Pet Owners Can be Very Intense

Animal lovers absolutely adore their pets, and will take the best care of them possible. It is natural and also a great thing to see a pet well taken care of and loved. You can always tell which pets are the babies of the household. Therefore, you must also handle these animals if they were your own. Make sure you are ready for this new adventure.

Collecting Payments

When you first start your business, be sure you get a merchant account, so you can accept credit cards. People tend to pay with their credit cards more these days, so it is best for your business to accommodate what your customers are most likely to pay with. You might offer discounts for credit card paying customers to get business flowing.

Your new business venture is going to be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do in your life. Enjoy this new experience, and be sure you give all the animals special pets because a happy animal is a great thing.

There Is Help On the Internet

By doing a search for a pet safe pest control company you will be deluged with a plethora of websites and products. Chemicals can be licked up, powder can be eaten, poison can be ingested and traps can be sprung or destroyed and eaten by your beloved four legged family member. This can lead to expensive veterinary bills if not death. No one wants that… least of all you. Never use a pesticide or pest control product without first reading the label to see whether or not it is safe for pets and children. If you are hiring a pest control company make absolutely sure that they are aware that you have household pets that may be destructive, hungry (when aren’t they?) or just plain curious. Most animals are inquisitive by nature and don’t understand that what they are dealing with is harmful or even deadly.

Are You a Do-it-Yourselfer?

Before you go off on your own remember that there are pest control companies whose first and foremost concern is your pet’s safety. Diatomaceous earth, oils, jars with sticky stuff on the outside but not on the inside, dried lemon peels and cedar chips in insect repellent sachets, mint, soap and other household products (or products for purchase) can be used to rid your home of certain insects and pests. Thorough vacuuming and emptying of your vacuum is essential in keeping pests under control. Blocking access to your home is vital in the case of mice and other rodents.

Don’t rid your home of pests at the cost of your beloved family pet. Always be safe.

Paws in the Pocketbook

Veterinarians, too, have a great deal of compassion for the pets they administer to and the folks who own them. As much sympathy as they may have for a pet owner, though, they still cannot render their services free of charge; if they did that, they wouldn’t be in business, and the community as a whole would be less served. It’s one of the hard facts of capitalism, and just as our own health care costs have crept up, pet care is more expensive now than ever before.

Don’t Want to Think About It

It is enough of a concern that many pet owners have resorted to purchasing health insurance for their pets. That’s all fine and well for those who can afford it, but with so many people struggling just to make ends meet, that’s an option for a small percentage of people. Most of us work with our vets on a pay-as-you-go basis. For regular checkups and vaccinations, the cost is something that can be worked into the household budget.

Emergency situations, though, are never on any page in your pet playbook. When such unfortunate situations arise, there is a great deal of internal pressure on a pet owner to save or ameliorate the suffering of their loved one. Even those who might otherwise never consider a payday loan may find themselves in desperate need for quick cash. Even if the amount won’t meet the full cost for a pet’s medical needs, they may well be enough to secure immediate care.

Whose Fault Was It?

In most cases if the accident was not your fault your insurance company will cover veterinary bills resulting from the accident. One insurance company in particular professes to cover your pet regardless of whose fault an accident is. There may be more than one company that promises this, but this prominent company makes it a point to advertise this very claim. It’s good business. Pets are important to people. A company that puts it right out there that they will see to it that your pet’s veterinary bills resulting from an accident are taken care of is a company after many animal lover’s hearts. Though it comes as no surprise when it comes to this particular insurance company.

Pet Insurance

There is insurance available specifically for pets which can range from specific insurance that applies to accidents; but there are also extras that can be added such as veterinary bills for illness and injuries, insurance against your pet injuring someone else, boarding fees should you become disabled, if your pet strays or is stolen, reimbursement of money spent on a vacation should you have to cut it short to come home and care for your pet, and payment for a pet’s passport and any emergency treatment that it may need overseas.

Looking up pet insurance online will provide you with a plethora of companies that are willing to provide insurance for your pet. Costs range, from cheap to stupid expensive just as with any other insurance company quotes. You probably get what you pay for so be sure to research a company before signing the dotted line. Contact a Ft. Worth Personal Injury Lawyer.

Cat Care 101

One of the first things to do for your cat is to stock up on the right pet supplies. You can easily find pet supplies locally or online through websites like Nutrecare. I’ve found Nutrecare dog supplies and cat supplies to be the best for my pets. Best of all they are very affordable and can be shipped right to my house.

If you talk with any cat owner they will tell you that one of the most important supplies that you can ever buy for your cat is a high quality scratching post because a scratching post will help to save your furniture and also your sanity. Sometimes a cat won’t want to scratch on a post and will prefer a vertical surface instead. You can easily buy a scratching pad or a cardboard scratching box.

Loving Your Cat

Not every cat loves to be held or wants to cuddle on the couch when you’re watching TV. This is a harsh realization to many new cat owners who want their cats to love them and are sad when their cats don’t share the same sentiment. If you want your cat to get used to being held by you try picking up your cat for a few seconds at a time each day. This will help your cat to build a tolerance to being held and will get her more used to spending that quality time with you.

On Sunday, August 2, 2009, at the Tracking Club of Maine’s Variable Surface Tracking Test, held at Colby College in Waterville, ME, Truffles, now age 10, passed on Track 3 under judges Ed Presnall and Mary Thompson, to earn her VST title and with it the title of Champion Tracker (CT). To earn this title a dog must obtain all three AKC tracking titles–Tracking Dog (TD), Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) and Variable Surface Tracking (VST). The CT title says to the world that she has demonstrated proficiency in following human scent in open fields, over obstacles and at age, and in urban conditions including through parking lots, sidewalks and around buildings.  Truffles’ track was 657 yards long, 3 hours 10 minutes old, and it took her 31 minutes to complete.

Truffles is now CT Heronsway Harbor Sweets, CDX, VST, AX, AXJ, VCX.  She will be seeing Dr. Lord on Wednesday, as usual.

Michele Gillette, Hanover, VA

Lets start with an explanation of what we are really doing with a chiropractic adjustment.  Chiropractic medicine is based on the theory of the subluxation or the subluxation complex.  In  conventional medicine, the term subluxation is often used to mean a joint or opposing bones that are physically out of place.  This  is not necessarily the case in chiropractic medicine.  In chiropractic fields, subluxation is used to mean a joint which may not be physically misaligned, but has a decreased range of motion on palpation.  This is often caused by a slight change in the positioning where the joint surfaces meet.  What this is, and what a chiropractor is actually feeling when they choose to adjust an area is a decrease in movement between two vertebrae in the back.  A normal joint should have a bit of “give” when palpated while a subluxated or “stuck” joint has decreased or no motion.  The goal then is simply to restore movement to these joints.

Generally speaking then, the more functioning joints, the better range of motion.  Did you know that an owl has 14 cervical vertebrae?  This is twice the number of people dogs or giraffes, and, this is what gives owls such great range of motion in their necks.  They can actually turn their heads 270 degrees in either direction; but I digress.

When there is a joint in the group that is not moving, it puts strain and stress on the joints above and below, as these neighboring joints are then forced to compensate in the body’s effort for range of motion.  Picture the childs’ toy wooden snake that you can hold by the tail and the body moves back and forth with all of those little joints.  The idea is that each joint moves only a small amount, but you put this range of motion together and your back and neck can really twist.

Alright, so now you can buy how a subluxation can be of detriment to your back, and can even surmise that this additional strain on the other joints can cause some local pain and dysfunction.  These sorts of changes are termed kinesiopathological.  Now lets look at some of the other effects a subluxated joint can have.   Neuropathological changes involve changes in the nerves and the cerebral spinal fluid and are caused by direct or indirect pressure on the nerve roots as they exit the vertebrae or on the spinal cord as it runs through the affected area.  Similar effects can be seen in the vessels which are traveling between the vertebrae.    Connective tissue pathology involves changes in everything from the synovial fluid in the joint which consolidates or sludges, to the cartilage which shrinks and begins to calcify and develop adhesions. You should now be getting a sense that the structures around these intervertebral joints depend greatly on movement for their health and well being.

This brings us to the distant effects of a subluxation.  Along with all of the other structures coming out through the spaces in and between the vertebrae are nerves which affect the distant organs.  Some of these nerves are responsible for nourishing and moving distant muscles in the body.  Myopathological changes or effects on the muscles lead to muscle weakness and lactic acid build up due to atrophy from disuse.  There are also sympathetic and paracympathetic nerves exiting between the vertebrae.  Let us look at the vagus nerve for a minute.  It is vulnerable between the skull and the first cervical vertebrae and it’s nerve fibers travel to the peripheral blood vessels and abdominal organs.  The theory that follows is that irritation to this nerve at the level of the spine can alter transmissions along the nerve fibers leading to increased or decreased sympathetic tone to the sturctures innervated by those fibers.  See, clear as mud..  Put another way, when the nerves are pinched or irritated by a subluxation, they will not work correctly and thus not send the right signals to the organs that they are in charge of.  Long term changes in these nerves can lead to organs or muscles not functioning up to their full potential.   Remember that all bodily functions are controlled by nerves and these nerves all exit between the vertebrae in order to communicate with the central nervous system.  Thus, correcting subluxations and improving nerve function can directly affect organs, skin, joints, and glands.  It can affect blood flow and hormone levels as well.  Only about 10% of nerves register pain, the rest are keeping the body functioning to its maximum potential.  So chiropractic can really do more than just help your back feel better.

That said, I still tend to use spinal manipulation, chiropractic care,  as a first line of treatment for its spinal benefits; Pain relief, improved mobility and strength.  I do not forget, however, that there can be many other benefits that can be seen from a manipulation and will often add an adjustment into a treatment regime as it is ongoing.  I am routinely amazed at what a difference it makes to a wide variety of patients.  Discretion is always needed in picking cases where manipulation is appropriate as some animals and some conditions should not be adjusted.

Unfortunately, studies on the effects of manipulation in animals are few and far between.  We have to rely primarily on the human literature and extrapolate.  That said, I do believe that chiropractic care can and does benefit a great number of animals.  I see it happen every day.

Over the last year, however, my attitude toward this question has changed.  I can now claim to  having treated two sea turtles.

About a year ago the dedicated folks at the Marine Stranding and Rescue Center in Virginia Beach, VA  brought two sea turtles in to a clinic where I was working for evaluation and possible acupuncture treatments. Both turtles had problems with mobility.  There was a small green sea turtle named Frosty who was about the size of a dinner plate and a large loggerhead sea turtle who weighed upwards of two hundred pounds.  His name was Atlantis.

We decided to give it a try as other therapies were not improving the turtles’ conditions.  Amazingly, we found references to a few acupuncture points in turtles, so myself and a second acupuncture trained veterinarian began with these.  I coupled these treatments with chiropractic adjustments on their necks.

The initial treatments went well, but it was decided that the stress of the hour long trip would be too much on the turtles on a regular basis.  Thus began my travels to Va Beach to the Stranding and Rescue center.  This center is an arm of the Va aquarium which too is based in Va Beach.  The Stranding and Rescue center is off site from the main aquarium to ensure that the rescued animals and their caretakers do not expose any of the aquarium stock to disease.  It is an old warehouse filled with many massive tanks temporarily housing everything from turtles to seals.  The goal for every animal who comes into the center is release back into the wild.

Frosty originally arrived at the Center with a scar over his shell, suggesting some type of trauma.  His issues all involved severe weakness in his hind flippers, and it was thus presumed that he had sustained some sort of spinal injury secondary to trauma in the wild.  Atlantis, on the other hand,  was at the Center being treated for other issues when he suddenly developed a head tilt, inability to float flat in the water and loss of mobility in his front flippers.  It was not clear whether these symptoms were the result of a brain lesion, infection or some other unknown pathology.  When first brought in for acupuncture, both of the turtles had plateaued in their recoveries and the fear was that they would not be releasable.

Both of these species of sea turtle are listed as threatened in the endangered species act and the green sea turtle is also listed as endangered.  Given this status, release was especially significant.  I should note here that I am referring to both of these turtles as “he”, but we did not know their sexes.  One female sea turtle has the potential to lay 100 plus eggs per nest and a loggerhead may lay four to seven nests in one laying season.  These eggs are then left unprotected and the majority of the hatchlings will never make it through their first hours of life, but given the dwindling numbers of turtles in the seas, each one can make a difference.

Both turtles took well to their treatments and did not fight either their adjustments or their ever changing acupuncture point protocols.  As time went on, I learned that the turtles’ shells are very sensitive and began acupuncturing them through their shells as well.  Frosty, a firecracker of a turtle, responded first and showed a steady pattern of improvement in strength and mobility.  Atlantis was more difficult to judge, he would seem better some days and worse others.  I finally added some Chinese herbals into his protocol, and we began to see the improvements that we were looking for.

The happy ending to this story is that both turtles were released into the Chesapeake Bay in late June of 2008.  Tracking devices were placed on them at the time so that the stranding and rescue center can keep track of their progress and potentially learn more about the habits of these elusive creatures in the seas.  I am honored to have been able to be a part of their recovery.

Track Atlantis and Frosty’s Travels

So how is it that an adult body still has stem cells? Stem cells are simply undifferentiated cells that can be found in most tissue in the body. These cells remain primitive or undifferentiated, waiting for the body to need them. Many people think of their bodies and cells working in a very quiet and orderly fashion. This is, however, far from reality. Our bodies are like a war zone inside- there is chaos and destrucion everywhere- and on a microscopic level, the body is constantly rebuilding just to maintain. Our bodies call on these undifferentiated cells every day to maintain health in our organs, in bones and on the skin. Without stem cells, we could not survive.

A single stem cells is able to differentiate or turn into many different tissues such as tendon, cartilage, bone or organ depending where it goes. The controversy on the human side, is over using embryonic stem cells. These cells, taken from embryos, have the ability to form whole beings- to create an entire new person, dog or sheep. Adult stem cells on the other hand, have the ability to differentiate into many different types of tissues but work to “repair”. This makes these cells very useful for healing tissues or potentially organs.

In animals, we now have a way to harvest adult stem cells, collect and process them and then replace them in the body where they are needed. The amazing part is that the cells take care of the rest. Stem cell therapy is also known as regenerative medicine. The cells will regenerate the tissue in its close environment.

Currently the process is open for treatment of osteoarthritis, tendon and ligament injuries. Once an animal has been deemed a candidate for treatment, he or she undergoes a short surgical procedure to collect fat. The fat is most often harvested from around their shoulders or pelvic area. Fat, especially from these areas, is a rich source of stem cells. In fact a small amount, less than 1/2 a cup, can potentially provide enough cells for multiple treatments for your animal. After collection, this fat is shipped to the Vet-Stem company who harvests and processes the cells and sends those needed back to the veterinarian for injection. The number of cells harvested varies from animal to animal depending on the “quality of their fat” so to speak.

The entire process is generally completed in three days. The costs will vary, but it would be safe to ball park at least several thousand dollars. For the animal, the procedure involves a surgery for fat collection and then usually sedation to inject the harvested and processed cells back into joints,tendons or ligaments two days later. If enough cells were able to be harvested, the Vet-Stem company will store those cells not needed for the first round of therapy and hold them for later use. Since the cells are autologous (supplied by the animal for its own use) there is no chance for rejection.

Studies are presently ongoing for use of this therapy in treatment of liver failure, irritable bowel syndrome and various auto-immune conditions. I have only used the procedure to treat arthritis thus far and the results have been impressive. Decreased pain with improved mobility. A win win combination. It is exciting to think where this therapy could lead us. What it has to offer presently, and what it could offer to our animal friends in the future.

Storm phobias are very difficult to treat behaviorally. It is all but impossible to actively simulate a storm. The rain, lightning, thunder and barometric changes can all be triggers for the dog’s fear. For some dogs with mild issues, positive conditioning can be effective. Every time it storms, you get out a very special treat which is given regularly for the duration of the storm thus conditioning the dog to associate the storm with treats and pleasure. A rawhide bone or kong, squeaky toy or ball can often be used similarly.  For dogs with more severe fear issues, this is unlikely to make much of an impression. Even so, you want to try to provide any comfort you can.

Be sure that your demeanor does not heighten the feeling of panic. If you get tense over the expected reaction from your companion, they will not only pick up on this but feed off of it. Try to remain calm. Take deep breaths. Close curtains or go to an internal room to try to avoid experiencing the flashes of lightning and dampen the sounds of thunder as much as possible. Turn on some white noise or soothing music. Finally, watch that the attention you are giving to your pet is not reinforcing the behaviors. Be supportive and attentive but do not reinforce the belief that something bad is happening. Let your dog know that there is nothing to be worried about.

Many dogs seem to find comfort in a tight space. Bathtubs are a favorite refuge. They are seeking the security that a small or covered space can offer. For many dogs, you can provide comfort by putting them in a tight shirt or leotard, providing the sensation of being wrapped and protected. There are commercial variations on this theme. Many have magnetic properties or other special features which set them apart. What they generally have in common is that they are expensive. I generally recommend that owners start by putting an old shirt on the dog. You can snug it tight with rubber-bands and see if this helps calm the fears. If this provides some relief, you can feel more confident that the purchase of an anxiety wrap will be of benefit to you. I have many clients who just continue with a shirt and others who try the commercial products. For those who buy, there are a percentage who seem to improve further and then of course there are others who did as well with the shirt. I used to be surprised by the effectiveness of such a simple concept until I thought about the difference in laying down yourself with no covers or blankets- it is a feeling of exposure- which goes away quickly and irrationally if you just pull up a sheet.

For dogs who need more support than this, I recommend we begin trying a variety of natural remedies to determine how to best support the particular dog.

The DAP diffuser releases a canine calming pheromone into the air. It plugs into a standard outlet, and for some dogs it does provide relief. Plug it into an area where the dog would be comfortable. There are no negative side effects from this product and thus it is definitely worth a try.

Homeopathic remedies can also offer some relief and have the advantage of generally being fast acting. Phosphorous in the strength of 30c can be dosed to be absorbed in the dogs mouth every 15 minutes until you see an effect. You can re-dose if you see the fear returning. The standard pill size that you find in health food stores is meant to be placed under a person’s tongue and held in the mouth. Since this is not practical for dogs, I find it best to crush the pill and then dump the powder into the dog’s mouth. This is best done without touching the pellet as homeopathy is energy medicine. All organic beings have their own energy and it is possible that you will make the remedy less effective by transferring your energy to it.

If the Phosphorous remedy doesn’t work, try Aconitum Napellus 30c for the next storm. Homeopathy will generally either work or not. Side effects or negative effects are generally not noted.

Flower essences are dilutions from botanicals used to treat a wide variety of emotional disturbances. Remedies need to be matched to the patient and can be mixed together. Again, this class of remedy should have no side effects. Rescue remedy or Five flower essence (depending on the company you use) is generally a good starting remedy to check for effect. Single remedies which are often helpful in thunderstorm fears include Rock Rose which works for terror and panic or Mimulus which is for fear of known things. You can dose these directly in the mouth or mix with water to administer. I generally use 2-6 drops to make up a dose, administered directly into the dog’s mouth. You can also add 5 drops or so to the dog’s drinking water two to three times daily to give some low level effect through thunderstorm season. Dose directly as needed in addition to this. The dosage in the water should be safe for all pets in the household.

If these measures do not help, some people do have to resort to prescription medications and for some dogs, these will prove effective. Be sure to check with your veterinarian before trying any of these remedies to be sure that they should be safe for your particular pet.