Sharing of the Spirit Through Vocation: Holistic Veterinarian

Vocation: Holistic Veterinarian

By Cherie Greene

I first met Wendy Jensen, DVM at the Farmers’ Market shortly after adopting my cat Cara, who was then still spending about 23 hours a day under the bed. I was curious about the phrase “holistic veterinarian” on her business card. Even more intriguing was the fact that Wendy has no traditional veterinary clinic but operates exclusively through house calls. This sounded like the best possibility for getting medical care to my reclusive, hypervigilant Cara.

Next week we honor Francis of Assisi, a man who respected the beasts for themselves in an era that saw them through human eyes only: as object lessons, machines, food, and occasionally servants of evil. Because Wendy treats animals as total beings, I asked her to offer her perspective on the inner lives of our animal companions.

Wendy doesn’t have an office. The home visit gives Wendy the chance to observe the patients in their own environment rather than under the inherently stressful situation of a clinic setting. Especially for cats, the experience of being stuffed into a travel crate, carried like luggage and driven to a place full of strange smells almost guarantees that their behavior will be different from how they usually are. For a homeopathic practice, the patient’s mood and affect are critical indicators of her state of health.

According to the theory of energy-based healing, Wendy says, sickness starts with malaise in the emotional and physical energy. Symptoms appear later, and then if the condition is left untreated, the energy imbalance can lead to tissue damage. Although her diet recommendations and customized natural remedies have been successful in resolving conditions as serious as diabetes, hypothyroidism and even tumors, Wendy’s focus is not so much on battling disease as on increasing the animal’s strength and well-being. Whether cured or not, she says, her patients always feel better.

This brought me to the question of how we know how an animal feels. When we talk about holistic healing for humans, most of us think of an approach to health that addresses the mind and spirit as well as the body. I asked Wendy, “How do you view the mind and spirit of an animal, and how do you approach treating those?”

Her primary tool is observation. She sees the animal’s mind in his behavior, in “How they have decided to be and where they have decided to be.” For instance, Cara darting under the bed when a guest walks into the house is a behavior that indicates she believes any humans who aren’t me must be viewed with caution.

An animal’s spirit, in Wendy’s view, is shown through how they move and look, their overall demeanor. She once treated a horse that was described as highly energetic, one only an advanced rider could manage. Yet when Wendy entered the stall, the mare was listless, her lower lip sagging with ennui. Taking the horse outside completely changed her affect because, as Wendy put it, “Her spirit needed to be outdoors.”

When I asked Wendy what wisdom she has learned from observing and interacting with her patients, she surprised me by saying they have shown her how to die. (In her practice, Wendy offers palliative care rather than euthanasia.) Animals, she explained, are at peace about the end of life. They have no fears, expectations or regrets because they live in the present. People fight death. People have guilt and disappointment. Only humans worry about heaven and hell. And we are the ones who are dreading tomorrow, when we’ll have to wake up to a household without our pets, wondering whether we will see them in the next life.

What, I wondered, does she imagine the next life to be for an animal? She’s pretty sure they have souls and continue somehow, but she doesn’t bother about the specifics. This is how her observations of her patients’ calm deaths have taught her to face the unknown. We can’t control it; it will be what it will be. The past was what it was. At this moment, while there are tails to wag, ears to be scratched and friends to love, nothing else is all that important.

Cherie's feline companion - Cara

St. Paul's will celebrate all of our animal companions with animal blessings at all three services on October 4 and 5 - Saturday 4:30 PM and Sunday 8:00 and 10:00 AM- in honor of St. Francis Day.

We are also offering an outdoor animal blessing on Saturday October 4th at 3 PM on the State House Lawn, with our friends from Grace Church, Concord.  We do hope you will join us.