I’m skeptical of everything, including skeptics. When it comes to medicine, conventional or alternative, I’m ultra-skeptical, although I readily acknowledge conventional medicine’s role in increasing the average American’s life expectancy by decades over the last century. Dogs and cats are missing out on this life expectancy improvement, however, because they suffer from multiple cancers and other serious health problems. A lot of it’s probably the result of over-breeding, and maybe low-quality food, but who knows?
So when The Pet Pantry alerted me to a Saturday morning lecture at their New Canaan branch by noted holistic veterinarian, Dr. Martin Goldstein, I went and listened, and was impressed. Not because of his celebrity clients, or his theories about “pollutants in our environment” and “climate change”, or even his somewhat extreme anti-vaccine philosophy*. Nope, what impressed me was his observations, gleaned from a forty-year career, on what works and doesn’t work, for keeping cats and dogs healthy.
The next day, I started plowing through his 350-page book, “The Nature Of Animal Healing“. This is not an easy book to read. Here is an excerpt:
“Another is an enzyme called SGOT – serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase. In people, SGOT is found both in muscle and liver cells. In animals, oddly enough, it’s found mostly in muscle. So its usefulness is specific. Yet it’s rarely noted unless a pet has, for example, acute heart disease; by then, all it does is indicate the obvious. Then there’s LDH – lactic dehydrogenase- which unfortunately is no longer included in most standard blood tests. LDH is closely involved with lactic acid, which builds up when carbohydrates from food are not being metabolized properly. Carbohydrate metabolism is handled primarily by the pancreas. So LDH is an especially good indicator of pancreatic function. And because of its link with lactic acid, it also tells us whether the blood is too acidic or too alkaline- a crucial yardstick for metabolic balance.”
See? It’s just a tad “dense”, wouldn’t you say? And what are the odds Dr. Goldstein’s celebrity clients, folks like Oprah, Jerry Seinfeld, Martha Stewart, et al, have actually read even one page of this thing? Zero.
And given the average celebrity’s record on investing, choosing political candidates, or just making it through the day without saying something stupid, would you trust any decisions they make? You would not. But you can trust me; this vet is worth considering. He and his associates can be found practicing animal medicine at:
Smith Ridge Veterinary Center, 1 Smith Ridge Road, South Salem, New York 10590 (914) 533-6066.
P.S. As a non-celebrity (kills me to write that), I was naturally shunted off to a mere “associate”, a Dr. Jacqueline Ruskin, but she is as well-qualified, and as steeped in the Goldstein philosophy as ol’ Marty himself.
* Goldstein’s against nearly all vaccines. If you want a further understanding, read the book. In the meantime, take one piece of his advice: Don’t let your vet administer multiple vaccines to your pet on the same day.
Greenwich Bored And Razed 