Where it all began
In the first year of vet school, I was told that you can tell a cocker spaniel owner’s house by the tide-mark of wax along the walls. Having been brought up with long-eared dogs from childhood, with not an ear problem among them, I was completely mystified as to why the professor thought that to be the case.
A couple of years later, we were taught dermatology (diseases of the skin), and a point of view was put forward that long-eared dogs and dogs who swim are prone to ear disease. Again, this was news to me and not my experience with the many long-eared, swimming family dogs.
The most notable of all things said to us during that long degree by a wise and enlightened professor was –
“In five years’ time, 50% of what is thought to be true today on this course will be proven to be wrong.”
He was absolutely right. It pays always to keep up with the science but also to lean into your own clinical experience, which is a vital component of helping us to do things better.
Throughout my career, it has been by far my greatest pleasure to forge ahead with nutrition as my primary therapy, knowing that Hippocrates (the father of medicine, 460–370 BC) was spot-on. The quote attributed to him, is as true today as it was then –
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,”
Good fortune and experience
I had the massive good fortune and experience to realise very early that the good diet fed to our family dogs, and dogs I encountered in the clinic, was fantastically preventative for ALL disease processes. The same, of course, applies to our cats. In addition, those cats who hunted invariably thrived, having no dental disease, strong muscles, and a happier disposition.
As we know for ourselves, the pillars of a healthy life include optimal nutrition, good exercise, clean air and water, good stress management, and a happy social life to achieve our full potential. Our pet’s health relies on those same foundations too.
Scientific Knowledge
There is an increasing amount of scientific knowledge confirming what has been instinctively known to be true for thousands of years. The latest explosion of data on the body’s many microbiomes (gut, skin, bladder, lungs, brain, mouth) is enabling a vastly different approach to health and disease. Tests analysing the components of these microbiomes are becoming commercially available, and the treatments are supportive rather than combative—probiotics instead of antibiotics. Working with nature and the immune system rather than against it. Faecal microbiome transplants, for instance.
Don’t just survive – Thrive!
As a vet, I have the privilege of discovering the root causes of so many ailments that need not cost a fortune to treat, helping people whose budgets are squeezed by financial pressures and who are time-poor. I do this by concentrating very largely on the gastrointestinal health of the pet: tailoring diets and supplements to suit; performing tests if necessary; and procedures such as faecal microbiome transplants, which can be transformative. I know, emphatically, that through this nutritional approach, I am helping pets to thrive, not just survive.
I look forward to helping YOUR pet.