Your Tauranga based vet with ...
A REFRESHING APPROACH TO YOUR PET'S HEALTHCARE
Your Tauranga based vet with ...
A REFRESHING APPROACH TO YOUR PET'S HEALTHCARE
| Our Services | General Services
Your pets long term health and wellbeing is our priority. During health checks we focus on identifying any areas which need immediate attention, as well as minor issues which may become more of a problem at a later stage, if they are not addressed. We then formulate a personalized health care plan, making use of all the best of both conventional veterinary medicine and surgery as well as complimentary and natural therapies.
In order to take all aspects of the animals life into consideration, and to ensure that their health and vitality are supported optimally, our health checks include:
If there is cause for concern, or areas identified where further diagnostic work is indicated, we'll discuss these options with you. These might be blood tests, fine needle aspirates, radiographs (X-Rays), ultrasound, biopsies, etc.
We make use of the Best of Both Worlds, integrating all of the benefits of conventional veterinary medicine and surgery with innovative and common-sense therapies such as acupuncture, nutritional medicine, herbal medicine and many others to ensure that we treat our patients in the most effective and least invasive way possible to restore health and well-being.
Whether it’s treating complex health issues such as arthritis, cancer and allergies, emergency care or surgical recovery, we love using a combination of therapies to provide the very best care for your pet.
View Complementary Therapies and Integrative Care
Like traditional veterinary clinics, we offer routine surgery such as spaying and neutering, dental cleaning, soft tissue surgery, orthopaedic surgery as well as emergency care. It is wonderful what can be achieved to enhance the quality of an animal’s life, especially when surgical intervention is life saving.
We pride ourselves in offering a high standard of surgical care and enjoy the great benefits of integrating supportive therapies such as Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Flower Essences and intra-venous Vitamin C during surgical procedures. This ensures that our patients have gentle anaesthetics and the smoothest possible recoveries.
Dr. Liza and Dr. Deanna, our Telehealth Vet Team, are passionate about integrating practical and innovative complementary care options to optimize the health and well-being of pets across NZ!
Holistic Vets offer a telephone consultation service and can work alongside your existing local vet to provide guidance and advice on holistic veterinary treatments.
Upon receiving the completed Telephone Consult Request Form (link below) and your pet's records from your regular vet, an appointment will be made. Our Telehealth Vet Team will review your pet’s health records in preparation for a consultation during which they will discuss treatment options with you and recommend a comprehensive treatment plan.
Our telephone consultation price is $189 (NZD). Please note that this price excludes any additional products or services.
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Holistic Vets offers 24 hour emergency care for our patients.
Some of our most challenging cases are those that we encounter in a serious emergency.
They require quick thinking, elegant action and masterful communication with the animal’s owner to succinctly explain the situation, gather enough information to help treat the animal effectively, and to delicately handle the owner’s emotions which might be extreme at times.
The immediate priority is stabilizing our patient. We ensure that they have an open airway, regular respiratory rate; their heart is beating rhythmically and regularly, their circulation isn’t compromised; for example by excessive bleeding or shock, and that they are not seizuring.
Various treatments are employed at this stage to aid with the above and support the animal. These might include intravenous fluids, drugs to support or control vital signs, positioning the animal appropriately, dosing specific homeopathic remedies, applying acupuncture and even various energy modalities such as Reiki.
Once we have a stable patient, and if it’s not obvious from the above examination, the next important step is obtaining a diagnosis. Often after an accident radiographs are very useful to identify fractures or other mechanical defects which might require specific surgical treatments. Other diagnostic tools might include running blood tests, analysing urine samples and muscle testing which can give an indication of which areas need to be addressed.
A treatment plan is then created, aimed at supporting the animal to ensure that healing takes place as quickly, comfortably and effectively as possible, all within the care and financial constraints of the owner.
Diagnosing the underlying problem is an important part of helping us to restore the health and well-being of our patients. We have in-house blood analysers that enable us to access our patient’s blood chemistry and haematology parameters within minutes. Our digital x-ray equipment and ultrasound are invaluable for imaging to help us see what is going on inside your pet and guide us to what treatments they may need.
A titre test is the scientific method of detecting specific antibodies in the blood to reflect whether or not an animal is actively protected from certain diseases. A drop of blood is all that we need to have a result within a few minutes. For those animals that are not protected or benefit from vaccination to help prevent the diseases that we are unable to perform titre tests for, we provide vaccination.
Vaccinations can be a useful tool to help prevent certain diseases. A traditional vaccination is a means of giving the body a much less severe form of a disease than it could potentially contract. This primes the immune system to be prepared for the disease thus enabling the body to mount an effective enough defence that the animal doesn’t become severely ill when exposed to the real thing.
At Holistic Vets we carefully establish the risk factors for each individual animal and identify where vaccination is appropriate.
When we vaccinate, we use vaccines that have proven efficacy, provide the longest duration of immunity (3 years for the core vaccines we use for dogs and cats) and make use of appropriate remedies as well as nutrients to ensure that the animal has the least possible chance of experiencing any negative effects from the vaccine.
Before the age of 4 months is the most important time to expose your puppy to people, different environments and other animals and help them to become well-adjusted, confident and friendly individuals. Ensuring that your pup is well-socialised is a very important investment into their long-term health and well-being.
Join our popular PUPPY CLASSES held regularly through the year at Holistic Vets. Over 4 weekly sessions we’ll teach you all the important things that you need to know about having a pup.
Classes include FREE puppy packs!
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy or "HBOT" is most often used as an "adjunctive treatment". This means that it is used in conjunction with other forms of treatment and is a part of the total medical treatment package or care regime.
Sitting in the chamber and being placed under pressure, like divers submerging under 10 metres of water, oxygen dissolves into all of the body fluid and tissues. This means that it can easily reach important areas such as injury sites and the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) to which oxygen delivery might be compromised in an injured or diseased animal.
Oxygen, provided at optimal levels has profound anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and tissue healing benefits. It can accelerate healing dramatically and assist in conditions where there is an oxygen deficit.
HBOT may be suitable alone or in conjunction with conventional or other complementary therapies for animals with a range of conditions including:
CAN ANIMALS BENEFIT FROM HBOT?
Oxygen Therapy is particularly well suited to treating animals and research indicates that animals have around five times the accelerated rate of tissue healing than humans, which can greatly speed the resolution of illness and recovery from injury. HBOT is a non-invasive and well tolerated therapy for a large range of veterinary conditions.
ARE THERE ANY SIDE EFFECTS FOR THE ANIMALS?
HBOT is a remarkably safe treatment. Occasionally animals experience mild discomfort in their ears but they generally tolerate this therapy extremely well. Only animals who have certain kinds of ear, sinus or lung problems, or are critically ill may not be able to be treated.
During HBOT the animal simply sits or lies down and relaxes in the chamber, breathing pure oxygen while the chamber is pressurised. A treatment session lasts 1 to 2 hours and animals typically respond beautifully to as little as 1 to 5 treatment sessions depending on their individual needs.
View Some 'HBOT' Cases
WHAT IS PROLOTHERAPY?
"Prolotherapy" is derived from the words “proliferation therapy." This therapy literally causes supporting tissue to proliferate (via inflammation) around the affected joint in order to stabilize the joint and alleviate pain. It is one of the oldest, yet little known, modalities for the resolution of pain and lameness.
Some animals are not be good candidates for surgery. If they are too old or too active to manage the weeks of post-operative rest, prolotherapy is an excellent alternative as it is much less invasive and carries very low risk overall.
HOW SUCCESSFUL IS PROLOTHERAPY?
WHEN IS PROLOTHERAPY INDICATED?
Prolotherapy is used to treat certain cases of cranial cruciate rupture/instability, chronic lameness, hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, partially torn ligaments and a variety of other conditions.
Your pet will undergo a thorough clinical examination and have radiographs taken, to assess whether they are suitable candidates for this procedure. In some instances, for example, if there is any clicking in the knee joint, it means that the menisci in the joint are damaged and surgery is the more suitable option.
WHAT TO EXPECT…
Animals undergo a full general anaesthetic for the duration of the procedure. Generally, 3-5 treatments, 3-4 weeks apart are needed to fully assess the outcome.
Moderate to severe pain is the most common side effect and can last up to 7 days post-procedure. During this time your pet is provided with specific pain medication to keep them as comfortable as possible. It is important to bear in mind that it is the body’s inflammatory response to the treatment, that determines the success of this procedure. Therefore, it is important not to use non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, which are commonly used to address pain.
Crate rest of your pet after the procedure is not necessary. In fact, it is important that pets be encouraged to move around as much as possible but not with over-exertion such as running. One week after the procedure, walking and swimming should be encouraged as much as possible. Certain passive range of movement exercises are recommended and physiotherapy if possible.
SIDE EFFECTS AND POTENTIAL RISKS
Please feel free to ask our team for more information if you have any questions or queries.
When the time comes, we know that it can be difficult. We’re here to help and make the transition as easy as possible for you and your pet with our Home Visit service so that your pet can be put to rest in your home, surrounded by family. We work with Pet Aquamation, an increasingly popular, gentle, end of life choice, that uses water instead of fire to return your beloved pet back to nature with options for their ashes to be returned to you in a cardboard box or wooden box with an engraving. We feel that it is such a privilege to see our patients through to the very end with a dignified aquamation process that is also kind on our environment, having a much lower carbon footprint than traditional cremation.
Pet Aquamation
Good nutrition is fundamentally important to help your animal to stay healthy as it provides the basic building blocks that their body needs to function at its best.
When a diet is poor and is then changed to include wholesome, well balanced foods, animals (and humans!) show a remarkable improvement in their condition, their working performance is enhanced and often, chronic ongoing health problems begin to resolve.
For more information on what to feed your pet to keep them in top condition and to promote their vitality please view our information sheet.
Alternatively, our online advisory service offers specific nutritional advice tailored to address your animal's health concerns.
Veterinary care is a very diverse field; not only do we see many different kinds of animals but also a variety of health conditions and vets in general practice need to be good at all sorts of things from medicine to surgery, anaesthesiology, dentistry, obstetrics, ophthalmology and many more. Our vets are well-versed in treating all sorts of health conditions but there are always times when we benefit from the input of experts in our field. This is includes our vets consulting specialists, sending laboratory results and imaging reports for expert opinions and where necessary, referring pets to specialist centres in New Zealand.
Holistic Vets provide veterinary services to the ARRC Wildlife Trust.
We serve as a port of call to members of the public, as well as the SPCA and Department of Conservation, who make use of our 24 hour service to provide veterinary care to injured and orphaned wildlife. Our staff are also responsible for networking ARRC’s volunteers and our phone system provides valuable wildlife first aid information.
Holistic Vets delight in helping with the care of our wildlife and work to cultivate an attitude of respect and responsibility toward our animal co-inhabitants as well as our natural heritage.
Contact ARRC if you need assistance with the rescue of any injured wildlife that you may come across.
Gentle, end of life choice
Pet aquamation, also known as alkaline hydrolysis, water-based cremation, bio-cremation, green cremation, or flameless cremation. It differs from flame cremation because it uses the natural decomposition process to break down the body but does so at an accelerated rate and is a more eco-friendly pet cremation system because it is far gentler on the environment than traditional flame cremation.
Behavioral issues are common-place in our pet society. Our pets can suffer from a number of these including phobias, anxiety, aggression, obsessive behaviors and others. Thankfully there are some wonderful behaviorists and trainers out there are we are so grateful to have two who have a wealth of experience and are also vet nurses at Holistic Vets:
Contact: Linda Van Der Poel - 027 507 2213
If you haven’t consulted us for your pet’s health before, please complete this form
Request Animal Healthcare
Emergency
Holistic Vets offer a 24 hour emergency service which can be reached on:
07 578 7054
Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 8:30am-5:30pm
Saturday: 9.00am-12.00pm
Sunday: By appointment (Emergencies only) 11.00am-12.00pm
For After-Hours Emergencies please ring 07 578 7054 for the number of our duty vet.
We are open for early morning drop offs from 8am - 9am and available by phone from 9am
HOLISTIC VETS AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
