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Integrative Health Pet Expo
in Fitchburg, MA on Sept. 10-11, 2009 |
Breaking News! That is why we were so excited to continue our staff's education by attending the Integrative Pet Expo in Fitchburg, New York on September 10 - 11, 2009. At this two day pet health and wellness event, we met so many terrific, like-minded people who brought their passion, knowledge and life experience to the conference. These were lay people and veterinarians from across the country who feel strongly about natural approaches to nutrition and health care for pets, just as we do. Foremost in this two-day bonanza was discussion of vaccinations for pets, in addition to the use of muscle testing, homeopathy and aromatherapy, among many other topics.
Bulletin -- We met Dr. Jean Dodds, a veterinarian who works tirelessly on behalf of animals. Dr. Dodds is the founder and president of Hemopet/Hemolife, a nonprofit national blood bank in Garden Grove,  California which serves more than 2,000 veterinary clinics in the U.S. and Canada. Hemopet offers blood for canine transfusion while Hemolife offers animal blood testing. The first day of the conference, Dr. Dodds red-eyed in from her base in California and, without sleep, wowed the audience with her humor and conviction about her latest project.
Dr. Dodds is spearheading the "Rabies Challenge Fund," a research project to determine the long-term duration of immunity of the canine rabies vaccine, with the goal of extending the state-mandated interval for boosters to five and then seven years. It has been found that many animals inoculated for rabies to adhere to state laws have experienced physical problems. This is a topic which was revisited often during the seminar by the veterinarian lecturers.
For more information on this fascinating woman and her projects you can visit http://www.hemopet.com and http://www.rabieschallengefund.org.
Bulletin --  Sadly, day two of the conference was the anniversary of the tragedy at the World Trade Center. However, there was a silver lining. During the 9/11 memorial ceremony, we were introduced to the Wilsons, Marilyn, Hal and their Rescue Dog, Tsunami, who were being honored at the event for their rescue and recovery work at Ground Zero.
Hal and Tsunami are rescue partners who were among the first responders at Ground Zero after 9/11. Both Marilyn and Hal talked about how their work with Tsunami has changed the direction of their lives. Marilyn, who formerly worked in a corporate setting, is now a Rescue Dog trainer and provides Hal and Tsunami with the support system which enables them to do their good works.
Hal, a Vietnam veteran, is grateful that he and Tsunami were able to help with the 9/11 rescue work. In a heart-rending personal dialogue, Hal told the audience that he was deeply troubled after Vietnam and he had no doubt that Tsunami had been the one to save his life while partnering with him to save others.
Tsunami is a beautiful, jet black, German Shepherd, in glowing health.  But after working at the World Trade Center disaster site, Tsunami's health was anything but. Long hours, toxic fumes and the dangerous environment compromised the dog's health, spurring Marilyn to do some heavy duty research into nutrition for her.
Naturally, being who we are, we were eager to see what Tsunami ate to keep her in her current tiptop shape. Her diet, Marilyn told us, is a natural, home-cooked one, which includes two meals of 8 ounces of meat or fish per day (salmon, sardines or jack mackeral), with lots of vegetables and a helping of quinoa.
We felt honored to have met these fine people and the various friends and lecturers that attended this conference. These are the highlights that sent us back to "Bama's Natural Instinct" with a renewed enthusiasm for our work. Hope you enjoyed the update!
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