"Wisdom is the letting go of what we think we know"
-unknown
Welcome to holisticanimalvet.com! This is the official website of Sharon R. Doolittle DVM, Inc.
Our goal on this web site is to give you an overview of what we offer in this practice, as well as
to provide information on a different way of looking at animal healthcare.
Be sure to visit our "FAQ" page to get answers to our most commonly asked questions. We also
feature articles on various health and wellness issues in the company news and PDF sections of
this site.
We welcome your feedback about this site, so please feel free to write to us via the contact us
page with any comments, suggestions, or questions you may have.
TO VISIT OUR MESSAGE BOARDS PLEASE CLICK HERE!
Click on the link above and join in the conversation related to all the topics on this site. Here you
will find a variety of topics to choose from such as general health, diet & nutrition, wellness and
just about anything you want to share about your animals.
Just simply register then login and you can join in the discussion.
Have fun and feel free to share any feedback you may have with us.
Also from time to time special offers will be posted for registed members only.
We Now Carry Frozen Raw Diet Foods!
For complete details on all of our food products click Here.
Check the company news page for an exciting new offer
ABOUT US
MISSION STATEMENT:
Our mission is to provide the highest quality alternative therapy services to animals, with outstanding
commitment & dedication to our patients and their caregivers. Additionally, to emphasize animal
wellness & preventive care and to further the advancement of public education on animal wellness by
changing the current way animal healthcare is viewed.
Dr. Doolittle's Bio
Dr. Sharon Doolittle graduated from Michigan State University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1982.
She was originally an equine practitioner based in Rhode Island. Now, Dr. Doolittle concentrates
exclusively on holistic animal healthcare, including Nutrition Response Testing, Applied Kinesiology,
Chiropractic, Clinical Nutrition, and other alternative therapies for dogs, cats, and horses. Dr. Doolittle
has received extensive training in holistic healthcare through post-graduate courses and seminars since
1999. She is currently the only veterinarian in the country to have received her certification for
Advanced Clinical Training in Nutrition Response Testing. Dr. Doolittle has also lectured extensively on
holistic animal healthcare both to animal owners, and to other veterinarians, and has taught at the
advanced animal chiropractic seminars at Options for Animals. Dr. Doolittle writes a bi-monthly column
for Aspire magazine, and has also written articles for Dog Fancy, Animal Wellness and Spirit of Change.
She has been a guest on WPRO-AM and WBLQ FM radio in RI, and has taped a television show on
holistic animal healthcare for the program “What’s the Alternative?” to be aired on the Dish Network.
Dr. Doolittle’s practice focuses on total animal wellness, utilizing the Nutrition Response Testing
approach to diagnose and treat problems. She focuses on creating wellness and nutritional programs
tailored to each individual animal, as well as designing programs for animals with medical issues,
allergies, and cancer. She also performs chiropractic work on dogs, cats, and horses to treat lameness
and medical problems, as well as maintenance chiropractic work on performance dogs and horses. Dr.
Doolittle utilizes a wide range of alternative modalities in her practice, and the appropriate ones are
used based upon individualized needs of her animal patients.
Future Goals
I envision someday to be able to teach other veterinarians, both regionally and perhaps nationally,
seminars in Autonomic Response Testing so that more animals may benefit from this wonderful
diagnostic tool.
My ongoing goal now and in the future is to continue to try and change the way healthcare is viewed in
this country. I would like to help in shifting the focus from disease & symptom medicine that is currently
practiced by conventional medicine, to wellness and preventitive medicine so that proper health is
achieved & maintained for life.
I intend to continue giving seminars similar to the one I gave in Febuary 2005, to help continue
educating animal owners about the various options and different ways to look at, animal healthcare.
Privacy Policy...
General:
We care about providing you with tools and information
to manage and protect your online privacy. We have
developed this privacy policy to inform you about what
information this web site collects, who may receive that
information, what we may do with the information, and
how long we keep it. While we have made every attempt
to make this policy as clear as possible, if you have any
further questions about it, feel free to contact us.
Your Information:
We will not give out any information you submit at our
site to any third parties except in compliance with a
request of a law enforcement agency. Under no
circumstances will your name, e-mail, phone number or
address be sold to, or given to any other parties. We will
never willfully sell, lease, or rent any of your or your
business' personally identifiable information to any third
party.
Collected Information:
Your personal information is collected through our
contact forms only. This website currently has no
applications or programs that gather information from
your computer without your consent. Users are required to
give us contact information (e.g., your name and email
address) and demographic information (e.g., your zip
code). Certain information, such as your email address, is
collected in order to verify your identity and for use in our
records. Information collected at this website is kept in
our records only as long as is necessary to provide
requested services to our clients.
Summation:
If you have any questions about this privacy statement or
the practices of this site, please contact us.
Our Services
Dr. Sharon Doolittle offers only alternative therapies in her practice. She sees primarily dogs and
horses along with a small percentage of cats in her practice. Listed below is a comprehensive list
of services she offers her clients. Please contact us for more info.
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Autonomic Response Testing
Applied Kinesiology
Animal Chiropractic
Clinical Nutrition
Accelerated Allergy Clearing Technique
Lameness Evaluations
Acupuncture
Equine and Canine Performance Issues
Nutritional Therapies
Herbal Therapies
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Early stage cancer / pre-cancer screenings, using oncogene and integrin levels.
Dietary counseling and nutritional needs.
INTRODUCING OUR DOG AND CAT FOOD!
We are pleased to announce that we are now carrying several lines of dog & cat food, and nograin treats. It is exciting to finally be able to offer this to our clients, as we have wanted to add
this service to the practice for a while.
Mark Bedrosian, our newest staff member will be running this new service for us. If you have
any questions, he will be happy to help you.
The foods and treats we are offering are:
Aunt Jeni’s Homemade for Life:
Dog Food: Lamb, Beef, Chicken, Turkey and Rabbit.
Cat Food: Chicken (we will add turkey and lamb if there is a demand for it).
Aunt Jeni’s is a human grade all organic frozen raw food, which is fully balanced nutritionally.
Steve’s Real Food:
Dog Food: Beef, Chicken and Turkey in 2.5lb and 10lb bags.
Cat Food: Chicken and Salmon (combo) flavor.
Steve’s Real Food is a human grade fully balanced frozen raw food.
We also carry Steve’s Real Food Freeze Dried Beef or Chicken dog food. This is great for travel!
Merrick Canned Food:
Merrick is not your typical canned dog and cat food! It is whole real food that has been canned
and balanced to canine and feline nutritional standards. It looks like a stew that has the whole
pieces of real food in it, and is also human grade.
Dogs Foods include:
Grammy’s Pot Pie, Cowboy Cookout, Thanksgiving Day Dinner, Venison Holiday Stew,
Turducken, Mediterranean Banquet and Wild Buffalo Grill.
Cat Foods include:
Southern Delight, New England Boil, Thanksgiving Day Dinner, Grammys Pot Pie, Turducken
and California Roll.
Bravo:
Bravo is a frozen raw food that is human grade quality. It is not balanced, so it must be
augmented with food / supplements to be nutritionally complete.
Bravo Dog and Cat Food:
Organic Veggie Rolls, Chicken Blend and Lamb Blend (we may carry more Bravo if demand
warrants).
We also have Bravo Wild Norwegian Salmon Oil!
No Grain Treats:
Aunt Jeni’s Dogitos: Lamb and Beef
Bravo: Freeze Dried Cod, Freeze Dried Venison Liver, Freeze Dried Organic Turkey Liver and
Freeze Dried Organic Chicken Liver.
We are also looking into carrying Embark and Force from The Honest Kitchen. These are
dehydrated raw foods, fully balanced with no grains. You simply add water to re-hydrate and
serve. It is also great for traveling.
We look forward to being better able to serve you with this additional service to our practice!!
What our clients say...
I started with Sharon in April 2004 after I won a free consultation from a fundrasing raffle. I
have been involved with complementary therapies for my dogs and myself scince 1986, so I
figured I would meet her and see what she had to say about, my then 5 year old Corgi, Floyd and
his condition of Spondylosis in his spine. Along with mega doses of the typical joint and antiinflammatory supplements, he had been seeing a chiropractor, acupuncturist, energy healers, and
periodically had massage threrapy to help relieve his discomfort. All these things helped but
really did not make a huge difference. (He is also under the care of a western medicine vet and
an orthopedic specialist.)
While I was at the visit I mentioned my concern for my "healthy" Flat-Coated Retriever, Dazzle.
The breed is prone to Cancer and I have always lived in fear that she could die prematurely as so
many Flat-Coats do. I was very surprised to know that we could test specifically for signs of precancerous activity and we could adjust her diet and supplements to maximize her immune
system so she would be healthy at the cellular level. She is an avid agility dog so I was also
curious about if she needed a chiropractic tune-up! I had not expected that my "healthy" dog
would need care, but Sharon clearly explained the imbalances she was diagnosing and I knew
that if I wanted her to live a long life and agility career I needed to optimize her health before
serious problems surfaced.
Since then, Sharon has become a pivotal component of my dogs' healthcare. I am no longer
going from practitioner to practitioner looking for the right modality to help my dogs. I found it
all with Sharon. I am happy to report that Floyd is pain free 95% of the time and he can run hard,
play and compete in agility on a limited basis. This is a miraculous improvement! Dazzle is
thriving and I feel confident that under Sharon's watchful eye, any imbalances will be picked up
before inappropriate disease takes over.
What I like about Sharon is that she will work with my western medicine vet and her original
traditional veterinary education gives her the ability to blend and bridge the healthcare methods.
She is understanding and flexible, working with me at the level of commitment I can manage.
She has a wonderful way with the dogs and is completely committed to proactive healthcare.
Without a doubt, I would strongly recommend Sharon to anyone that wants to maximize their
dog's health and quality of life.
Dana C. Crevling
Dogs of Course
Upton Ma.
Look for our website on the links page.
Muttsey was diagnosed with the possibility of having degenerative myelopathy. She could not
walk on her own unless a harness was used to help hold her up. I had read that to test for this
disease often made the dogs' symptoms worse so I decided not to verify the actual cause. I tried
using a new experimental medicine with her, but, after several months noticed no improvement.
This treatment was running several hundred dollars a month so I decided to stop. Within another
month, Muttsey started to lose all her ability to walk even with a harness. It had progressed to
her front legs as well. I thought I would have to put Muttsey to sleep. After doing much looking
on the internet for any possible help I found Dr. Doolittle's name. I wrote to her to see if she
thought she could help. I first brought Muttsey to Dr. Doolittle in November of 2003.
Muttsey did not regain her ability to walk. However, her quaity of life improved dramatically.
Changing her diet and adding the prescribed supplements showed improvement within a short
period of time. Within a week, Muttsey began moving her tail which had been immobile for
quite some time. She became bright eyed, perky and ate much betterthan she ever had. Her last
months were joyful and pain free. I felt very fortunate to be able to make her last few months
more comfortable.
Dr. Doolittle's compassion and eagerness to improve Muttsey's quality of life was inspiring.
Lisa Augenstein
From Haybabe (Labradoodle)
Hi- I'm about 4 years old. Ever since I was a puppy I was really itchy. The breeder offered to
take me back, but my owner loved me too much. Then I got Lyme disease, TWICE! I was a
mess. Our vet did everything she could to help me, but then other vets started ordering
bloodwork and all kinds of tests. All kinds of weird things were shoved down my throat and
nothing seemed to work. Then we met Sharon Doolittle. My life has changed for the better. It
didn't happen over night, but it happened, the itching stopped and my level of health improved
unbelievably. Thank you Dr. Sharon.
From Molly (Labradoodle)
I'm 5 1/2 years old. I'm shy. I liked Sharon a lot the moment I met her (and I don't say that about
most people). I've had a good life. I met a wonderful young guy a few years ago and got
pregnant. I had a rough pregnancy and didn't eat properly. I gave birth to 13 puppies and "sigh" I
haven't been the same since. I developed skin problems and wound up wearing a shirt, socks and
this dumb collar around my neck so that I couldn't rip my skin off. I think I developed emotional
problems too, (I'm very sensitive). My owner tried EVERYTHING to help me. Life was very
difficult until I met Sharon. For a while we had to go see her a lot. Now we don't need to see her
that often. I am doing really well, and don't have to wear those silly clothes and collars. I miss
not seeing her as much!
Two years ago this month my Arabian mare Lacie was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor at the
corner of her mouth. We had had this mass resected three times over five years before an
accurate diagnosis was made with a biopsy. Since a 4cm border of resection was impossible due
to the tumor's location, we traveled to the University of Georgia for large animal radiation. There
she was diagnosed with multiple smaller mast cell tumors as well. We faced more excisions and
possilby chemotherapy, although chemotherapy histoically has not been very effective in the
treatment of mast cell tumors, as our only options. Before we left The University of Georgia I
knew I was unwilling to ask Lacie to endure any more hospitalizations.
I vowed to find a holistic veterinarian who could help us while maintaining Lacie's quality of life
at home, allowing her to meet her equine needs. God was good to us, once again, and we met
with Dr. Sharon Doolittle two weeks after our arrival home.
Lacie has maintained her weight, her quality of life, the luster of her coat, and her amazing
beauty and sweet personality, while on her daily supplements under Dr. Doolittle's care, as her
tumors continue to shrink in size. Without Dr. Doolittle's care and holistic treatments, including
chiropractic and acupuncture, Lacie and I would not have had the last two years together. We are
both forever grateful.
Thank you Sharon!
Love,
Lacie and Perci
Logger is a 9 year old male beagle who had always been in good health other than putting some
weight on over the years. He is an incredibly friendly and lovable dog. Back in January, we
noticed he was having some trouble jumping up on his favorite couch. He also started having
trouble lifting his head. He seemed to deteriorate rapidly and we took him to our vet. X-rays
were taken and he was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in the neck area. Our vet
prescribed a muscle relaxer and pain medication. There was little or no improvement. His head
was hanging so low his nose was practically touching the floor, he would stand in the same place
for hours at a time and he cried and yelped when we picked him up to take him outside. About a
week later, he was having a particularly bad morning when I picked him up to take him outside
as he yelped and cried very loudly. He took a few steps in the driveway and went into the snow
laid down and whimpered. We had to bring a quilt outside to lift him onto and brought him to
our vet who referred us to a specialist. The specialist confirmed the diagnosis and added
prednisone to his muscle relaxer and pain medication. The specialist also said that if there was
no improvement within the following few months that we may want to consider surgery with no
guarantee of success. There was little or no improvement and Logger also put on even more
weight from the prednisone and had several accidents inside the house. We were extremely
discouraged and our hearts were breaking. Logger was in a tremendous amount of pain and even
with the pain he was in, he never snapped or growled at anyone. At this point we were
considering the surgery when my wife was speaking to an acquaintance at work who raises Irish
Setters about Logger. She had mentioned to us that she had used a vet who practiced alternative
therapies with success and gave us two names, one of which was Dr. Doolittle.
We contacted Dr. Doolittle in March. At our initial meeting, she did a very thorough
examination. We must confess, since we never worked with a chiropractor we had no idea what
she was doing with the adjustments, lasers and tuning forks, but we asked a lot of questions and
she thoroughly explained everything she was doing and encouraged us to ask questions. At the
end of the first meeting, she went through a treatment plan which included a totally new diet.
She said some of Logger’s problem was due to being overweight. She put him on a diet that
believe it or not included chicken, salmon and vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, spinach, etc.
She also prescribed several natural supplements to aid in the healing process. While we did not
initially understand how all the above techniques, diet and supplements worked, here are the
results after 3 ½ months with Dr Doolittle: Logger loves his new diet, is eating healthier than we
are and has lost 9 pounds! His goal is 12. He has made what we consider a truly amazing
recovery and we feel it is the result of Dr. Doolittle’s treatment. He is no longer in pain, no
longer hangs his head and is as active as he was before his disc problem, running around the
house and playing with his toys; so now we have a new problem: Trying to curtail his activity
since he is still in the healing stage, but it’s a problem we’re glad we have! It’s wonderful to
have our Logger back!! A note about Dr Doolittle: She is truly dedicated to her patients. One
would be hard pressed to find a more caring veterinarian. During Logger’s treatments, she has
called several times to see how Logger was and gave us her cell phone number if we needed to
speak with her and we did call her on it from time-to-time and she returned our calls very
quickly. She takes the time to answer all questions in layman’s terms, takes many courses on the
latest techniques in her field and is available whenever you need to speak with her.
I would also be remiss not to mention Dr. Doolittle’s assistant, Darlene. Darlene assisted in all of
Logger’s treatments and is just as dedicated and caring as Dr. Doolittle. Thanks for everything
Dr. Doolittle and Darlene! We are extremely grateful!
Bill, Karin and Logger Friedman
New Office Opening
I am exicited to announce that we have moved to a larger office!
After a year long search we have finally found a space that better suits our needs. It
has almost 1,000 square feet of space, with two exam rooms, a separate reception
area, and an additional room where we will be setting up freezers to sell frozen raw
food for dogs.
We opened on Tuesday September 6th. The new address is 357 Putnam Pike #6
Smithfield R.I. 02917. It is on the same road as our last location, but closer to Rte.
295 (a quarter of a mile west of our previous location).
This new space weill allow us to serve you better and more efficiently, plus have the
added convience of being able to purchase raw food for your dogs.
We all look forward to these exciting new changes!!
Master Certification Program
Dr. Doolittle will be doing some advanced training in Autonomic Response Testing
(A.R.T.) in June, July, August, and September 2005 in Clearwater, Florida. This
training is the newly created Masters Certification Program in A.R.T. This program
is open by invitation only to a very small number of healthcare professionals from
across the country. Dr. Doolittle will be the only veterinarian attending, as the rest
will be human healthcare professionals. This will give her the unique distinction of
being the only veterinarian in the country (out of the few who currently do A.R.T.)
to obtain the Masters Certification.
New Offer
In an effort to get more activity on the message boards, I will be posting special offers from
time to time for registered members only.
So sign up today, start discussing and look for the special offers.
These great offers will pop up periodically, and without notice, so check in frequently.
F.A.Q.
This section was created so you can have answers to some common queries about our services.
Q: What services do you provide?
A: Commonly treated problems in the practice are allergies, gastro-intestional issues, internal
medical issues, lamenesses,and perfoformance issues in canine & equine athletes. To name
just a few.
You can find more detailed information on other pages of this site.
If you can not find what you are looking for please feel free to contact us via the contact
page.
Q: What is Autonomic Response Testing (A.R.T.)?
A: A.R.T. is a non-invasive way of looking at the internal functions of the body. It tests the
functional neurologic status of the autonomic nervous system through the use of applied
kinesiology. Through the diagnostic information gained through this systematic protocol,
we can assess many different things in the body, including internal organ function, the
status of the immune system, and various toxins, for example. A.R.T. is wonderful at
unlocking problem cases, as well as an excellent means to a proper wellness program.
We will post a complete article on this subject shortly. Check the PDF Section in the near
future.
Q: How do you feel about vaccines?
A: My opinion on vaccines is that we grossly overvaccinate dogs, cats, and horses. I feel that
normal healthy adults do not need annual vaccines, but should be monitored through
titers(or bloodwork) instead. All animals less than 1 year of age should have thier full set of
vaccines, starting at appoximately 12 weeks of age & rabies at 6 months. After that , rabies
is necessary by law, and all other vaccines should be tailored according to individual titers,
the animal's state of health, & risk of exposure to the various diseases.
We will post a complete article on this subject shortly. Check the PDF Section in the near
future.
Q: How do youfeelabout raw diet for dogs?
A:
My opinion on raw diet is that this is the optimal plane of nutrition for dogs. Kibble
& canned foods have been overprocessed and overcooked, causing all the nutrients to
be destroyed in the process. Also they are grain based (often wheat & corn) which are
generally poorly tolerated by canines & are pro inflammatory (leading to health
issues). Raw diet has all available nutrient & enzymes intact and is not grain based,
making for optimal health & wellness in the animal.
This is also a great way to feed cats.
We will post a complete article on this subject shortly. Check the PDF Section in the
near future.
Q: What is AACT?
A: AACT stands for Accelerated Allergy Clearing Technique. It is a non-invasive way of
helping to clear allergies in otherwise non-responsive animals. This method seems to
"jump-start" the process of helping these non-responsive individuals. It is done through a
clearing technique using a laser over certain accupuncture points & meridians, while
holding vials on the animal of whatever they are allergic to. It generally needs to be in
weekly treatments, for several weeks(4-12 on average).
It has been very successful in helping with my toughest allergy cases.
Q: What kind of success rate do you have?
A: Fortunately, we have been able to help the vast majority of our patients. We measure
success as anything from improving the quality of life, all the way to the downright
"miracles" we have experienced in the practice. Even in the geriatric, or in the terminally
ill, we have been able to at least improve their quality of life which we feel is equally
important as those "miracle" cases. Animals respond amazingly well when the toxins are
taken out of their body, the nutritional plane improved, and appropriate organ support &
other therapies are provided, tailored to their specific needs.
We will post a complete article on this subject shortly. Check the PDF Section in the near
future.
Q: What is Applied Kinesiology?
A: Applied Kinesiology is a diagnostic method that can be used for a wide variety of things.
Diagnosing chiropractic subluxations, allergies, and nutritional needs are just a few of the
conditions that applied kinesiology can be used for. Applied kinesiology was developed
for people by Dr. George Goodheart, a human chiropractor, in 1965. The technique has
started to be used more recently on animals.
How does applied kinesiology (A.K.) work? When testing animals using A.K. it is
necessary to use an additional person, called a surrogate. The testing involves the animal,
the doctor, and the surrogate making an electrical or energy circuit together. The surrogate
touches the animal with one hand, and holds the other arm out for the doctor to test. The
doctor touches the animal with one hand, and with the other hand tests the muscle strength
on the surrogates outstreched arm. In this circuit the surrogate becomes the functional
neurological readout of the animal. The doctor first tests the arm strength of the surrogate's
outstreched arm to know how it feels. Then, the doctor challenges areas on the animal, and
tests the surrogate's arm strength. Whenever there is a change in muscle strength on the
surrogate (i.e. normally strong muscle becomes weak) it is the indication to the doctor that
they have found a problem, or a need from the animal, depending on what is being tested.
By using this method, it is possible to test for drug needs, supplement neds, nutritional
needs, allergies, chiropractic subluxations, lamenesses, and so on. The possibilities are
endless! A.K. is also what we use to help us do the diagnostics in Autonomic Resonse
Testing.
A.K. may be known to some people as "muscle Testing". Also, many people have already
experienced A.K. at their own chiropractors. A.K. is a very useful and sensitive diagnostic
tool used both on humans and animals. Fortunately, we have learned how to use this
human technique to help improve the health and well-being of our animal friends.
Q: How long should I expect my animal to be on a program before going to maintainence?
A: What we do in this practice is completely different from what most people are used to in
conventional medicine, that is, we are asking the body to rebuild, regenerate, and repair at a
cellular level. Conventional veterinary medicine uses pharmacological drugs that bypass
the autonomic nervous system, stamps out symptoms (sometimes), but never truly
"FIXES" anything or gets rid of the root of the problem. In this practice, using nutritional,
herbal, and organ-specific products, we address and handle the root causes of problems, ask
the body to rebuild and repair itself, thereby getting a true cure and true health by working
with the autonomic nervous system.
This process takes the body quite a bit of time. I always tell clients to expect an
"AVERAGE" of 3-4 months before they may see all the results they hope for, and in
difficult cases this could be as long as 6-9 months. However, once we are done with the
therapeutic part of the program, we have a truly healthy animal that can go onto a
maintainence program.