Laurie's Blogs.

While searching for blog topic ideas to ‘steal’ for my clinic’s blog, I found a great blog / article that I wanted to summarize and expand upon for you.

The blog I found was about how canine rehabilitation is healing for both the body and the mind.  Now this is a topic that I feel strongly about as well.  We have tons of dogs that come into the clinic delighted and happy to see their therapist or our UWT staff or to greet anyone in the vicinity.  Many owners exclaim that they simply tell their dog… “We’re going to see Auntie… [Insert name of staff member here]” and their dog gets all excited!  P.S.  I am Auntie Laurie to all of my patients… owners call me this, I get e-mails or Facebook messages addressing me as ‘Auntie Laurie’… I love it!

So perhaps the visit to the clinic is about more than the therapy and feeling good afterwards… but also about the ‘outing’.  We know that senior citizens are encouraged to get out, get a hobby, volunteer, go play bingo, get on the bus to go to the casino (I never understood that one), or when living in a care facility, to go to the recreational activities.  Why?  Because social outings make for good mental health!  And happiness and feeling connected to others helps us to deal with chronic pain and may even prevent some illnesses.  So why not for our dogs too?  I once had a client with a 13-year-old Golden Retriever with chronic musculoskeletal pain and kidney disease.  The dog was finding it hard to move, so he purchased one of those bicycle carts that you put kids in, and he would drive her around to her favourite spots: the park, the ice cream shop, and around the neighbourhood.  She loved it, and at each stop, she’d get out and make her rounds!  Mental health benefits?  You bet!!!   And we know that a happy mind is able to deal with stress much better than an unhappy mind!  So for some of your chronic patients, be sure to make a fuss, give treats, and take some time to attend to their mental health as well!

But I went off on a tangent already with that last paragraph.  What the original blog was getting at was more about how rehabilitation itself can provide unintended mental benefits.  For example being able to suggest or provide mobility aids (i.e. braces, wraps, carts, etc.) could be enough to give someone’s pet a little freedom once again.  Suggesting home adaptations (i.e. ramps, steps up to a bed or couch, strategically placed runners for slippery floors, booties, or ToeGrips) could help an animal to maintain a positive outlook on life.    Moving around their environment independently, exploring, or return to activities that had once been too difficult is a huge boost in quality of life for any animal! 

And then of course there is the benefit to the human.  I don’t think that this can be overlooked.  I have received countless hugs and expressions of gratitude for not just helping a pet with his or her physical ailments, but for also being a support for the owner as well.  We know that animals are an intimate part of many people’s lives.  And many people have a good deal of sadness, grief, guilt, or anxiety about seeing their pet in pain or struggling to function.  Not only can we help with these physical issues, but we can also provide hope, support, empathy, understanding, encouragement, and friendship to the owners as well.  And that is a wonderful gift!

So my main messages with this blog:

• Empower the pets by helping them with their pain & decline in function
• Think to suggest mobility aids or home environment adaptations to allow for some independence at home
• Make a fuss over every dog
• Be sure to talk with the owners and be a support for them as well

(Want to see the original blog post for my inspiration? Check out: 

http://www.havenlakeanimalhospital.com/blog/tag/canine-rehabilitation/ )