Dog Health & Maintenance
Over the last 12 months some of the newsletters that have been sent out have touched on subjects such as; natural treatments, physical therapy, dog behaviour, arthritis & other disorders, examination of the dog, hip dysplasia & other topics.
At this moment in time l have come across a lot of dogs that are over weight, not energetic, general soreness or showing some form of incorrect movement.
These general things can relate to being one problem or a combination of a few. Many times l see a persons dog after the problem has been there from one month up to 6 or even 12 months. Sometimes the owner has not noticed anything too worry them or that treatment has been carried out else where but nothing has changed the situation.
The article previously sent out on the Routine Examination of the Dog is there to help in self examination of your dog & then being able to maybe access the problem. If this can be done, then the article on natural treatments may help in treating your dog.
What we must do is keep our dogs weight down as this puts stress on all the joints & limbs. General exercise must be available & the amount we do is decided by the age & the physical ability of the dog. When we start off with limited exercise we can then observe our dogs movement & recovery time & then work out an exercise program. During this time as we increase the work load of the dog if it becomes lame or stiff & sore then check over your dog & see if you can find something. Don’t leave it for days. Also the best time to check your dog over is about 24 hours after exercise (if you have seen no swelling). This is because the blood flow will go back to normal & any muscles that are only sore from the exercise will settle & so the dog will not give a false reaction to your examination.
If we have dogs that are competing on a regular basis they should be checked over regularly even if there is no sign of an injury as these dogs are the ones that need massage or physio treatment to bring their body’s back quickly to normal muscle function & so prevent a future injury.
To have our dogs at the correct weight & at a reasonable fitness level we need to have their metabolism working efficiently. This is done by correct diet, exercise & the use of the magnetic field blanket (activates metabolism faster than exercise).
If your dog has a muscle wastage problem then you can consider the muscle contractor that we have here also as it makes the muscle work as most dogs keep off the injured muscle & it never properly builds up correctly & then sometimes creating another problem.
The reason these treatments have been mentioned again is because l have neglected my own physical exercise & treatments & realised this is also common with our dogs physical well-being.
Also lets try to remember when storms are approaching or have arrived that the dogs that stress about them are in a secure place.