With my kitten, Buddy, in my arms, Dr. Gary Stuer and I met in 1998 at the Bethel Animal Hospital in Bethel, Maine. Dr. Stuer treated Buddy for the typical needs of a kitten like the normal examination, vaccines, and eventual neutering. He seemed different, in a good way, from the other veterinarians I had known in life. He presented himself as very capable, a veterinarian who obviously cared for his patients and their caretakers.

Early in his career, Dr. Stuer worked well with animals using conventional veterinary techniques. The use of those conventional methods shifted about five years ago through a series of life changing events that brought him to the realization that “there’s more to us than our physical body; knowing that we are more than just physical beings” and the recognition that the same concept applies to animals. Dr. Stuer now views himself as “integrative” in his approach to help the animals, his patients, “by combining the best of both worlds.”

In a recent conversation with Dr. Stuer, he shared insights into his world of veterinary medicine. During the conversation, I asked Dr. Stuer how he would relate animals to their walking in grace? “Our animals walk in grace. My goodness, I love animals.” His eyes began welling up as he continued. “I love animals. But I never ever appreciated them like I do right now. When I really understood, that they take in everything in their environment.” I asked him to give an example of taking on everything from a harmonious and loving environment. “They vibrate higher.” “So”, I asked, “if they vibrate higher, what are their chances of ever seeing you except for a cut or vaccinations.” “Right! It sounds too simple. If they’re happy they're healthy. If there’s joy they’re healthy. It’s no different than with people.

He views our animals as “energy sponges” having no choice, as we do, to establish barriers, so we don’t buy in to each others' emotional baggage. Animals can’t turn off their emotional receivers, so to speak. “Dogs can’t do that. They do not have the ability to create a barrier, so they are open 24/7. So that means they are constantly soaking up our emotions, their physical environment, just as if they were energy sponges,”

Dr. Stuer explained how this works at Bethel Animal Hospital. “When an animal walks in the door, they are completely open. We have twenty minutes with that animal. When they walk in the door, the owner may not understand, they may be thinking of other things, but that animal is open, like they’re open everywhere, every time, and every place, every moment. That animal immediately knows what’s happening. That animal immediately senses. Is there chaos? Is there anger? They know immediately. As a team, we need to understand that, so every moment we need to understand that those patients we see don’t know that when I’m angry, I’m angry at someone else other than them, all they feel is the anger and that’s what people don’t understand."

When asked about what Bethel Animal Hospital offers, he answered with, “This is evolving. Because there have been so many pieces that have coalesced recently. I’ve been doing acupuncture on animals and using some herbs over the past five years and paid attention to my feelings around them. If you want to say I communicated with them you can, but it’s really about an understanding of what they (animals) are feeling and recognizing those feelings in my own body. Now I’m evaluating the animal from an energetic perspective. We have our Western acute care that we cannot do without. We are now beginning to really understand why things happen. By clearing energy, clearing emotions from channels, by talking about diet, by using herbs, we can now address many of the things that prepare the way for truly preventative medicine. I work with two other veterinarians who are amazing veterinarians, each of them with over twenty years of experience. They are talented, knowledgeable, amazing veterinarians and people who I feel blessed to have working with by side.”

So where is his work headed? Dr. Stuer beamed with excitement saying, “I just reserved a website, ‘Integrative Animal Medicine’... ‘I AM’.” So what is Integrative Animal Medicine all about? He explained it’s about applying the wisdom of Chinese physicians, by taking the power of their observations which have occurred over thousands of years, their observing patterns of disease, and looking back at the patient, human patients.” The Chinese “used nature. They used the elements. The beginning of acupuncture was five element acupuncture using words like wood, and fire, and metal, and earth, and water.” They defined and visualized people. For example, a person looks and acts like an object in nature, so they were able to define earth people and wood people, and kidney people, and liver people. Over time, they observed patterns and trends of disease in those people. The Chinese physicians could say earth people get these diseases or wood people get these diseases. Animals do the same thing!

Now, when Dr. Stuer walks into the room, he looks at the patient using his acupuncture training. “I feel the active acupuncture points and I use those as a road map to answer the question, What is the underlying energy principle of this dog or dominating principle of this dog because that’s where symptoms show up.”

We can understand how energy relates to us through a study of five personality or elemental types in Chinese Medicine. When Chinese Medicine is combined with an energetic approach, we can observe how energy works at the very core... our energetic core, according to Dr. Stuer. “We have this energetic core whose physical structure is DNA. At the core, we are energy, which has a physical manifestation in DNA and, in turn, a physical manifestation in our structure. At our core we have an energetic blueprint or trends. So, if we have an earth person, all of these energies that are constantly affecting us work at the core. And then our diseases occur according to the type of energetic core we have.” These principles also apply to animals!

Then Chinese physicians took herbs and combinations of herbs. For example, they used certain herbs for earth type people, observing how they responded and doing the same for river and fire people. It was a medical system based on observation, trial, and error. “They defined, say... an earth type person. They used a combination of herbs known to work for earth type people to support the energetic core, not treat the problems, which is what’s done in Western Medicine. So, I like to say treat the why not the what because we constantly treat the whats in Western Medicine. What is going on with the patient? The problem is defined. We come up with a thinking diagnosis about what we think is going on. Then we make a decision about treating the problem based on whats.”

For example, he identifies an earth dog through acupuncture, by putting his hands on the dog’s active acupuncture points. Dr. Stuer says he also knows through a description of what earth people or earth animals look like, their characteristics, and their unique patterns of disease.

So, Dr. Stuer looks at his patient, asking, “What’s the energetic makeup of this patient? Okay this acupuncture point is active. I need to work on it.” For example, perhaps a dog shows evidence of dampness. Rather than treat the what or the dampness, he knows, because the spleen acupuncture point is active, he needs to look deeper to the energetic core of the patient.

In his practice, Dr. Stuer believes we need to raise up the core. “We need to support the energetic core. And the solutions will follow. The beauty of it is... you really have to look at everything” emotions included because the animals are walking in grace and are open 24/7. When he brings their emotions into balance “they know exactly what’s happening. They look at me like, ‘Ahhh... thank you... thank you’. And then the acupuncture, if I need to do that, is more effective. The action prepares the way for the herbs, for diet, or even for Western Medicine.”

We discussed other examples, including behavioral issues. Dr. Stuer reassures the pet’s caretaker by explaining it isn’t necessarily their fault.

“The behavior is like it is because there’s an underlying issue at the energetic level.” He takes great care in assuring people there’s no need to feel guilty about stuff their dog has taken on. “Our pets have that role. We can’t stop that role. It’s who they are. What needs to happen is learn from the past and look to the future.”

What about the point in an animal's condition where there’s no turning back? “If we wait to talk about preventative medicine, when we have a crisis, like a malignant tumor or liver failure, or whatever it is. Treating the problem at its core can help, but sometimes there’s just no going back. So when to intervene? The time to intervene is not during a serious illness. The time to intervene is when we recognize patterns of disease, look to the why, support the why, and still treat the whats when they happen. We don’t ignore the whats. We fix the what now, but support the why over the long haul. That’s the future of medicine."

Bethel Animal Hospital offers Integrative Animal Medicine as well as boarding with a well trained staff of technicians and support staff. In addition to Dr. Stuer, there are two other highly qualified staff veterinarians, Dr. Julie Schubert and Dr. Robin Gorrell. The hospital is located just outside Bethel Village at 179 Walker’s Mills Road (Route 26). Their phone number is 207-824-2212, fax 207-824-4542 and their email is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . You can also find more information on their website (under construction) at www.bethelanimalhospital.com.

Dr. Stuer recently attended a meeting in Oklahoma City with about 400 veterinarians from across the country and different parts of the world supporting holistic protocols in veterinary medicine. He felt the meeting was wonderful, yet divisions still remained between contemporary and holistic care. That’s where Dr. Stuer saw a great need for Integrative Animal Medicine. He’s currently working on a book that discusses his thoughts on integrative medicine.

Dr. Gary Stuer realizes, “The animal is open 24/7. You walk in the door, whether happy or sad or mad or depressed or desperate or joyful, they are open. Dogs are not thinkers. Animals are not thinkers. They are feelers. Hence they walk in grace. They’re amazing. They completely live in their heart.”

Vaccinations and acute care remain needed in veterinary medicine according to Dr. Stuer, but why not combine the best of both worlds? “If I have a dog that comes in with a raging infection, I am going to treat that dog with antibiotics. If that dog has a bleeding tumor on its leg, I’ve got to remove it. I need to treat acute conditions and practice preventative medicine at the same time.” And he does through western acute and diagnostic care, acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and energy to help the animal as they continue their walk in grace. Dr. Stuer recognizes the need and is following the call to combine Western, Eastern, and Holistic Medicine for the benefit of all.

“The future of medicine is integration.”

Kevin Pennell, an author from Bethel, Maine, wrote Two Feathers - Spiritual Seed Planter and has written for other periodicals and media. Kevin is also an Usui Reiki Master, Certified Hypnotherapist, Ancestral Healing Techniques, and Psychic Empath. He conducts Reiki workshops and other workshops that assist spiritual and personal development. Kevin, with his wife, Vickie Cummings, operate SpiritWings, their Compassionate Healing Center and therapeutic Store located in Bethel, Maine.