References & Resources: 
Schedule a health care consult (See the New Client page for details and cost).  Or you can purchase ($10) a set of Dr. Chalmers handouts on vaccines, nutrition, flea control, obstacles to cure and a home toxicity survey.  These handouts include resources and references.  Call for a copy:  538-4643.

Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats, by Richard Pitcairn Rodale press, 2005).  See info on vaccines.

Homeopathic Care for Cats and Dogs, by Don Hamilton (North Atlantic Book, 1999).  See Chapter 16 on vaccines.

Vaccines: Are they really safe and effective?, by Neil Miller (New Atlantean Press).   Explores the history of vaccines and their efficacy.

Wise Traditions podcasts (westonaprice.org/podcasts)- interviews with experts in various health fields.   Podcasts on vaccines (#16, 17, 54, 64, 72, 110, 149 & 166).   Podcasts on GMO's and Round-up/glyphosate (#7, 50, 61, 133 & 145).  Podcasts on radiation (#158 & 171)

Excellent information on vaccines on childrenshealthdefense.com    Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has devoted his life to educating people on the link between vaccines and chronic disease in children.   The same principles apply to animals. 

Tips on green living (cleaners, flooring, etc):  www.greenamerica.org/green-living

Toxic Bedrooms: Your Guide to a Safe Night’s Sleep, by Walter Bader (Freedom Press, 2006).  Available from www.lifekind.com

Safe Toys: www.purrfectplay.com

National Green Pages    This is a directory listing of companies that sell all kinds of green products for the home.  Become a member of Green America or access the Directory on-line:  www.greenamerica.org/green-business-index

EMF protection devices:  www.earthcalm.com    greenwavefilters.com (dirty electricity)       Smartmeterguard.com  (smart meter/router guards)

                      Dowsers: www.dowsers.org       bturner@frontiernet.net

Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org/guides) - a non-profit organization that does research and provides information to the public.

Americans for Safe Technology (www.americansforresponsible tech.org) - another non-profit involved in research and public education

Help change the law for Rabies Vaccine Requirements; go to the Rabies Challenge Fund- www.rabieschallengefund.com

Preventative medicine involves three steps:  recognizing the causes of disease, taking steps to reduce exposure and supporting health. This last step includes appropriate nutrition and (because we can't completely avoid them), providing supplements that support the body in eliminating toxins.  I offer the following information to guide you in making health care choices for your animals.  References are provided so that you can do some of your own research.

Step One:  Recognizing Causes of Disease​

There are many causes of disease.  It is important to understand that each of us is susceptible/vulnerable to different things.  A bacteria or virus may infect one member of the family and not another. Toxins can affect individual family members in different ways.  Equally important is the accumulative effect of the toxins and stressors on health.  The threshold of toxicity varies from individual to individual.  I invite you to explore the health care issues below.

• Vaccines: One of the most critical health care decisions you make is the decision about which vaccines are appropriate for your individual animal.  There is no single answer.  I highly recommend that you have a discussion with a holistic vet in order to develop a plan that makes sense for you. In my opinion animals are vaccinated too young and too often. According to the immunologists, "A practice that was started many years ago and that lacks scientific validity or verification is re-vaccination".  Though some vaccines provide only short-term immunity, the core vaccines (Distemper, Parvo, Rabies) can provide many years of immunity.  We can run blood titers to confirm that immunity is still present. Though we used to believe that vaccines were benign, they are not.  Vaccines always impact the life force and immune system.  The more we vaccinate the higher the risk of a breakdown in the immune system leading to allergies, auto-immune diseases & cancer.  See resources below for more information on vaccines. 
  
• Electromagnetic field energy: produces a deleterious bioelectric effect on our cells (which pulse at 8 Hertz).  The nervous system, immune system and the endocrine system (hormones) are most affected.  Electrical devices (especially fluorescent lights/CFL's, smoke detectors & electric blankets) and power lines produce low-frequency energy (60 Hertz).  There is evidence linking even low-frequency EMF exposure with cancer.  But high-frequency energy (100,000 Hertz - produced by cell phones, routers, cell phone towers, SmartMeters and all other wireless devices) is even more damaging.  The NIH, WHO and biomedical researchers worldwide report that exposure to radiofrequency radiation results in anxiety, headaches, insomnia, depression, memory problems, neurological symptoms, cancer, diabetes, obesity, immune dysfunction, etc.  It also alters bird navigation and disturbs bee colonies. The new 5G (5th generation) wireless technology is even more powerful and more harmful because of the range of frequencies used and because of greatly increased exposure.  5G technology provides for the Internet of Things (IOT)- it is connecting all of our Smart appliances.  Geopathic energy (produced by underground faults, water, caverns) includes a variety of harmful energies and can lead to ant & spider problems, deformed plants as well as damage to our nervous system.  If you have heavy metal toxicity, you are even more susceptible to harmful energy. The most important step to take is to reduce your exposure.  There are a few protective devices that can help and we can provide nutritional support to protect the nervous system.   See below for resources.
  

​​Step Two: Reducing Exposure

Increasingly, there are alternatives to the use of toxic products.  The following are some examples:

• Reduce the use of vaccines.  You probably don’t need most of them.  Request antibody titers (blood test) to verify immunity.
  
• Avoid the use of flea/tick insecticides if possible (esp. Advantage, Frontline, etc): there are nontoxic alternatives.
  
• Use safe alternatives to toxic household & pet products (beds, furniture, paint, pet toys) - see references below
  
• Avoid the use of herbicides (Round-up).   Alternatives= goats eat weeds OR spray 30% vinegar (Amazon.com) on weeds (2 applications)
  
• Install water filters for drinking water (most people do not have clean water) and install a carbon filter in the shower  - see references below
  
• Feed clean foods (see us for a list of clean foods). Avoid kibble because it is highly processed and toxic. They also contain GMO's, pesticides and synthetic vitamins.  Do feed organic produce, 100% grass-fed meats & pastured eggs when possible.
  
• Minimize the use of wireless devices (consider Ethernet).   Avoid the use of Smart Appliance (5g technology)
  
• Use EMF protection devices from EarthCalm.com and Smartmeterguard.com and Greenwavefilters.com (see below)
  
• Avoid electric blankets and heating pads.
  

• ​Toxic chemicals:  Chemical toxins are possibly the most serious health challenge we face today. These chemicals are silent, deadly and pervasive. Since the middle of the twentieth century, synthetic chemicals (over 100,000 of them) have increasingly replaced natural substances. They are present in our air, our water, our soil and our bodies. We have reached the point where the chemical burden is so high that no human or animal is unaffected. In 2006, the World Health Organization estimated that environmental pollution contributes to 85% of the human disease.  Another statistic reveals an alarming increase in cancer: 100 years ago the incidence of cancer was 1 in 8,000 people. Today 1 in 3 people will develop cancer in their lifetime. Cancer is now the 2nd leading cause of death in dogs.  Environmental Working Group (ewg.org), did a study on dogs and cats. All of them tested positive for chemicals commonly found in their living environments.  In effect, our animals are lying on, breathing, drinking and eating chemical toxins.  In some cases there is a direct link between a particular chemical and a specific disease, but most chemicals are toxic to multiple organ systems and/or they combine with other chemicals to create toxicity. When disease develops, it results from a cumulative effect of the various toxins. 
  
• Flea & Tick control:  Advantage and Frontline are neurotoxins and suspected carcinogens.  Bravecto, Nexgard and Simparica carry warnings about adverse reactions including seizures, tremors, weakness and lethargy.  Topical permethrins such as BioSpot, Defend Zodiak and Vectra are toxic, especially to cats.  Alternatives include flea combs, Flea Busters, Beneficial nematodes (Steinernema fletiae nematodes), essential oil flea & tick products, Activyl (pro-insecticide used topically). 
  
• What we have found via our research is that of the 100,000 chemicals in our environment, 8 of them are especially dangerous.  This is because they interfere with our biochemistry in ways that our amazing bodies weren't designed to defend against.  The 8 most harmful chemicals are:glyphosate (Round-up), GMO's, GMO Promoter (the viral fragment used to create genetically modified organisms), 2 surfactants (spreading agents added to herbicides), Dicamba (an herbicide added to Round-up), Atrazine (the second most common herbicide) and chlorpyrifos (an insecticide used on many of our agricultural crops).  These chemicals are endocrine disrupters (glyphosate, GMO Promoter, Atrazine).  They damage the immune system (glyphosate, Atrazine, Dicamba, Promoter).  Surfactants spread infections and chemicals and can drag chemicals past the blood brain barrier and carry them into the brain.  Some of them are directly damaging to kidneys and the GI tract (GMO's, glyphosate) and are significant contributors to GI and kidney disease.  Some of them affect the nervous system (glyphosate, chlorpyrifos) resulting in pain and nervous system dysfunction.  Glyphosate depletes the body of minerals resulting in weakness of the muscles and joints leading to torn cruciate ligaments, arthritis & disk disease.  Much of our work involves using herbs to clear these toxins and repair the damage.  Current blood tests cannot identify these chemicals and in fact blood test results are often confusing to those not familiar with the biochemical alterations cause by them.  As a result, mainstream practitioners are often confronted with strange "new diseases". 
  
• ​​Heavy metals: Aluminum (acid rain), mercury (mining, fish), chromium (car exhaust), hexavalent chromium (in the water), lead, etc. are  occasional contaminants in our patients. They damage the nervous system.  They are easy to diagnose and treat via Energy Resonance Testing.
  

​Step Three: Supporting Health with Clinical Nutrition

Our bodies are amazing in their capacity to repair damage caused by toxins.  But because of the increasing burden, these defense mechanisms are overwhelmed.  Our bodies can no longer keep up and are depleted in the process.  We support the body in coping with the stress of environmental toxins by:

• Feeding a natural diet (if possible) or one that supports healing.
• Using whole-food nutritional supplements that help repair the damage caused by toxins and that assist the body in the elimination of toxins.  Using Energy Resonance Testing (See the Clinical Nutrition page), we can identify the specific nutrients needed for repair and detoxification. 
  
• In addition to nutritional support, we can use homeopathic therapy to strengthen the life force.