When Giving All You Can Becomes a Gift
Dr. Nicole LeVeque, our newest Game Changer, has noticed in her practice that the pet parents who do all they can - and more - for their pet's care often shoulder the most guilt that they're not doing enough. If this strikes a familiar chord, this loving and supportive message is for you.
Analysis by Dr. Karen Shaw Becker
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STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Dr. Nicole LeVeque is helping animals and their guardians every day at Natural Healing Pet Care in Berkley, Michigan
- Nominated for a Game Changer award by Pierette S., LeVeque always wanted to be a veterinarian, and was always drawn to traditional Chinese medicine
- At Natural Healing Pet Care, LeVeque and her team offer ozone treatment, high-dose IV vitamin C, herbal medicine, laser therapy, chiropractic, nutritional counseling and more; she also has plans to offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy and a salt room to support respiratory issues
- LeVeque strives to fortify the connections between pets and their guardians while helping pets reach the highest level of health possible
- LeVeque often meets pet owners who are doing all they can for their pet’s care but are still saddled with guilt, wishing they could do more; she wants to reassure pet guardians everywhere that what they’re doing is not only enough, it’s a gift
We call them "Game Changers" — the exemplary, hardworking individuals who have gone the extra mile to promote animal welfare all around the world. Every week, we feature a special Game Changer, so if you know someone in your community who deserves this award, nominate them and help us get the word out about the magnificent work they do! Click Here to Nominate a Game Changer Today!
Dr. Nicole LeVeque is helping animals and their guardians every day at Natural Healing Pet Care in Berkley, Michigan. Nominated for a Game Changer award by Pierette S., LeVeque always knew she wanted to be a veterinarian. Like many of us, she started out in conventional practice but soon began to explore integrative care.
“I was always interested in total body health and traditional Chinese medicine really just resonated with me always,” she says. While becoming certified in acupuncture, she worked in a beautiful space that supported her energy therapies:
“I started with a human acupuncturist. In his practice, which was actually an antique home, basically a home from like 1900, I practiced out of their dining room, which was full of these big, huge, beautiful windows and oak trim, and it was just gorgeous.
There was an outdoor area that was beautifully landscaped. I found that the … energy in there allowed me to perform these energy therapies, which I feel acupuncture is even better.
The environment helped with that … After two years of being there, I needed a bigger space. That's when I found a similar small building with an outdoor area as well, and big beautiful bay windows in each of the exam rooms.”
During this time, LeVeque opened a holistic practice and has recently found its “forever home” — a space with windows in every exam room, outdoor areas and space to offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a salt room to support respiratory issues and other holistic therapies.
Fortifying the Connection Between Pets and Their Owners
At Natural Healing Pet Care, LeVeque and her team offer ozone treatment, high-dose IV vitamin C, herbal medicine, laser therapy, chiropractic, nutritional counseling and more — services that aren’t always easy to find in the veterinary community but which offer untold benefits to pets at all life stages.
“I added on high-dose IV vitamin C therapy and ozone therapy, both of which have been very, very helpful to many of my patients, just been a game changer for a lot of their treatments,” she says. When people come to see her with their pets, however, it’s the connections between them that drives LeVeque to keep doing everything she can to strengthen that bond and support the animal’s vitality:
“What fulfills me the most are the connections I make with my patients and the connections with their owners. It's the connections that bring me the most fulfillment, and not just my connections, but being able to witness and be a part of the connections that I see between the pet and the owner.
That unconditional love, and I get to be a bystander in that energy field. I get that amount of love comes to me just from being a witness to it.
Wanting to help in any way I can to perpetuate that relationship that the owner and the pet has, as well as just trying to move that patient into as healthy of a space as they can be, so they're at their happiest. That's my goal and that's what moves me. That's what keeps me going, is just trying to fortify that connection, being a part of that connection, and it's very, very fulfilling.”
Giving All You Can Is a Gift
At her practice, LeVeque often meets pet owners who are doing all they can for their pet’s care but are still saddled with guilt, wishing they could do more. In this healing space, LeVeque tries to alleviate that guilt and wants to reassure pet guardians everywhere that all we can do is the very best we can — and that’s not only enough, it’s a gift:
“The clients that I see, 100%, they're in tune with their animal. They're in tune with their pet. They love them, and they go to extremes. The one thing that I noticed, the ones who do the absolute most often shoulder the most guilt, that they're not doing enough when they're doing heroic amounts of caregiving.
I want them to know that you can't control everything and you can only give as much as you humanly can give … sometimes we have to let go of that guilty feeling that weighs so hard on us and say, ‘I'm doing everything I can,’ and be OK with that, and truly … when I say ‘heroic,’ I mean they are heroes … that's the one thing that I would like to share with those people who do feel that weight on their shoulders, that guilty feeling.”
In sharing her passion with the animal community, LeVeque is helping to restore balance to pet’s well-being and supporting the sacred relationship between pets and their guardians. If you’d like to learn more about LeVeque and her practice, you can visit their website, naturalhealingpetcare.com, or call their office at 248-797-5139.
Sources and References
- 1 Natural Healing Pet Care
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