Meet the Veterinarian

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Dr. Lisa and Mighty Mouse the Spotted Wonder-dog
PictureBadger and Dr. Lisa
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Clockwise from Speckled Sussex rooster: Knuckles, Pickles, Cadbury, Butters, Twizzler, Twinkie.
Lisa Melling, DVM, CVH, CVSMT received a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Iowa State University in 1999, and graduated from Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2004 with a special interest in animal behavior and emergency medicine. She is certified in veterinary homeopathy and veterinary spinal manipulative therapy.

In 2007 Dr. Melling co-founded Best Friends Pet Wellness, a house call practice serving the Ann Arbor area. Frustrated by the limitations of allopathic medicine to effect lasting curative treatments, Dr. Melling searched for alternative therapies that could heal her patients without the continued use of drugs.

Intrigued by the curative approach of homeopathy, Dr. Melling enrolled in Dr. Pitcairn’s Professional Course in Veterinary Homeopathy in 2008. Encouraged by her personal experience with homeopathy as well as the curative results it provided for her patients, Dr. Melling was recognized as a Certified Veterinary Homeopath by the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy in 2011, and became a faculty instructor for the Pitcairn Institute of Veterinary Homeopathy in 2012. In the fall of 2015, Dr. Melling moved to the Traverse City area, and her holistic practice became known as Good Harbor Holistic Veterinary Care.

In July of 2018, Dr. Melling began apprenticing with Dr. PJ Lenhard in equine and canine chiropractic treatment, and completed the intensive 226 credit hour course for VSMT (veterinary chiropractic) at The Healing Oasis Wellness Center in Sturtevant, Wisconsin in the spring of 2019.

In the summer of 2022, Dr. Melling resigned from the Pitcairn Institute of Veterinary Homeopathy to co-found a new post-graduate school, Veterinary Homeopathy Institute (VHI): www.vethomeopathy.org. The goal of VHI is to provide a post-graduate course in veterinary homeopathy to qualify graduates for Certification as a Veterinary Homeopath, as well as advanced continuing education for homeopathic veterinarians in the medical art of homeopathy. This course, called the Foundations Course in Veterinary Homeopathy, has been approved by the AHVMA as an AVMA affiliated for 168 credit hours of continuing education. More information on this post-graduate program is available at www.vethomeopathy.org

Dr. Melling has been a board member of the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy since 2015, and is currently the AVH president. She has been a guest lecturer for a wide variety of conferences and schools, including the Integrative Medicine Club at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Melling has provided lectures on homeopathic prescribing at the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association annual conference in February 2015, the Midwest Veterinary Conference in February 2017, and the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA) conferences in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024. She has also presented cases annually at the Annual Veterinary Homeopathy meetings from 2012 through 2019, and in 2022.

Dr. Melling has authored and co-authored several papers on animal behavior and the use of homeopathic remedies in veterinary medicine. She has been published in the Journal of American Holistic Veterinary Medicine and the Integrative Veterinary Care Journal. She has also been a contributing writer to Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, 4th edition, and Jan Allegretti's The Complete Holistic Dog Book, 2nd edition.

Dr. Melling is owned by Mighty Mouse the Spotted Wonder-dog, Badger the Appaloosa, & a small flock of chickens. She enjoys horse back riding, both trail riding and dressage, stand up paddle boarding, swimming, hiking, kayaking, and gardening.