i was told the opposite years and years ago when we first started treating piglet with l-lysine) and how piglet had severe pneumonia at 6-7 months old and was in an oxygen tent for two days out of five spent in hospital.
holistic vet started drawing at that point. seriously. he drew five points, each for an element, and explained how in chinese medicine each also represents a system of the body. and how each is mother or grandmother to another element. the lungs are mother to the kidneys in this system, meaning that poor lung function can lead to poof kidney function (this is all sort of how he explained it, all based on traditional chinese herbal medicine). to him, it all made sense, everything that we said piglet has been experiencing. dh was on board because he hates taking medicine or pills. he truly believes that the body can heal itself in most cases, if it's given the nourishment and support it needs. holistic vet also said that we may want to x-ray and/or ultrasound piglet's body to see if there are other things going on. he shares a story of a dog who was brought to an emergency clinic because he was vomiting a lot. the er vet ordered ultrasound and bloodwork, which showed nothing abnormal. during office hours, the dog's parents brought him to holistic vet who ordered x-rays - which showed a big honkin' tumor on the heart. he believes that x-rays are the the place to start for piglet, that they'll be more beneficial than ultrasound at this point.
so holistic vet came in with a HUGE estimate of everything he thinks we need to start: $77 for the office visit, plus an acupuncture treatment, a bottle of chinese herbal supplements to add to piglet's food, x-ray, fee to have x-ray read by a radiologist, fee to move our films to the top of the stack (what?), and a nutritional consult. now, i have no problem sharing some things, like over $600 was the complete estimate for all things related to the x-rays. that includes having them read by a radiologist. i balked at that for sure. he explained that he'd want full body x-rays to show everything which i understand. but about $200 of it was for interpretation of the films. i haven't had a cat x-rayed in a long, long time. really long time. and it was in florida, not new york, which is like the most expensive place in the country to do ANYTHING. the nutritional consultation was $300, but it's with a nutritionist who will develop a plan specifically tailored to piglet's needs as we go along. dh and i filled out a packet of info about what we feed piglet now, what we were feeding her before the surgery, what kind of treats we use, does piglet like any human food, so many questions. even if we would be willing to feed raw/homemade food (answer is 'yes').
we paid for the acupuncture, the supplements, and the nutritional consult. we decided those were the most important things. we both believe in supplements and acupuncture. my concern now is that weekly acupuncture will be a) a lot of stress for piglet; the office is 35 minutes away, and b) freaking expensive. $77 office visit and $95 or something for the acupuncture. i'm found a local veterinary specialist center that does not have a holistic vet but does provide acupuncture. i've emailed them to see if they would be able to perform acupuncture on piglet and if they'd need a referral. i'd like to think holistic vet would be willing to write a referral for piglet to have treatment closer to home (like, less than 10 minutes away). (i'm also hoping they might be cheaper, but we'll see.)
it feels like a huge layout, but this all seems like the type of stuff that once we get piglet stabilized and on a diet that's good for her and keep her feeling good, it will be about maintenance - yearly checkups for wellness and vax, maybe bloodwork every six months or so, acupuncture once a month or every 6 weeks. has anyone had any like experiences with a holistic vet, anything they can share? tia
holistic vet started drawing at that point. seriously. he drew five points, each for an element, and explained how in chinese medicine each also represents a system of the body. and how each is mother or grandmother to another element. the lungs are mother to the kidneys in this system, meaning that poor lung function can lead to poof kidney function (this is all sort of how he explained it, all based on traditional chinese herbal medicine). to him, it all made sense, everything that we said piglet has been experiencing. dh was on board because he hates taking medicine or pills. he truly believes that the body can heal itself in most cases, if it's given the nourishment and support it needs. holistic vet also said that we may want to x-ray and/or ultrasound piglet's body to see if there are other things going on. he shares a story of a dog who was brought to an emergency clinic because he was vomiting a lot. the er vet ordered ultrasound and bloodwork, which showed nothing abnormal. during office hours, the dog's parents brought him to holistic vet who ordered x-rays - which showed a big honkin' tumor on the heart. he believes that x-rays are the the place to start for piglet, that they'll be more beneficial than ultrasound at this point.
so holistic vet came in with a HUGE estimate of everything he thinks we need to start: $77 for the office visit, plus an acupuncture treatment, a bottle of chinese herbal supplements to add to piglet's food, x-ray, fee to have x-ray read by a radiologist, fee to move our films to the top of the stack (what?), and a nutritional consult. now, i have no problem sharing some things, like over $600 was the complete estimate for all things related to the x-rays. that includes having them read by a radiologist. i balked at that for sure. he explained that he'd want full body x-rays to show everything which i understand. but about $200 of it was for interpretation of the films. i haven't had a cat x-rayed in a long, long time. really long time. and it was in florida, not new york, which is like the most expensive place in the country to do ANYTHING. the nutritional consultation was $300, but it's with a nutritionist who will develop a plan specifically tailored to piglet's needs as we go along. dh and i filled out a packet of info about what we feed piglet now, what we were feeding her before the surgery, what kind of treats we use, does piglet like any human food, so many questions. even if we would be willing to feed raw/homemade food (answer is 'yes').
we paid for the acupuncture, the supplements, and the nutritional consult. we decided those were the most important things. we both believe in supplements and acupuncture. my concern now is that weekly acupuncture will be a) a lot of stress for piglet; the office is 35 minutes away, and b) freaking expensive. $77 office visit and $95 or something for the acupuncture. i'm found a local veterinary specialist center that does not have a holistic vet but does provide acupuncture. i've emailed them to see if they would be able to perform acupuncture on piglet and if they'd need a referral. i'd like to think holistic vet would be willing to write a referral for piglet to have treatment closer to home (like, less than 10 minutes away). (i'm also hoping they might be cheaper, but we'll see.)
it feels like a huge layout, but this all seems like the type of stuff that once we get piglet stabilized and on a diet that's good for her and keep her feeling good, it will be about maintenance - yearly checkups for wellness and vax, maybe bloodwork every six months or so, acupuncture once a month or every 6 weeks. has anyone had any like experiences with a holistic vet, anything they can share? tia
