Honoring Atheana

Atheana passed away on 5/1/09 at the age of 19. I feel so lucky to have known her. She was so very sweet and in the end, even when she only weighed 5 pounds, she could still purr like a loud motorboat kitty! I miss Atheana but I know she is in a better place and she was such a strong kitty who had a great spirit and radiance up until the end. (She died of cancer.)

Updates

I've been getting emails just checking in because I haven't updated the site in awhile so thank you for all of your concerns! I've been quite busy. My practice has expanded to now include herbal consultations for pets living locally in the Boston area. I find it is a nice way to combine my skill as an herbalist along with my intuitive abilities to help animals. I am also in the process of developing a new website. And my animal gang are all doing well. Ty, my CRF kitty that many of you asked about, is still plugging along. He is actually doing better now than he has for the last year and a half. I am attributing it to this mushroom blend I started both of us on. Thanks for all your emails and support! Whenever I am struggling with something related to my private practice (feeling too busy, overwhelmed with tasks, concerned about not helping enough, etc.) I always get an email from someone that somehow says exactly what I needed to hear. So thank you!!

XO,
Deanna
Here is a picture of Isis enjoying the spring

George

George passed over the Rainbow Bridge in March of 2007. He was a beautiful soul who had a very difficult life and had many issues as a result of his trauma history. He was finally adopted into a loving home at the age of ten. The most powerful and touching thing George said to me was that the unconditional love he experienced in his last home restored his faith in the goodness of humanity.

Yeti

Happy Birthday to Yeti! He will be turning one on January 27th. Yeti is still adjusting to being in physical form and as a result can be a tad skittish. One of the issues I was asked to address was his nervousness around grooming. His owner told me that she was trying to help Yeti become more comfortable with the idea of getting his nails clipped by watching while she clipped the nails of her other two dogs who sat calmly for the procedure. At one point she placed the clippers on the ground so Yeti could see that they were harmless... he slowly approached them...then snatched them up and ran away with them! Hopefully our session will help Yeti feel more centered and secure in the world. Occasionally I meet animals who I sense it is their first incarnation and this felt true with Yeti.

Holistic Supplements for CRF Cats

As many of you know and have been wonderfully supportive...my cat Ty has Chronic Renal Failure. He was officially diagnosed one year ago. I have been using both traditional and alternative/holistic treatments with him. I wanted to share some of the holistic methods in case they are helpful for any other CRF kitties out there. Please keep in mind I have not had any official training in animal medicine but rather, I am sharing with you my own experience.

Cell Power is a supplement I have been using for myself since July. A month ago Ty started gagging every time he approached his food bowl. His pepcid was no longer helping. When I tuned into him his body felt so acidic I felt Cell Power could help address that. I gave him two drops of Cell Power in a 2ml dropper of water (Cell Power is very concentrated and must be diluted) and that same day Ty began eating again with no problems. To learn more about Cell Power click here.

Blood Builder is an iron supplement for humans from my favorite vitamin company MegaFoods which creates food based vitamin products. Many CRF cats, including Ty, struggle with anemia. I was looking at various feline iron supplements and my sense was they weren't composed of high quality ingredients. So I started giving Ty a little less than 1/4 of a tablet which is about 6mg of iron. It has really seemed to help. High levels of iron can be dangerous so work with a practitioner in determining a dose for your pet. Click here to learn more about Blood Builder.

Omega 3 Plus by Animal Essentials is an easy fatty acid supplement. I use this supplement for both cats and my dog. Some believe an essential fatty acid supplement can be particularly helpful for CRF cats. I find I can only give Ty a small amount every few days because otherwise it increases his stomach acid. I have heard that Astro's CRF Oil is another great EFA supplement and it was formulated for a CRF cat.

Ty did go and see a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner back in November. She prescribed a formula by Honzo called H48 or "The All Inclusive Great Tonifying Formula." It did seem to help overall and increase his life force to some degree. Not to mention, I find it delicious.

She also put him on a blend of Nux Vomica and Carbo/Veg which are both homeopathic remedies. They have not seemed to help.

If you are aware of any other supplements that are helpful please let me know. For more information on CRF in cats I highly recommend Tanya's CRF site.

Beautiful Boy!

This is Reason. Isn't he just gorgeous! I always leave it up to my clients how many photos they want to send. I got ten beautiful photos of Reason. Each one seems to be more beautiful than the next! The hardest decision I made today was which photo of Reason I would post.

Pet Essences: Flower Essences for Pets

As many of you know, I am a trained herbalist and make my own tinctures, essences and medicinal oils which I integrate into my work with people and animals.

The three most common reasons why people seek out my animal communication services are 1. to help a pet recover from an experience 2. to help a pet adapt to an upcoming change or 3. to help both people and pets with the animal's transition when an animal is actively dying. At the core of all these is the need to get stuck energy flowing. Sessions alone can be extremely helpful in getting stuck energy flowing smoothly. However, many clients expressed an interest in continued support of keeping this process moving after our session is over. As a result I formulated three Pet Essences: Recover, Adapt and Crossing.

Recover helps energetically support the healing process as animals recover from an event that was physically and/or emotionally difficult.
Adapt helps pets adjust to changes in their environment such as vacations, moves, or the addition or subtraction of a member of the household.
Crossing helps energetically support an actively dying pet and his/her loved ones. Aside from being born, death is probably the most sacred and major transformational energetic process that we (humans and animals) undergo.

Each essence comes in a .5oz glass amber dropper bottle. Pet Essences do not contain a medicinal level of herbs but rather work at an energetic level and are both powerful and yet gentle. Each essence contains a blend of herb and flower essences which is then infused with energy from crystals. When an essence is purchased I spend some time tuning into the pet to see how the essence resonates with your pet and I make any appropriate adjustments to the formula. So each essence is specifically formulated for your individual pet's needs. I then charge the essence with reiki. Each essence is in a base of distilled water and a small amount of alcohol as a preservative. My essences are available for purchase at my herbshop at etsy.com.

Pet Vaccines

Ever since one of my cats almost died after having a severe and almost fatal reaction to a vaccine about 20 years ago I have been weary about pet vaccinations. And several years ago my dog Kona received the Lyme vaccine only to contract the disease anyway. So are vaccines safe and effective?

A growing number of holistic practitioners and even some traditionally trained vets believe that vaccines are doing more harm than good. One such traditionally trained vet is Dr. Martin Goldstein. In his book “The Nature of Animal Healing” he states that “vaccines are the leading killers of dogs and cats in America today.” Yikes!

Pet reactions to vaccines can range from severe reactions that can be fatal to more chronic problems. Reactions can be immediate, acute (24-48 hours afterward) or even 10-45 days later. And each time your pet receives a vaccine he/she is at risk of having a reaction. In doing research for this article I learned from a vet the heartbreaking story of an animal who immediately after having a rabies booster had a seizure and died in his caregiver’s arms.

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