Wellspring Holistic Veterinary Care

Wellspring is a nontraditional veterinary practice located in midtown Wilmington. Our approach is to integrate holistic and allopathic medicine, choosing the most appropriate methods from each discipline to create an effective and safe treatment plan for your pet

Dr. Kerr, formerly a native of Indiana, studied pre-veterinary medicine at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana from 1980-1983, and was accepted into the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine graduating class of 1987. After graduation, Dr. Kerr practiced small animal and equine medicine in Bloomington for a year, and was drawn to Wilmington, NC after visiting the area. He practiced at Needham Animal Hospital in Wilmington for one year prior to opening Companion Animal Hospital, in Shallotte NC and practiced there for 14 years. Dr. Kerr then returned to Wilmington, opening Wellspring Holistic Veterinary Care in 2004. Dr. Kerr began studying Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine(TCVM) at the Chi Institute of Chinese Medicine in Reddick, Florida in 2001. After completing training in Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine, and Tui-Na, he began applying these techniques at the practice in Shallotte, and began practicing primarily Complementary Medicine, incorporating TCVM with standard veterinary medicine after opening Wellspring Holistic Veterinary Care

Mission — The main objective of Holistic Veterinary Medicine (HVM) is to design a treatment program for each pet individually. In order to develop an individualized program for each animal. It is important to take into account the animal's diet, home environment, exercise regimen, their relationship to the owner and other pets in the home, the length of time the problem has been occurring, and stress factors. In some acute situations, treatment may involve the use of conventional western veterinary medicine techniques, such as surgery, or even allopathic medicines, combined with or followed by holistic practices. Holistic medicine, however, does not stop at treating the symptoms of an illness. Instead, it aims to discover and treat the root of the problem