It's Not Just Walking, It's Therapy!

 by Susan E. Davis, PT 

Hmmmmm, are you wondering just what type of therapy I mean?  Physical?  Emotional?  Mental?
 
And the answer is:  all of these! If you consider your dog to be a big part of  daily life, then the time spent with them takes on great importance.

One of the most valuable ways to enjoy your time together and accomplish great things for both of you is go on a leash walk!


Let’s examine the benefits to you, the human person, first:

Dogs keep us focused on a daily routine and can be a powerful secret to productivity. On those days you dread getting started, you will always honor the commitment to get going and take care of your dog. After the morning “outdoor business” and feeding are completed, the walk begins. It stimulates both your and the dog’s metabolic rate to ramp up. Simply participating in this normal rhythm of life will give you energy, meaning and purpose to start your busy day.

If you can return home during the day for a quick time-out to play and visit your dog, it provides a break from the grind.  At the day’s end, regardless of what has happened, your dog’s greeting is always exuberant and helps you feel that life is still safe, just as you left it in the morning. It provides emotional well-being for both of you.

Dogs also play a role in improving our physical and mental health. 

Research shows that exercising with your dog can lower blood pressure. Studies involving patients with coronary artery disease show a pattern that those with pets were more likely to survive one year after incident. This finding is supported by the fact that dog owners have the added benefit of more exercise through regular walks. Dog owners are considerably more likely to engage in moderate intensity walking three or more times per week, which results in a reduction of minor health problems.

Now, how about the benefits to your dog?  

Your dog LOVES time spent with you!  The dog is a member of your family and has a natural instinct to be with their pack.  Although the usual daily walks are one on one with you and your dog, I like to recommend that families take a group walk together with their dogs at least once per week.

Start out with proper equipment such as a lead and harness or collar, pick-up bag, water, and pet ID. Your dog should be tagged and micro chipped.  I also recommend carrying a photo of the dog in your pack, wallet, etc.

Starting slow and gradually picking up the pace allows the muscles to warm up, the cardiopulmonary system to accommodate and less stress on the paw pads.  

Go at a pace both of you can enjoy. 

There are instances where you will need to do slower, “controlled” leash walks.  

These are important for more than “canine good citizen “manners! If your dog is starting leash walks after an injury or surgery, or has a chronic condition such as arthritis, it is important to do a slower, “controlled” speed of walking to allow maximum usage of the affected limb.

A shorter lead should be used. If the dog is allowed to move too fast they will spend less time on the limb during the “stance” phase of gait and hold the limb up longer during the “swing” phase.

The dog will simply do what is easiest and “hold the affected limb up”, therefore not using it “deliberately” and compensating by overusing the sound limbs.

Going slower will force the dog to touch down and push off from the affected limb, bearing more weight on it. 

Take breaks to allow your dog to “reset” their rhythm and avoid too much repetitive forces on their limbs and paws, especially if they are older or have chronic inflammatory conditions.

The result will be that your dog will gain more strength and build tissue bulk from previously atrophied musculature.  

This type of walk will be challenging and fun for both of you, serving as a positive reward during the recovery process.

If your dog is able to maintain good symmetry and equal use of the limbs during walking, you can add mini “intervals’ of intensity, to increase their endurance and stimulate fat burning.  

These can be brief bursts of faster pace, jogging or trotting, moving up and down small hills or inclines, or going up and down a few steps. I suggest these intervals to be between 5-30 seconds in duration, and be inserted 3-4 times during the course of your walk.

How long should your walk be?  

This is a difficult question to answer but in general, start with 5-10 minutes if your dog has been injured or had surgery. Only gradually increase the time if they are not limping and are able to stay symmetrical, using both sides evenly at a controlled speed.

You should be able to cover ¼ mile in about 5 minutes or ½ mile in 10 minutes for an average, moderate speed. When in doubt, you can always slow it down to a pace that covers ¼ mile in 7 to 8 minutes, for example.

Work up gradually over a few weeks to a good maintenance level of 30-40minutes of dog walking once per day, with a second shorter walk of 10-15 minutes.

For safety, pay attention to sounds and sights during the walk. Stay off cellphones, tablets, and avoid headphones. Keep a sharp eye out for dangers lurking in leaf piles or next to curbs that your dog might try to eat such as discarded food, candy and bones.

Avoid extremes in weather and watch for any signs of heatstroke:  rapid breathing, drooling, stumbling, lethargy, bright redness of the gums and tongue, thick saliva, vomiting.  If this occurs, go to a shady area, apply cool water to the neck, face and paws, assist or carry your dog to shelter and contact the Vet.

***
Susan E. Davis (Sue) is a licensed Physical Therapist with over 30 years of practice in the human field, who transitioned into the animal world after taking courses at the UT Canine Rehabilitation program.  She is located in Red Bank, New Jersey.

She has been providing PT services to dogs and other animals through her entity Joycare Onsite, LLC in pet’s homes and in vet clinics since 2008.

She also provides pro bono services each week to a shelter and sanctuary for neglected and abused animals.  Sue is the proud “dog mommy” to Penelope, a miniature Dachshund with “attitude”.  For more information see her website www.joycareonsite.com , or follow on Twitter @animalPTsue.

Links:
Your Active Pet
Million Pound Pledge: Join the weight loss revolution

More benefits of walking:
How to protect your dog's mind from the effects of aging: A surprisingly simple solution

Articles by Susan E. Davis:
Functional Strengthening Exercises: the What, Why and How
One Thing Leads To Another: Why The Second ACL Often Goes Too
Compensation: An Attempt To Restore Harmony
Paring Down to the Canine Core
Canine Massage: Every Dog ‘Kneads’ It”
Photon Power: Can Laser Therapy Help Your Dog?  
Physical Therapy in the Veterinary World  
Reiki: Is it real? 
Dog Lessons: Cooper  
The Essentials Of Canine Injury Prevention: 7 Tips For Keeping Your Dog Safer 

The Challenge Of Degenerative Myelopathy (DM): Knowledge Is Power (Part I)
Degenerative Myelopathy (DM): Top 10 Management Suggestions (Part II) 
Great (Or Not So Great) Expectations with Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO) Part (I) 
Great (Or Not So Great) Expectations with Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO) Part (II)

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Tackling The Veterinary Terminology: Suffixes (-itis)

Remember the Spelling Bee? Big words are easier to tackle when you understand how they're put together. Veterinary terms are composed the same way. Just like with any other words, the main parts of veterinary terms are a prefix, a root, and a suffix. The difference is that they typically originate from Greek or Latin.

The suffix is the bit that will tell you about what procedure, condition, disease or disorder you're dealing with.

-itis [i-tihs] from Greek - inflammation

Examples: arthritis, otitis, gastroenteritis,  pancreatitis, dermatitis, hepatitis. The root of the word then, refers to what part of the body is inflamed (joints, ears, stomach and intestines, pancreas, skin, liver)

Please note that words ending with -itis are more of an observation than a diagnosis. It tells you that there is an inflammation in the respective part of the body but it doesn't tell you anything about the cause.

It doesn't tell you whether the inflammation is caused by infection, injury, trauma, immune reaction and so on.

Inflammation is merely the body's attempt at self-protection; to remove harmful stimuli and begin the healing process. While sometimes it makes sense to tend to the inflammation itself, to truly treat the problem, the actual cause needs to be determined.

Related articles:
Talk to Me About Arthritis
Gastroenteritis is when ...
The Perplexities of Pancreatitis
Why Is My Dog So Itchy? Top 5 Causes Of Itching In Dogs
Medical Terms That Sound Like A Diagnosis But Really Are Not (Part I)
Medical Terms That Sound Like A Diagnosis But Really Are Not: One-thing-or-anotheritis
Medical Terms That Sound Like A Diagnosis But Really Are Not: Otitis

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Cletus Does Not Have Epilepsy: Open Lipped Schizencephaly In A Dog

by Douglas Silber

My name is Douglas Silber and I am the proud owner of Cletus the Bloodhound, a 2 year old Bloodhound mix who has the first reported case of open lipped schizencephaly in a canine.

I adopted Cletus when he was only 8 weeks old and I have to say it was not I who chose him, it was my other dog, Magnum, whom I had adopted from a shelter three weeks prior. I wanted 2 puppies and Magnum, even at only 1 year of age, was showing signs of dominance so we figured we had to get our 2nd puppy fast or else he would not let another dog in the house.

We brought Magnum into our vet who had 6 little Bloodhound puppies (brothers and sisters) for adoption and Magnum chose the runt, Cletus.

Everything was going great for the first 8 months, and then on Halloween night last year, Cletus had a Grand Mal seizure in the middle of the night. We awoke out of sleep to banging coming from the dining room as Cletus was knocking against a china cabinet.

This was the first of 30 known seizures Cletus has had to date.

The vet at the emergency hospital diagnosed Cletus with epilepsy but as the weeks went on, I started to doubt this diagnosis. The seizures began to increase in intensity and the time between seizures was getting shorter and shorter.

Cletus even started having cluster seizures.

I brought Cletus back to the ER and told them that they need to do an MRI to rule out a brain tumor or brain cancer. If Cletus was 6 or 7 years old, they would run tests to rule these things out. They told me they would watch him for the night and "they would bet their house in Vegas that Cletus just has an inner ear infection in combination to epilepsy".

Needless to say, they lost their house.

That night, things began to go downhill fast for Cletus. He began to sidestep to the left... his head began to tilt to the left... and he began to cross his paws when standing or laying down... all signs of neurological issues. The doctors rushed him into Neurology the next morning and ran tests.

The MRI showed an immense amount of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) in his cranium going all the way from the front to the back.

They also saw that most of the top half of Cletus' brain was completely missing except for one little sliver.

The doctors rediagnosed Cletus with congenital hydrocephalus which seemed like a good diagnosis and fit for most of his symptoms.

A few days later the head of neurology called me after meeting with the heads of departments from all over the hospital to tell me they were once again rediagnosing Cletus.

This time with open lipped schizencephaly - the first case ever reported in a canine.

I brought Cletus back into the hospital for the doctors to run a CT scan which confirmed their diagnosis. Cletus has an opening in his skull where CSF is leaking in causing pressure to build up and seizures to occur.

It is believed that Cletus had a stroke in utero from possibly being crushed by another puppy which caused the OLS. 

Shunting is not an option for Cletus as the procedure, which only has a 50% success rate in dogs, could potentially cause the CSF to rush out too fast and cause a deadly stroke for Cletus.

Cranioplasty , a procedure where doctors would place a graft over the opening in Cletus’ skull, is also not an option for Cletus for the same reason I am being told.

Cletus is on several seizure control medications, CSF control medication, herbal medications, probiotics, natural supplements, goes to both physical therapy and sees an acupuncturist who is doing him wonders.

We have had many ups and downs and months of playing with his medications to get Cletus to the point where his condition is under control.

We have had to deal with doctors who say to just put Cletus down but my feeling is that as long as Cletus is living pain free and his quality of life is good, why shouldn't he have the best life that I can provide him?

I don’t know what the future will bring, I don’t even know what this afternoon will bring, but as of right now, as of this moment, Cletus is happy and feeling good.

To look at him you would not know anything was wrong with him.

He looks like a normal, active, happy, healthy, 2 year old puppy. He likes when I throw his ball into the air so he can catch it. As far as half his brain missing, I have to say that Cletus is one of the smartest dogs I have ever had. The doctors told me that dogs do not use the portion of the brain that Cletus is missing.

Cletus knows the names of all his toys, he knows the names of each of his "treats" which are the different medications he has to take and he goes right to where I keep each specific one by me mentioning that one.

Cletus is AMAZING!!

Although I did not choose Cletus, I am so grateful that Magnum did. Cletus and Magnum are attached at the hip… best friends… brothers… but to Magnums surprise, Cletus is now twice Magnums size and has now become the dominant one!

You can view our ABC interview and check out  Cletus' blog,  which has received over 7000 hits from around the world.

Cletus can't be the only one with this condition.

Other animals must be getting misdiagnosed, mistreated, and might be dying due to vets not understanding what they are dealing with. We have to get the word out about Cletus to help save other animals.

***

Douglas Silber is the owner of Cletus, a 100 pound bloodhound living near Gainesville, Florida. Cletus celebrated his 2nd birthday on January 23rd, the same week he was diagnosed with the only known reported case of open lipped schizencephaly in a live canine. This diagnosis is making Cletus very special to the doctors even though he has been special to Doug for a long time.

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Monday Mischief: Breaking & Entering

I enjoy reading everybody's Monday Mischief posts but never joined in myself. How could I? We are always good, not mischievous at all. Well, it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So how did we make it from being total angels to breaking and entering?

Blame it on Sandy.

One pattern, Jasmine's episodes typically follow, are upcoming weather changes. No wonder, then, that with Sandy on the way, Jasmine would get one.

Jasmine having an episode, beside panting and pacing around, also means that she keeps wanting to go out.

I think she'd prefer to spend the entire episode outside, but since they usually come at night, that's just not possible.

So we just go out and walk around some.

This time was no different than any other—out we went. It was raining and blowing but Jasmine doesn't care about such things. I propped the gate with a rock so it wouldn't close in the wind. When the latch closes, it is closed for good, at least from the outside. When it happens to hubby, if her stands on his toes and extends his arm over the gate as far as he can, his fingertips will reach the latch. Me, I am just shorter enough.

Jasmine and I made it a couple feet out of the gate, when I heard a clang and the all-too-familiar click.

Oh, no, please don't be locked! But it was …

Did I mention it was three in the morning?

There we were, locked out of our home, in the rain and wind, in the dark, at three in the morning.

I did try to reaching the latch. Over the gate, through the planks … it was not going to happen. I looked around whether I might find something to pull up to the gate to stand on, no such luck. I looked around whether I could find some small rocks to throw at the bedroom window and maybe wake up hubby. No such luck either. (The doorbell is broken and there is no way knocking on the door would every wake him up)

I got a stick and tried getting at the latch that way. Big stick over the top, small stick between the planks. Nope.

Now what?

Nobody was around, everybody was sleeping. There was only one thing left to try—breaking in. Just like I saw in the movies, I threw myself against the gate. It actually didn't hurt as much as I thought it would.

But the gate had no plans on giving in.

The fence, on the other hand, did. So here I was, trying to hold the fence as to keep  the whole thing from falling over, throwing myself at the gate.

Jasmine was helping by keeping a look-out.

I was wondering what would happen if the cops showed up. Would they help us get in or would they arrest me?

Eventually, with the latch all bent, the screws came out and the gate opened. After I shook off the adrenaline, we went on the walk we originally planned, why not, we were already wet enough anyway.

Hubby replaced the broken latch and we now have a wire going over the fence so it could be opened from the outside without breaking the whole thing down.

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Don't Call Me A Senior Dog: Jasmine Fall 2012

No matter what life threw at her, Jasmine always had an amazing zest for life. Even though there are always some health challenges to deal with, there is very little that could slow her down.



"Don't call me a senior dog," says Jasmine.

"When the day comes that you can outrun me, then we can talk about it. I know I have a lot of miles on my pads but I plan to put on a whole lot more!"

Related articles:
This Is What Jasmine's Episode Looks Like
Gotta Try Everything Once (Or Twice): On The Quest To Figure Out Jasmine's Episodes 
Thundershirt vs. Jasmine's Episodes
Jasmine's Mysterious Swelling And Another Experience With VetLiveThe Diagnosis Is In: Jasmine Has An Interdigital Cyst
Jasmine's Mysterious Swelling And Interdigital Cyst Update  
Is Crawling Under Things Some Kind Of Secret Physical Therapy?  
Is There No Place Safe? Jasmine's Acupuncture Session
Senior Sensory Systems Function: Zero Defects  
It Looks Like A Keeper: Jasmine's New Integrative Vet 
Jasmine's Acute Lameness
Jasmine Doesn't Like "Doing Time"
Our Of Jail Free Pass
When It's Looks Too Good To Be True … The Lameness Returns
The Day Of The Treatment
First Time For Everything: A Healing Crisis(?)  
From Zero To Sixty In Four Days: Stem Cells At Work
The Calm After The Storm 
If It Was Easy, It Wouldn't Be Jasmine
Practicing What I Preach: Jasmine's Semi Annual Wellness Exam  
No Skimping On Oral Care   

***
Meet Jasmine
I'm Still Standing! (Happy Birthday, Jasmine)
How Dogs Think (Well, Jasmine Anyway)
How The Oddysey Started: Jasmine's ACL Injury
Jasmine is Vet-Stem's poster child!
Rant About Quality Of Life Versus Quantity, And Differential Diagnoses
Jasmine Is Headed For Her Next Stem Cell Treatment
Jasmine's Stem Cells Are In
Arthritis? What Arthritis? 
Guess Who Is An Ever-Ready Bunny And Really Liking The Bit Of Snow We Got? 
Don't Knock It Until You Tried It: Animal Chiropractic 
Jasmine's Fur Analysis
Back At Chiropractic Care

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Book Review: Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You To Know

I have to say that I can't think of a book with a catchier, more intriguing title that this one.

Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You To Know. Doesn't that just make you damn curious?

Who wouldn't want to learn our best friends' deepest secrets?

Ok, you won't learn any REAL secrets here, but the book contains many witty insights on what our dogs might be thinking about us and about their lives with us. Well, a human interpretation of what our dogs might be thinking. On many accounts, my guess is, that it could be pretty close.

You may or may not learn something new about your dog's perspective on life, universe and everything, but you will certainly enjoy it and have some good laughs. I did.

I can just picture the stories and insights Jasmine would contribute. If she kept a diary, I imagine it would look something like this.

Eleven dogs with different lives and personalities, eleven points of view.

Beautifully designed, in full color, Things Your Dog Doesn't Want You To Know makes a great gift for any dog lover, or yourself if you need a pick-me-up.

You you are going to buy it as a gift, save yourself the trouble and get two copies. Trust me, you'll want to keep one.

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Veterinary Highlights: Canine Total Knee Replacement (TKR)

Not that long ago, in Veterinary Highlights, I included the news about the first total knee replacement in a cat. I don't blog about cats but it was just too cool not to mention.

You didn't think dogs were left behind, did you?

This procedure is still pretty much in a cradle, but it has been done.

It is, of course, a major procedure and it is only done for dogs with severe problems where other treatments were unsuccessful.



Cornell University's first total knee replacement was done on a young Chocolate Lab, Jake, who ran in front of a truck and fractured his knee. At the time the dog came to the Cornell University Hospital for Animals, Jake's knee was in such a bad shape they were looking at likely amputation.

The surgery team removed pieces of bone around Jake's knee and constructed components to recreate the joint. Jake is doing really well.
Source: Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida has performed their first total knee replacement earlier this year.

Mica, a nine-year-old Labrador Retriever, was suffered injury at young age. Both her anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments were severely damaged and cartilage almost completely warn away. Mica was suffering with severe osteoarthritis and was in a lot of pain.

After her surgery, Mica underwent extensive rehabilitation and is now doing great also.


The university's small animal hospital is currently seeking dogs for a clinical study on total knee replacement. 

Dogs with severe osteoarthritis may be eligible for participation. More information about the study can be obtained by contacting the university staff at (352) 392-2235.

Source article:
First canine total knee replacement at University of Florida a success

Further reading:
Total knee replacement surgery
CVS is the First in the World to Perform Double Knee Replacement in a Dog
Surgery STAT: An inside look at total knee replacement 

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