Veterinarian practices holistic medicine for pets

Veterinarian Heather McEvoy’s office is inviting.

If you’re a dog there’s a plump, green bed in the corner or a soft rug to lie on. If you’re a cat there’s always the large window to lounge in. If you’re the human bringing your beloved pet in there’s a comfy chair for sitting.

McEvoy’s space inside the Whitefish Animal Hospital doesn’t exactly look like a typical examine room. And that’s the point.

“My patients are often eager to come in,” she said with a smile. “After an examine I put away the stethoscope and I don’t wear a white coat. I get down on the floor with them and I use essential oils to help them relax.”

McEvoy is a Whitefish native and Oregon State University graduate. She recently joined Whitefish Animal Hospital as an expansion of its veterinary services offering holistic medicine, nutrition and acupuncture treatment. She also hopes to add physical rehabilitation to the practice.

“Holistic medicine is looking at the whole pet,” McEvoy explains. “It’s not looking just at the individual symptoms. We look at their food and the amount of exercise they get, and if they’re a rescue. If we take care of the whole picture than we can treat the symptoms and look for ways to prevent them.”

Diagnosis is based on a combination of a physical exam, lab work, history and response to therapies. Treatments often include basic nutrition or nutrition therapy, herbs, physical therapy, chiropractic, homeopathy and other therapy.

When McEvoy brings Stormy in for an acupuncture treatment, the large dog walks in and sits on the gray rug in the middle of the room. McEvoy pets her softly and places a needle in her back. Stormy doesn’t seem to mind, but she does move slowly to the bed in the corner. McEvoy talks to her and follows her to continue the treatment.

“Acupuncture for animals is the same as for humans,” she says. “It’s about stimulating the body to heal. It can help with stimulating appetite or arthritis or allergies.”

Acupuncture treatments can be performed on pocket pets, dogs, cats, horses and farm animals.

McEvoy began working at Whitefish Animal Hospital when she was a youngster when the office was located on Spokane Avenue, she would go there after school while waiting for her mom to finish work at North Valley Hospital.

“Most the time I’d just watch or hold dogs and comfort them while they were waking up from anesthesia,” she said.

McEvoy went to college and worked for the U.S. Forest Service on hotshot crews in Montana and in New Mexico. On breaks from school she would return to Whitefish Animal Hospital. After earning her veterinarian medicine degree she joined a practice in Washington, where she practiced general veterinarian medicine and also worked with a vet already using holistic treatment and acupuncture.

“I became interested in using acupuncture when I started using it for myself,” she said. “The vet industry has started to move more toward it for pain management. There’s only so many drugs we can reach to and adding another tool we can use is important.”

Even for those not wanting to go the acupuncture route, using the holistic medicine approach can help provide solutions. McEvoy pointed out that a dog suffering chronic ear infections might benefit from a change to their diet or a pet with kidney disease may benefit from a supplement. She also provides nutritional counseling for those wanting to cook meals for their pets, ensuring they are getting a balanced diet. She takes time to listen to what the pet parents are telling her about how their pet is reacting to treatment.

“Treatment is about the pet’s general quality of life,” she said. “People just want to tell the life story of their pet.”

McEvoy is happy to be back to the Flathead Valley with her own pets in tow — two dogs, three cats, fish and a hedgehog. And, yes, she’s used acupuncture on her hedgehog.

For more information, call 862-3178 or visit http://www.whitefishanimalhospital.com/.