| A New Perspective: How you view
your Pets has much to do with their Wellness From the Editor | by Tim Miejan Our featured topic this month, holistic pet care, I must admit stemmed from not only my own experience -- and success! -- with treating my pets with holistic modalities, but a growing awareness that the dogs and cats and birds and lizards and hamsters and snakes that are our pets are more than belongings we play with and then put away for a rainy day. As Cat Care Clinic veterinarian Sue Swanson said in a recent interview, pets have been elevated to "family member status, as opposed to just being a pet." A prevailing human thought has been that they're all just animals. Some cultures still do not accept dogs in their living environments. And while people are admittedly higher on the food chain, and supposedly more evolved, I believe our pets demonstrate values that have yet to become second nature for our species. Like unconditional love. Like non-judgment. Like living in the present moment rather than dwelling on the past or future. It is possible, with a little imagination, to see your pets as alien beings who do not speak our language or communicate the way we do. They are telepathic beings who can read our minds and see pictures in their heads. And these small beings live to share their love. Just imagine what our world would be like if people acted similarly. For an admittedly small, but hopefully growing segment of our population who think of their pets as fellow beings rather than subservient beasts, it is becoming a routine procedure to treat them with the same love and respect that our pets share with us. We think about their needs with genuine concern -- in the present moment -- rather than ignoring the subtle signs that they are not feeling well and waiting until they get really sick to offer emergency relief. Not unlike responding immediately when your child has a slight fever, some of us now are noticing that our dog has begun to drink too much water and his coat is no longer silky smooth, and we're taking him in for a quick check-up. Holistic pet care is not a consumer fad, and neither is your holistic health care. It is an intentional shift in awareness, an evolving state of our consciousness, that recognizes the interconnection of everything around us. We are not separate. Energy flows between each of us, between our pets and us, between the trees and between the birds on the branch. It is a way of being. And once I realized I was an interconnected being, an integral part of all that is, I couldn't help but see my pets in any other way. As a result, I try to care for them as I care for myself. Like children, they depend on me to take care of their needs. How well I recognize their needs, and how well I am able to understand them, reflects on their state of health and their state of happiness. A cynical response would be that my cats are happy whether I understand them or not, but I whole-heartedly disagree. Pets who know that you understand them live a more satisfied and rewarding life. I think back to the precious cats who have shared my life in the past -- Stripey, Layla, Sgt. Pepper -- and I cannot imagine the amount of separation and distance they must have felt in our relationship. A truly amazing grace has blessed my transformation, for "I once was lost but now am found; was blind, but now, I see." Fortunately, I now share incredible moments with my four cats -- China Cat Sunflower, Seth, Sunti Si-Sawat and Cleo -- and one dog, Ghandi. They know that I am making an effort to communicate, to understand, to care for them. And in return, they bless me with gifts I could not possibly put in words. The most recent health challenge, which has been a bit of a battle for the past year, has been a growth on my 13-year-old tabby cat Seth's head, near the left ear. He has had surgery twice to remove the growth. He has vomited blood and endured a Sunday morning to the emergency room. We successfully treated him with Chinese herbs to reduce the tumor growth, only to have it recur. Our latest tactic has been to give him a higher dose of a trace mineral, cesium, in an effort to lower the pH of his body, from more acidic to alkaline, because cancer cells cannot grow in that state. It has worked. The growth, which this time had spread like a small capillary across the top of his head and behind his ear, had disappeared. The former swelling next to his ear is gone. His hair is growing back in that area. With the use of extra vitamin C and E to promote the absorption of the cesium, we seem to have helped him, with no side-effects. A fringe benefit is that the extra vitamins seem to have made his coat smoother and softer than it had ever been before. The hope is that we finally remove all of the cells that keep wanting to grow and spread. It was necessary, in our quest to bring Seth back to optimum health, to use Western medicine, surgery, and holistic care in the form of herbs, vitamin and mineral supplements and heavy doses of Reiki in our home. Integrating the best of what health care can offer makes good sense. Hopefully in time, more people will awaken to new possibilities, to alternatives to the way things have always been done and to an understanding of pets that will make the lives of all concerned that much more satisfying. Tim Miejan is editor of The EDGE. Contact him at (651) 578-8969 or e-mail editor@edgenews.com Copyright (c) 2002 Tim Miejan |
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