Dog Kinetics - Dr Dan

April 24, 2013 By Dr Dan 3 Comments

Hill’s Science Diet feeling the change

Hill’s Science Diet petfood brand losing market share as consumers look to smaller petfood brands for more natural options is the title of an article from PetFoodIndustry.com

From the article –

In an effort to compete, Hill’s introduced the Science Diet Nature’s Best line, which included ingredients like lamb, brewers rice, soybean meal and apples. But, “the consumer had a disconnect with this idea of Science Diet and a naturals product,” said Ian Cook, Colgate CEO.

I wonder why? Is it because that Science Diet has ruined it’s reputation a long time ago with the holistic community and now the main stream pet owners are seeing the advantages of feeding their dogs a food based in similar fresh ingredients that they themselves would eat?

Or could it be that they have stagnated while the rest of the industry has changed with the consumer ideals? –

Hill’s launches new Ideal Balance natural petfood brand – New line of dog and cat food is first new petfood brand from Hill’s since 1968 – Is it better late than never or a little too late?

Interestingly, even though they are late to the party and have a large number of foods to model to try to reclaim market share they have still may have missed the mark on this new food. It only received 3 out of 5 stars from Dog Food Advisor, an independently owned website – Hill’s Ideal Balance Grain Free Dog Food (Dry) Although the food is acceptable and is better than their previous products it is still a dog food that your dog can survive on rather than thrive. As consumers we are looking for the best quality ingredients and a dog food that allows our dogs to be their best, to live optimally.

Dr Becker has a few comments about Hill’s decline in her article –
Buyers “Bust” This Pet Food Company – Should You Too?

She summarizes how to maintain a healthy pet extremely well –

While pet product companies and marketers try to find ever more unique and creative ways to lure you, their human consumer, your carnivorous cat or dog maintains the same basic requirement for whole, fresh, unprocessed food as her wild ancestors. In fact, your pet’s health, vitality and quality of life have little to do with how many nifty new pet products you purchase.

In addition to the right diet, your pet’s other most basic needs include:

Plenty of physical exercise and mental stimulation
Minimal exposure to toxins including vaccines, veterinary drugs, and pest preventives
Regular (preferably twice yearly) wellness exams with an integrative or holistic vet
Routine at-home dental care, bathing and grooming
When it comes to caring for your dog or cat, it’s not about finding the latest new invention in pet food or products … it’s about providing your furry companion with a simple, natural diet and lifestyle that creates abundant health and a long life.

What is your opinion? Is Hill’s changing your mind about their pet food? Or have you always fed Hill’s because it has been good food for your dog?

Filed Under: Nutrition

December 2, 2012 By Dr Dan 1 Comment

Performance Dog Play

Should I let my performance dog play with other dogs? My dog may suffer an injury.

This is a common concern for canine athlete owners and trainers; injuries in general are concerns, so why take a risk with an athlete that will have to perform? The thought about not letting them play with other dogs to reduce the chance of injuries is common however is it right? In one study performance dog play with the human handler is important especially right before an event. It helps with keeping the dog focused during the event. But how about dog on dog play? Should you let your prized performance dog play with that other dog? - You want the short opinionated answer, yes you should allow your performance dog to play with other dogs.

Let’s go through my reasoning for allowing performance dogs to play.

First – your fear here is injuries,right? Why are you letting your dog do an athletic event in the first place? It is much more likely to be injured in its sport than playing with another dog. The most common type of injuries in performance dogs are repetitive stress injuries – shoulder instability, carpal strains, cruciate ruptures, and tendon/ligament strains/tears.The most frequent type of injuries that veterinarians see are broken bones from car accidents and other equally severely traumatic events and then the next most common has to be cruciate ruptures. In canine sport medicine practices cruciates and other tendon/ligament injuries are the most common – the repetitive stress injuries. Besides lacerations to ears and the skin on other areas of the body, dog play does not cause very many injuries and the injuries that it does cause are not likely to affect performance.

Second – dogs are pack animals. The nature of a dog is to be and interact with other dogs and that includes playing. Apologies to my single dog family homes for the next statement, but dogs that are not allowed to interact with other dogs are more likely to have behavior disorders. So for the mind of the performance dog, it would be best to allow the dog to have its natural tendencies and then control/moderate the activity. Dog play is going to help the dog in other aspects, such as relaxation (we all know – all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy), develops coordination and muscle development utilizing different muscles than the normal routine of training which will help balance, and can learn from the other dog such as restraint and impulse control.

Lastly – is your dog a superstar, and no, not in your own mind? Is it one of the top dogs in the nation? Are you going for your second national title in your chosen canine sport? If you are, then you are in the top 1% (and I am being generous) of canine performance dog owners. So then why do all these owners do it, when only a select handful make it to the top? Very few are making money from it, even some of the top are spending money not making it. It must not be about being the top or about making money, it has to be about something else. For the majority, it is about having fun with the dog. OK, then how about it? You are going to prevent your dog from having fun, because you have a fear that it is possibly going to injure itself so that it will not miss out on the opportunity to perform something else that is fun but is more likely to cause injury? How does that make any sense?

Let the dog be a dog and let your performance dog play! There is much less of a chance of injury playing than in the sport itself, it helps the behavior and mind set of the dog and its fun!

Do you really want to prevent performance related injuries, then stop worrying about your performance dog playing with other dogs and condition your dog against the repetitive stress injuries by purchasing (and then using) one of Dr. Chris Zink’s Canine Sports Production books, Clean Run’s Canine Fitness and Conditioning videos, or Dr. Debbie Gross Saunders’ Strengthening and Stretching the Performance Dog videos. You will have a happier and healthier performance dog!

Filed Under: Dog Health Tagged With: canine athlete, dog health, Dog On Dog, Dog Play, Performance Dog, performance dog injuries, performance dog play, Play, preventing injuries

November 24, 2012 By Dr Dan 4 Comments

A Case of the Week: Cassidy’s brachial plexus and radial nerve damage

cassidy brachial plexus radial nerve damage Cassidy, a year old Australian Shepherd, was picked up by animal control and brought to the Humane Society of Jackson County, IN in late August. She had an injured left front leg that was swollen and dangling at the time. 3 veterinarians said it was nerve damage and only time would tell if the leg would regain use. Cassidy has brachial plexus and radial nerve damage sometimes called brachial plexus avulsion and is a common injury in dogs that are hit by cars.

In October she came to see me for treatment of the dangling leg since it was not seeming to be improving and in fact she was getting sores on the top of her foot. Her vet was considering amputation. Examining her it was obvious that she had suffered a severe injury to her brachial plexus and radial nerve and could not extend her leg as her triceps muscles and her digital extensor muscles were limp. She had also developed a common complication of this injury in that the opposing muscles the biceps and the carpal flexor muscles were contracted, since they have no opposing force to stretch them back out.

Most general practice veterinarians will give an anti-inflammatory (many times corticosteroid) and give the nerve time to heal and in many cases it does. If the brachial plexus or the radial nerve has been completely severed the dog will never regain use of its leg – the extensor muscles will remain flaccid and the flexor muscles will remain contracted. In cases in which the dog appears to not gain any movement back in the leg for an extend time such as in Cassidy’s case, most vets assume that the nerve is then severed and usually opt to amputate the limb; however some of these cases the brachial plexus/radial nerve just doesn’t heal with out stimulation. Neuromodulation is necessary to stimulate the nerve to regain function. It is sort of like you don’t use it so you lose it concept. Canine rehabilitation with neuro rehab is the treatment of choice for these dogs. The only problem, without trying to do electrodiagnostic testing, is that we will not know if it will work without doing the rehab and we have to try for 4-6 weeks without improvement to determine if it will not work.

In a case like Cassidy’s we have two goals – increase brachial plexus and radial nerve function and reduce flexor muscle contraction.

Therapies to reduce flexor muscle contraction -

Laser Therapy
Ultrasound Therapy
Manual Manipulation and Stretching

Therapies to increase brachial plexus and radial nerve function -

Acupuncture
Chiropractic
Laser Therapy
Electrostimulation
Manual Therapy and exercises to coax her to extend

Cassidy’s first visit we did laser therapy and chiropractic. Electrical acupuncture the next week. The third week we saw no improvement so we started electrical stimulation and laser therapy weekly along with exercises to entice her to extend her leg. The very next week we noticed movement in her triceps muscles! Some progress which meant that the brachial plexus was intact and eventually she would heal she just needed some stimulation.

There still was no movement even with electrical stimulation to the extensor muscles that controlled her carpus (wrist). What is very interesting is that if the nerve does not function electrical stimulation will not contract the muscle no matter how high of an electrical current you place into the muscle. If the nerve doesn’t work, the muscle does not work period. However repeated electrical stimulation will entice the nerve to function. I was a little discouraged that we had movement in the triceps but not the digital extensors I was starting to fear that the damage to the radial nerve was too great and we were not going to get that function back.

The very next week Cassidy came in still the same and although she was really extending her elbow. Although weak she was extending it during play, but the wrist remained contracted and unable to extend. We could straighten the wrist out about 80% of normal manually but there was no movement in the extensors, that is until we placed the electrical stimulator on her. We have movement with electrical stimulation to her toes! Way to go Cassidy!

We are going to continue electrical stimulation and exercises to entice her to extend her limb for the next few weeks. Hopefully in the next month or two she will be back to normal. Her brachial plexus and her radial nerve damage will be repaired and she will have normal function an start rebuilding the muscle she lost from the last 6 months.

Filed Under: Canine Rehab Tagged With: brachial plexus, canine rehab, electrical stimulation, radial nerve

November 14, 2012 By Dr Dan Leave a Comment

Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine: TCVM a different approach to disease

Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) is a medical system that has been used in China for thousands of years. In the US it has been used to treat animals since the 1970′s. Today acupuncture (one part of TCVM) has shown to be an effective treatment for many diseases both acute and chronic and really has shown to be very effective in treating pain and neurologic conditions thus making it a main stream treatment. TCVM includes using acupuncture, Chinese herbs, Tui Na (Chinese massage) and food therapy to treat the body to promote the body to heal itself.

Veterinarians can learn acupuncture and other TCVM modalities at one of the veterinary schools that offer programs – Colorado State University, Tufts University or the University of Florida; or they can take a certification course offered by IVAS or the Chi Institute. The Chi Institute offers the most comprehensive programs for TCVM including all of the modalities and advanced courses up to and including a Masters Degree in TCVM offered in conjunction with South China Agricultural University. For this reason I choose the Chi Institute for my certification. I have considered pursuing the Master Degree program.

TCVM has changed considerably since its inception in China back when it was primarily used to treat horses and farm animals. Today it is used for those animals and also dogs, cats, and birds. Much has been learned about acupuncture and TCVM through the study and treatments of these companion animals. Here in the US TCVM is used many times, as it is in my practice, in conjunction with other treatments such as chiropractic, western herbs, nutritional supplementation and rehabilitation therapies (laser, electrical stimulation, and exercise). It is exciting to be part of a medical field that although has been around for 3000-4000 years is changing and expanding due to scientific advances and research and more owners being accepting of the treatments. I look forward to many years of treating my patients with TCVM.

The basic premise of TCVM is rebalancing the body to allow it to heal itself. A diseased body becomes out of balance. In TCVM some of the cause of disease is because the body is out of balance and in other cases the body becomes out of balance by an external force, such as a traumatic accident. In either case TCVM can be used hand in hand with western allopathic medicine to help the body recover from disease or trauma. They come from the disease from opposite aspects and can meet in the middle due to a common cause – to heal the patient. Western medicine is great at treating acute problems TCVM is great at treating chronic problems that western medicine has difficulty in curing. TCVM has little to no side effects. Western medicine is far superior in diagnosing due to the technological advances. An integrative approach works wonderfully for the patient because you can get the best of both worlds with superior diagnostics and treatment that has less side effects. Treatment that can approach a disease from both aspects that of treating the disease and that of helping the body heal.

One of my first cases in using TCVM was Bear – Canine Case of the Week: Bear and Cervical IVDD I hope I have many more successful cases such as Bear. He is still a patient and is doing well.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: acupuncture, chinese herbs, Effective Treatment, tcvm, traditional chinese veterinary medicine, Veterinary Medicine

November 8, 2012 By Dr Dan 3 Comments

Lepto Vaccine: Should I or Shouldn’t I

I am asked quite often if a dog owner should be giving a Leptospirosis vaccine to their dog. In typical non-committal the owner makes the final decisions about their dog fashion I usually answer – “it depends”.

lepto raccoon To be honest I am on the fence about it. In Illinois and in Indiana, which is where I live, it is endemic. Meaning it is all over the place here. There are estimates of 50% of the raccoon population carry the disease. Lepto is transmissible to humans and you can get it from your infected dog. Your dog can die from the disease or it can cause permanent kidney disease in dogs and humans. For those reasons it is important to vaccinate. In fact most veterinarians stop right there when describing lepto in order to convince you how necessary it is for your dog to receive the vaccine. It can be a scary disease.

So why would I be on the fence about such a horrific disease? Well, Lepto is a bacteria (spirochete) so the vaccine is not as long lasting as vaccine that protect against viruses, and it has to be given every year. In the past, the vaccine produced some significant side effects, the vaccine is cleaner now which has reduced some of the side effects, but it seems that some dogs are still experiencing them. Lepto has numerous strains more than 20, the vaccine protects only against 4 (the most common ones), so even if your dog is vaccinated it still can contract lepto, become sick and possibly transmit it to you or your children.

So if you have a healthy dog and you have wildlife in your backyard or you have a dog that does spend time out in the woods, ponds, or areas that are known to have a lot of wildlife then the Lepto vaccination would be appropriate. However, if your dog has allergies or other immune system issues then you need to consider that giving an annual vaccine is not the best for the health of your dog. Also one thing to know is that lepto is not a death sentence. It is a bacterial infection and if caught early can be treated successfully with no long term effects. It has to be caught, tested for, and treated. There in lies the problem. Many owners are slow to bring the dog to the vet and many vets do not think of lepto first when the dog comes in lethargic with signs of a urinary tract infection, because it usually isn’t. Most of the time symptoms like that is a simple bacterial infection not a kidney destroying life threatening zoonotic (that means humans can catch it) disease. The main difference is usually lethargy, if the dog is acting sick and has a urinary tract infection it is important to test for Lepto especially in endemic areas.

If you have more questions then ask away in the comment section below.

Here are a couple of articles with other opinions -
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/09/20/pet-owners-love.aspx
http://www.pet-health-care-gazette.com/2010/10/02/canine-leptospirosis-vaccination-pros-and-cons/
http://www.2ndchance.info/leptospirosis.htm

Filed Under: Dog Health Tagged With: dog health, Dogs, Lepto, leptospirosis, Leptospirosis Vaccine, vaccines

November 6, 2012 By Dr Dan 2 Comments

Epidemic Canine Obesity: Killing Them With Kindness

Fat dog Obesity Everyday I see it, the pudgy dog whose owner just loves them to death literally. There is an epidemic in this country with obesity and that includes our dogs. Obesity in dogs, as in humans, leads to several health problems such as diabetes, respiratory issues, skin conditions and most important from my perspective on canine movement is osteoarthritis. Yes, osteoarthritis can be caused by canine obesity. Your dog being overweight puts more stress, strain, and ultimately more inflammation on joints and leads to destruction of the cartilage. So these owners with the little pudgy dogs that can’t help themselves and just have to feed that cute little face are killing them with their kindness.

What is very interesting is owner’s perception of their dog being overweight versus what we as veterinarians perceive as overweight. It is a sensitive subject for owners that their dog is fat. A British study published last year shows “Although a high proportion of owners claimed to have discussed the dog’s weight with their veterinarian, some discrepancies were apparent between owner perception of animal weight and the veterinarian’s evaluation of body condition score. Owner disagreement was significantly greater for the veterinarian-defined overweight dogs (P=0·005). Owners often provide personal narratives to account for their dog’s weight status.” The study concluded that verbal communication should not be the only information given to an owner of an overweight dog.

There have been several other studies recently in regards to the prevention and/or the decrease in progression of arthritis in dogs that were fed restricted calorie diets. A diet of only 25% reduction in calories has shown to decrease the incidence of arthritis in elbows, hips, and shoulders of dogs and it was noted in one study that it increased the average age of the dogs by almost 2 years!

Talk to your vet, talk to a canine nutritionist about how to feed your dog appropriately. Realize that the dog food companies are trying to sell you food and that the amounts on the bag that they recommend feeding are only estimates and of course they are on the high side for most dogs because the more your dog eats the more food you will buy. If your dog is already overweight do not treat him like a human and feed a diet high in fiber that will just produce gas. I know that those of you that have tried the store bought “diet” foods have experienced the problem with high fiber diets and your dog really is the one to blame for clearing a room. The first order of business is to talk to your vet, have an exam and possibly some blood tests to be sure your dog does not have an underlying condition causing him to be overweight; however in my experience it usually is the amount and quality of food being fed.

The best steps to take (after the visit to the vet) for the overweight dog is to go to a diet that is species appropriate which means for your dog a carnivorous or meat based diet with no grain. Similar to people some dogs have a problem with grain and especially gluten and no not celiac disease but rather grains being pro-inflammatory, meaning it promotes inflammation. Increased inflammation in the body can lead to weight gain, similar to people that have a puffy appearance. It makes it very difficult to lose weight. It is best to feed your dog a meat based, grain free diet and count the calories. Use the following formula for an estimate of what your dog requires for calories per day Calories = 132 x (body weight in kilograms) X 0.75

For example the daily energy requirements of a 20 lb dog -

Convert pounds to kilograms ( 1 lbs = 0.454 kg)
20 lbs x 0.454 = 9.08 kg

Determine the metabolic body weight (kg0.75)
9.08 x .75 = 6.81

Multiply metabolic body weight by 132 (for the average dog)
6.81 x 132 = 898.92 or 900 kcal per day

So a 20 lb dog needs only 900 kcal per day total. To do a reducing diet you need to reduce the calories by 25% which is 75% of the total 900 X .75 = 675 kcal per day.

You can calculate an estimate of calories of the food you are feeding by using University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine formula of 3.5 kcal per gram of protein and carbohydrates and 8.5 kcal per gram of fat. Just use the percentages found on the side of the bag and weigh a cup of the food to determine how many calories are in each cup. You will find some interesting results and that maybe, just maybe, you have been overfeeding your dog.

Remember a thin dog is a healthy dog and a long lived dog, one that is not as likely to have arthritis or other diseases. So the next time you go to give that begging fat face a treat just because he wants it; realize he doesn’t know what you know – he doesn’t know you are killing him

Another great article with even more specifics – Pet Food Calorie Mis-Information

A dog food calculator – Dog Food Calculator

Filed Under: Dog Health, Nutrition

August 26, 2012 By Dr Dan Leave a Comment

Carnivores are not vegans

Carnivores are not vegans – sounds logical doesn’t it? Not so to some people and even a couple of Premium dog food companies that seem to want to make money versus doing what’s right for our dogs.

Our dogs are carnivores, they are not strict carnivores and can eat vegetables, however just because dogs fed plant-based diets can stay alive does not make it the best for them. An optimal biologically appropriate diet for a carnivore is to have a meat based diet. An optimal biologically appropriate diet allows the dog to thrive not just survive. It provides them with the nutrients needed for a healthy immune system and a solid base for a long healthy life.

A carnivores digestive system is not designed for efficiently digesting plant material. It does not have the appropriate enzymes in saliva to break down starch. Also the digestive system is too short in comparison to herbivores and does not contain enough of the necessary enzymes for proper breakdown of plant material. This makes it difficult to digest plant material and to be able to gain the optimal nutrients, such as amino acids. Dogs do not produce amino acids very well and so it is necessary to provide them in their diet. Essential amino acids for dogs come from high quality animal protein, such as beef, chicken, turkey, duck, fish, lamb, venison, and bison.

Another problem with feeding a vegetable/starch based diet to a dog is that it can over work their pancreas. The pancreas of a carnivore produces enzymes used to process fats and protein. When you feed plant material it produces more enzymes to try to break it down. A long term over production of enzymes overtaxes the pancreas making it more likely to malfunction. A malfunctioning pancreas can lead to pancreatitis and/or diabetes and not so surprisingly can lead to obesity.

So for those of you eating a vegan or vegetarian diet for your health, you must realize that your digestive system is that of an omnivore and is different than that of a carnivore. Your dog is a carnivore and it needs a meat based diet. Please for the health of your dog, feed it what it was biologically created to eat.

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: dog health, Nutrition, vegan, vegetarian

October 16, 2011 By Dr Dan 1 Comment

Dog Chocolate Toxicity Revisted

It is that time of year again it’s Chocolate season! It starts with Halloween and ends at Christmas. This is where us humans gain several pounds due to good food and even better candy. Chocolate is a favorite of mine and truly a favorite of many. However our dogs should not be indulging in chocolate, it is toxic to them. Depending on how much your dog weighs and how much your dog eats will decide whether your dog will be OK, have gastrointestinal symptoms, have seizures or even die.

It is the theobromine that is in chocolate that is really toxic to dogs and certain chocolate is much more toxic than other types. Depending on how much theobromine is in the chocolate will decide on how toxic. For example White Chocolate has very little theobromine and it takes quite a large amount to be toxic in dogs, in comparison baking chocolate or real cocoa is highly toxic to dogs, because it has a lot of theobromine.

Usually I tell people to go to the cool interactive chart offered several years ago by National Geographic – it still available here – National Geographic Chocolate Chart

However this year a fellow veterinarian, Dr Marie from AskAVetAQuestion.com offered me a free Chocolate Toxicity Calculator to put right here on my site. So thanks Dr. Marie!

Calculator provided by Ask A Vet Question.

Filed Under: Dog Health Tagged With: chocolate, dog health, toxicity

August 2, 2011 By Dr Dan 4 Comments

Canine Case of the Week: Bear and Cervical IVDD

Canine Case of the Week is Bear a special dog with Intervertebral Disk Disease in the cervical spine. What makes Bear special is that he is also a cancer patient, OK he is a good dog too! Bear is one of my lucky patients that has been able to take advantage of the new information about acupuncture I have learned from the Chi Institute in my process to acupuncture certification.

Bear - Cervical IVDD case Bear is a 10 year old neutered male black Lab. He was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma of the jaw in December 2010. The tumor was wrapped around his lower canine and it bled every time he ate. When it was discovered that it was cancer Bear underwent surgery to have the front third of his lower jaw removed. He recovered fine from the surgery and no longer had bleeding every time he ate.

Shortly after his jaw surgery he started limping on his left front leg. Of course thinking the worse his owner brought him right away to a specialist and discovered that no the cancer had not spread but actually Bear had a strained tendon in his elbow. The specialist injected the elbow with corticosteroid and the limping improved. Unfortunately he developed a neck problem 2 weeks afterwards.

Bear has had issues with his neck for a long time. He would be stiff and a little painful to the touch. His owner would give him aspirin and in a day he would bounce back, however this time was different. He did not bounce back and in fact became worse. He could not turn his head to the left without being in pain. Back to the vet Bear went. His cervical spine was radiographed and luckily no signs of cancer, but also no significant findings for a problem relating to his pain in the neck. He was diagnosed with Cervical Intervertebral Disk Disease or Cervical IVDD. An MRI could be done to confirm the diagnosis but with the expense, the fact that an MRI may not be as reliable as once thought for diagnosis of IVDD, the fact that Bear has gone through a lot already and most important the owner was not wishing to put Bear through another surgery and only wants him comfortable for how ever many months she has left with Bear, an MRI was not performed and Bear was given typical conservative pain management pharmaceuticals – muscle relaxers and pain relievers. He did this for a couple of months. It did not help enough and in May it became much worse. He could not raise his head comfortably and he was placed on more pain relievers. In June when nothing else seemed to be helping Bear’s owner called me.

My first visit Bear was mildy depressed but still happy to visit. He could not raise his head very well, looked uncomfortable and certainly could not turn his head left. He was not sleeping well at night. He was very painful when touching his neck or trying to move his head. I spent time massaging and doing chiropractic adjustments to help relieve some of his tension and pain. I also prescribed Gabapentin for the neuropathic pain since none of the pain relievers he was on were seeming to help.

A week later I revisited and readjusted. He was improved. His pain was mostly gone but he still could not turn his head to the left.

The next week I revisited again and now he could turn his head about 50% to the left and still no pain. I adjusted him again and was happy with the progress. However Bear had other plans with his new found reduction in pain.

The problem with giving a dog pain relievers, or doing modalities such as chiropractic or acupuncture is that they do relieve pain. The problem with relieving pain is that the area is still healing and can take 12 weeks to heal completely, but since there is no pain the dog will use the area like there is nothing wrong. If the dog feels better and does something it should not it can re-injure the area and start the whole cascade of events all over. That’s what Bear did!

He was happy feeling better and became excited one day. The owner knew that she needed to keep him calm and not do any activity with him, but Bear had other ideas and decide to play hard for a couple minutes and re-injured himself. When I saw him we were back to square one! He was in pain again and could not turn his head at all. We started over. I massaged and adjusted him and and was coming back the next week, after my trip to the Chi Institute.

Monday, after my course work at the Chi Institute I visited Bear He was out of pain but still could not move his head to the left. I had some small needles that I usually use for horse legs. I did some acupuncture for Bear’s neck and I have a laser machine and lasered a few acupuncture points as well. The treatment lasted about 20 min. After the treatment was over, Bear got up shook all over and whined at the door. He went out, went to the bathroom, came back in and went right for his toy box. The owner and I were quick to tell him – OH NO. She told him to go lay down. The owner and I could tell he was feeling very spunky and wanted to play. He felt very good. So I went onto my soapbox and told her how he needed to rest and definitely needed to be confined and not allowed to play. The problem with acupuncture is that they feel too good and can re-injure themselves. All the while I was talking (preaching) Bear was laying with his right side against a wall, obviously upset that he was told he could not play, and at one point the owner and I looked at him and he looked back at us. It only took a couple seconds for it to register that he was turning his head to the left to look straight back at us!

Here was a dog that had for months not been able to turn his head to the left and I thought I had made some big progress with the chiropractic treatments to get him to turn his head 50% of the way and now he was turning his head like nothing was ever wrong. He had no pain and had full range of motion from one 20 min treatment of acupuncture.

Today I visited Bear and he is almost completely normal. He is off all the medications except for the Gabapentin which he has started weaning off. He has a little limp in his left front leg but his neck shows no sign of pain and has about 90% range of motion. I treated him with electroacupuncture today and will visit him again in two weeks.

I have a new found respect for acupuncture and will be incorporating it more and more in my treatment protocols. I will be suggesting it to clients more frequently and eventually I can see that my practice will be a Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine practice using herbs and acupuncture with some chiropractic and physical therapy added. Thank you Bear for the excellent results that were way beyond my expectations. With more treatments I am hoping to help him with his elbow pain and extend his life comfortably despite living with an aggressive cancer.

Filed Under: Alternative Medicine Tagged With: acupuncture, Alternative, Chiropractic, dog health

March 22, 2011 By Dr Dan 6 Comments

Raw Dog Food Company seeking more veterinarians

With the wider acceptance of raw feeding for dogs, meaning feeding uncooked meats, with bone and vegetables and seeing how it is helping a number of dogs with health issues and improving overall health for dogs, a couple of companies are reaching out to vets and have veterinary programs to help veterinarians determine when and how to institute a raw feeding program for their clients.

Nature’s Variety has a program helping vets become more aware and more knowledgeable about raw feeding. I have their vet packet in front of me, which is filled with information and ways to find out more information. Interesting information such as case studies, online resources and a good explanation on why their raw food is safe, using High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP) which kills harmful bacteria but does not affect proteins, enzymes, nutrients, prebiotics, vitamins or minerals.

Nature’s Variety has been helping vets get over the other hurdle of feeding raw by going through the process of AAFCO food trials to be certified complete and balanced. According to NV they are the 1st and only raw food company to have done this; not that it matters to most raw feeders, but it does matter to the scientific community including veterinarians.

Some of the disease conditions that vets use nutrition to help treat that can be benefited by raw feeding are food allergies, obesity, digestive disorders, skin and coat disorders and diabetes. I am really impressed by this company taking the time to try and integrate the raw feeding world and bring it to the scientifically based veterinary community that many times is concerned with new and non-traditional ways of treating pets and improving their health.

What are your thoughts? Would you like to see more companies like Nature’s Variety go mainstream and try to connect with more veterinarians or do you think raw feeding is a fad and will die off or become a cult for a select few?

Filed Under: Dog Health Tagged With: dog food, Nature's Variety, raw feeding, veterinarian