Testimonials: Why "Doc" Uses Herbs

Why “Doc” Uses Herbs

By Patrick P. Jones, DVM

Veterinary Consultant, Silver Lining Herbs

As a young man I spent many a day happily tromping around the forests of Pennsylvania. I was an avid reader and spent most of my free time studying animals and nature. I had a strong interest in edible and medicinal plants and would sometimes wander into the forest to spend a day “living off the land”. I would eat edible plants and brew wild sassafras or wintergreen tea. I remember feeling surprised that no one seemed interested in taking advantage of those wonderful resources.

Time passed and I grew up to become a veterinarian. I attended Purdue University where I had ambitions of following my veterinary doctorate with a PH.D. in order to pursue a career as a medical researcher. I decided, after graduation, that it might be a good idea to go into practice for a few years to find out what sort of research might be useful to practitioners in the field. That was almost 16 years ago and I’ve never looked back. I’ve loved veterinary practice.

As my career progressed I began to wonder about the philosophy of the allopathic system of medicine I’d been taught in veterinary school. It’s a powerful system. It seems there is a drug or surgical intervention for almost any malady. Yet, I began to feel like I was always responding to medical crises that should have been addressed earlier. I began to see that with proper nutritional and lifestyle management most of the “diseases” I was treating would never occur. I also began to wonder if the benefits of some of the medications I’d been taught to trust implicitly really out-weighed the side effects and other consequences they caused. As a result, I returned to my roots and began again to study herbs and medicinal plants. The more I learned the more I felt surprised that so few practitioners seemed interested in taking advantage of these wonderful resources.

Early in my journey I met Mickey Young, founder of Silver Lining Herbs. Our first case together was many years ago…a dog dying of liver failure and no answers from my allopathic training. Mickey suggested trying #27 Liver. I was skeptical but had nothing to lose. The dog certainly had nothing to lose! I followed Mickey’s instructions. A very few days later the dog, which could scarcely lift it’s head when I started, was wagging it’s tail furiously in my waiting room as it greeted it’s owners who’d come to take it home.

Now understand I’m a trained scientist. I’ve published research papers in the US and abroad, and I fully understand that one case means nothing. It’s not statistically significant. The thing that was significant to me was that Mickey wasn’t remotely surprised.

Through the years since that first case, I’ve put many of Silver Lining’s products to the test. Time after time I’ve had positive results. Last weekend I had a dog in my practice suffering from pancreatitis. Powerful IV antibiotics were not able to bring down his high fever and he was losing ground fast. I treated him with #30 Digestive and #25 INF-X. When I left him that night I had slim hopes for his survival. The next morning he was up and eating with a normal temperature. He went home later that day. The same weekend I had a pair of kittens with unresponsive fevers of 105 degrees F. Several powerful antibiotics had been tried with no effect…probably a viral infection, or worse, a drug-resistant bacterium. I decided to be brave and dose them with #25 INF-X (cats hate the taste of it, hence the required bravery on my part!). Within 24 hours the fevers were down and the kitties went home with herbs to follow up.

I wasn’t surprised.

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