Good Harbor Holistic Veterinary Care

08/30/2026

🐾 Another Cause for Itchy Paws
If your dog is constantly licking or chewing her paws, allergies may not be the whole story.
Every time your dog walks through grass, yards, sidewalks, or outdoor spaces, her paws can collect pollen, mold spores, dust, fertilizers, pesticides, and other environmental irritants. Think of those furry feet as little Swiffers picking up everything in their path!
And simply wiping the paws off often isn’t enough. Irritants can hide between the toes, around the nailbeds, and deep in the paw pads.
One of my favorite simple strategies is a regular paw soak. 💚
A soothing foot soak can help physically remove environmental allergens and irritants from the skin while giving those hard-working paws a little TLC. For many dogs with seasonal paw licking, reducing their daily exposure can make a meaningful difference.
🐾 For medium and large dogs: use a bucket or basin and soak one paw at a time.
🐾 For small dogs: a shallow basin or sink works well.
🐾 Afterward: rinse with clean water and dry thoroughly, especially between the toes.
I’ve also included my Detoxifying Paw Soak recipe with green tea, apple c***r vinegar, Epsom salts, and an optional antimicrobial addition.
Save this recipe for your next itchy-paw flare-up! 🌿🐶
And remember: if your dog’s paws are persistently red, swollen, painful, smelly, or she’s licking them obsessively, don’t assume it’s just allergies. Yeast, bacterial infections, parasites, foreign bodies, and other underlying problems can also cause paw irritation and deserve a veterinary evaluation.
Healthy paws start with reducing what touches them every day. 💚 Grab the recipe details in my blog, link in comments 🐾

01/21/2026

Homeopathychoice.org
After seven years of relentless advocacy, sleepless nights, and thousands of grassroots voices speaking up...

Americans for Homeopathy Choice Action’s bill to protect homeopathy has been introduced in Congress.

This is the moment we’ve been fighting for — but it’s also the moment when we could lose it all if we don’t move fast.

The FDA has already removed certain homeopathic eye drops and injectables from the market. Without this bill, more medicines will disappear — for good.

That’s why I’m asking you to take 2 minutes right now to tell your Congressional representative and both your U.S. Senators to:

Support the Homeopathic Drug Product Safety, Quality and Transparency Act (HR 7050). We’re calling it the Homeopathic Medicines Act for short.
AFHC-A has written the message for you. All you have to do is click, review, and send.

Here’s what this bill will do:
*Create a legal pathway for human and animal homeopathic medicines to stay on the market.
*Protect the full range of homeopathic remedies — current and future — that meet safety and quality standards.
*Stop the FDA from removing entire categories of medicines ever again, while retaining the power to remove unsafe or adulterated products.
*Establish safety rules tailored to the unique nature of homeopathy — just as Congress has done for supplements, compounded medicines, and medical devices.

This is our moment of truth. The clock is ticking. Congress needs to hear from thousands of us in the next few days to know that Americans will not allow homeopathy to be erased.

This bill is our best chance in decades to make sure homeopathy thrives for generations. But it won’t pass without you.

Click the link in our bio (also pasted in comments) to take action today 😃or go to HomeopathyChoice.org

11/17/2025

Researchers in the U.K. researched outcomes from homeopathic prescribing in veterinary practice in a prospective, research-targeted, pilot study.

Practitioners submitted data regularly and punctually, and most data cells were completed. 767 individual patients were treated (547 dogs, 155 cats, 50 horses, 5 rabbits, 4 guinea-pigs, 2 birds, 2 goats, 1 cow, and 1 tortoise). Outcome from two or more homeopathic appointments per patient condition was obtained in 539 cases (79.8% showing improvement, 6.1% deterioration, 11.7% no change; outcome not recorded in 2.4% of follow-ups). Strongly positive outcomes (scores of +2 or +3) were achieved in: arthritis and epilepsy in dogs and, in smaller numbers, in atopic dermatitis, gingivitis and hyperthyroidism in cats.

Source: Mathie RT, Hansen L, Elliott MF et al. Outcomes from homeopathic prescribing in veterinary practice: a prospective, research-targeted, pilot study. Homeopathy 2007; 96 (1):27-34.

11/13/2025

Now that we're halfway through November, don't forget to sign up for our Homeopathy First Aid for Pet Parents short course in early December! Taught by Dr. Lisa Melling, the three-hour, interactive online class will give you the tools you need to help your pet during an acute illness or injury with homeopathy when you can't reach your veterinarian. Learn more and sign up at the link here, https://www.vethomeopathy.org/short-courses.html

11/01/2025

03/14/2025

This past week, VHI taught a webinar on Advanced Strategies for Homeopathic Cases. I presented a case of a 6-year-old dog who had advanced cancer, and wanted to add homeopathy on to his chemotherapy treatment. While homeopathy works very well as a stand-alone therapy for chronic disease and conditions such as cancer, it can also be very effective alongside conventional treatments such as chemotherapy, and also with other integrative therapies such as TCM, acupuncture, chiropractic, and ozone therapy. I used to turn away patients that had already started chemotherapy because I felt that the drugs interfered with the homeopathic treatment, but experience has shown me that this is not true. Homeopathy is a powerful healing modality, and it can work even if there are strong drugs being used alongside it.

For the dog with cancer whose case I presented in the webinar, adding homeopathy to his cancer treatment improved his physical and emotional state, and gave him a very good quality of life. He lived longer than his vet thought he would, his appetite improved and his anxiety diminished, and he did not suffer at the end of his life - he even died in his sleep at home. These cases are sad when we cannot cure them, but even when there is advanced cancer, homeopathy helps by improving quality of life, easing pain, diminishing side effects of chemotherapy, and strengthening the vital force of the patient instead of suppressing it. Homeopathy respects the wisdom of the body, and where there is life, there is the potential for healing.

02/19/2025

Dr. Lisa is assisting a veterinary team at an elephant sanctuary to bring homeopathic healing to the pachyderms! https://globalelephants.org/ We are excited to share the story of Rana's healing journey with homeopathy in a series of upcoming posts. But before we tell you the story of Rana and how homeopathy is helping her, we have a very important question for you.

At 65 years old and weighing over 8000 lbs., Rana is not your typical homeopathic patient. When taking a homeopathic remedy, people hold the pellets under their tongue. In dogs and cats, we tap the pellets into their lip pouch, or dissolve the remedy in water and sq**rt it into their mouth. How do we get a homeopathic remedy into an elephant?

02/12/2025

Listen to our Dr. Lisa Melling on the Integrative Veterinarian Podcast with Dr. Neal Sivula, supported by the College of Integrative Veterinary Therapies. Available wherever you listen to your podcasts, or at the link here https://player.captivate.fm/episode/a3329013-4a15-440d-8886-e5ce558ce2a6/

01/17/2025

Homeopathy treats patients with diseases, rather than the disease itself. In homeopathy, it is more important to understand how a patient with a disease looks, feels, and acts, rather than diagnosing a patient with 'having a certain disease'. Homeopathy individualizes treatment for each patient and their unique presentation of illness, rather than their disease category.