We begin 2024 with an interview with another integrative veterinarian, Kriss Álvarez (Mevetin). We love to see how the integrative veterinary medicine approach is spreading, which takes into account the physical and emotional well-being of animals, using natural therapies and/or allopathic treatments, depending on the case.
Kriss Álvarez offers veterinary consultation online and also at home in the community of Asturias. We really like that it focuses on prevention, that it supports natural nutrition, and that it has knowledge of ethology, flower therapy and acupuncture. In the following interview you will be able to learn more about her.
What led you to expand your university training in veterinary medicine with different natural therapies?
Acupuncture has always been a therapy that caught my attention. I began training in acupuncture and natural nutrition at the same time looking for tools that would allow me to go beyond what allopathic medicine had offered me until then. It was very frustrating to reach a point where with medications we were not able to improve the health of the animals. I learned about Bach flowers shortly after starting my diploma in acupuncture.
You provide your services at home in Asturias and also offer online consultation, all with an approach aimed at providing a truly individualized service, tell us a little more...
I practice with a home delivery service especially in Asturias and recently I also started in the León area. I offer general veterinary services in which I always bring out my integrative approach. There are also people who ask me, specifically, because I am an integrative veterinarian, for acupuncture sessions, advice regarding preventive medicine such as deworming and personalized vaccinations through coprology and antibody tests.
The difference between integrative and conventional consultation is in the tools available to the professional to treat a specific ailment.
You attach great importance to the emotional well-being of animals and have knowledge of ethology, how do you integrate this into the consultation?
It is well known that emotions are connected to the health of animals and people. Many repressed feelings somatize in the form of different ailments and instead of attacking the cause, the emotional problem, the symptom is usually treated. Thus, it continues to be continually somatized, defining the illness as something chronic. This is why I trained in floral therapy, to support ethology consultations without having to resort to psychotropic drugs, although sometimes it is necessary to assist therapy.
In this sense, from our experience of almost a decade in Animal Herbalist, many of the emotional and health problems of dogs and cats are influenced by human emotional problems such as stress, fear, etc. What do you think?
In practically all consultations, whatever they come for, for example, health problem, vaccinations, etc. I probe the emotional issue. All of them may present a certain imbalance on an emotional level due to the intimate coexistence with their guardians, which means that they end up sharing not only a home, but also an emotional spectrum. And it is very important to know how to manage it, both for them and for us. Many behavioral problems in our animals are a reflection of our emotional alterations.
What are the most frequent emotional problems you encounter in consultation?
Separation anxiety is very common, more than you may think. However, the guardian's attitude towards the animal is usually: “I can't leave it alone because it is having a terrible time…” when the person who has the worst time thinking about how bad it is is the person themselves. It is the transmission of our fears, such as, for example, people who are afraid of other dogs and do not allow their own dog to socialize because “he is very afraid of dogs, he asks me to hold him in my arm…”. If our dog sees us afraid, worried, frustrated, anxious... he will automatically appear afraid, worried, frustrated, anxious... It is something that is usually difficult to solve because first of all the behavior of the guardian must change in those circumstances to become the security base that the animal needs. Secondly, the type of emotional bond between animal-guardian must also change, which will take more or less time depending on how deteriorated said bond is.
We totally agree that the BARF diet It is the most suitable for dogs and cats, but many people find it difficult to carry it out daily due to lack of time, complexity, etc. And if we are talking about cats that have been eating feed for years, it is almost mission impossible... What advice do you give to the guardians of the animals in order to make a proper transition to the BARF?
The first and most important thing is to be patient. And sometimes even have no expectations, have an open mind and let the professional advise you. Sometimes they consult me to start a BARF diet and the animal does not respond well to the raw diet, however, the cooked option works great for them. You have to personalize the diet for each animal and make sure you have the healthiest and most stable digestive system to adapt to the change in diet, because if not, even if the change is for the better, it can greatly alter the animal. We have help from probiotics, Phytotherapy, mycotherapy, etc. which can be very beneficial during or even before the transition.
With regard specifically to Phytotherapy, from your experience, do you think it is possible in many cases, especially chronic diseases such as epilepsy, Cushing's, kidney failure, cognitive dysfunction, osteoarthritis or IBD to opt for Phytotherapy? phytotherapy and reduce or even eliminate allopathic medication to avoid the side effects it usually produces in the long run?
First, each case must be individualized, because not all animals respond the same to a disease or medical treatment. And second, the more tools we have at our disposal: phytotherapy, acupuncture, nutritherapy, etc. the easier it will be to control the disease with less medical treatment.
Could you briefly highlight a case in which an integrative treatment has given especially good results?
I managed to increase the life expectancy by 9 months of a 14-year-old Labrador with end-stage kidney disease and very advanced osteoarthritis, thanks to acupuncture and nutrition therapy, without synthetic anti-inflammatories or hospitalizations. All with traveling sessions in his own house.
Another patient who responded very well to the change to a natural diet was a dog with severe chronic ulcerative gastritis. Since he was adopted, this dog has always had stomach problems and in the last year it has gotten much worse, which is why they contacted me.
We would like to know your opinion/experience about some of the products that are most requested from us in our animal herbalist:
CBD : very good both for cases that present with pain, as well as for any behavioral alteration (fear, anxiety...).
Turmeric: powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer, but you have to know how to choose and use it well.
Mycotherapy: It is a topic that I am passionate about and that I would love to study in more depth.
Boswelia (Dogs / cats): I always look for it in every supplement for joint health.
Tryptophan: It is not enough to supplement the body with this amino acid, but we must also ensure that it is able to make efficient use of it. A good state of the intestinal microbiota is needed.
Artemisia Anna: Asturias is not an endemic area for leishmania, but I have colleagues who speak wonderfully about it for controlling the disease without resorting to drugs.
Could you share a few tips for caring for a dog or cat?
Before incorporating an animal into your home, you must find out about the basic needs it will require, which will be different depending on the species, and even within the same species, depending on the breed, in order to choose the companion that best suits you. It will adapt to our family and way of life.
The basics will be good nutrition and veterinary care to prevent diseases or treat them if they are already established. But we must not forget that, whether it is a dog or a cat, it will need us to dedicate time to it in the form of walks, games, caresses, etc. This is essential to create a good emotional bond, something very important in coexistence. Regarding cats, just because you don't take a cat for a walk doesn't mean it won't require less attention. And all this basic care will change depending on the age and physiological state of the animal. If we manage to raise a healthy puppy, both physically and mentally, we will obtain a healthy and balanced adult animal.
*If you want to contact Kriss Álvarez, you can do so on his website Mevetin.
