I'm a master's student in psychology. This book really is very practical and opens your mind into understanding what can cause variety of menta illnessess. I never considered nutrition as an important aspect of mental illnesses, but this book completely changed my perspectives and years of studying psychology. It is a wonderful book. You will not regret spending your money. One of the greatest books I ever read. I highly recommend it to those suffering from mental illness as well as to professionals.

a wonderful book that explains the orthomolecular way of treating the mental illnesses, and the big diffreces to the conventional way of treating.it explain the way of thinking, treating, and aproaching the orthomolecular way in those diseases.it is a superb book on healing the mind the natural way, and i can tell you as an orthomolecularist that this book is a walking-truthful orthomolecular authority book!. i just could not find a better expression. depression,addictions, anxiety, altzheimer, and much more are explaine in the most interesting way you can ask. you must buy this book today!.

Orthomolecular medicine is not as widely known as it needs to be. This book is a nice introduction to the role of balancing body chemistry with nutrients and diet to achieve maximum psychological and emotional well-being. It is much more than a simple "vitamin book." Using nutrients medicinally is a science not studied by the average medical practitioner. The author draws on research and the experience of some of the leading orthomolecular MD's in the field to show the reader how standard psychiatry and medicine frequently ignore the biological underpinnings of mental illness that can stem in part from brain allergies to foods, the impact of sugar in the body, nutritional deficiences, heavy metal poisening, candidiasis, hypoglycemia, histimines, and a host of other abnormalities which can only be "cured" by addressing the actual metabolic problem and not simply masking the symptoms with psychiatric medicines. At the same time the author avoids grinding the political axe and is forthright in affirming (as are orthomolecular physicians) that psychiatric medicines are important in some cases, though incomplete, in the treatment of mental illness. Simply getting the information that Orthomolecular physicians have a way of treating chronic schizophrenia with a .05% incidence of tardive dyskinesia (n=10,000 schizophrenic patients) from neuroleptic medication is worth the price of the book for those who must take these powerful drugs. The material in this volume should be much more widely known and this book will help that happen.

This is the only health and/or nutrition book I've read cover to cover. The topics are fascinating, and the writing style engaging.

Lazarus provides general information about feline nutrition (or lack thereof) and diet suggestions, as well as sections dedicated to a variety of feline medical problems and both their standard and holistic treatments. She cites numerous holistic veterinarians, but this is not a tirade against conventional medicine. It does offer hope through alternative solutions.

This is a new, completely revised edition of Lazarus' "Keep Your Pet Healthy the Natural Way" except that she has chosen to write a separate book on natural cat care this time around. As with her first book which was published 15+ years ago, Lazarus did the research for this book by sending questionnaires to a number of holistic vets. As a result, we get the views and treatment approaches of a number of different vets (including Dr. Martin Goldstein, Dr. John Fudens, Dr. Carvel Tiekert, etc.). Unfortunately not all of the advice has been updated (some of it appeared in her first book), and she does not point out which recommendations were given by the vets 15 years ago and which ones are current.

The first part of the book deals with preventing disease. It starts with a chapter on the problems with commercial foods which should be interesting to those not already familiar with Ann Martin's, Dr. Goldstein's, or Dr. Pitcairn's books. Then Lazarus goes into feeding a natural diet, and this is definitely the worst part of the book, since the diet she recommends is dangerously unbalanced. It does not contain nearly enough calcium to balance out the high phosphorous levels in the meats and grains she recommends feeding. Also, a diet consisting of just 33% - 50% raw meat is not really optimal for a healthy canine. Dogs, after all, are carnivores, and our long experience with natural rearing and feeding indicates that they tend to do best on a diet that consists of 75% raw meat and bones. Unfortunately Lazarus does not really approve of feeding bones. She says that of the 10 holistic vets she questioned on this subject, 7 said not to give any bones, 2 said that only a specific type of bone was okay (e.g., ox tails), and only one vet was completely in favor of feeding bones. Feeding bones remains a controversial subject and many vets are only now coming around to the idea that bones are an important part of the canine diet (see Dr. Goldstein's recent book). Not only do they supply the calcium that is necessary to balance out the high phosphorous content of the meat, but they also supply numerous other valuable minerals and trace minerals. Most importantly perhaps, feeding soft, raw bones (stay away from those big beef femur bones as they can wear down and even break teeth and never feed cooked bones which are dangerous since they are dry and brittle and splinter easily in addition to being difficult to digest) will prevent your dogs from developing tooth or gum problems which present an enormous health hazard. Your dogs will never have to be put under to have their teeth cleaned. Our dogs have been eating raw bones (along with other foods) for almost thirty years and their health could not be any better. It's really best to skip the chapter on nutrition and go straight to the chapter on vaccinations. Lazarus covers the potential dangers of vaccinating, nosodes, making vaccination decisions, and minimizing the harmful effects of vaccines. IMO, she is a little too enthusiastic about using homeopathic nosodes instead of vaccines. Not only does it violate the principles of classical homeopathy to use nosodes as routine preventatives the same way one would use a vaccine, but it's my experience that nosodes simply aren't very effective when used in this manner in hopes of preventing the most dangerous viral diseases (i.e., parvo and distemper). This is not to say that vaccinations are always effective or that one should definitely vaccinate, but I've often seen nosodes give people a false sense of security which is not a good thing.

The second part of Lazarus' book deals with natural therapies for skeletal disease, eye problems, skin and coat problems, infectious diseases, cancer, diabetes, cystitis, parasites, kidney disorders, heart problems, etc. This is definitely the best part of the book, since it's interesting to read how holistic vets across the country treat these problems. The book also contains a nationwide directory of holistic vets which will be helpful to those looking for a holistic vet in their area.

All in all, this would have made a pretty good introduction to holistic health care for dogs if it wasn't for the terrible chapter on nutrition. That makes it suitable as an introductory book only if it's purchased along with a good book on feeding a natural diet (check out books by Juliette de Bairacli Levy, Wendy Volhard, Dr. Pitcairn, and Dr. Billinghurst on this topic).

I found the previous review interesting and educational; the reviewer sounds experienced and practiced in the field of canine nutrition. I, however, was not and found Pat's overview informative. She is suggestive about topics controversial in natural dog care, but responsibly cites that it is controversial. Note that many well-written vets such as Schoen and Pitcairn recommend her book in theirs. Because little has been done in the way of vetrinary nutritional research (I am a former medical researcher), much of any of this information is largely assumptive. I thank the previous reviewer for his/her insight and congratulate Pat Lazarus in her attempt to give (as a good journalist and researcher would) a comprehensive picture with varying opinions and, as an author is licensed to do, give her opinion and deliver her experience to benefit others.