Welcome to Whole Pet Vet, Holistic Veterinary Services

We use acupuncture, chiropractic, herbs, diet and nutrition to treat pets from our offices in Bellingham and Edmonds, Washington.

The world of holistic animal healing is a gentler medical realm that we have spent many years exploring. With natural methods, we support the animal's own healing capabilities. The common denominator in all these techniques is that they have no harmful side effects.

*Please note, we do not provide conventional veterinary services such as dentals, spay/neuters or other surgeries, nor do we administer vaccines. Most of our clients also work with a conventional veterinarian to provide these services for their pet.

What is Holistic Veterinary Medicine?

At its core, holistic veterinary medicine implies a way of healing or treating animals using tools with minimal or no side effects. This type of medicine does not replace Western medicine, it adds to it. It is especially effective in the treatment and prevention of chronic diseases. Holistic veterinary medicine often has the potential to help, and sometimes cure, diseases otherwise thought to be degenerative or non-curable. Western medicine is often only palliative for chronic disease.  Older animals especially benefit from holistic modalities due to the fact that chronic use of pharmaceutical drugs can often have detrimental short term and long term side effects in these patients. 

One of the important aspects of holistic medicine is that it places more emphasis on the role of the patient and caretaker. Because the caretaker takes a more powerful role, self-education of the pet's caretaker is extremely important. 

Who Are We?

About Dr. Donna Kelleher

Donna Kelleher DVM has practiced holistic veterinary medicine since 1994 after graduating from Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. She received the Grady Young Scholarship for the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society (IVAS) course and was certified in veterinary acupuncture, and afterward incorporated Traditional Chinese Medicine into her practice. In the mid-1990s, she worked nights and weekends in emergency hospitals and spent days with acupuncture patients. She soon came to see Western medicine as acute medicine — offering often-needed surgery and pharmaceuticals, whereas chronic disease was often best handled, and cured, using holistic modalities. In 1997, she became certified in veterinary chiropractic. About the same time, she began training in herbal medicine, focusing on Western herbs. She has studied with Rosemary Gladstar, Michael Moore, Michael Tierra, K.P. Khalsa and completed a American Herbalist Guild program. Though she is a certified "Master Herbalist," she continues to learn more. In 2003, Donna wrote The Last Chance Dog: True Stories of Holistic Animal Healing (Scribner) and has been published in many magazines and newspapers.

About Dr. Jeff Blake

Jeff Blake DVM graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in 1990. Since then, his veterinary practice has been guided by the principle of primum non nocere ("first do no harm") from the Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians, and the strong belief in the innate healing ability of the body. Over the years, his interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taoism and Tai Chi led him to the study of acupuncture. In 2005 he was certified by IVAS as a veterinary acupuncturist. He currently practices small animal acupuncture in Bellingham, WA, focusing on disc disease, arthritis and musculo-skeletal disorders.