Testimonials

Sarah, I already knew about Dr. Loops. Several people on the list
recommended him and I learned about some of the other holistic internet
veterinarians. To be honest, I was skeptical about them. Hey, I never
heard of such a thing until recently. I'm also automatically skeptical
about a doctor hundreds or thousands of miles away that I can't go look
in the eye.

That didn't stop me from looking around locally for a holistic doctor
but that's like looking for a needle in a haystack down here in Baja
Alabama. "Yer lookin' fer a WHAT?"

Then I found a website for locating holistic vets and dang if I didn't
find what I was hoping for and less than 50 miles from the house. I
posted up about my find and my specific concerns about this particular
doctor on March 22. With my skepticism in check, I got in contact with
her the next day to ask if she could help Grey with homeopathy.

Her name is Dr Marcia Martin. As it turns out, she is rather new to
classical homeopathy but has been a DVM for 20 years and has steadily
gravitated away from the allopathic method. She lines out her history on
the home page of her website to be found at:

http://www.creatingwellbeings.com/

The things I like about her are:

1) She doesn't pull any punches and she tells it like it is. I know
she's strong and tough.

2) She has a genuine love and concern and she's a good girl. A "call me
at 10 PM tonight and tell me how our baby is doing" kind of a good girl.

3) Although I chose her because she's local, and told her I will bring
Grey to her if she can help him, that hasn't been necessary. Rather than
stressing Grey with yet another doctor trip, we have handled all this by
email and phone. Admittedly it was harder because my wife and I had to
write her a book about Grey but now she knows him better than if we'd
gone to see her. She does know what a handsome boy Grey is because I
sent her a picture along with all the labwork files

4) She's not trying to get rich doing this. I've seen the rates
published by the doctors who operate in this field of
internet/telemedicine and it isn't pretty. I was very pleasantly
surprised Tuesday night when I received my first bill in the email from
Dr. Marcia. She has invested a lot of time into helping Grey and I was
expecting a whopper of a bill when it finally came. Hah! It was more
than reasonable. Needless to say, I had a check in the mail to her first
thing in the morning.

5) She is always there for us. I'm respectful of her time but I have no
doubt if we needed her at 3 AM for an emergency, she'd be on the case in
no time flat.

6) I have full faith in her expertise and training in this arcane field
that is so counter-intuitive to me. I feel she spent all the time
necessary to analyze Grey and develop his treatment plan. In fact, it
was a week after I fed her all the requested information before I heard
back from her. When she did contact me, she was ready to roll with the
plan in place and wiling to make on-the-fly adjustments to accommodate
Grey's rapidly deteriorating condition.

7) I feel that even if she may be new to this classical homeopathy, if
there are any questions in her mind about best practice, she's won't
hesitate to utilize her mentors and network if and when she needs a
little help. In fact, that may even be why I didn't hear back from her
for a week. Grey is definitely a tough case. Some of his lab results are
terrifying.

The bottom line is I trust Dr Marcia. Her methods are beyond my realm of
comprehension but even as a chronic micro-manager, I know it works
because I'm seeing it every day. Whether I understand it or not is
irrelevant. She has all the time for us that we need and her fees are
absolutely reasonable as well as an excellent value. The most important
part, however, is she's damn well done good for Grey. She has saved his
life. Last Wednesday, my wife and I were crying about the reality of
soon losing our Grey Dog. Last Thursday, Dr Marcia came into our lives
and Grey is unquestionably better. He may not live another year or even
another week but every day he lives, happily and comfortably, makes this
world a better place.

Wil

One night, when no human was around, Darby took a fall. The next morning he stood before us, in shock, unable to move or bend his head, barely able to walk. His lips and mouth seemed frozen in place. Visits from two vets gave us two different diagnoses; neither offered any hope for his future. It was either a head injury or a spinal cord injury, both deemed incurable.

Darby started losing weight rapidly. Unable to lower his head or move his lips, what little feed he would eat had to be held up for him by Jennifer or Debbie. Every few hours they held water to his mouth, urging him to drink. He simply stood before the raised hay, either not wanting or not able to gather the energy to chew, but mostly he just stood, looking out at the pasture, wanting to be with the herd once again. His weight became a grave concern, with ribs and hips starting to show. His once sparkling white coat became something gray and dead. Jennifer and I made the decision to move him to the ICU barn, knowing that a final decision would have to be made unless a miracle happened.

After a long conversation with Lark about alternative medicine, she offered $500 to cover the cost of an acupuncturist. I called Marcia Martin, a DVM , in Houston and asked her to take a look at Darby. She came down the next evening with another person, who turned out to be a friend of mine, Jean, who was once an investigator for the Houston SPCA. While Jean and I discussed old times, Dr. Martin started performing her magic.

I’ve probably given over a thousand shots in the last five years, joined in countless operations and applied a ton of ointment and medications to wounds and scrapes of all sizes. Jennifer’s far surpassed me in her treatments and Debbie, being a nurse, not only surpasses both of us, but actually understands what the medication is supposed to do. While I’m familiar with some alternative methods, watching the Doctor was far beyond what I thought might happen.

Jean and I were discussing old cruelty cases while the Doctor walked Darby slowly around. After a few steps, he almost fell over. He still showed all the symptoms he did at the ranch, with only a slight mobility increase. I stopped talking when the Doctor ran her hands over his body, not touching him, feeling for the warmth, I thought. Not so, she explained. She was feeling his energy, seeing where the disturbance was located.

She had my attention then, for this was getting into an area that seemed a little strange. She walked toward his tail, ran her hands over, but not touching, his rump, and pushed her finger into a place close to his tailhead. She held it there while I held Darby’s lead rope and wondered what weirdness she was doing.

For the first time in three weeks, Darby lowered his head and started licking his lips. “That’s the release I’m hunting for,” she said, as she went to the other side and did the same thing. Once again, after about two minutes, Darby’s head went down, even lower this time, and his once frozen tongue became mobile and licking.

“I’ll be back in two week to give him another treatment,” she announced. With that, she and Jean drove off. I stood with Darby in his stall for a while after they left, wondering if I had either just been visited by a witch doctor, suckered by a con artist, or witnessed something magical. I found the answer the next morning when I started feeding. Darby lowered his head, he’d swallowed gallons of water, and he turned around to watch me as I fed the others.

“He turned his head to watch me.” I must have said that to twenty people that day. The first sign of improvement, the first step in coming back, the first positive reason we’d had for not putting him down. He had turned his head.

Each day after that brought great leaps in improvement. Dr. Martin’s next visit was much the same as the first, a finger touch here, a little pressure there, a jar of herbs to put in his feed, and she was off. I must have asked a million questions, heard a simple explanation and once again stood before Darby’s stall in wonder and amazement after she left, looking at a horse that was once within days of being put to sleep, but that was now full of energy and gaining weight.

Six weeks later, Darby returned to the ranch. There were troubles at first - Bronson had been adopted and Darby had problems fitting into the herd. He was still weak, so Jennifer moved him to the back with the babies and more gentle older horses. Over the last month, his lips finally reached the ground, enabling him to graze. He’s no longer the lowest man in the herd, nor the weakest. He’s gaining ground, both mentally and physically. He’s still not back completely, but there is every reason to believe he’ll return in time, given proper care and lots of hugs.

In his own way, he knows people cured him, for he’s a people loving horse now. Cheryl, the wonderful woman who works at the ICU barn, became his best friend. One call from her during her all to infrequent trips to the ranch brings him running to the gate. If anyone shows the least desire to hug him, he’s there for them, ready and willing to receive all their attention.

Acupressure is a fascinating science. We can vouch for it and for the ability of Dr. Martin. She saved Darby’s life.

First Ride
On a quiet, cool Sunday morning at the end of November, Jennifer saddled Darby for the first time since he came to the ranch. After the initial round of tension for both horse and rider, it appears that Darby is a perfect horse. Although we know he hasn't been ridden in years, it's obvious that he's had training. He's extremely smooth and, once the edges are taken off, he'll make someone a great horse.

Darby went on to be adopted by a loving family and had a career as a hunter jumper.

Scarlett was diagnosed over 4 years ago with intestinal lymphoma. The veterinary ocologist had given her only 3 months to live. Her owner made the difficult decision to forgo chemotherapy in favor of holistic treatment. Through homeopathic treatment combined with nutrition, Scarlett was able to regain health and lead a full and active life