Vets have known for decades that genes largely determine the health of a pet. But as scientific knowledge increases, professionals such as Cynthia Maro of Pittsburgh are demonstrating that genes do not say everything. The surroundings, from the kibble in a pet's dish to the stress in its living space, can shape the way those genes act. This branch of science, epigenetics, is changing the minds of pet owners and veterinarians about wellness and disease prevention.
Epigenetics is a term used to describe how the environment can turn genes on or off without altering the DNA itself. Essentially, although a pet's genes offer the blueprint, the environment determines how that blueprint is read and interpreted.
As Dr. Cynthia Maro of Pittsburgh explains, these gentle environmental impacts can add up over time, dictating a pet's lifetime health course, positively or negatively.
"Our pets' everyday environments are always communicating to their cells," she says. "Every chomp, every sip of air, and every emotional exchange counts."
Epigenetic alterations may be initiated by a broad variety of seemingly trivial, everyday exposures. Cynthia Maro of Pittsburgh frequently urges pet owners to consider their household as a shared ecosystem, where all aspects; air, water, and surfaces—influence animal health.
Each of these factors might appear insignificant by itself, but together they create an environmental signature on your pet's body, a signature that tells genes how to react when challenged by stress, disease, or aging, a concept emphasized by Cynthia Maro of Pittsburgh in her integrative approach to veterinary wellness.
Nutrition and managing stress are at the core of Dr. Maro's integrative veterinary principles. She feels both are key levers in maintaining healthy gene expression.
Balanced, species-appropriate diets supply the building blocks cells require to operate at their best. Phytonutrient-dense, trace mineral-rich, and clean protein diets can “instruct” the body to mend tissue, detoxify properly, and minimize inflammation.
Dr. Maro frequently recommends cycling between fresh foods, raw or lightly cooked foods, and high-quality supplements when necessary. By eschewing artificial colors, preservatives, and highly processed kibble, pet owners minimize the environmental “noise” that muddies healthy gene action.
As in humans, an animal's emotional environment influences its physiology. Stress can disrupt sleep, digestion, and immune balance, all of which have genetic consequences.
Through acupuncture, chiropractic manipulation, and subtle energy-based treatments, Dr. Maro quiets the nervous system so the body can stabilize. Integrative stress-reduction techniques don't only calm behavior; they affect hormonal balance and cellular repair processes.
Conventional veterinary medicine is excellent at curing acute disease, but epigenetics shows that health actually starts much earlier than symptoms appear. Integrative practice, the careful marriage of mainstream diagnostics with alternative therapies, enables veterinarians to treat not only disease itself but also the subtle environmental and lifestyle influences that propel it.
Under Dr. Maro's system:
Prevention becomes an active partnership, where environment, genes, and lifestyle collaborate rather than conflict.
In modern, chemically filled life, it's impossible to shield pets from all toxins or stressors. Yet Dr. Cynthia Maro of Pittsburgh stresses that thoughtful decisions can hugely affect genetic destiny in the long run. She urges pet owners to start with easy, sustainable changes:
These changes may seem small, but their cumulative power can be significant, affecting not only lifespan but also the quality of life pets enjoy throughout their years.
As the study of animal epigenetics continues to grow, veterinarians such as Cynthia Maro of Pittsburgh are leading the way toward a new level of care, one that considers health through the prism of environment, behavior, and biology.
This vision dissolves the concept of sickness as an inevitability with age. Instead, it implies that educated, empathetic decisions can rewrite the genetic narrative of our pets.
At its core, integrative veterinary medicine is not solely about disease treatment. It's about establishing a circumstance where wellness is the default state, a notion that has the potential to revolutionize animal care for generations to come.
Author: Dr. Cynthia Maro—Integrative Veterinarian, Cynthia Maro, DVM, CVA, CAC, VMRT, VNAET
