By Dr. Becker
I’m at the AHVMA conference today, chatting with holistic veterinarians as part of my Highlighting the Healer interview series.
Dr. Victoria Farthing
My first guest today is Dr. Victoria Farthing. Dr. Farthing is from Stafford, Virginia and has been a veterinarian since 1977. She graduated from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine and practiced strictly conventional medicine until the late 1990s, when she developed debilitating episodes of sciatica. The sciatica was one of Dr. Farthing’s wake-up calls, from which she learned that her own body and her animal patients are here to teach her.
Dr. Farthing first explored chiropractic, received the necessary training, and began using it with her patients. They responded so well that she decided to learn acupuncture, and then herbal medicine, and she continues to add to her veterinary toolbox even today. As she puts it, “I got over the fact that I would never be an expert”… because all of us who practice holistic and integrative medicine are lifelong learners.
This is a fundamental difference between holistic and traditional veterinarians. In conventional medicine, most practitioners reach a certain point in their careers when they think, “Okay, I’m now officially an expert in [fill in the blank].”
The beauty of integrative veterinary medicine is those of us who practice it are perpetual students…