Patrick Mahaney, VMD, CVA

Posted by Elisa Jordan on October 7, 2010 // 1 Comments

When it came time to start thinking about college applications, Patrick Mahaney knew what he wanted to major in: marine biology. He applied early to Boston University and was accepted into the prestigious school’s marine science program.

After discussing his possible post-university career options with his parents, however, Mahaney reconsidered his career path and decided that becoming a veterinarian might be a better road to travel. Veterinary medicine was a good way to combine more than one of his interests; he had enjoyed the companionship of his family’s pets and he also had a keen interest in science. “It seemed like a good combination of the two,” he says.

He changed his plans and applied to the pre-vet program at the University of Delaware, which his sister, some friends and a couple of relatives had attended. “It’s nice with pre-vet programs because they give you all the prerequisites that you need to more easily gain acceptance into vet school,” he says.

A Different Approach

After figuring out the right career choice, he’s never looked back. Mahaney completed his bachelor’s degree, attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and completed an internship at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, D.C.

Now Patrick Mahaney, VMD, has a thriving veterinary practice in Los Angeles, where he moved in 2006. The way Dr. Mahaney practices medicine stands out for a couple of reasons. For starters, he divides his time between the TLC Pet Medical Center in West Hollywood (which he describes as having “good medicine and good doctors”) and his own mobile practice, which gives him the ability to treat patients in the comfort of their own homes so they feel less stress. It’s also much easier on elderly and arthritic pets.

“When you take pets to a facility, you are mixing them up and putting them in a car and then the car ride to the hospital,” he says. “Then you take them out of the car and get into the reception area and then the treatment room just before the treatment starts. When I go to a client’s home they like to have you there and that’s why things in my practice take longer. I get the pets comfortable, sit down with them, and have a conversation with the owners. Usually it takes about an hour-and-a-half to two hours. So they can get a much more extensive treatment than if they were at a facility.”

His mobile practice also gives him the freedom to incorporate his own personal interests in health, fitness and yoga by combining Western and Eastern medicine, an approach that most of his clients respond favorably to.

Combining both philosophies, he says, helps him better understand medical problems. For instance, Western medicine can tell you what a problem is and how to treat it; Eastern medicine looks at things a little differently, like also examining the origins. “You start to peel away the different layers and look at where these diseases can come from,” he says.

What are Energetic States?

Related to that, Mahaney also has an interest in the energetic states in Chinese medicine. “For example, cancer is considered a really hot condition because you think about cells that are growing too quickly and destroying other cells, which causes all sorts of problems. So you would need to cool the body down.”

One of the ways in which to cool a body down is through nutrition, a method he practices with his own dog, Cardiff, who lives with Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia, or IMHA. Like cancer, IMHA is a “hot” disease, so Cardiff eats cooling energetic sources, such as proteins and vegetables.

“The proteins Cardiff gets are turkey, fish, and duck; sometimes even beef is considered cooling, but it’s more of a neutral source,” Mahaney says. “Vegetables include broccoli, spinach, and mushrooms. Carrots are neutral but they can be cooling because they’re very moist. Certain carbohydrate sources like brown rice can be cooling. When you figure out the appropriate combinations of those that work for your dog, you can really make some remarkable changes in terms of their health.”

Besides his special diet, Cardiff takes the i Love Dogs Reishi with Green Tea supplement every day to keep his immune system strong. In fact, Mahaney now serves as i Love Dogs’ veterinary amassador.

Along those same lines, Mahaney is a certified veterinary acupuncturist, which he has practiced on a number of patients for a variety of reasons, including Pretzel, a cat who can now walk again after being struck by a car on the streets of Los Angeles, and Honeybuns, a burro he treats at the D.E.L.T.A. Rescue.

Mahaney’s biggest interest is an animal’s quality of life; regularly attending continuing education programs help him stay current in both Western and Eastern veterinary practices.

“I am constantly reading and asking questions of people more who are more proficient than me online. I recently went through a three-day introductory Chinese herbal course with the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society, which is actually who I did my training through about four years ago. I’m very interested in continuing education. I love to continue to learn—and get to go places!” he chuckles.

A “Social” Veterinarian

His willingness to learn, adapt and adjust the way he practices medicine extends to the way he conducts business. In addition to making house calls, Mahaney makes himself available and visible to clients via social media outlets and blogs. It’s a way for people to get in touch with him—he notes that many clients prefer email communication—but he also enjoys sharing his veterinary insights and educating pet parents outside the veterinary office.

His scope is fairly far-reaching. He regularly tweets out messages on his Twitter account, maintains websites for himself and his private practice, a personal blog, a blog for Cardiff and a column on Examiner.com.

“I have always felt like I have a perspective and I want to share it,” he says. “You can be thorough. You can add hyperlinks. It’s visible. It’s legible. You don’t have to think ‘Oh wow, did I miss something? Did I not say something?’ I am finding that I will be using media for a larger portion on my veterinary practice.”

He’s pleased with how educated pet parents are and understands that the Internet is a helpful tool for information. He’s also quick to caution people about selecting websites with reliable information.

“My concern is that people think they have achieved some level of expertise without having gone through the appropriate education,” he says. “There are people who the first place they go for information is the Internet, which is great, but where are they getting their information from on the Internet? That’s what’s tricky.”

It’s best to consult your veterinarian for anything related to medical conditions.

As Mahaney moves forward, he looks forward to continually evolving his practice and working with clients to meet their needs. He emphasizes the importance of a healthy lifestyle. For him, periodontal disease, diet, exercise, reducing joint inflammation and choosing proper supplements are important focuses. “All are for reducing reliance on medication,” he says.

He says, for instance, “If you have an old, arthritic dog you can reduce that reliance on whatever medication they need by making the joints healthier and making the muscles healthier. You really need to create a healthy state from the inside out.”

Category : Meet the Vets