Treating your pet with a holistic approach addresses the needs of your companion in a way that other methods don’t. Holistic care looks at healing the entire body, effective alongside treatments that target the cancer specifically.
How Holistic Cancer Treatment For Pets Helps Healing
A holistic approach treats the entire body, not just the disease. When used to treat cancer, this approach is known as Integrative Oncology. One of the main benefits of this approach is that it can reduce the side effects of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. The holistic approach also improves post-surgery wound healing and lessens scarring.
Holistic Pet Treatments for Cancer
Traditional cancer treatments like radiation and chemotherapy can be part of a complete cancer treatment plan, but are not considered to be holistic cancer treatments for pets. Preventative medicine and treatments that fall under the banner of holistic care either support these treatments or offer an alternative. They tend to focus on whole-body health. Some examples include:
Pet Specific Nutrition Plans
Each animal reacts to cancer treatment differently. Therefore, they require foods and nutrients tailored to their needs. Eating patterns and preferences may change as the animal goes through the stages of illness and treatment. What was once a favorite food may now cause the animal to be ill. A nutrition plan takes this into account.
Herbs and Supplements
Many plants have medicinal properties. In fact, some of the most popular medicines are derived from plants. An essential ingredient in aspirin, salicylic acid, is found in willow bark. Morphine comes from a poppy flower. Herbs and supplements are often helpful in treating symptoms and side effects. Careful use of these plant-based medicines can help alleviate your pet’s discomfort.
Acupuncture and Massage
These traditional treatments provide your companion animal with relief from the discomfort associated with cancer and its treatments.