INTERVIEW WITH DR BLAKE Holistic Veterinarian

Dr Blake took time out from his hectic schedule to do an interview with me that I think you all will really enjoy! We will be posting a few of his artices here in the very near future and you will be able to hear Dr Blake in our live chat room at http://www.tcconference.com/cow/?pets&nopass_field=1 After the first of the year!

Dr Blake: I have always wanted to be a doctor since I was 5 years of age. My journey through life as I know it, would never have happened if I had not become a veterinarian. As a child, I wanted to be a doctor and help ‘fix’ people. I was fascinated by science, biology, mathematics, physics and fixing things. When I got into my second year of premed, I realized it wasn't for me. After telling a classmate that I was going to drop out, he said, ‘Why don't you become a veterinarian?’ The rest is history.

That change in my life made it possible for me to witness unconditional love for the past 31+ years. The animals saved my life and are my reason for being here to pay it forward. To them I owe more than I can ever repay.

I received my BS degree at the University of Arizona in 1969 in Animal Science, my DVM from Colorado State University in 1973 and have been practicing in San Diego, California for the past 31 years.

In the beginning of my veterinary career, I practiced medicine as best I could with the tools I learned at Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine, which I graduated from in 1973. As the years rolled by, I began to question if what I had been taught was all there was for helping animals.

In the early 1980s I became very ill, and I was lucky to find a homeopathic physician, Dr Gutu, who diagnosed pesticide toxicity. His advice was to stop being a veterinarian or wear rubber gloves or die. The gloves lasted about one patient and I knew that wasn't going to work. I decided to require all clients not to use pesticides on their pets, or I couldn't see them.

To my amazement I got busier than ever and realized I had to learn new methods for caring for animals if chemicals were out. Where was I going to find this training? The answer came quickly. I met a fellow veterinarian, Dr. Carvel Tiegert, at a conference where he asked me a simple question, ‘Do you think vitamins are important in treating animals?’ I answered ‘yes’ and he put me on a quest to learn as much as I can about alternative medicine.

I am certified in Veterinary Homeopathy from the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy and in Veterinary Acupuncture from the International Veterinary Acupuncture Association. My specialties are in Classical Homeopathy, Bach Flower Therapy, Aromatherapy, Nutrition, Glandular Therapy, Gemmotherapy and Massage. I have spent over 20 years practicing alternative veterinary medicine and now have an exclusively alternative medical consulting practice. I lectures across the country, write, have a monthly newsletter and do phone consultation from coast to coast. I have five wonderful grandchildren; Tanner 6, Nicholas 5, Madison 4, Skylar 3 and Christian 21 months AKA Dr. Christian Blake who you read about in my newsletter. The Pet Whisperer on my website www.thepetwhisperer.com . They are all unvaccinated and their main medical care is homeopathic.

Jeannie: How did you get the name “The Pet Whisperer”?

Dr Blake:I also have the gift of communicating with animals on a level that helps me diagnose their problems and tap into their emotional aspect of their illness. The name the Pet Whisperer came from a client who noticed that I was picking up more information than they were giving me in the intake. She called me the Cat Whisperer since I was treating her cat Plato at the time. I decided that since I treat all kinds of animals, The Pet Whisperer fit me better. My feeling about my patients is an integral part of how I treat them. I use both my left-brain training and my intuitive right side to prepare the best care vehicle I can create for them. These feels are shared in the book with each story. I am not promoting myself as an animal communicator but like the Horse Whisperer, Monty Roberts, I have a feeling or sense of awareness as to what they want me to do for them.

Jeannie: What do you believe to be the primary reason our pets are declining in health? Why would that be when we supposedly have the best in preventative medicine, formulated pet foods, and vaccinations?

Dr Blake: In the past 31 years of general veterinary practice, I have seen an exponential increase in cancer and autoimmune disease complexes. Currently there are figures that state that 50 to 60% of dogs are now dying of cancer. In my early days as a young veterinarian in the 70's and 80's I rarely saw either of these two diagnosis. If you ask the general veterinary community about the reason for this huge increase, they will say this is due to animals living longer and better diagnostics. My response to these two comments is that we have had an excellent means for diagnosing cancer for over 30 years. I am seeing more dogs with cancer who are less than 8 years of age, which precluded the fact that they are getting cancer because they are living longer.

My personal feeling is that the cancer we are seeing is a symptom of the chronic disease state that all our animals are suffering from.. The triggering of this symptom cancer, is probably vaccines, drugs, pesticides, artificial preservatives, chemicals and poor nutrition. When I first became aware of this potential in 1980, I started looking for other ways to care for animals without the use of these products.

The reasoning I used was that if we the medical practices we were taught to recommend was not reducing these medical problems, they may be contributing to it. Albert Einstein said it best."Repeating the same process over and over, hoping for a different result, is the definition of insanity."

Jeannie: I too have seen more young dogs with cancer and immune deficiency problems and believe it is due to our use and over use of chemicals in, on and around our pets. Dr Blake, Would you mind telling us a little about your practice and what it entails.

Dr Blake: I have been certified by the Homeopathic Veterinary Academy as a Homeopathic Veterinarian and as a Veterinary Acupuncturist by the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society. I mainly use Aromatherapy, Classical Homeopathy, Bach Flowers, massage, acupuncture and nutrition to care for my patients. I have found that 95+% of time I am able to help animals with their medical needs without using drugs or surgery. The use of drugs and surgery have a place in veterinary medicine but their need is much less than we are led to believe. The Greek definition of physician is teacher and that is what I do my very best to do when caring for my animal friends.

Any time someone tells me that that these alternatives will not work on animals, I respond with one of my favorite quotes that I found in a box of ginger snaps long ago."The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it!"

Jeannie: AMEN! lol I have seen it myself and I am a believer in natural prevention and intervention. As a homeopathic veterinarian not using or perscribing drugs and /or chemicals for your patients, how important to do find Nutrition to be in the over all scheme of health and wellness for animals?

Dr Blake: Just as I stated in the previous question, it is very rare I use any drugs or chemicals in any of my patients. My main form of treatment is based on my A,B,C's approach to medical care.

A = Avoidance; stop over vaccinating, stop all drugs or chemicals and use clean filtered water and no artificial anything in their diets.

B= building up the systems of the animal that need support.

C= Cleansing the body of toxins which prevent normal cell replications, which is necessary for health and the sustaining of life. I feel nutrition is the foundation of health and recommend feeding only human grade ingredients and higher protein diets than are currently being fed our obligate carnivores, Dogs and carnivores Cats.

Jeannie: In what ways do you use essential oils in your practice and how often?

Dr Blake: I use essential oils in 90% of my dogs and 50% of my cat patients. I use them for detoxing and strengthening the body's ability to repair itself. Most of the times in dogs I have the caregiver massage the oils into their pets ears, back or paws. If the dog doesn't care for these techniques we go to diffusing the oils. The fact that all *pure medical grade essential oils have an effect on the limbic part of the brain lends well to treating emotional issues as well as physical issues. You can read more about this on my website www.thepetwhisperer.com

*Publishers note: Young Living Essential Oils are one of THE ONLY 100% pure, medical grade oils in exsistance and can safely be used directly on the animal.

Jeannie: What kind of preventative health care plan do you recommend for your patients?

Dr Blake: First of all No vaccines or at least Minimal vaccines, IE distemper, parvo and rabies as per Jean Dodd's protocol which you can find in my September 2004 newsletter on my website. I always teach my clients about the symptoms of a vaccination reaction and if they see it, to never vaccinate again. To vaccinate or not is a personal choice and based on each individuals fear meter reading. By this I mean if I have a client that is unable to sleep at night and will have regrets if their pet is not vaccinated, then we go with the minimum vaccination protocol and use titers to determine if they need a second vaccine or not.

Secondly no chemicals, IE Heartworm medication, flea products, IE front-line, advantage, etc. No once a month wormers or preventative chemicals what so ever. You can read about the Heartworm issue in the same newsletter I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Thirdly, filtered or bottled water and no by product diets with any chemical preservatives. I recommend RAW diets as mentioned on my site as well as dry foods as long as they agree with the animal and you add additional protein to the diet.

Fourthly I recommend all my patients put their animals on *bovine colostrum at least few days a week to help maintain a healthy gastrointestinal system and for immune support. You can read more about his on my website as well. Make sure of the source before buying colostrum.

*Publishers note: We recommend Transfer Factor that is extracted from bovine colostrum. Click Here For More Info

Fifthly exercise and massage daily. I recommend walks and play daily for both caregivers and their pets. Under my section on essential oils I talk about essential oil massages for dogs. In cats I generally do not use essential oils topically but rather by diffusing except for frankincense and lavender.

Jeannie: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. I hope you find the time to be our guest speaker at our new Co-OpWorld Pet Chat sometime in the near future.

Dr Blake: You are very welcome and I only ask that all that read my work please pay it forward. For those of you who do not know what that means, share my work with at least three more people or lists as your payment to me for helping you care for my animal buddies. This phrase came from the movie Pay It Forward!