Testimonials

"My love for both animals and plants developed early being part of a local nature conservation group from a young age. Most of my pocket money I earned harvesting herbs, for example Small Flowered Willowherb, Lime Flower, St Johns Wort and Hawthorn.

In Germany licensed herbal remedies are widely used in human and veterinary medicine. They were part of an integrated approach in my first job in mixed practice and to start with I focused on acupuncture and laser therapy. But moving to the United Kingdom hardly any licensed herbal veterinary products were available. For that reason I started training in veterinary herbal medicine in 2012. The course didn’t lead to a formal qualification, and I was glad that CIVT enabled me to get more structure into my herbal knowledge. They really made an effort to assess my pre-existing learning and helped me understand how to fill in existing gaps.

I live and work in rural Herfordshire (UK) and still “harvest” in our garden instead of weeding. The Mistletoe for cardio-vascular used comes from local organic orchards, where removing some Mistletoe is part of their restoration.

Some of the course work has deepened my relationship with the manufactures of the herbal tinctures I use in practice and enhanced my herbal dispensary considerably.

I enjoy that herbalism incorporates so many traditions, but I didn’t have a good understanding what the actual “Western” approach is. My knowledge especially of the non-native herbs has very much improved during the course and they combine very well with my old favourites."

Dr Iris Ege

DVM, MRCVS, CVA, GDVWHM

United Kingdom

"CIVT's Essentials of Veterinary Acupuncture is a perfect taster course for those exploring acupuncture for the first time. The content and tutors were great and I have been able to use what I learnt to treat some common conditions.  It has definitely piqued my interest for further in-depth study in veterinary acupuncture."

Dr Kate Keating

BSc, BVMS

New Zealand

“I have benefited extensively from this course. The course team listens and provides help in an encouraging sensitive manner. The course notes are comprehensive and fully explanative with access to reference sites, there are also lots of interesting videos to break the study cycle. This evidence based approach is in the interests of animal well-being for pet owners and pet professionals. The course includes access to the Animal Diet Formulator program which suggests foods, nutrients and supplements to formulate as a specifically required ideal diet for any dog or cat, at any life stage to heal and maintain good health from a balanced nutritional aspect. This an important course to be done at your own pace the rewards will be lifechanging.”

Jan Collins

B.App.Sc. (Acup), CCHM, TCM, VT (Alternative Therapies)

Australia

As a Certified Veterinary Technician I constantly get asked about nutrition and what's the best food to feed. After completing every mainstream veterinary nutrition course I could find, I realized that all of them were offered by and sponsored by pet food manufacturers and none of them addressed raw and homecooked diets. With an increasing number of clients interested in and already feeding home prepared diets, I scoured the internet for reputable courses and came across CIVT's amazing program. I highly recommend the Natural Animal Nutrition course for anyone interested in a more thorough approach to nutrition. 

Melissa McClelland

CVT, B.S.

United States of America

The natural nutrition course offered by CIVT is wonderful.  I have been practicing for over 40 years, and I sure wish we had a course like this when I started out.  After taking the course I feel much more confident in my recommendations for home made diets and also my evaluations of commercial diets.  There were so many things that I believed about real food diets, but I didn’t have the data to back up those beliefs.  Now I do.
I appreciated that the course represented a wide variety of approaches from many different teachers.  I liked that I could do the course on my own time and at my own pace.  
The diet formulator software is invaluable and I loved learning how to use it.  It was fascinating to see the nutritional values change as I added and removed various ingredients. 
All in all, this course is an excellent resource and I wish they would teach more of this material in veterinary school.

Dr Pamela Bouchard

DVM, CVNN

United States of America

"I have been working as an equine musculoskeletal practitioner offering integrated therapies for some 18 years now. Along the line, I became interested enough in some of the presentations I was observing to start a postgraduate research degree studying the ongoing effects of premature or dysmature birth in horses. There is research into other large animal species, and humans of course, yet our understanding with mature horses is limited. Having identified a range of related effects, I was awarded my PhD in 2019. I was at that time experiencing the benefits of acupuncture in my own animals when treated by a vet. I became interested in learning more about acupuncture to both develop my practice and to potentially address issues relating to equine gestational immaturity. I am so glad that I was able to join the Graduate Diploma in Veterinary Acupuncture! It has already enhanced my practice on so many levels and I’m inspired by being able to support sick horses as well as those presenting the more ‘regular’ musculoskeletal pathologies. I am grateful to CIVT for giving me this wonderful opportunity to learn."

Dr Jane Clothier

PHD, GDVA

Australia

"I’d always enjoyed veterinary medicine but found myself unsettled and, at times, frustrated as I progressed through my early career post qualifying. This was often because I just couldn’t resolve some of my patients’ problems when I felt I should be able to. 

Always looking for better ways to be of help to my patients, I started looking into alternative treatments and began with acupuncture. Seeing the remarkable effects those little needles could have on my patients' well-being made me look more closely at Chinese medicine and from there I was hooked. The natural next step was to study Chinese herbs, and I started with my advanced certificate through CIVT before progressing onto my graduate diploma. What a fantastic course to study and to get deeper into the details of these wonderful herbs and Chinese medicine, as well as discovering more about myself and what I want to be able to accomplish. 

To be able to reach inside my much larger ’toolbox’ for my patients and optimise their outcomes has been such a thrill, and to see the transformation in health for patients by using whole plants, needles and diet, is a revelation. I wouldn’t be without my herbs and needles now, and neither would my patients!"

Dr Amy Watson

MA, VetMB, MRCVS, CVA, GDVCHM, ACVHCM, CCRT

United Kingdom

“Conventional medicine is great and new techniques are impressive in diagnosis and treatment areas. But I always thought that an important part of our capacities as doctors was being lost, that is intuition, feelings, case by case medicine, and how to use our hands. That’s how I got interested in alternative medicine, especially acupuncture. After two years of (hard) training, I can say that I found what I was looking for. I see my patients differently and I see medicine in general differently. I really think that, thanks to acupuncture, I can help my patients more than before. I can also offer new options to desperate owners. I am happy to relieve pain or serious symptoms with as few allopathic treatments as possible. It’s very interesting to see how different medicines can be used together even if it is not always easy to combine everything. I am convinced that all these practices and knowledge can be mixed in a way that we find what is best to help our patients. Thank you for this amazing experience and for all the doors that were opened because of this course!”

Dr Sarah Vandeweeghe

DVM, GDVA

New Caledonia

"I highly recommend the CIVT rehabilitation course. The mix of theory and practical introductions is very well balanced. The course has helped me a lot to establish rehabilitation in my practice and to gain new clients. By encouraging me to work on cases myself, I was able to quickly implement what I learned."

Dr Sonja Schirmer

DVM, EVSO C, IVCA, CVA, CCICR

Germany

“A huge thank you to CIVT for consistently excellent continuing education programs and administrative support. Also, a big thank you to Dr Grantham for her very high-level work on this course, which is thoroughly researched and well presented, with excellent supporting materials, AND highly useful on a practical basis for day-to-day application in any vet practice. Not only that, but Dr Grantham is personally involved with the course and attentive and welcoming to the students.”

Dr Erika Bruner

DVM

United States of America

“I soon recognized when I started as a veterinarian in conventional Western practice that there was so much more that can be done to treat animals through holistic modalities. As I learned different modalities including acupuncture, nutrition/food therapy, and canine rehabilitation therapy I saw how well patients responded to these treatments and I was inspired to pursue further training. I have always been drawn to botanical medicine and I am so grateful for CIVT in offering herbal medicine studies with fantastic teachers through an online format. I earned a Graduate Diploma of Veterinary Chinese Herbal Medicine and most recently a second Graduate Diploma of Veterinary Western Herbal Medicine. By training in the Graduate Diploma programs I feel that I can offer a diversity of therapeutic options with herbs to my patients. I am excited by the opportunity to continue learning through CIVT and developing skills in new areas.”

Dr Sally Lane

MS, DVM, CVA, CCRT, GDCVHM, GDVWHM

United States of America

"Working In an integrative Veterinary clinic with a focus on natural nutrition, I found completing the CIVT Natural Nutrition Course to be invaluable. The combination of videos and online content made the course not only achievable but enjoyable whilst working full time. The online support and forums were extremely helpful when needed. I’m excited to be able to provide more information to our clients on nutrition and in particular the ability to read and assess pet food labels."

Natalie Smith

VN cert IV, Dip VN Surgery

Australia