Head to Tail Wellness:
western* veterinary medicine meets eastern wisdom, by stacy fuchino [sic]
(Howell Book House [Wiley], 248 pages, 2010, $19.99)
Balance is the Theme
How intriguing! The cover (right) shows the ancient yin-yang symbol** superimposed with a sitting dog silhouette looking leftward and a white cat in
front of the dog looking out at the reader. Yin and yang represent the balance among
mind, body and environment as well as movement, interconnection and
interdependence – worthy concepts all.
Purposeful Petting
Filled with plenty of case histories of both dogs and cats
(thank goodness, cats get equal billing), Head
to Tail nevertheless does not convince this scientist and natural skeptic
to convert. I had agreed to review Head
to Tail for the publisher primarily because, as a canine massage
instructor, Chapter Two appealed to me: Evaluating Pet Wellness through
Purposeful Petting. I love the term, purposeful
petting, and plan to incorporate it into my massage sessions! However, this
chapter is circular and doesn’t really say anything substantial, much like the rest of the book.
Convince me!
As a scientist, I am not a proponent of
unsubstantiated methods but am open to all ideas: if I can be convinced of
something I previously did not believe, the argument is indeed outstanding and
will sway me to the other side (that is what null hypothesis testing is all
about). The author does not make an outstanding argument for eastern wisdom in this reviewer's opinion.
Do You Have a Fire
Dog, or an Earth Cat?
Head to Tail is
well-organized and focuses on the five ‘kinds’ of pets: the fire pet, the wood
pet, the water pet, the earth pet, and the metal pet. These terms refer to temperament and Fuchino discusses their characteristics and traits, and the issues that are common to them as
well as the solutions to those problems. Case histories abound and cats are
given equal attention.
However, . . .
Head to Tail
covers food (‘the root of all health’), early intervention, and managing common
life transitions – all good and helpful topics – as well as my favorite topic,
purposeful petting. However, I am still not converted to the value of ‘eastern
wisdom’ compared to western medicine. The data and explanations just wasn’t there
to convince me how it works or even that it works. The placebo effect is indeed
great, as is coincidence. However, if you are a believer, you may just love Head to Tail!
--------------
*I never know if I should
capitalize words that should be capitalized but aren’t. Sometimes I do,
sometimes I don’t. Here, I didn’t.
**The roundness of the
yin-yang figure represent the globe and the larger universe while the dark
component, yin, holds a small dot of lightness and the light component, yang,
contains an element of darkness. Together, they describe the opposing,
complementary qualities in natural phenomena.
(p. 18-19)
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