Dr. Doug

Hello and welcome to my blog. I’m Dr. Doug Knueven but I go by Dr. Doug for reasons that become obvious when you try to pronounce my last name. (By the way, it is pronounced “KNEEVEN” - you pronounce all the letters except the “U”) I was raised in a small suburb of Cincinnati named Mt. Healthy. This town name has taken on new meaning throughout my life.

When I graduated from The Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine in 1987, my idea of health revolved around the mechanistic, Western model of medicine where there is a drug or surgery for just about every condition (never mind the side effects and surgical risks). After a few years in practice I realized that things didn’t always go the way the text books said it would. I realized there had to be more to health and healing than what I was taught in vet school. This realization started me on my journey into holistic medicine.

I started with veterinary acupuncture as I had an interest in this therapy that was sparked by an after-hours lecture in vet school. After seeing the benefits of this strange healing modality, I completed courses in homeopathy, Chinese herbal medicine and chiropractic. I also joined the American Holistic Medical Association and through their conferences, continue to learn more about holistic pet health. Today, for me the word health is more about lifestyle and less about what you go to the doctor to get.

As excited as I am about alternative medicine, I have not thrown the baby out with the bath water. I do see the value of Western medicine for certain situations. I practice integrative veterinary medicine which involves the use of the most appropriate treatment for the individual animal. As an integrative medicine practitioner I have more tools in my kit to treat the many patients I see.

Along the way I also realized that any given patient was not going to heal if they were not being fed properly. This led me into my own research into animal nutrition. I soon abandoned much of what I had been taught about nutrition in veterinary school, as that information is highly influenced by the major pet food companies. From my research and decades of experience it is obvious to me that pets benefit from an evolution-based diet rather than the starch-rich, highly processed convenience pet foods most pet caregivers currently feed. Animals simply cannot be healthy if their bodies are not provided the raw materials and nutritional signals that are needed.

The longer I have practiced veterinary medicine, the more convinced I am of the value of the Holistic-Integrative approach to pet health care. My passion for pets and for true health (physical, mental and spiritual) is what this weekly blog is all about. Together we will explore pet health topics.

This weekly blog will cover topics in holistic veterinary medicine as well as current events in the veterinary world. I hope to open a dialog with pet caregivers and veterinarians about these issues. Much of what I say may be controversial to some readers. I am all for healthy criticism and I love to hear different points of view. I do not claim to know it all and I plan to learn from the people who participate in the discussion.

Have you or your pet had experience with holistic medicine? Click on the title above and join the conversation. Don't forget to sign up on the right for blog notifications.

Three Ways Your Vet May Be Led Astray

There is currently a trend in veterinary medicine toward what is called Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM). The idea is that we veterinarians should only treat pets with scientifically proven therapies. This process is intended to eliminate the doctor's personal bias and therapies that are ineffective or possibly harmful. With EBM there is a hierarchy of evidence that should be considered when a vet chooses a therapy for a particular animal. At the lowest level of evidence is personal experience with an individual case. This is often called rather disparagingly, anecdotal evidence. Let’s face it, anything can happen once. Just because a pet’s[...]

Lessons from the “War on Fat”

A recent Time Magazine cover story about America’s “War on Fat” is very instructive about both human and pet nutrition. The title of the article, “Don’t Blame the Fat” says it all. In the late 1970’s it was determined that dietary fat and cholesterol were responsible for the high incidence of heart disease in America. By 1980, the war on fat was on and Americans were encouraged to eat less red meat and more carbohydrates. Very soon “Fat-Free” foods flooded the supermarkets. Like the good little soldiers we are, Americans followed orders and ate less butter, eggs, and red meat[...]