Why We're Different

We see many pets and get a number of referrals for our unique approach to caring for pets with a variety of cancers. While we can administer conventional therapies, our main focus is treating pets with natural therapies while minimizing chemotherapy and conventional treatments.

Using our comprehensive approach to detoxification, immune support, organ support, and therapies designed to minimize and reduce the spread of cancer, we find that our patients live longer with a better quality of life than those simply treated with conventional treatments.

“Treating the whole pet not just the disease” has never been a truer statement than when treating a pet with cancer.

If you decide to use conventional treatments to fight against your pet’s cancer, natural therapies are critical in helping achieve the best response and longer and/or complete remission. Why is this so? Remember that cancer starts when a cell’s DNA is damaged/mutated and the cell reproduces and creates more cells with this damage or mutation. Inflammation, toxicity, and poor immune function encourage this dysfunction and contributes to the illness and death seen with cancer. The natural/holistic/functional medicine approach seeks to repair your pet’s “defective environment.” Chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation do not do this and may make the dysfunction worse, so natural support as with our detoxification and/or autosanguis therapies are critical to helping the pet heal and reduce side effects that may occur with conventional therapy.

If your goal is to keep your pet comfortable, not so much “treat the cancer,” detoxification, immune support, anti-inflammatory therapy, along with supplements administered at home are great options to give your pet an improved quality of life.

Our unique approach when caring for pets with GI disorders is a great way to minimize or eliminate unnecessary medications such as steroids and antibiotics. While we can administer conventional therapies, our goal is to treat these pets with all-natural therapies via herbs, supplements, and homeopathics.

There are numerous causes of GI disorders; therefore, completing diagnostic testing is critical to arrive at the correct diagnosis.

As is true with any disease, our holistic approach to treatment can involve detoxification in combination with prescribed all-natural GI support. While ongoing GI support is usually administered at home, many of our GI patients benefit from fluid detoxification. Fluid detoxification is administered over several hours in our hospital and has been designed specifically for this type of supportive care.

Heart disease (valve disease, cardiomyopathy) are common problems seen in veterinary medicine. Happy to announce, we find a variety of heart diseases repond very well to our unique functional medicine approach . This approach allows us to reduce and often eliminate unnecessary medications. If conventional medications are needed to treat later in the course of the disease, they can be given safely thanks to the heart support from our all-natural thereapies including herbs, supplements, and homeopathics.

Diagnostic testing must be done to arrive at the correct diagnosis, and unfortunately so many of our patients who have been diagnosed with “heart disease” have never received the testing needed .

As is true with any disease, natural treatment of the affected pet can involve detoxification as well as cardiac support. While this is usually done at home, many of our patients benefit from fluid detoxification given over several hours in our hospital, which has been designed specifically for this type of supportive care.

Kidney/liver disorders occur frequently in dogs and cats. Fortunately, we have found kidney/liver disorders respond very well to our holistic functional medicine approach . Natural medicine is critical in these particular pets as there are very few conventional medications on the market that truley help heal your pet. At Paws & Claws, we pride ourselves in treating pets with all-natural therapies such as herbs, supplements, and homeopathics.

There are numerous causes of diseases found in the kidney and liver. Diagnostic testing must be completed in order to arrive at your pet’s correct diagnosis. We find many pets are misdiagnosed with liver or kidney disease; therefore, we often spend time during your first visit running tests that will allow us to arrive at the correct diagnosis.

As is true with any disease, holistic all-natural treatment of the affected pet can involve detoxification alongside liver/kidney support. While live/kidney support is usually administered at home, many of our patients benefit from fluid detoxification given over several hours in our hospital, which has been designed specifically for this type of supportive care.

Many of our referrals are for pets with neurological disorders including seizures. We offer a comprehensive natural approach to diagnosis and whole-pet healing. There are numerous causes of seizures and diagnostic testing must be done to arrive at the correct diagnosis.

As is true with any disease, natural treatment of the seizing pet involves detoxification as well as nervous system support.

Using a variety of herbs, supplements, cold laser, and homeopathics, most of our seizing pets are treated without conventional drugs. Those who come to us already taking one or more anti-seizure medications can usually be weaned off of these drugs and maintained on a totally natural regimen. This approach reduces the cost of frequent visits to check for side effects of conventional medications as well as reduces toxicity and side effects than can be seen with anti-seizure medications.

Urinary disorders occur frequently in dogs and cats. Good news for your pet, urinary diseases respond very well to our unique functional medicine approach . This approach allows us to reduce and often eliminate unnecessary medications such as steroids and antibiotics. While we can administer conventional therapies, our main focus is to treat pets with natural therapies via herbs, supplements, and homeopathics.

There are numerous causes for diseases in the urinary system; therefore, diagnostic testing is imperative to arrive at the correct diagnosis.

As is true with any disease, all-natural therapies for the affected pet can involve detoxification as well as urinary support. While urinary support (may this be via herbs, supplements, or homeopathics) is usually given at home, many of our patients benefit from fluid detoxification (given over several hours in our hospital) to support and aid in recovery. This detoxification has been designed specifically for this type of supportive care.

While pets of any age can be started on and greatly benefit from a holistic, functional medicine approach to pet care, there’s no question that the best time to start on a natural approach is when you first get your puppy or kitten.

Unlike conventional doctors, we do very few vaccines and use very little conventional medication for our puppies and kittens. This approach reduces the amount of vaccinations by at least 50% in the first months of age and over 90% over the life of the pet. It’s no wonder most of our patients tend to live 3-5 years longer than the “average” pet that receives too many vaccines, chemicals, and drugs over the course of its life.

When it’s time to spay or neuter your pet, we offer several options including traditional spay and neuter, as well as ovary-sparing spays and vasectomies in place of traditional neuters.

For pets requiring surgery, our holistic approach allows us to utilize the correct amount of pain-relieving medications so your pet doesn’t hurt during or after surgery and recovers quickly. Our anesthetic approach allows us to reduce the amount of anesthetic your pet receives, enhancing the safety of the procedure.

Finally, we are happy to offer dietary consultation and support a variety of dietary choices including BARF, Raw Food, and wholesome whole-prey natural diets.

To maximize the health of our adult patients, 1-5 years, we perform annual visits which include: a physical examination, heartworm test, microscopic fecal examination, urinalysis, and titer testing (in place of yearly vaccines.) Titer testing reduces unnecessary vaccinations in order to minimize potential harm to your pet’s immune system and reduces various disorders including cancers.

Annual blood profiles are completed in combination with the tests mentioned above. Our blood profile monitors organ function, allowing for us to administer natural treatments for any abnormalities discovered before your pet becomes ill. This blood profile also acts as pre-surgical blood and plays a major role when creating your pet’s routine periodontal treatment plan.

For pets requiring surgery, our holistic approach allows us to utilize the correct amount of pain-relieving medications so your pet doesn’t hurt during or after surgery and recovers quickly. Our anesthetic approach allows us to reduce the amount of anesthetic your pet receives, enhancing the safety of the procedure.

We love our older dogs and cats! Unfortunately, as is the case in human medicine, many doctors don’t enjoy caring for these older pets due to the greater number of difficult problems these older pets present during their visits.

Here at Paws & Claws, senior pets (5 years and older) are monitored more frequently as their rate of diseases increase after 5 years of age (hence the reason we use 5 as the beginning point for this specialized care, even though we expect our patients to live 15 years or longer!)

We continue to monitor your pet’s immune response to infectious diseases by completing vaccine titers rather than administering unnecessary and possibly harmful vaccines.

Biannual blood profiles are completed every 6 months to monitor organ function, allowing us to administer natural therapies for any abnormalities discovered before your pet becomes ill. Monitoring your pet’s Vitamin D levels is extremely critical. Did you know most pets have low levels of vitamin D which can contribute to immune problems such as cancer? Inflammatory proteins are important to monitor in your pet’s blood as well as these proteins are early markers of cancer and other serious health problems.

We get many referrals for older pets who need sedation/anesthesia for dental cleanings (periodontal treatments) or tumor/wart removals. We appreciate that many pet parents of older patients are scared of anesthesia, especially since many veterinarians are also scared to anesthetize older pets (and therefore shouldn’t anesthetize these pets!)

For senior pets requiring surgery, our holistic approach allows us to utilize the correct amount of pain-relieving medications so your pet doesn’t hurt during or after surgery and recovers quickly. Our anesthetic approach allows us to reduce the amount of anesthetic your pet receives, enhancing the safety of the procedure. We are happy to discuss your anesthetic concerns as we have many years of experience with anesthetizing pets other doctors consider “too old” for proper care.