Sugar

Sugar was my 60th birthday present to myself I had always wanted a Silky Terrier so I saved a long time to purchase her. She was only 12 weeks old she would chase her tail in circles at first I thought she was just playing as some dogs do this and it means nothing but as time went on she got more aggressive at doing it and started trying to chew her tail off then she graduated to crying and growling at her tail as she chased it. Took her to my vet at the time and he said it was a sign of pain and she was very sensitive at the base of her spine when he pushed she would scream and try to bite him, we were referred to the Toronto Emergency Hospital for a neurology consult where they did x-rays, an MRI and blood tests to investigate the root cause of Sugar’s problem. Unfortunately, they could not find anything that could point to Sugar’s clinical signs. The possibility of nerve damage, undetectable disc damage or a problem due to bad tail docking practices could not be ruled out. We also started a session of laser therapy that gave Sugar temporary relief. Then, she started having problems with her legs she would just fall and scream in pain and was not able to get up on her hind end. Due to Sugar’s ongoing issues, we were referred back to the Referral and Emergency Hospital for further tests; this time it included a CSF spinal tap with inconclusive findings.  I was beside myself after spending thousands and thousands of dollars and witnessing that Sugar was still suffering with no relief for my dear Sugar. Since there was no relief in sight, I was told by my family vet and the specialty service that I may need to make a hard decision down the road and consider Sugar’s quality of life. I did not want to put Sugar on any strong medication for life without a diagnosis since she was so young. We started researching about alternative treatment and acupuncture. Thanks to my daughter, we found The Holistic Vet clinic in Newmarket and met Dr. Haghighat. After a thorough exam and a couple of sessions of acupuncture and biopuncture and starting on some herbs and homeopathic medicine, Sugar started to show nice improvement and having less and less neurologic episodes. The tail chasing started to decrease to only once or twice a week. After about 9 months, Sugar seems to be almost fully recovered and I am so thankful for the wonderful staff at The Holistic Vet who helped bring Sugar back to health which I will be forever grateful!

Sincerely Mary Mackenzie and Sugar xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

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Scooter

 This is Scooter our beautiful and loving 15 year old Beagle. He was diagnosed with a large cancerous tumour in early spring 2015. Our conventional Vet offered us only two options, send him to Guelph for chemotherapy or take him home for palliative care. We left the office feeling hopeless. We did not even consider chemotherapy, we could never justify putting an animal through that, but the idea of just taking him home to wait for the inevitable was heartbreaking. He had stopped eating his dry dog food as an ultrasound showed the tumour was interfering with his digestive system. We had already been home cooking for our dogs for about half of their meals but knew we could do better in terms of ingredients. We asked our vet for suggestions and she looked unsure, maybe pasta and red meat was her response. That is when we contacted Dr. Haghighat. He was very accommodating, allowing us to communicate via phone as we live 2 hours away from the clinic. He guided us through dietary changes and suggestions for medicinal foods and supplements. Our goal was only to give Scooter the best quality of life we possibly could for his final days with us. His response to the new diet was immediate. Not only did he love the taste and his appetite return but we started to see amazing health benefits. His energy increased along with his activity level, he started wanting to go for walks again and then longer hikes and swimming this past summer. Symptoms associated with his arthritis decreased along with the need for pain medication. One of the most amazing benefits was a complete lack of allergy symptoms this summer. Scooter`s seasonal allergies historically have been so terrible they required the use of steroids which did not even completely alleviate his scratching and chewing at his skin. This season he had no symptoms whatsoever and no medication! We are so thankful to Dr. Haghighat and his team. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for providing the opportunity to improve Scooter`s health and are so incredibly thankful for the extra time we have been able to spend with him.

 

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Cooper

Dr. Haghighat saved our cat Cooper from a fatal future! Cooper is our 3 year old long haired “personality plus” cat.  We rescued him in December 2013. 

 Cooper always had “kitty breath” with very red and inflamed gums. Changing to different foods did not improve the oral health. But then, in May 2014, he became very fussy about his food. Then in October, he stopped eating and became very lethargic so we rushed him to the Emergency Clinic. At that time, the tentative diagnosis was ulcerative stomatitis although there are many reasons for this cause of stomatitis in young kittens; an overactive immune system was possibly the root cause. He was sent home on a course of antibiotics to control the infection. The antibiotics seemed to work short term.  Our regular veterinarian prescribed 2 more series of antibiotics and mouth wash which helped his oral health, but only for a short duration. When we stopped the antibiotic, the problem re-appeared. Our vet told us that the antibiotic would ultimately stop working and suggested that in this circumstance, she recommends a full mouth tooth extraction which may or may not fix the problem.

Since this procedure seemed very invasive to us and there was no guarantee would be cured, we decided to look for an alternative solution. Then, after some google searches, we found the Holistic Vet and decided to take Cooper there. With acupuncture, biopuncture, supplements and an organic diet, Cooper is now eating without pain and the oral health has improved significantly.  He is a vibrant energetic cat who is obviously enjoying his food! During the treatment period, Dr. Haghighat’s office kept in touch with us and genuinely cared about Cooper’s recovery. Cooper will continue to visit Dr. Haghighat periodically to maintain his oral health and ensure the stomatitis does not return.

We are now taking our 13 year old dog, Tucker, to see Dr. Haghighat because we want his final years to be as healthy as possible!

 

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Brandy

"This is Brandy, our smart, loving 7 year old Brittany spaniel.

Brandy was adopted into our family when she was about 1 1/2 years old.  Brandy was adopted from a Dog Rescue (NBran) that is specialized in rescuing abandoned Brittany Spaniels.
Brandy has always been a very active dog, getting exercise daily which included an off-leash run in the forest along with our other dog, Dexter.

In January 2014, we noticed Brandy was limping. At the beginning, we thought it was just a minor sprain and let Brandy rest for a few days and noticed the leg seemed to improve. Then in June, Brandy re-injured her leg. We decided it was time to have Brandy checked by our local veterinarian. After examination, our vet diagnosed Brandy with a torn cruciate ligament and recommended surgery. The surgery, as it was explained to us, involved cutting the tibia bone and attaching a metal plate to change the angle of the knee joint; this would prevent Brandy from limping. Since this procedure seemed to be very invasive to us, our family was very uncomfortable with the idea. We decided to look at an alternative option which led us to the Holistic Vet in Newmarket.

On our first visit, Dr. Haghighat assessed Brandy and immediately began a treatment plan which included injecting homeopathics in the knee area to promote healing. Also, other herbs and supplements were prescribed. Her diet was changed to 100% home cooked meals, with lots of meat and vegetables and no grain. Brandy needed to be on-leash for walks at all times – no more running or jumping for a good 3-4 months.

It’s now 5 months later and Brandy is doing remarkably well! She no longer limps and has lost 10 lbs. Although this treatment route seems to be more time consuming, in our opinion, it is much better and safer than surgery. She is back to her happy, playful self and we are so thankful for the team at The Holistic Vet! We don't regret for a minute taking this course of recovery for Brandy!"

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Molly

"Molly's story started out very complicated, and was happily resolved at the care of Dr. Haghighat and his wonderful team.

At 2.5 years old, my puppy Molly, a yellow Labrador retriever, began losing hair on two symmetrical spots around her hips. It started as a light thinning, then appeared to get worse and was soon gone completely, until there were two fair-sized circles on each side of her back hip area. At times, they looked dry, because the skin was exposed to the weather. I began asking questions to my conventional veterinarian about what it could be - why it was happening - and what could be done to make the hair grow back. I scoured the internet, looking at 900 different things of what it could be, worrying myself endlessly, and never having answers. We tried giving her Melatonin with no success.

On one of Molly’s visits to the conventional vet, I asked again what could be done. She was perfectly healthy, not sick, eating like a horse (true LAB appetite eating everything in sight) and was perplexed at the bald spots. The conventional vet said it was likely allergies and provided a (what I consider a very high) quote, so that they could do a biopsy of the area and see what was going on.

I felt that was extreme. If she were ill, I would have conceded as something below the surface was likely going on. But she was healthy. I did some digging online before making any decisions... sedation is not something to take lightly for dogs... and after review felt that an allergy test didn't make sense. The spots weren't itchy, they weren't red or inflamed. So out of a last ditch approach before going that route or just accepting her life with bald spots, I reached out to a holistic veterinarian for a second opinion.
I should add to this story that I don't see myself as a natural believer in the holistic practices. Or "wasn't." I originally had a hard time accepting an alternative approach as conventional treatments were all I'd known.

On Molly's first visit, Dr. Haghighat gave us his undivided attention, and heard my concerns about her bald spots and her history. He believed she had Alopecia X due to hormonal imbalances, an often undiagnosed condition. He prepared a homeopathic mixture to be given orally to Molly, and told us we would have the hair grow back in six months.
I'm happy to tell you that four months in, the bald spots are gone - it worked. It continues to work, I should say. We're not at 100% fur retention, but we're darn-near close, and I couldn't be happier.
Important to also mention was Dr. Haghighat's advice for Molly's coat overall. A little coconut oil on the dry patches helped the fur grow in without irritation, and the addition of fish oil to her diet has made her coat revert back to puppy-like conditions -- she's SOFT!

I couldn't be more grateful that I took a leap of faith into the holistic side of the veterinary world, and that I trusted my little pup to the care of this clinic."

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Newton

"We first went to see Dr. Haghighat last year when my puppy Newton, who is a mini dachshund, was suffering from gastroenteritis.  After a visit to the emergency vet hospital in Toronto his symptoms seemed to improve after a round of antibiotics and IV hydration.  However his symptoms would not go away entirely, every week we would have at least one bout of bloody vomit and stool. My vet in Toronto put him on a special medical gastro food and said that he may have to be on antibiotics for the rest of his life.  None of this sat well with me especially since Newton was a puppy and not even a year old!  This is when we went to see Dr. Haghighat on the referral of a friend.  With his help and through the use of natural remedies and a home cooked diet Newton got stronger and stronger.  It was a long road but definitely worth it and I knew we were building up my dog’s immune system instead of destroying it with antibiotics. 

We just recently had another scare with Newton last month where he had a very high fever.  It was late in the evening and so our only choice was to take him to the emergency vet hospital again. I just wanted to know how to handle the high fever until I could contact Dr. Haghighat in the morning.  At the hospital they wanted to keep him overnight but we did not want to leave him.  Instead they gave him some fluids, did some blood work and told us to keep him in front of a fan throughout the evening.  In the morning the vet from the hospital called and said that Newton had no white blood cell counts and that he may have bone marrow cancer.  She immediately referred us to the Internal Medicine specialist at the hospital.  When we saw the specialist the following day, he retested Newton’s blood and his white blood cell count had not improved. He gave us 5 possible diagnoses; one of which was bone marrow cancer.  He suggested doing a bone marrow biopsy that day to rule out cancer. This would require putting Newton under while they removed a piece of his shoulder bone.  It made no sense to me to put a sick dog under anesthetic for an invasive procedure and I certainly was not going to do this without Dr. Haghighat assessing him beforehand. The doctor and I agreed to wait a couple of days to redo his blood work and reassess at that point. He sent us away with 2 very strong antibiotics for Newton to take.

In the meantime, I went up to see Dr. Haghighat who was wonderful as usual.  He told me not to panic and said that he did not believe that Newton had bone marrow cancer. He felt that Newton had caught a really bad virus and we needed to support his body to fight it.  He did a homeopathic blood transfusion where he took some of Newton's blood mixed it with a homeopathic remedy and then injected back it into Newton.  All of this was easy and not at all bothersome to my dog.  Newton immediately perked up!  He sent us home with some remedies and had us rub Castor oil on Newton's paws and cook some bone broth for him, all of which helps restore white blood cell counts. He also said that we could discontinue the antibiotics.  I was a little nervous about this because the other doctor had scared me so much so Dr. Haghighat gave me a homeopathic equivalent to give him while we got through this intense phase.

 When we did Newton's blood work at the hospital a couple of days later, his white blood cell count still had not gone up.  The specialist at the VEC was a bit concerned and recommended we do a biopsy.  When I called Dr. Haghighat to tell him the news he again reassured me and since Newton is otherwise doing great, eating and drinking normally and has good energy, told me not to panic and to give Newton's body time to heal.  He said to continue with the remedies and to wait a couple of weeks before we tested his blood again.  During that time he was completely available to me for any questions or concerns I had.  He supported me every step of the way.  When we did test Newton's blood a couple of weeks later it was perfect!  I know that if it were not for Dr. Haghighat I would have simply agreed to everything the emergency vet had suggested out of fear and panic and I think my dog would have died in the hospital during or after the bone marrow biopsy.  I am eternally grateful to Dr. Haghighat and his wonderful team (Jennifer and Nicole are wonderful as well!)  at The Holistic Vet. I cannot recommend him enough!"

 

 

 

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Beta

This is the story of Beta, A Busy Off-Duty Therapy Dog

"Hello. My name is Beta. I am a dog. My friends call me Mister Beta. I am eight-and-a-half years old. My fur is black. I live with a man called Yogi who takes care of me. Over the last two years, I have visited and worked with the police, schools, a hospice, a mens’ shelter, and a hospital. That is because I am a Therapy Dog (with St. John Ambulance). I took two tests to be sure I was the right kind of dog for this job, and I passed them both.

I am a very strong dog and I love to run, but sometimes dogs like me have a weakness in their knees. Last year I tore my knee muscles on both sides and broke a tooth. So I had four surgeries, which was very interesting and changed my routine. Now I am off-duty as I do rehab exercises and acupuncture to get stronger. However, I am still practicing friendly service in my community as I look forward to coming back to work. I want to tell you about my helpers, people like Tania and Dr. Sasan.

Tania (Tania Costa, Canine Wellness, http://caninewellness.com) is the lady who handles my rehab. She uses laser therapy and measures my leg extensions. She teaches me special exercises which I do at her studio and then practice at home. When I visit her, I always get wet because we do treadmill-underwater training. I can feel my body getting stronger every time. She likes to give me treats which makes it more fun. Then I take a shower and shake off the extra water. Sometimes, when we have time, I roll in the grass across the street before I get back in the car.

When I hurt my neck, Tania suggested we see Dr. Sasan. Here’s what happened:

I had been visiting my friends when suddenly I felt very uncomfortable. I couldn’t lift my head and it was very hard to get into any position to lie down or sit or even stand because it hurt. I didn’t want to move at all.

We went to the Emergency Animal Hospital, where I was given something that put me into a deep sleep. I had an x-ray and more medicine to help the pain. But it didn’t work very well. And it was very hard to wake up. The emergency vet said I needed to have another surgery. I was very, very tired.

We contacted Tania. She sent us a note on the computer right away. She said that this would be a good time to meet Dr. Sasan, that he was a different kind of doctor, a holistic vet (Dr. Sasan Haghighat, North East Newmarket Veterinary Services, http://www.holistic-vet.ca). She said he would be able to help me. So we contacted him right away and went to his clinic. It seemed like we were in the car for a long time before we arrived at his office, but when we got there it was worth it.

Dr. Sasan was very gentle. His place was like home, calm and cozy. He spoke softly as he felt my neck and back, and told me that I was going to get better. He sat on the floor with me and said he was going to use a needle to make some special medicine just for me. There was talk about my food and rest and supplements and massage. I was very interested, and was looking forward to what this would be like. He said I might not need an operation after all and that he would help me to get stronger. I knew we were in the right place.

After Dr. Sasan checked me over, he gave me an acupuncture treatment. It was a relief – I felt better right away – still tired but with less pain – and I could lie down without crying.

On the car ride home, I took a nap. Then at home, over the next few weeks, I slept a lot. We took short walks and I played my “find” games indoors, so I knew I was getting stronger.

Sometimes I would still feel uncomfortable, like when the fire alarms would go off and my head would hurt. Or when I would bark and it would hurt my neck and shaking my head didn’t help. So we went back to Dr. Sasan and he sat with me again, treated me with acupuncture and gave me new medicine.

I saw Dr. Sasan and Tania several times in the months that followed, but I did not need to go to the hospital again. I am not allowed to run yet, but I am walking fast. I can stretch my neck without any pain, and I am ready to go back to work."

UPDATE: May 2014 – Beta is back to work with St. John Ambulance.

Prepared by Yogi Akal, on behalf of Beta Illustrations by Ute Kledt (http://www.annaloog.de)

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