23/10/2025
This gorgeous boy is Milo!
Milo is in his senior years now, and I had the pleasure of seeing him this week to do a lovely, relaxing canine massage therapy session with him to help aid his mobility.
His younger "brother" was a little confused as to why he was not getting all the attention!
Massage therapy has many benefits!
• Decreasing pain – The act of massaging muscles stimulates the release of endorphins, the body’s natural pain-relieving hormones. Massage helps to relax muscles and tense areas, especially after exercise or for chronic conditions such as arthritis.
• Improves circulation and lymphatic flow – Massaging soft tissue increases blood circulation and lymphatic flow, which benefits the whole body. Good blood circulation ensures a healthy supply of blood, oxygen and nutrients to the essential organs, skin, coat and body tissues. Increasing and improving the flow of lymphatic fluid helps to carry the body’s waste away from the organs and muscles. This can help to improve and avoid conditions such as high blood pressure (hypertension) and a build up of excess fluid in the tissues (oedema). These conditions are more prevalent in senior dogs, those with heart or kidney issues, or dogs with reduced mobility, or from recent surgery.
• Reducing stress and anxiety – The release of endorphins is also proven to help naturally reduce stress and anxiety. This is especially helpful for those dog’s who are prone to worrying and easily stressed or have experienced emotional trauma.
• Aiding the recovery process – It is important to take a holistic approach to helping dogs who are rehabilitating from injury or surgery. In these cases it is often other areas of the body which are compensating from an injury or area of discomfort, and this can put excessive stress and strain on the other muscle groups throughout the whole body. Massage therapy can help to target different areas of the body to help with overall comfort and relaxation.
• Identifying abnormalities – As massage is a hands-on therapy, it allows for potential identification of any soft tissue abnormalities such as swelling, lumps, areas of heat, reduced circulation, sensitivity, skin and coat health, external parasites such as fleas or ticks. Any abnormalities than then be checked by your veterinary surgeon. Early identification of problems is often key to treating and resolving them.
