Any opinions on Dog Chiropractors?
Was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this type of therapy? thanks |
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If you do go, can you please take a video? Somehow, little doggie chiropractic adjustments seem like something that would be interesting to see.  |
| A friend of mine takes her 9 year old sheltie on a regular basis and swears by it. When he starts to get stiff and grumpy she books him in a session and he is fine for a few months. |
| Yep wonderful, mine had a slipped disk. Only make sure it is an actual recognised one with some sort of Veterinary qualification too. The one I went to, I thought it was her back leg, but turned out to be from the spine.
Crack, Crack all better  Pain and back leg limping went away.
The only reason I say look for one with more then just claiming to be a animal chiropracter as here there is ones around that have had no formal training but pass themselves off as one. eg. Friend took hers to one, went and cracked the back and no difference turned out to be nothing to do with the bones it was damage to a muscle in the thigh area. So all that mucking around with an unqualified quack and nothing to do with the problem at all. A vet that deals with greyhounds who does both chiropracting as well as normal vet things was the one that found the problem & fixed it. He did my older girl too when she hurt herself at 5 . He is trained in all parts of the anatomy. |
| I highly recommend holistic options, as it has worked well for my dogs. I do agree with lisaoes, find a vet that practices holistic and traditional medicine. I've had good luck finding holistic vets at http://ahvma.org/ |
| I was doing a presentation on therapy dog work, and the lady presenting after me was a vet who did holistic treatment and chiropractic on dogs.
I hung around to hear her talk/demo. She asked for a volunteer dog to do some stuff -so I quickly volunteered Simon -my basset. She did an assessment, then a few adjustments. One of the things I remember is she asked me to stand in front of him, and them move way to the left, then the right, and talk to him. There was a noticable difference one way in the amount of passive bend,or flexion in his neck. She did some adjustments, then had me repeat the process. He moved further and more equally in both directions! It was very interesting. |
Sorry about Haggis' problem  Yes, I'd like to see a video too! |
| You should talk to Dick. He had Whimsey done all the time. |
Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, I will try & sneak a video in if I can. 
Maxmm, I did get a referral name from Dick. She's about an hour from me and I'm waiting to hear back from her. There is a DVM chiropractor a little closer and I might opt to go there first. Just trying to weigh the options. Part of me says I should spend the $$ to get a MRI done to see if anything really shows up but it's around $2,000 to have one done. Since the pain/annoyance isn't debilitating yet, I'm really thinking about trying the chiropractor route first. I'll keep you guys posted... |
| I take our 14 year old American Eskimo to the chiropractor every six weeks. It keeps him flexible enough to play with our two Old English Sheepdogs - both of whom outweigh him significantly.
And, when Cassiopia hurt her shoulder last year, the conventional veterinarian recommended Rimadyl - which didn't seem to do anything at all. After a few weeks, we ended up going to a chiropractor (three visits in all) and having hydrotherapy. The combination got her back to full flexibility within two months. Good luck Jennifer, Baxter, Cassiopia and Sharkey |
| Wow - can't wait to hear how it goes if you decide to do it. Sounds like it might be good. The only possible problem: as with human chiropractors, once you go once you seem to keep going back . . . |
| I just stumbled upon this thread.
Mick sees a chiropractor all the time for maintenance. Most of the time - like yesterday - she checks him - laughs and says how strong he is and sends us off. But I love knowing his is doing well and it is worth the visit every time. But she has been a godsend when we've had issues. Mick is called Shaggeybark's No Worries Mate - I called him this because I didn't want to worry about anything! Instead, I got a dog - who doesn't worry about ANYTHING. He leaps and plays and runs with never a thought really about how it might impact him. So - we have needed a repair crew a couple times. He has gotten a concussion, strained tendon in his shoulder from getting stuck in tidal mud, crunched his middle back area from leaping across a creek and landing smack into the side - not on top, etc. The way I look at chiropractic is mostly for maintenance and sometimes for the repair. By keeping the body balanced - an injury that happens doesn't cause much lasting damage and repairs really quickly. You see- from what she explained to me - if your dog has an injury - the body is so smart - it quickly sets up compensation. Often the compensation throws off some other part of the body - and thus - makes it weaker and susceptible to other injury. An example - pelvis out of alignment - not in balance - one leg pulled more tightly than the other - then you have an accident or even a normal movement and blam - torn cruciate. (Of course there is more to it - usually autoimmune problems with torn cruciates but....) You do NOT want compensation to travel far if you can avoid it. Although many dogs do a good job and live a fine life. If I sit with this chiropractor and watch a dog show - she will point out that at least a 1/3 of all the dogs entered are lame. Once she shows me - I can see it but that is amazing! I have used numerous doggie chiropractors over time - some are vets, some are NOT. I've watched and learned over time and frankly - I usually prefer those that are human chiropractors who learned to do it on dogs over vets who learned to do a little chiropractic. Reason is - they had to train for years and years and focus on chiropractic. Of course, ideally - it would be a vet who had years and years and years of chiropractic experience - but that is very hard to find. MOST veterinary chiropractors took a weekend class and voila - became "certified" to do chiro because they were already a vet. To me - chiropractic is not only a science but also an art. True chiropractors understand that having the body out of alignment can affect digestion, and everything else- but also - DIGESTION upsets can impact movement. So - sometimes you don't NEED chiropractic - you need a chiropractor who is knowledgeable to know that it isn't chiro that is needed but instead - no dinner, or a light dinner. Let the digestive system relax and repair. My husbands lab got into chicken feed once. She ate 1/3 of the bag - alot. That night she woke us up crying and was paralyzed - totally unable to move her rear legs. I brought her to the vet and they kept her for a short time - she had massive diarreha and following that - was just fine - and walked out of there in great form. Upset stomachs put pressure on the nerves that impact hind end and back movement - makes sense. I would be happy to take a video of my chiropractor adjusting dogs. It often happens in my driveway or in her office or at the local horse barn - she does humans, horses, dogs, cats, has done my guinea pig and one chicken of mine. There are different types of chiropractic and people have their passions. I prefer - after trying many types - the very very gentle - activator-based chiro that uses kinesiology to help guide what is going on. I really dislike hands-one chiro where the person adjusts the pressure by hand - often too hard for big dogs in my opinion. When I take the video - I'll put it on youtube and will post it to this area - it will probably be a few weeks. I'll probably try to get a few dogs done - one will be Mick and then a few others. Last thing - what I've seen - a puppy who was out of head alignment - as he trotted - he tracked to the side just a tiny bit - sort of side-winder sort of gait - you've all seen it but my description might be poor. Following the adjustment - pup was trotted out - and voila- nice straight movement. Another puppy - consistantly held tail to the right and wouldn't give owner the time of day - very distracted, very independent - unusual for the breed (this was a bernese). Following 1 adjustment - pup held tail straight as trotted and within 2 days - was focused, more engaging and less "independent" - poor pups head was out in a big way - hard to relate when your head is aching. I can't promise to get a dog that has something clear. Mick - even when he needs alot of work - trots beautifully but is lacking some of his bounce. I'm not sure you'd be able to see it unless you had something to compare to. We'll see what we can do. Judy & Mick |
| I would love to see the video of the adjustment. We haven't visited a chiropractor yet as the issue that I thought may have been a pinched nerve turned out to be a dermatological issue. |
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