Pet Health: Holistic Veterinarians and the Annual AHVMA Meeting

The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA) scientific meeting is in Louisville, KY, the first weekend in October. Members of AHVMA practice conventional medicine and surgery and they also practice acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal therapy, nutrition, chiropractic care, aromatherapy—every healing modality. They treat every species: dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, birds, sheep, rodents, reptiles, amphibians—all the world’s creatures.

Annual meetings have dozens of speakers, perhaps a hundred exhibitors, and continue for several days. Before the scientific meeting, some of the elders of the group gather where they can refresh themselves physically and spiritually. The following are some of the AHVMA members and exhibitors gathering for the meeting this year:

Michelle Tilghman who gives us all the genuine belief that we can go forth and heal just as she does
Bonnie Johnson, who shines a pure Nordic light on fish oil
Lisa Newman, the reincarnated educational ninja and powerhouse developer of Azmira pet foods
Dan Parris, the eternally patient promoter of soft laser miracles for whom physics is comprehensible
Joyce Harmon, the flower librarian
Joe Demers, a hot pepper of opinions on vaccines, nutrition, and surgical remedies for cancer
Lea Baker, the southern belle who boxes the convention into order
Rob Silver, a Buddhist jack-in-the-box, and herbal healer
Robert Ness, who inspires modern sculptors to put a smile on statues of St Francis
Robert Harman, a stem cell savant
Michelle Rivera, who naturally prays for every little thing
Pedro Rivera, a cyclone of intent and knowledge
Madalyn Ward, a fountain of diplomacy whose balance and wisdom promote healing more than any hundred lectures
Jean Hofve, the blossom of Spiritual Essence and miniGaia of healing energy
Mona Boudreaux, chi gonged with eternal youth
Deb Mitchell, who martials the hordes least we behave as airheads
PJ Broadfoot, whose magical Heeling spirit cannot be reigned in
Anuska Vluggen’s with a crystalline clarity that carries us to the depth of the earth
Richard Tan, the eternally balanced healer
Twyla so charmingly Southern and soft spoken that when we canonize “human whisperers” she’ll be a saint
Mary Battistella, who disguises a steel girder strength with a gracious beauty
Kincaid, steadfastly against practices of depletion and poverty nutrition
Susan Wynn proudly wearing the mantle of science and refusing by example to let it slip from the shoulders of holistic veterinarians
Judith Swanson, the medical nymph flowering even in flip flops
Judith Shoemaker elevating the dental rasp to a tool of whole body balance
Kerry Ridgeway, the man Robert Redford should emulate
Mark Haverkos, crazy like we all want to be, connected beyond what we can ever hope for
Xie, the brilliant mind, the nimble tongue, the passionate educator. The next time Hollywood wants to make a move like My Dinner With Andre, they should film Xie
Carvel Tiekert, the granddaddy