Although the bonds between dogs and their humans are seemingly becoming stronger, it can still be difficult to tell when your dog isn’t feeling quite right—and why. Veterinarians are an excellent resource for diagnosing and treating specific conditions, but holistic vets take a different approach to health care for dogs.
Similar to naturopathy or naturopathic medicine in humans, holistic veterinary care practitioners take a whole-body approach in treating a dog’s health concerns by understanding a patient’s environment, relationship with their owner, and other factors.
The Paw Print sat down with Dr. Jeff Feinman, a researcher and integrative veterinarian, to learn more about his approach to vet care. Feinman earned both molecular biology and veterinary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and conducted research in Penn’s School of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and veterinary school Department of Medical Genetics.
He practiced veterinary medicine, but quickly became alarmed by increasing rates of allergies, cancers, and other degenerative diseases. His frustration with conventional therapy results led him to found Holistic Actions, an online resource hub for pet parents that includes weekly webinars about holistic pet care, a resource library for treating certain conditions, and access to calls with holistic veterinarians.
The following is a transcript of our conversation, edited only for brevity and clarity.
The Paw Print: How do traditional vets approach illnesses in dogs versus holistic vets?
Feinman: [In traditional vet medicine,] we're working against the body, working against natural mechanisms of healing. We work against those mechanisms by using things that are called antibiotic or anti-inflammatory. They're all working against life. It may get rid of the symptoms, but in the long run, they're predisposing us to worse and worse diseases and all that being shown in modern medicine right now. It's just not trickling over to veterinary medicine. And the reason it's not trickling over may be how veterinary medicine is between more and more in the direction of corporate medicine.
I'm not trying to convince you about anything because proof is in the pudding. The proof is that people in Italy, when Italy was being overwhelmed by the COVID pandemic… [people] couldn't even get into the hospital. They were all treated with homeopathy, and they all survived.
But as you may or may not know, homeopathy is not part of medicine at all in this country. Around the world, it is one of the top forms of medicine, because it's very, very, very effective and very inexpensive. But because money is really driving medicine in the U.S., we're kind of getting a standard view of [needing] to take the new and more expensive drugs, or else you're not going to get well again.
The Paw Print: Why do dogs exhibit such high rates of cancer?
Feinman: A lot of it is the environmental toxicity around us, and the big part of that is what we eat and what we put in our bodies and what we do to our dogs.
The Paw Print: How should dog parents approach their relationship with their dog?
Feinman: Actually, somebody taught me a new word yesterday, which is, “kuha.” It's like a spiritual connection with your animals.
The Paw Print: What is the foundation of your approach to dog health and wellness?
Feinman: BEAM and vitality. BEAM is an acronym for behavior, energy, appetite, and mood. Those are the factors that are the quality of life, and that is that we base treatment on: quality of life and not based on getting rid of symptoms.
The Paw Print: What are the top few things you want dog parents to know?
Feinman: Fresh food: there is no one right answer. Be aware of the connection that we've built with our pets. Allergies are fundamentally based on an imbalance, and the allergies are the immune system's way of overreacting to everything in the environment.
The way you treat them is not by avoiding the allergen, but rather by tuning the immune system. Nowadays, you'll see many dogs on cytopoint or prednisone. and that's just trying to get rid of the symptoms. A lot of those dogs end up on Holistic Actions, because nothing is working, right? When nothing is working is a good thing. That means a body is resisting the treatments that you're trying to force on it. When the body is strong enough to resist, that means it's able to heal.
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