The Holistic Vet, Dr. Doug Knueven today on It's a Dog's Life! Dr. Doug started with veterinary acupuncture as he 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, he completed courses in homeopathy, Chinese herbal medicine, and chiropractic. He also joined the American Holistic Medical Association and through their conferences, continue to learn more about holistic pet health. Today, for him the word health is more about lifestyle and less about what you go to the doctor to get. As excited as Dr. Doug is about alternative medicine, he has not thrown the baby out with the bathwater. He does see the value of Western medicine for certain situations. He practices integrative veterinary medicine which involves the use of the most appropriate treatment for the individual animal. As an integrative medicine practitioner, he has more tools in his kit to treat the many patients he sees. Along the way, Dr. Doug also realized that any given patient was not going to heal if they were not being fed properly. This led him into his own research into animal nutrition. He soon abandoned much of what he had been taught about nutrition in veterinary school, as that information is highly influenced by the major pet food companies. From his research and decades of experience, it is obvious 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.