Leigh on Sea Canine Massage Therapy

12/05/2024

It’s been a while since I last posted. This is largely because I’m a lazy bu**er when it comes to social media! BUT I thought this was worth a post and I’ll be a bit more active during the summer.
Ben was a human advert for me today. Merlin was unimpressed. Had a lovely day at Hylands Park in the glorious sunshine.

12/04/2024

Massage therapy is a highly respected form of holistic healing and practiced across the world. Not only has it developed in the human world, it has also been realised as a valuable profession within the animal world.

Various massage and stretching techniques can be applied, enabling the animal to not only perform to their full potential, but for those who may be having a quieter life, it can keep them supple, comfortable and using themselves correctly in their golden years.

Massage is proven to:

🐴Increase and improve circulation
🐶Enhance muscle tone
🐱Relax muscle spasm
🐘Prevent and relieve tension and adhesions
🫏Increase the range of movement

Massage has many benefits. It can be used to rehabilitate your animal from injury, relieve discomfort, stiffness, lameness and help restore mobility. The aim is to promote the relaxation of tight, inflexible muscles, to improve their elasticity and range of movement (ROM). In addition, massage can help to cope with a wide variety of conditions such as arthritis.

Massage therapists work to reduce pain, improve movement and restore normal control in animals as a result of musculoskeletal conditions or as part of a maintenance fitness/general health programme.

In competitive or working animals, massage may be used as an intrinsic part of the development of the animal athlete. Helping to minimise the risk of injury and optimise performance and potential.

By analysing and assessing posture, movement, and skeletal function, Massage Therapists can help develop holistic treatment plans alongside veterinary treatment. These can often be accompanied by exercise and rehabilitation programs.

https://iaat.org.uk/find-a-therapist/

24/03/2024

23/03/2024

Happy national puppy day. Here are my two beasties, along with their best buddy Ripley back when they were all just little dots.

19/03/2024

With Easter coming up, it’s time to be extra vigilant about what your dog eats. Ignore the puppy dog eyes and resist the ‘one won’t hurt them’ mentality. I personally take comfort in the fact that me being greedy and not sharing with my dogs is actually for their safety, so I’m being virtuous whilst stuffing chocolate in my face. Win win!

12/03/2024

Who doesn't love to smoosh and play with a puppy, right? Well this play could be very beneficial to both the puppy and you. Spoiler alert - this blog is about how massage will help your puppy BUT it will also make your l...

08/02/2024

01/02/2024

We are all familiar I’m sure with the effect light has on us and our health. We are subjected to all the different wavelengths in light whenever we are outside - some are beneficial (UVB light is required for the product...

29/01/2024

Happy birthday Cocoa. We’ve had some amazing adventures over the last 10 years and you’ve made me laugh pretty much every day. ❤️🐾❤️🐾

23/01/2024

Other than the obvious………that it’s just plain nice to get a massage, here are the more scientific benefits.

22/01/2024

This is true of dogs over the age of 8, but we also know that arthritis is not just an 'old dog disease'. Recent reports indicate that arthritis in dogs of any age is more than double (38%) that of previous widely cited estimates (20%)

Canine OA is a widespread condition - but it CAN be managed!

22/01/2024

I attended one of Louise’s dog first aid courses recently and I would highly recommend for any dog owner. Dog First Aid Hertfordshire and Central Bedfordshire

16/01/2024

Dolly getting her very first massage and red light therapy. She did a few zoomies around the room between positions but she seemed to take to massage very well. She has been diagnosed with arthritis in her hips.

10/01/2024

This is a good summary of how to help your dog with arthritis. The only 2 things I would add is:
1 - weight management. Like us humans, carrying extra weight can make any arthritis pain that much worse for your pet.
2 - Joint supplements. Find one that suits your pet (and budget). I’ve tried a couple and found the oil ones worked but were counterproductive in causing my lab to pile on weight so we use tablet form now.

08/01/2024

🐾Zelda getting some neck work done. Zelda is a beautiful pitbull type mixed breed rescue. She loves a good rub down and she is not shy in telling you what she does and does not like during a massage.

02/01/2024

A great summary of how massage helps your pooch. As the article says, you don’t have to employ someone like me to give your dog a basic massage. Not only does massaging your dog help them but it will decrease your stress levels as well so it’s a win win!

Learn how dog massage can help your dog relax, alleviate pain, improve performance in agility or obedience competitions, and enjoy better sleep.

02/01/2024

Let's talk about the Cranial Cruciate Ligament (CCL). An extremely important part of our dogs anatomy and an increasingly more common injury. I'll feature several posts about this but let's start with what this ligament actually IS.

So, what is the CCL?
To understand just what the Cranial Cruciate Ligament is we need to look at where it is at in the body, the knee (or stifle) and it is important to keep in him it is very similar to the ACL in humans.

There are five main ligaments that support the knee joint:

The patella ligament, which is extra capsular (which means it lies outside the joint capsule and can be palpated and manipulated).
The medial ligament which resists the outward turning of the knee.
The lateral ligament which resists the inward turning of the knee
The cranial and caudal cruciate ligaments.
The cranial and caudal ligaments are the main stabilizers of the knee joint. In humans this would be the anterior cruciate and posterior cruciate ligaments.
They connect from one side of the femur on top to the opposite side of the tibia on the bottom, the two ligaments forming an X (hence the name cruciate) inside the knee joint. They are named for their attachment site on the tibia (the cranial cruciate attaches to the front of the tibia and the caudal cruciate attaches to the back of the tibia).

Of the two, the cranial cruciate is more likely to tear or be ruptured than the caudal cruciate. The caudal cruciate rarely tears. The cruciate ligaments hold the femur and tibia steady, in relation to each other. The cranial cruciate ligament has 3 main functions
• Prevent the tibia from sliding forward in relation to the femur
• Prevent the stifle from hyperextending
• Prevent the tibia from internally rotating

There is also something else inside the knee joint in between the femur and tibia is a cartilaginous material called the meniscus. Its job is to absorb the shock and assist with load bearing, and when there is damage to the cruciate ligaments it can also be damaged.
Injury to the cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) is one of the most common causes of lameness in dogs, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). It is also one of the most common orthopedic surgeries in dogs.

When the CCL is damaged, it is called a sprain, almost like a sprained ankle in humans. Veterinarians may also refer to CCL sprain as CCL rupture (CCLR). However, it is important to note that some dogs will have symptoms of lameness before the CCL has actually ruptured, meaning it could be just a partial tear.

https://www.avma.org/news/studies-analyze-factors-outcomes-associated-cranial-cruciate-ligament-rupture-surgery?ref=barkandwhiskers.com

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952244

https://www.barkandwhiskers.com/2023-08-21-cranial-cruciate-ligaments/

https://ucah.ca/cranial-cruciate-ligament-ccl/

https://caninearthritis.org/article/ccl-ruptures-tears/

https://www.mcrehabilitation.com/blog/condition-breakdown-cranial-cruciate-ligament-injuries

https://the-balanced-dog.com/2019/10/13/dog-acl-surgery-home-exercises/