You know the old saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." In this day and age of health and fitness clubs, yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, organic foods, dietary supplements, chiropractic care, meditation, massage and preventative medicine for people, this article will guide you through how many of these treatments can be highly beneficial to your animals.

Below is a list of alternative treatments available to help your animal maintain or regain their health.

Acupuncture: Based on the 5000 year old Traditional Chinese medical system, acupuncture stimulates the meridians(energy pathways) of the body by inserting tiny needles into the skin along the meridian points which unblocks stagnant Qi (life force energy). Ask friends for references, depending on symptoms usually need 2-6 sessions. Has benefited: arthritis, back issues, organ dysfunction, immune system boosting, obesity, diabetes, coughing, old age, hip dysplasia, stomach issues, allergies, fear and submissive behaviors, injury recovery, cataracts, anything diagnosed as congenital, lupus, cancer and heart conditions.

Chiropractic Care: Gentle inputs to the spine assist it in realigning itself. Works the same way for animals as humans. Animals are often much more active than humans, especially the ones running along the beach and the horses on hilly land, so having your animal checked 2x a year is a great preventative. An injured limb can cause a misalignment in the spine as well. 1-3 sessions is usually all that is necessary for an injury. Has benefited: older animals, injured animals, an animal that has become aggressive whose back is sore, overweight animals, rescue animals, high end athletes, dachsunds, horse with lameness, cats who are high jumpers, large breed dogs, and agility dogs.

Massage: Aaaaahhhhh! No need to explain this one, very simple and works the same for animals as it does for humans. Excellent for all physical issues stated above, as well as it being a great all around calmer.

Animal Communication: Think of it as a psychic reading for your animal. An Animal Communicator can help you hear the messages that your animal is trying to share with you and can be quite accurate in assisting you in pinpointing the root cause of your animals issues, be it physical, emotional or psychological. 1 session will typically do the trick with perhaps 1 or 2 follow ups down the road. If you have tried a trainer, a vet and are at the end of your rope, try a communicator- and next time an issue comes about they may be the first one that you call.

Nutrition: This is a big topic because there are so many myths perpetuated about proper diets for animals. To cut out a lot of the myths and made up facts let's take a common sense look from Mother Nature's perspective at the two most important factors of what is most natural to our animals systems.

Unless there was a time when the wolves or the mountain lions sat around a camp fire and brainstormed the idea to cook and eat dry kibble, then the traditional "dry food only diets" of today are seriously out of balance with nature.

First and foremost, in the wild an animal's diet would consist of 70-80% moisture. If you look on the bags of your animal's food at the actual moisture content it is somewhere between 10-12%. When there is not enough moisture in the food, the body has to pull moisture out of the cells, an unnatural process leading to dehydration. Adding water to the kibble is not the best way to get more moisture into your animal.

A dry diet is THE most unnatural for cats as they are strict carnivores, not only do they need fresh meat but need the water content from that meat as they were not designed to be big water drinkers. I am convinced that dehydration is a major contributing factor to kidney disease in cats as they get older. Think about it, would you eat dry food out of a bag everyday and realistically think you would be healthy and live a long life?

My recommendation is a ratio of at least 50% wet, 50% dry at a minimum, 65% wet and 35% dry in most cases. Remember when switching over, do so over 10 days to not upset your animal's stomach. I am a big believer in "human food for animals," think about it they were here before we were and before we took over the food chain, this was their natural diet. Plus animals 40 years ago didn't have anywhere near the incidence of diseases that we see today and guess what they ate- tablescraps. You will be amazed at the differences you notice, healthier coat, more relaxed animal, clearer eyes, better teeth, and more energy. And no, adding water to the dry food does not make everything ok.

As for water, tap water has chlorine and fluoride in it, two completely unnatural chemical additives that would never be found in the wild. Spring water or filtered water that eliminates those two chemicals is best for our animals and ourselves.

Second, any time food is cooked past 118 degrees all of the enzymes in the food are killed off. The body, animal or human, needs enzymes for healthy digestion and absorption, in fact many illnesses such as: irritable bowel, acid reflux, allergies, cancers, arthritis, auto immune diseases, and poor absorption of food are being traced to low enzyme counts.

In the wild, the way nature designed it is that when a predator took down its prey, the first place it would go was the stomach, because that is where the most concentration of enzymes are and is necessary for the predator to have in order to break down the rest of the meat it will consume.

Supplements: Then there is the question of supplements, "to supplement or not to supplement." The one supplement that I would recommend as a given is a high quality, whole food enzyme supplement that any animal over the age of 2 should receive with each meal.

These are the basics. If you have been facing a healing crisis or long term issue that you are unhappy with the results of an alternative approach might be just what you have been looking for. In addition, to save yourself costly vet bills in the future you may want to employ some of these alternative approaches an early preventative to safeguard your pet's health for a lifetime.

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Alecia Evans has been professionally training dogs and their humans since 2001. Her philosophy is harness your dog's energy to unleash their greatest potential and your own. As a Holistically minded dog trainer Alecia works with issues ranging from bringing a new puppy home to severe aggression. Alecia's background as an Animal Wellness Consultant over the last 15 years has been focused on nutritional health and emotional well being utilizing nature's pharmacy of supplements and natural remedies to address the animal's root issue and restore balance to their system and behavior. Alecia invented The Walk In Sync™ Humane Dog Walking and Training System as the gold standard of training tools in order to end the choking of dogs during training and walking. Alecia is revolutionizing the dog training world with her exclusive 5 Minute Manners Makeovers using the Walk In Sync™ Harness and Accu-Grip Leash, along with her Walk In Sync™ 3 Easy Steps to teach any human/dog duos to Walk In Sync in just minutes. Find out more at: http://dogwalkinsync.com/