animalrehabilitation.com Blog

(source: dogage.com, 2/16/09)
Consider a Canine Massage
Originally published on February 26, 2009

Another option is to learn how to do it yourself. Massage therapy schools in your area may offer animal massage classes. Not only will you gain a new skill, but also you’ll get more bonding time with your buddy. A massage also provides an opportunity to check your pet for unusual growths and lumps.

“…improved muscle tone” from massage? That’ might be stretching it a little. I think people might misconstrue that to mean strength benefits.
Running the idea of massage by the vet is a good idea but a more important idea is having a regular check up with your vet prior to the massage. Many vets are still not “on board” the idea of alternative medicine. Their lack of awareness or opinions on the subject might affect their endorsement–or lack thereof. [You do not need a prescription or approval from the vet for a massage.]
Their are many conditions that can benefit from the therapy and many that are “red flags” or absolute contraindications and your vet will help you with this also, as should any massage therapist that is worth their weight. I do not think that arthritis or fractures are necessarily a contraindication (absolute ‘no no’) for massage either!
The note tells you to seek out a certified massage therapist but perhaps they are not aware that there is no particular accreditation for this area.
And then tells you to take classes yourself (which I agree with! why not?), which wouldn’t necessarily lead to certification. Obviously, one needs to thoroughly check out the experience of any practitioner or massage education.
There are some great DVD’s out there. If you have any questions or want my opinion about a particular one, let me know!

The furkids get wet, natural food. But they also get to snack on dry. Mostly PJ, the Burmese, because he has a yet-to-be-diagnosed condition by his vet (they’ve done test after test) in which he can easily lose .5-1 lb a week. [He is averaging 8.5lbs.] He’s no overweight guy & he wants food ALL.THE.TIME. So, apparently…I’ve heard…that giving cats dry food is the equivalent of giving “kitty crack”. Well, okay, I hope so. That’s not my beef. My beef is that no matter HOW the natural dry is stored– usually in an air tight, ant-proof container — within a week or two it will be full of moths and moth larvae. Not fun. Not cheap -either for the food or the replacement costs as we repeatedly throw it out.
Does this ever happen to you?
What’s the solution?

A bit of administrative news:
I’ve decided to take to the BLOG when answering some of the general email questions I receive, from now on. 99.9% of the time…I don’t receive further contact or acknowledgement from the original person. Perhaps others can benefit too from the responses I give out.
I have to say that this is very disheartening to me. I really want to know if I’ve been helpful, and I’m really curious as to what transpires with these folks.
I stopped taking long-distance phone calls a few years back & put up a little blurb about it on the “contact us” page. The sole reason was because I was spending HOURS every day responding, counseling, advising (in general) people who called to seek my expertise. People I didn’t know and would probably never get to know. The more I did, the more I…well…did. For free [& sometimes not if I returned the call].
I wouldn’t dream of doing this to the professionals I need assistance from every now and then, and yet here I was.

Click here for SaveAVet (veteran)
I’m embarrassed to say I not only have never heard of an organization like this, but worse yet, I never knew there was a need. I *assumed* that these military dogs were taken care of. I’m humbled and saddened at the same time. I will be spreading their information around.

I joke around the house quite often that in these tough economic conditions, J.Boobear is going to have to go out with a sandwich board on him & advertise for work. Hey, if a 10yo can win Westminister…the LEAST he can do is perhaps get himself (read: us) on “Ellen”.
I digress. I do think it’s important that dogs have a “job”–barring any physical conditions or limitations. Dogs do feel and respond the best when they think they are pleasing their owners and being “good”. It challenges & stimulates them physically and mentally, as well.

Here are some suggestions:
HERDING
AGILITY
FLYBALL
THERAPY DOG
BACKPACKER
FOSTER PARENT
TRACKING/SEARCH
FREESTYLE DANCE
OBEDIENCE
FRISBEE
CARTS
SWIMMING
TENNIS BALL (or other tiem) FETCH & RETRIEVE

What are some others?

Here is the website where you can check out the latest list of pet food brands (incl. snacks) that are potentially harmful secondary to the salmonella bacteria. Click on the underlined text.

As you probably are aware, a lot of news has been made recently of the peanut butter co. CEO who is being investigated at the center of this salmonella scare. I do not know of pet deaths, but there have been human deaths as well as scores of folks taking ill.
Some of the brands are from Wal-mart who likewise had brands involved during the Chinese contamination last year. Wal-mart brand dog food has been shown to have the least nutritional value of other brands tested. Wal-mart may be cheaper, but is it worth it?

…that I thought doggie parents might be interested in:

GlobalPaw.com

No, I didn’t get paid to write that nor do I pay them. I’m just investigating cool animal places (read: forums) to hang out. Places that are animal-friendly and well…just friendly. Many forums become places for folks to air their dirty laundry in (behind the ever present *mask* of internet anonymity), and I’d rather PASS on spending time with that.

…TB HORSES

No joke! I didn’t even know this program existed:

…from the 2008 American College of Veterinary Surgeons conference as summarized in the 2/09 issue of “Pulse” from the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association:
* Effect of debridement (removal) of the cranial cruciate ligament in dogs having early partial tears of the CCL at the time of TPLO: No significant difference. Study admitted that the group was small, only short term outcome was reported, and that the meniscus is difficult to evaluate if the CCL is not taken out (something that is usually done at the time of the arthroscopic surgery).
* Accuracy of MRI in diagnosing meniscal tears in CCL cases: poor diagnostic accuracy
* Biomechanical suture fixation comparison (for extraarticular/extracapsular stabilization of the CCL) between standard nylon lines and newer polyethylene materials: The newer materials offer increased stiffness and maximal load. * Effect of medical meniscal release following TPLO. The release (removal) is often performed at the time of TPLO to avoid future problems. This study suggests that the release is not necessary to prevent post-op menisical injury in CCL dogs following TPLO. “Next year someone will counter this claim, and coffee will be good for you once again.” ITA!
* Evaluation of leg weraps for the prevention of bacterial…: sterile vet wrap alone may not be a sufficient barrier to bacterial strike-through in the surgical setting.

I do not know which particular vet authored this tongue-in-cheek piece but I love this: “Every year similar debates are conducted which address whether to release the meniscus or not, which stifle surgery is .0025% better than other techniques, and who has the best fracture repair method.”
Having been to the conference in years past, I concur.

I’m thinking about removing the ‘link’ page on my site.

What do you think?

In general, do you visit sites’ link pages when they have a seperate page devoted to them?

…we’ve moved! The blog is now hosted through Yahoo! AND WordPress. I have some experience with WordPress but am still a newbie. Supposedly there is a way to link the old posts from the old blog to here. I think, however, those posts are as good as gone for now.

Onward and upward.