I am a Small Animal Naturopath, which is different from a Veterinarian. I educate people about the 8 Laws of Nature and how they impact the health of their animals, and I love working with people so they can have vibrant health for their animals and in turn for themselves.
I am so happy that you have joined me on this journey I have begun. My name is Joy Eriksen and I am a Certified Small Animal Naturopath. My passion is helping people with their companion animals. Keeping them healthy and vibrant for a long and happy life.
I thought in this first post, I would talk a little about who I am. I have been around animals all my life. I was born in rural Pennsylvania and was exposed to many animals, including farm animals. But for me, it has always been dogs. When I was nineteen, I trained my first dog in obedience. “Gypsy” was a natural at it. Sadly I lost her to a spinal injury when she was only four years old. Five years later I trained my first English Springer Spaniel, “Trixie”, for AKC obedience competition. I put a UD title on her and she had two High In Trial wins. The summer she was four years old, she was ranked number 4 in the country in obedience for Springer Spaniels. A few years later I trained and showed my first Golden Retriever, “Rontu”, putting a CD on him.
It was at this time that I became a State Humane Officer and I went to work for my Local Humane Society. About a year later I started working for one of the most progressive Humane Societies in my state of California. I worked there as one of their Animal Control Officers for several years. Then In 2005 I was diagnosed with an auto immune disease and my life’s journey took an abrupt turn. My doctor treated me with diet and supplements. I dove into nutrition and health and by 2008 I was declared to be in remission. I was hooked, I studied all I could on nutrition. I joined the Weston A Price Foundation and attended several of their conferences.
However, it took until 2011 and the death from cancer of my Golden, “Josephine” , to connect the dots for my dogs. A friend told me about raw feeding. I was skeptical , no, I was terrified, at first. At the time I also had an eight year old English Springer Spaniel who was a seizure dog and on high doses of two medications. I started feeding him raw and saw an immediate improvement. His seizures stopped and with the help of my vet, I was able to drop his meds to about 1/8 of his original doses. He lived another three years with no seizures. Unfortunately, the high doses of meds damaged his heart and it failed him at 11 years of age.
I dove into raw feeding and health for my animals. I learned in the trenches how to feed this “new” way. Eight months after losing Josephine, I brought home a ten week Golden Puppy named “Harriet”. I started her on raw her first meal home. When Harriet was three, I brought home an 11 week old English Springer Spaniel who I named “Dottie”. Dottie was from a Naturally Rearing Breeder and was weaned to raw. both these dogs are incredibly healthy.
I was determined to learn as much as I could and enrolled with The American Council of Animal Naturopathy in their small animal program. In December of 2018, I became a Certified Small Animal Naturopath. Now I have the pleasure of working with owners to educate them on proper feeding, lifestyle for their pets, and a little training thrown in for good measure.
I am by no means done learning. I am always studying, reading and furthering my knowledge of raw feeding and Naturopathy. So please join me as we learn together.
3 thoughts on “Welcome to Joyfully Healthy Pets”
This is so very interesting. I don’t quite understand all of it do you feed your dogs raw poultry?
Hi Pam, thank you for your feedback. Yes, I do feed Harriet and Dottie raw poultry. Harriet for seven years and Dottie for four years. But, with the bones, they must be raw. Any cooked bone becomes brittle and will splinter inside the dog and will cause damage to your dog. I don’t worry about bacteria because the acid in the stomach is so strong that it will sterilize anything they might ingest.
Thank you so much Annett. I am just getting it started and I hope to get lots more information up soon.