Today I am honoring one of my oldest patients, Kali, a basenji, who is 19-years young this month. She has her problems we have been working on for some time: Hypothyroidism, severe spinal fusion and disc disease but we have been able to keep her mostly off pharmaceuticals which means she has beautiful bloodwork (Liver and Kidneys get gold stars!)… Read more →
Author: Dr. Donna Kelleher
Seattle Times Article Published!
Evaluating our Moral Compass Published February 8, 2019 “The Greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi A few years ago my husband and I decided to travel, not to discover romantic Italian art or wine or rumble down cobblestone lanes, instead choosing dirt paths through poor… Read more →
Dr. Donna teaches Saturday Dec 1 class, “Canine Nutrition”
We touched on why kibble is not good for dogs or cats, the dangers of treated water, raw versus cooked diets, the role of vitamins and minerals for our canine friends, omega fatty acids and oxidative stresses. I know these sound dry but in an effort to keep up the motivation, we worked on our own breathing. Inhaling up through… Read more →
Meds to the Maximus
Maximus is a young, three year-old French bulldog with a list of problems related to the breed. Here is a list of medications he was taking before he saw me. The problem was he was still a sick dog with no cures in sight. But NAET, acupuncture and herbs quickly replaced this list: Tramadol Gabapentin Amoxicillin for a month then… Read more →
Dori’s bladder tumor: Disappeared with holistic treatments
Dori’s bladder tumor: Completely disappeared after a year of intensive herbal and holistic remedies. As a side benefit to the holistic protocol, her oral bone resorption seems to be normal too. The surgeons at Animal Surgical Clinic of Seattle would not resect the tumor because it was too close to vital structures. Using several successive ultrasounds through a boarded radiologist,… Read more →
Week in the Life of Holistic Vet:
Hi people! Today I thought I would post a wrap up of cases from this week as a change from the usual posts where I focus on one dog at a time. Four older dog arthritis cases got better: Some from just chiropractic and acupuncture; some with herbs such as boswellia, corydalis, dogwood and boneset powders in the food, some… Read more →
Spread the word: Making medicine
Here I am showing Olivia how to find the bestplantain leaf (Plantago lanceolata) for her salve! When you show a young person something you know, especially a way to help heal itchy skin and abrasions, it can empower her! Women have long since been strengthened by connecting to each other and to the plants! Read more →
Bettie’s hyperthyroid reversed
Feline hyperthyroid disease is very common in cats over the age of ten years old. We think some of the causes may be excess iodine levels in the commercial food, excess halogenation (Bromine, or bromide, Flouride, Chloride from water and flame retardants) which competitively bumps iodine off receptors in the thyroid gland, excess heavy metals in food and environment, excess… Read more →
Accident prone Thoroughbred: Herbs to rescue
Charlie, this twenty-four year old TB gelding pulled his lower lid from his left eye and one week later it was almost entirely healed using only herbal medicine. Internally: Oregon grape root, gotu kola and sarsparilla powders as well as homeopathic Arnica montana 30C. Externally, my homemade salve with plantain, calendula, comfrey and Hypericum in an organic olive oil/bees wax… Read more →
Training from the Heart with Frederick Pignon and Magali Delgado
Last month many of you know I was lucky enough to participate in a five day clinic with the founders of Cavalia, an amazing presentation of how horses and humans can dance, celebrate and perform tricks and acrobatics together. Frederick and Magali toured for seven years with Cavalia and now their focus has turned to their new showwww.eqi-show.com. During my… Read more →
Holistic help for osteosarcoma
I interrupt your daily catastrophic weather report to tell you about Jefferson. He is a dear silver Lab who was diagnosed a year ago with osteosarcoma in the left humerus. Recommendations for amputation were ignored by his people because he has arthritis in the other 3 limbs and I recommended against radiation. Instead we did a 100% holistic protocol with… Read more →
Hot Spots: Moist versus Dry
Hot spots are a problem in dogs and cats and indicate a deeper skin condition due to a wide variety of causes. Skin allergies, trauma, auto-immune diseases, nerve problems, mites or mange and fleas or flea bite dermatitis are some of the common reasons dogs and cats get hot spots. All of the hot spots in these photos cleared… Read more →
Say no to shark cartilage and yes to a Earth-friendly vegetarian diet!
We support activism and action to preserve our oceans. This is Dr. Jeff diving in Costa Rica. The sharks of the world need our help. Please do not allow your friends to use shark cartilage or eat shark fin soup. This is a baby whale shark (only 20 feet long) He was a friendly fellow. Read more →
Wilson: Skin allergies all cleared!
Wilson’s person wanted to avoid steroids, antibiotics, Atopica and Apoquell this year so she came to me for five sessions. We cleared his allergies with acupuncture and NAET and are rotating his proteins monthly. We used a few different herbal combinations to help the liver. Notice that his redness is along the ventral abdomen where the Liver, Spleen and Kidney… Read more →
Is your dog one of these breeds?
Did you know statistically these are the top five dog breeds for developing cancer and that cancer is the leading cause of death in pet dogs in the US: Bernese mountain dog, Golden retriever, Scottish terrier, Bouvier and Boxer. If you have one of these breeds, then read my ten steps to prevent cancer. No one can guarantee 100% success… Read more →
Mullein: Respiratory tract medicine!
Verbascum thapsusor mullein may often be found along ditches and roadsides, but it’s a powerful medicine for a dry inflamed respiratory tract. The Latin Verbascumcomes from the word barbascum which means “with beard”, owing to the leaf’s soft hairs, a doctrine of signatures for the hair-like cilia along the respiratory tract that aids in sweeping viruses and bacteria along this… Read more →
What makes dogs itch?
With the epidemic of dogs itching, I have to remember that it is normal for dogs to scratch here and there. But if your dog chews at one spot, scratches more than a few seconds or itches several times a day, interrupting normal behaviors like sleeping or playing, your dog may have a problem that will not get better without… Read more →
Back from the rainforest full of beauty and medicine!
Just back from Osa Pennisula, Guaria retreat center, Costa Rica with Jonathon Miller Weisberger and here are some of the plants I met. As long as the rainforests live, the medicine lives. Which one of these flowers is mangosteen? Which flower gave us the chemotherapy Vincristine? Read more →
Put on your Chef’s hat and let the healing begin!
Did you know you can help your pet’s health just by adding 1/2 tsp parsley to his or her food? Add in 1/2 hard-boiled egg and 1 tsp of goat’s yogurt and you are started adding some live, vital foods to your pet’s diet. You can learn to make vitamin powder from my website (under nutrition from ground sunflower seeds,… Read more →
Changing foods safely. How to wean on to a better diet.
Weaning pets off and on foods can be a challenge but there is so much to know about this subject! Kibble fed dogs switching to raw requires a great change within each liver cell and within the entire mucosal layer of the GI tract. Did you know when we change foods we change the type of good bacteria in the… Read more →