Integrative Medicine in Veterinary Practice

Enables the entire veterinary team to seamlessly incorporate integrative medicine into everyday practice

Integrative Medicine in Veterinary Practice is a unique resource designed to introduce the basic concepts of ten different integrative modalities to all members of the hospital team to establish a baseline of knowledge: explaining how patients will benefit from their use, discussing return on investment, informing veterinarians of available courses and suggested reading materials, walking managers through staff training, and providing client education materials. Supplemental web-based documents and presentations increase the ease with which staff are trained and clients are educated.

Integrative medicine is not an all-or-nothing concept. This umbrella term encompasses a wide spectrum of treatment modalities. Therapies can be used individually or in combination, as part of a multimodal approach, and applied easily to every patient or used in select cases.

Sample topics covered in Integrative Medicine in Veterinary Practice include:

• Photobiomodulation, covering light, laser specifics, mechanisms of action, supplies and equipment, and techniques
• Veterinary Spinal Manipulation Therapy (VSMT), covering pain in veterinary patients, mechanisms of action, adjustment vs. manipulation vs. mobilization, techniques, and post-adjustment recommendations
• Western Herbal Medicine (WHM), covering medical botany, WHM diagnoses, herb classification, production, safety, and formulations, and WHM applications
• Chinese Food Therapy (CFT), covering commercial diet selection, supplementing commercial diets, recreating an herbal formula, and temporary therapeutic diets

Integrative Medicine in Veterinary Practice is a valuable resource for all veterinary hospital team members, from customer service representatives to veterinary assistants/technicians, practice managers, and veterinarians. The text is also helpful to veterinary students interested in integrative medicine, or those taking introductory integrative medicine courses.

Lisa Pinn McFaddin, DVM, GDCVHM, CVSMT, CVMRT, FCoAC, CVA, CVFT has been practicing small animal veterinary medicine since 2007 and integrative medicine since 2012. Dr. McFaddin has experience in the veterinary field as a general practitioner, emergency veterinarian, owner and operator of a veterinary relief business, and medical director. She has a post-graduate degree in Chinese Veterinary Herbal Medicine (GDCVHM) and post-graduate certification in Veterinary Spinal Manipulation (CVSMT) and Veterinary Massage and Rehabilitation (CVMRT). She is also a Fellow of the College of Animal Chiropractors (FCoAC). Dr. McFaddin has also completed certification courses in Veterinary Acupuncture (CVA) and Chinese Veterinary Food Therapy (CVFT). Dr. McFaddin has contributed to and written two published scientific papers and multiple online articles.