Did you know that when a female dog is pregnant, the care she receives will directly impact three different generations? The mother dog, her puppies and the developing eggs inside of any female puppies she is carrying.

If the fetus in the diagram below goes on to have her own puppies, consider that any resulting female puppies she has would have been an egg inside their mother when she was in the womb herself.

As medical systems, allopathy and naturopathy have opposing principles and use very different approaches. Just like you can’t be both a liberal and a conservative due to the conflicting standpoints, you similarly cannot subscribe to the principles of both allopathy and naturopathy. The core of your beliefs will place you in one camp or the other.

Conventional or allopathic medicine is the dominant medical model that most of us will be familiar with both in human and animal care.  Conventional medicine primarily relies on pharmacological drugs and surgery to suppress symptoms that manifest from disease processes. 

​The basic principle of allopathy is to oppose the symptom or disease. "The term 'allopathy' was invented by German physician Samuel Hahnemann, he joined the words allos 'opposite' and pathos 'suffering' as a reference to harsh medical practices of his era which included bleeding, purging, vomiting and the administration of highly toxic drugs. The treatment of opposites simply means finding the symptom, for example incessant itching, then drugs are used to disrupt the disease process that is resulting in the itching. The original cause of the itching has not been addressed, but the symptom has been suppressed, offering symptomatic relief to the animal.

To get a clearer picture of Naturopathy let’s take a look at the six fundamental principles which are the foundation of this modality:

Making your own remedies to support your pets and your own health is an empowering experience. 

Why would you want to take the time to make a healing salve? I can't say why YOU would want to you, but I can sure share with you why I choose to!

•  I can customize exactly the type of results I am seeking by the ingredients I include in the salve.
•  I have control of the ingredients and therefore know there is nothing harmful included without my knowledge.
•  I prefer using naturally occurring plants and substances as opposed to pharmaceuticals synthesized in a lab.
•  It is empowering and satisfying to make your own "medicine". 

Why not give it a try?

The methods used to achieve improved vitality in our pets will consist of those modalities that the practitioner feels to be most appropriate under the individual circumstances.

​A fully natural diet of suitable wholesome foods, exercise, relaxation, sunlight, fresh air, pure water and a positive atmosphere are the minimum requirements. 

An obstacle to health can be thought of as anything in the environment that is not species appropriate or anything that otherwise blocks their physiological ability to attain health. If there are chemical, mechanical or emotional obstacles to healing these should be removed by appropriate techniques. Chemical obstacles may consist of drugs, unsuitable foods or environmental toxins. Mechanical obstacles may be structural by nature such as chiropractic subluxations. Emotional obstacles may be unhealed past trauma's expressed as fear or aggression.

Anyone who has been reading my blog or Facebook page can see that I am an advocate for raising animals naturally. I have reached this standpoint because of many personal experiences and much questioning, research, evaluation and critical thinking. There are certainly many benefits to feeding raw, skipping the antibiotics, chemical flea preventatives and vaccines. But what is so important to understand is WHY these choices make such a difference in the health of our animals. 

So what I want to delve into today is how we perceive the means by which our pet's maintain their health and also identify the mechanisms that allow them to regain their health after illness. The truth of the matter is possibly quite different than what you currently believe. 

Cleaning is supposed to be all about maintaining a healthy home by removing allergens & bacteria and preventing pests. Plus having a clean home just makes us feel good!

​But if the products you are using to clean with are full of toxic chemicals you are defeating the purpose altogether! You may have noticed hazard symbols on some of your cleaning products. These symbols warn of acute health hazards that can occur from a single exposure.But there are no requirements for warnings about long term health effects. Researchers in the U.S.identified 133 unique volatile organic compounds emitted from a small sample of consumer products, including six cleaning products.

Unfortunately even the products labelled "green" and "eco-friendly" cannot be assumed to be safe to use. There is little regulation of cleaning products and virtually no labelling requirements. The only way to avoid all these nasty chemicals is by using simple and effective natural products to keep your home clean! Another bonus is the cost savings you will see by making your own cleaning products.

Here are my favourite DIY cleaning products:

The cost of raw pet food can vary greatly. If you are buying pre-made small packages from a pet food store it will be a higher cost compared to sourcing food from butchers and buying in bulk. The cost you will pay depends a lot on the effort you put forth to locate affordable sources. In many instances raw food can actually cost less than a "premium" kibble.

But to gauge the true cost of a pet's diet there is more to measure than simply the price of the food. For a true picture the impact on the animal's health needs to be assessed and also how the animal's health affects their human family's: time, emotions, and financial resources.