Randy Kidd, DVM, PhD

While most of us think of work as a physical enterprise, to work well also requires a functional mind, stabile emotions, and the inner desire or spirit to perform the task at hand.

Practitioners have a variety of reasons for wanting to integrate alternative medicines into their practice.

Alternative therapies have become increasingly popular in recent years, but their use in veterinary medicine is not without controversy.

Homeopathy is a philosophy of health and a system of therapeutic remedies that has been used for nearly two centuries.

Chiropractic is a form of health care that has long been used in man and animals.

As a healing method, acupuncture has been used for several thousand years.

While some questions of efficacy remain, the industry is experiencing a much greater acceptance of supplements in all areas of pet care.

Herbs have been an integral part of our diet and pharmacy since mankind began roaming the earth.

Herbs have been an integral part of our diet and pharmacy since mankind began roaming the earth.

As a healing method, acupuncture has been used for several thousand years. However, recent interest in alternative medicines and especially in the alternative medicines in veterinary medicine have made acupuncture an evermore popular complement or alternative to western or allopathic medicine.

Throughout recorded history, the ability of fragrance to induce responses and enhance moods has been a powerful theme in virtually every culture, and a variety of fragrances have been used to enhance emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.

Chiropractic is a form of health care that has long been used in man and animals.

In the early 1930's an English physician, Dr. Edward Bach, believed that people fell into several distinct emotional types and that each of these types would respond to illness in a particular way.

The term homeopathy has its roots in one man vision, the German physician, Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).

Alternative therapies have become increasingly popular in recent years, but their use in veterinary medicine is not without controversy.

Roughly 10 million dogs and cats are euthanized (killed) in shelters every year, and most of these animals are relinquished because they have behavioral problems that the owners can't (or don't want to) deal with.

One could argue that all our pets, all "pack and carry" animals, and all the meat and fiber-producing animals – in other words, all our domesticated animals – are "working" animals.