Patients news

Welcome to Sammy, Hannah, Pika and Nexy.

Here is a picture of Nexy relaxing during her acupuncture session.

Keenan is taking advantage of my newly found skills at the last Canine Physical Rehabilitation course to help his hip dysplasia.

On a sad note, my deepest sympathies goes to Jenny who lost Jesse (one of the toughest cat on earth), and to Diane who lost Pidge.

Hello to Chuck, Nan and the kitties in Julian!

Canine Rehabilitation

When I took the first course of canine physical rehabilitation in October, the introduction we got was done with the following video. I stumbled upon it this week on youtube and think we can all appreciate it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=modsWP_1S2Q&feature=related

Patients news

I am so happy to be here

I could not resist but to share with all of you the latest Italian Greyhound “Dax” which Carol and LuAnne adopted this week. She is soooo cut, already getting use to her surroundings and “Q”, which I started caring for last month.

As for Q he is doing very well! His seizures are under control and he is enjoying his improved home made diet.

Let’s welcome 2 new patients, Sparkle and Bogart. Pictures coming soon.

Hooves and pig ears recall, FDA link

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm189400.htm

Beef hooves recall

PetSmart Voluntarily Recalls Dentley's Beef Hooveshttp://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm189296.htm

Latest

Miss B is this adorable Shiba Inu with hind limb problems we hope to help with acupuncture and herbals. She is a rescue dog the owner adopted a few years ago. Here is her picture!

I have seen MacArthur and Jesse this week. Those are 2 tough kitties with serious problems.

I have several clients who are taking care of very sick or debilitated pets. This requires a lot of energy and dedication. I am always amazed at how much people can be dedicated at taking care of their pets. I do see however, some people get tired and emotionally drained by their pet’s condition. This is just a reminder that you need to take good care of yourself. When you’re in good shape, you can make good decisions about their care. Make sure you talk with your friends, family, and take some time off from pet duty sometimes (grandma and grandpa maybe?).

Wysong Pet Food Recall Expended

No products from the following batches should be sold or fed.
The affected products are:

Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090617
Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090624
Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090706
Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090720
Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090817
Wysong Senior™: lot #: 090623
Wysong Senior™: lot #: 090811
Wysong Synorgon™: lot #: 090629

Please contact the point of purchase for an exchange or refund.

http://www.wysong.net/moreinfo.php

Dr. My dog is slow to get up

I get a lot of calls asking about acupuncture for specific or non specific lameness. It is always good to have a lameness worked up before an acupuncture session. When I was working emergency medicine, how many times did I hear “my dog is slow getting up on his hind end; he/she has to have hip problems”. And then, after a physical evaluation and/or taking radiographs the owner soon realize this is not always the case. Often I would see lumbar, lumbo sacral issues, knee issues, slipped disk, of course hip issues, clean radiographs because of soft tissue involvement, or a combination of different conditions. So if your dog has some difficulty getting up on his hind legs, different possibilities exists. In addition, if your pet has had this problem for a certain amount of time, you will start to see compensation problems, which also need to be addressed. For example: your dog has chronic arthritis of his knees, then he/she starts getting a hunched back which results in a sore back. Or a dog has arthritis of the hips and shifts more weight to the front legs resulting in front leg lameness. Each of these problems may need a different approach. Degenerative arthritis will likely need more than just acupuncture to be helped: pain management (medications and/or herbals), chondro-protective agent injections, supplements to support the joints, manual work, laser, stem cell therapy, physical rehabilitation, surgery just to name a few. You now can see that the treatment of your simple “can’t get up right“ may need a multi level approach diagnostically (physical examination, radiographs, MRI, etc) and treatment wise. Please consult your veterinarian if this is happening to your dog (or your kitty). When the source of pain is detected, your pet will be given a specific program for his/her condition.
How about an NSAID? With all the advancements in physical rehabilitation, pain management, your pet may or may not need them, only in times of flare-up or every few days. Resist the urge of giving regular aspirin, this actually may give your pet stomach upset and contribute to joint degeneration. Give it to a cat, and you will easily hit that toxic amount. Ibuprofen and Tylenol are common household medication; same thing, do not give them to your pet, these can be toxic and it may not take a lot. Your veterinarian will let you know which medications are appropriate for your pet.

Ratso is lame on the left hindleg. His problem involves the sciatic nerve.

Patients news

Here are the pictures of Lucky and Bishop, some of my new patients for October.

“Q” is this curious, Italian Greyhound with tremors I saw this week.

Next time I see Simba and Violet, I hope to catch a picture of those kitties.

Patches

Here is Patches's picture. This little Fox Terrier is shown snoozing while she is receiving her acupuncture session. She is anxious at the beginning of each session, but slowly curls up into a ball, hides her eyes and sleeps through it. Patches has been referred for acupuncture by Dr Gayle Roberts DVM from Northwood Animal Hospital to help her neck pain.

Puppy Nutro recall 9/30/09

Just got the news yesterday, this is from the website of Nutro:

Small pieces of melted plastic were recently found in the production line of select varieties of NUTRO® dry dog and cat food products. We immediately retrieved the affected pet food from our distributors, and only three sku’s reached retail stores. These were delivered to a small number of PetSmart and Petco stores. The specific products are listed below.
Upon discovery of the melted plastic, we immediately halted manufacturing and performed a thorough search of all equipment. We identified the source as a worker’s “bump cap,” similar to a hard hat, which inadvertently made its way into our manufacturing process.
Based on our extensive review, it is highly unlikely that any pieces of plastic made it into finished product. However, upon learning of the incident, we voluntarily retrieved all potentially affected products. We strive to produce pet food of the highest quality and safety standards. Consumers who believe they have purchased potentially affected product should return it to their retailer for a full refund or exchange for another NUTRO® product, or contact the Nutro Products Consumer Care team at 1-800-833-5330. Thank you for your continued loyalty and support for Nutro Products.

PRODUCT THAT MADE IT TO SELECT PETSMART STORES IN CA, AZ, CO, TX and NM ONLY
Product Name NUTRO® ULTRA™ Puppy food for dogs
UPC 79105 51313
Size 4.5 LB
Best by Date 09/10/10

NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® Chicken Meal, Rice and Oatmeal Formula Small Bites Puppy
79105 23050
Size 5 LB
09/10/10

PRODUCT THAT MADE IT TO SELECT PETCO STORES IN CA, NV, HI and UT ONLY
NUTRO® ULTRA™ Puppy food for dogs
UPC 79105 51315
Size 30 LB
Best by Date 09/10/10

Jesse

Jenny sent me this picture of her "highness" posing for the camera.

Wysong food recall

http://www.wysong.net/recall.php

The following batches of Wysong Canine Diets Maintenance™ and Senior™ have shown above acceptable moisture levels and may contain mold.
Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090617
Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090624
Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090706
Wysong Maintenance™: lot #: 090720
Wysong Senior™: lot #: 090623

We ask that if you have received any of these Wysong products to please not feed them, and contact Wysong for product replacement. Email: Wysong@Wysong.netSubject: Product Replacement Alternatively, please return or exchange at the store from which you purchased the product. Credit will be issued via our Distributors to the Retailer.We apologize for the inconvenience.

News from the trenches

Finally, after many clients’ suggestions, I named my pin cushion “Bessie”. She is very useful and makes counting needles after treatment painless (you know what I mean).

I have been very busy this last month: here is a quick review of some patients I am treating.

Before leaving for Maryland, I saw “Scooby”, a Golden Retriever. Sandee lost “Baron” earlier this year and Scooby entered her life later this year. Scooby likes to make an entrance in the pool. The day before I saw him, he had a 2 hour jumping, and swimming session under his belt. Yes, you guessed it, this athlete wanna be Phelps was a little sore.

“Wednesday” is still doing well, eating well. Her bladder cancer seems to be stabilized or slow growing. As you can see on the picture of her second acupuncture treatment, the needles do not bother her.

“Jessie”, my WOOD kitty patient, probably has the same type of bladder cancer as “Wednesday”. To the amazement of Jenny, her owner, she is still around. She is quite a tough little kitty; she is treated for several old kitty ailments, but seems in good spirit despite all this and functioning like nothing is going on. She is on medications, Chinese herbals and acupuncture to support her.

“Pidge” my favorite stubborn Bull Dog, is continuing to loose weight, however, she developed a old dog vestibular syndrome and has been slowly getting back to stand and moving around. I treated her today and we hope she will be moving around better in the next few days.

“Bishop” and “Lucky” are two sweet senior Shelties I started acupuncture and Chinese herbals.

“Patches” is this friendly senior Fox Terrier I started last week for a painful neck. We are waiting to see how much improvement we will see this week.

“Leia” belongs to Rhonda, a super veterinary technician. She likes Labradors and she actually has 5 of them! Leia is 13 yrs old and has some weakness problems with her hind end. Hopefully the acupuncture and Tui-na will help her have a better quality of life.

“Sable” is still good. The ankle wrap (we have one on right now) is doing its job. “Sable” loves to go for short walks, and his muscles are now more relaxed then when I started with him. I remember the first time I saw Sable, John the owner, told me if I try to touch him he’ll bite. He now accepts our touch since he feels more comfortable.

Canine Rehabilitation, no it's not just about the underwater treadmill

I just came back from Maryland where I went to attend a course on canine rehabilitation. This was a 6 day course and I am on track to go in Florida in December to attend 2 other modules. When people and veterinarians think canine rehabilitation, they have the image of an underwater treadmill in mind. Strengthening or conditioning with an underwater treadmill is actually only a small part of canine Rehabilitation. Some therapists do not even use it to take care of their canine patients. Also, not all dogs do well in water or in a small enclosed space.
Canine rehabilitation is great for post-op (and pre-op) orthopedic surgeries, for the rehabilitation of neurological patients (fully or partially paralyzed), painful orthopedic condition, painful /sore muscles, ligament/tendon problems, trigger points in muscles, conditioning of athletes, care of the painful geriatric patient. When a pet has been lame for some time, some compensation occurs, and rehab can help rebalance the muscles of the whole body.
How does it work? First, we need to evaluate your pet, talk about goals (couch potato vs an athlete), and we’ll make an individual plan. There is a lot to take in consideration when making a plan: age, condition (obese, slim), athletic activities (flyball, agility), owner and pet willingness to put time into the rehab program, individual healing time, concurrent disease (Hyperadrenocorticsm, cardiac disease), etc.
What do we use? Massage, manual therapy to help relieve trigger points, stretching, joint mobilizations, laser, e-stim, TENS, therapeutic ultrasound, home exercises, strengthening with exercise (cavalettis, poles, obstacle courses, and underwater treadmill)). All is done with the fun factor and comfort of the patient in mind. I really want to see my patient back with a smile. OK, there might be a lot of treats given (Let’s give healthy ones please!!) and some patients know me now as the treat lady.
The first thing I saw when I started this course is a video about a quadriplegic dog left for dead on the street with a cervical fracture. Quadriplegic means this dog had all 4 legs paralyzed. This little guy was given to the rehab service by the surgical department when his fracture healed. After 2 months of a rehab program, this little guy was walking, not normal, but he was walking, having fun with other dogs and made friends with one of the hospital cat. Yeap, if you have a little tear in the corner of your eye and a smile on your face reading this, you’re not the only one!
With the Tui-na course I followed several years ago, I already do some manual therapy and have witnessed great improvements in my patients. The addition of what I learned in this rehab course will help my patients achieve a higher goal in their pain management and return to some or complete function. I can’t wait to learn more!

New Pin Cushion

Counting needles after a treatment can be easier if I can put them on a cushion as they are removed. After many clients suggestion, I bought a little stuffed animal for this purpose. It's now official , we have one month to name the little critter! For any name suggestions, call or e-mail me. One word of caution, some dogs do actually like the little stuffed animal and I may need to hide it from some patients like "Wednesday". Yes it's her name and guess what, I saw her yesterday which was a Wednesday....

Wednesday is this easy going 10 year old Pit bull with bladder cancer which was referred to me by her primary care veterinarian. As you can see, she does not mind needles that much.

New Poll about supplements

How many supplements do you give your cat or your dog?
Let me know, put your answer in the poll on the right end side of this blog.
The results will be shown in October.

All that "Jazz"

I saw Jazz yesterday. She is a 3 yr old mini Aussie and is affected by an auto-immune disease of the red blood cells. In resume, her immune system is recognizing her red blood cells as foreign bodies and it is trying to destroy them. She is on heavy duty conventional medications by her primary care veterinarian and has now finally stabilized. I am also treating her with acupuncture, food therapy, discussed supplementation and so far so good. She is looking so much better then 2 weeks ago. Her owner, Amsten, is very dedicated to her dog and has done a super job keeping Jazz afloat. Guinness, her other dog, is showing some signs of anxiety due to the change in the order of the pack. Jazz is usually the leader, and Guinness follows. At this moment Jazz is not up to speed to fulfill her boss duty; Guinness is left with the job, which I think he does not feel qualified yet to do :-).
This brings us to emotional disturbance when the pack (human/dogs/cats) is stressed by unforeseen events. It is important to recognize that if one pet is sick, the other members of the pack can be emotionally affected and attending to it can smooth things up as much as possible.

Care of aging dogs and cats with TCVM (Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine)

Is your companion taking on some years? Maybe getting stiffer, panting a lot, not able to hold urine as well as before, even leaking urine, drier skin, behavior changes, seeking warm places or the opposite sleeping on cold tiles. TCVM includes acupuncture, Chinese herbal therapy, Tui-na (Chinese body work) and food therapy if indicated. TCVM can help improve the quality of life by improving mobility, taking care of certain cases of urinary incontinence, if they feel too hot, too cold or just for a tune-up to help your pet feel good.
Aging gracefully is possible with pets, and a Life Quality Score (LQS) questionnaire can help us assess the situation and monitor progress. One part is your assessment of the following: perceived pain, mental status, activity level, appetite, defecation (difficulty or leakage), urination (difficulty or leakage), and overall happiness. The second part is the information I collect during the physical examination: heart rate, respiratory rate, hunched posture, pupilary dilatation, vocalization, body weight, etc.
The LQS may also assist in the delicate decision of deciding when to humanly put an end to a pet’s life. Some pet owners feel overwhelmed by some conditions showed by their 4 legged companion. If so, it is always worth asking your health professional about any problems encountered. Some might seem insurmountable; however after talking to your veterinarian, some might be easily taken care of.
A TCVM session is typically one hour the first time, then 30-45 minutes afterward. If your pet dislike needles, no problem, we can do laser therapy, Tui-na and/or an acupressure session. A Tui-na session can be 30 minutes to a full hour. At the same time, I will show you what stretches and massages can be done at home. Pets do LOVE those Tui-na sessions!

Twitter updates

Do not forget to follow me on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/DrTCVM

This was a good and fun Friday!

Little did I know what I would find at the Serrano Bird and Animal Hospital in Lake Forest. I was called by Dr Kristi Fisher (Krause) to check on one of her kitty who was loosing weight which might be associated with some anxiety issues. Another kitty in the house may have precipitated the problem (might be a little bully!). This little ball of fur has a fire personality, which loves to be petted and be the center center of the party. This little guy, called Mr. Lip (you would understand if you saw him), was a perfect acupuncture patient. Even in the middle of the busy treatment area, he let me put the needles in without a problem. Then within 5 minutes, he just lied down and appeared in a zen zone. The bully and Mr. Lip will both be put on some herbals, and Mr. Lip will have several acupuncture sessions in the next 2 months. Like any type of behavioral issues, patience is the key.

This hospital sees a lot of wild injured animal, and I was surprised to see 2 fawns. Here are their pictures!

Nepal kids Hostel needs potable water

I have been sponsoring Dicki for 4 years, this 10 yr old lives with another 100 kids and their new Hostel in Nepal needs a fresh water source. Thank you for considering.

Bosco

Bosco was a sweet, sweet 13 yr old kitty like you do not see very often. I was treating him for a lower jaw cancer and last week he lost his battle to it. He was super good for all his acupuncture sessions and loved all the attention he could get. Due to the tumor on his jaw, medications and herbals were more of a challenge to give. I am sure he will be missed, but I know that Bosco will stay in the hearts of all that known him...

New poll

Check out our new poll on the right end side.

Want to see an acupuncture session?

Daisy does not mind the needles, only the camera!

Patients update

I started treating Sable, a 10 yr sheltie, which is affected with rheumatoid arthritis. This has been very crippling for him, his ankles and elbows are very affected. Also his ligaments in his ankles are weaker so he walks on his ankles instead of his paws. This is unfortunately a symptom we commonly see with this type of auto-immune disease. We are also battling decubital ulcers on his elbows. He is receiving other treatments by his primary care veterinarian and my input in this case has been acupuncture and Tui-na to make him feel better. So far so good, Sable is more active and moving more. You could almost imagine a smile on his face (no kidding!).

We are also looking in the long run at braces to stabilize his hocks (the other option would be a permanent arthrodesis of the ankle which is a surgical procedure). We will also order for him some commercially made padded protection for his elbows to help decrease any further trauma. He is very hot due to his condition and only likes to lie down on hard cool surfaces. May be they’ll let me do some food therapy and herbals? We’ll see…

Benjamin is doing better, his arched back is a little better, and he is also moving better, jumping over obstacles instead of walking and playing more often. Way to go Benjamin!

Ratso is a super active senior Jack Russell Terrier I started treating for lameness of unknown origin. You have to love the stories people tell you about their pets. This super active and curious little thing likes to get into any type of food or chase any rat/mice he can find. The owner told me one time he got into a large tank of olive oil in Italy and drank all of it. Then proceeded to throw up none stop during a party they were hosting…well, later on that month he had the greatest coat he’s every had. But please, do not start giving large amount of olive oil to your pet; there are other and safer ways to achieve a great coat.

TCVM conference to local veterinarians

My talk to local veterinarians is now over. We had over 40 people show up for the talk, which is surprising for the month of August. This shows me how much interest is in learning what other modalities then conventional medicine can do for pets. It is challenging to present Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) to conventional veterinarians. TCVM has a different medical system then our normal everyday medicine. The anatomy, physiology, pathology explanations and invading agents are explained differently than our conventional medicine system. One conventional disease may present different TCVM patterns and each of them will be treated differently. I really think this is bringing some finesse to our overall treatments. Individuals can have different metabolisms, different genes that may make them respond differently to diseases and drugs. Food for thoughts!

Pictures of patients

I took some pictures of Jojo, he still is so playful at the tender age of 15yrs old. Karen sent me a picture of her 2 lovely Whippets (first one in front is Archer).

Latest patient news

"Pidge", my favorite bull dog, is doing very well. Before her owner had to take a sling to get her up. Now she gets up on her own. She also lost over 4 pounds in 2 months. They just started some swimming exercise with her too. Only 15 to 30 seconds right now every 2 days. Diane, the owner, told me she found a flotation vest for her, I can't wait to see her next week in it!

New patient kitty "Bosco" is being seen for a mandibular tumor. We have an integrative approach looking at Chinese herbals, acupuncture and diet. Dixie, the owner, is a last year Oriental Medicine student and is very hapy to be doing on her kitty the same thing she practices on humans. I was there this morning, we talked for hours and we looked at all the herbals, dried fruits and books she has, what a treat!

I saw Karen and Karen today. We are fine tuning the diet of "Archer", Karen's whippet, and doing acupunture to help control his allergies and strengthen his constitution. I met her friend Karen to treat her wonderful senior Schipperke "Benjamin". She has 5 or 6 of them. It has to be a very entertaining house.

I started with "Jojo"last week. Jojo is an awesome, gentle and friendly 65 pound dog with severe hip joint disease and several other issues. He is a very happy dog and we are working at making him more mobile and even happier.

CVMA conference, June 2009, Anaheim, CA

This was a 4 day conference mainly about conventional topics. I spent 1 day and ½ in lectures and hands on canine rehabilitation. Physical Therapy is a protected term used by human physical therapists, however veterinarians can become certified in canine rehabilitation and have the CCRT title.

The lecture and lab were given by Debra Canapp DVM, CCRT, CVA, and Sherman Canapp DVM, MS, CCRT, diplomat ACVS. I was really happy to See Debra again. We did our IVAS acupuncture course together in 2005-2006. She is certified in canine rehabilitation and she just opened a state of the art canine rehabilitation and surgery center with her husband in Maryland. She did incorporate acupuncture in her practice. As an athlete of many years and having dealt with some injuries, I can appreciate what physical therapy has to offer. I took the Tui Na course (Chinese body work) at the Chi Institute 2 years ago and can show owners how to stretch, do passive range of motion and do some massages on their pet. It does complement my acupuncture session very well. I will be taking more canine rehabilitation courses since I see a lot of geriatric pets (dogs and cats), post-op cases that would benefit from this added modality.

Like most human surgeons will send you in physical therapy after an orthopedic surgery or your primary care doctor will if you have an injury, I hope to see this trend increase with pets as well. It really helps their mobility, quality of life, and will likely decrease compensation injury later on. If a dog is lame on a rear leg, he/she will compensate with the opposite leg and put more weight on the front legs. Then, you see the emergence of front legs stiffness, soreness, injuries and the other rear leg may end up with some problems too. The senior dogs I am presented with are stiff, have limited passive range of motion and muscle soreness from compensating. This may have been decreased if taken care of earlier in their condition or at least controlled. Taking care of those old pets are truly an integrative approach (more on that later!). Canine rehabilitation will incorporate passive range of motion, stretching exercises, strengthening exercises, modalities to decrease pain and inflammation. The program is tailored to the patient’s life style and progress. For those who think only an underwater treadmill is the only way to achieve strengthening, think again. Depending of the case, a lot of therapeutic exercises are given to the owner to do at home with their pet. Swimming and underwater treadmills are great if you have them and need to be introduced at the right time in a rehabilitation program and for the right therapeutic reason.

Thinking about canine rehabilitation? Not done right, you can injure your pet, so it is important to seek trained veterinarians in this modality.

Charlie the Aussie

I saw Charlie last week. Seeing him again just reminded me how important it is to have a hard look at the food you’re giving your pet when faced with an overweight problem. Charlie is a 6 year old Aussie that was referred to me for weight loss about 2 years ago. Little did I know all the problems Charlie had: overweight, history of a cruciate rupture, a seizure disorder, hypothyroidism and allergies. Charlie needed the help of a sling to get up. Upon examination, Charlie had the worse back muscle spasm and a lot of pain in his hindquarters. We agreed to work on his weight loss/pain with acupuncture and looked at his diet. Literally, Charlie had 25 pounds to loose. It was even a challenge to locate acupuncture points on him, even when shaved. Looking at his diet, we figured he had a lower then normal calorie intake and ½ of them were coming from empty calories. Why wasn’t he losing weight?

Charlie started showing more energy after a few sessions of acupuncture and he was ultimately able to exercise more. Within a few months of acupuncture and a change of diet, he did not need his sling to get up. And he has now officially lost 15 pounds. Way to go Charlie!

There is no magical cure to lose weight or to maintain it. It is better to prevent obesity by a sound feeding plan from the get go and regular examinations. Weight loss in a healthy pet is done by restricting calories and increasing exercise. However, just decreasing the amount of food can lead to deficiencies if you are not giving the right diet. Some diets are expressly made for weight loss because they compensate for all the nutrients in face of a lower then normal amount of calorie intake. A home made diet can be formulated too if the owner wishes. Food is one of the key to loose weight, as well as exercise, looking at contributing health factors (hormonal disease, mobility problem, etc.) and examining the behavior associated with feeding (when is the meal served, owner’s belief, begging, snacks, treats, who feeds, etc). A sound weight loss program will look into all those different factors.

Please, do not change your pet’s diet or attempt a weight loss program before talking to your primary care veterinarian; you may do more harm then good. Some medications can see their blood level change with diet change (like Potassium Bromide).

Stay tune for a list of what obesity can lead to!

Pictures

Here are the pictures of Jesse and Pidge while receiving their acupuncture session. Jesse has kidney failure, hypertension, hyperthyroidism and arthritis. Pidge has trouble moving around from a painful back. We are working on a weight loss diet for Pidge. Not moving around made her accumulate some unwanted pounds.

May news (Food therapy, new patients)

The practice is picking up with the addition of Alie, Tootsie and Pidge. Jesse and Charlie are making a comeback. Pidge has to be the calmest bulldog I have ever seen, and you should see the first session we did with her, she loved all the attention.

I just finished the Chi Institute TCM Food Therapy course online, 27 hours of course and cooking. As usual, I got a ton of great information that I can apply readily. I got a lot of home made recipes from the teachers. Be ready to share meals (sometimes :-) ) with your dog and cat. Every bit of information makes you think: season availability of food, temperature, breed difference, stage of life, variety, etc. I remember my dog Mozart, Labrador cross with German Shepherd. When I was living up North of Montreal, Canada, he would go on the lawn (I lived in the country), pick the wild raspberries and eat them during the summer.

A little word on home made diets. They can be the best or the worse. Never attempt to do a home made diet without the help of your veterinarian or a veterinary nutritionist. Balancing a diet is very important.

What a weekend. It is always busy at the America’s Family Pet Expo at the OC fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. The dates were April 17th to 19th. I shared a booth with my friend Dr. Annie Forslund, who does pet euthanasia at home. I was so happy to meet some of my clients and patients. Wendy came by with “Einstein” who has progressive degenerative myelopathy (His spine is getting progressively weaker). He had to be put on wheels this last year, and does pretty good! We did our best with Einstein to keep him ambulatory until he could not walk anymore. This was a joint effort between acupuncture/chiropractic and physical therapy. We had 5 demonstrations with the greyhound rescue group headed by Sharyn Deeringer. We even had a senior Shipperke coming by to get an acupuncture session.

Since I have been away from my practice in the last few months, couples of sad things have happened. Taking care of senior pets has its rewards; unfortunately all good things must come to an end. Sandee Rough lost Baron and Marion Anderson lost Murphy. They both went very fast due to rapid onset of serious disease. On another note, Connie Clyde had to put to sleep her kitty Max due to advanced chronic renal failure, he was 20 years old.

They will be missed. I am very happy to have made a difference in their quality of life during the years I have treated them.

Look at this great clip on acupuncture for kids on GOOD MORNING AMERICA :

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12826245&ch=4226723&src=news

Not available anymore 5/22/09

Some of Dr Goulard's patients

My own little family

Meet the crew!

Aren't they looking good?

Dedication to Rudee

You said cats could not receive acupuncture? Rudee learned pretty fast to stay in place and soon enjoyed every acupuncture session. Rudee shown here was 17 years old at the time. We started acupuncture on Rudee for a paralyzed tail which got back to normal within 2 days! Then we realized the treatments were also making his back comfortable. Rudee lived another year before getting so sick he had to be put to sleep.