By Dr. Karen Becker

Chiropractic comes from the Greek words ‘cheir’ (which means ‘hand’), and ‘praxis’ (which means ‘done by hand’).

Chiropractic has been a popular form of therapy for humans for centuries, but veterinary chiropractic has only gained acceptance in the traditional vet community in the last 15 years.

Chiropractic is based on manual spinal manipulation.

It uses the body’s own healing abilities and the relationship between the spine and the nervous system to restore and maintain good health.

Chiropractic therapy focuses on the vertebral column.

The goal is to alter the progression of the disease process and restore the critical relationship between the spine and the central nervous system.

Chiropractic actually has its own language. Vertebral lesions are called subluxations and describe vertebra with an abnormal positional relationship.

In other words, when bones in the spine are out of position in relation to one another, and if they are not moving properly, then this vertebral alignment problem creates disturbances in the way the body moves, which interferes with nerve function.

These disturbances are called vertebral subluxation complexes or VSCs. They are also called segmental dysfunction.

Signs Your Pet May Have a Subluxation

Symptoms in a pet with a subluxation can range from mild to severe. Generally, if there is pain, you’ll notice a change in your pet’s behavior.

A dog in pain will often pant more than normal. He also might pace or yelp. He may sit or stand in an abnormal, awkward position. He might also show problems with his coordination.

He might drag a foot, or move his head or tail strangely. Sometimes there is discomfort when a collar or harness is put on.

Dogs and cats may refuse to jump up on things or move in normal ways. Some pets will develop fear biting because of the pain. Many show sensitivity to being touched in certain places on their body.

Sometimes you can even detect a pain response in your pet’s facial expression.

And then there are the sort of normal signs of pain like excessive vocalizing – yelling, yowling, and even screaming. All these signs are indications your pet is having a pain response, and in fact, she may be in much more pain than you’re aware of. Subluxations can cause other problems as well, including stiffness, lameness, difficulty going up and down stairs, muscle atrophy, changes in gait like ’sidewinding’ or ‘crabbing’, stumbling, weakness and paralysis.

Diagnosis and Treatment

When you take your pet to a veterinary chiropractor, the first thing he or she will do is get a history on your pet, including information about her lifestyle and her overall health status. The chiropractor will also want to see any prior x-rays taken on your pet.

A chiropractic exam includes a neurologic assessment, an evaluation of stance and gain, motion, and static palpation.

Each abnormality in positioning that is discovered during the exam will be corrected through manipulations, which are called adjustments.

The American Veterinary Chiropractic Association defines an adjustment as, “a short lever, high velocity controlled thrust by a hand or instrument that is directed at specific articulations to correct vertebral subluxations.”

Adjustments can be performed on vertebral joints, extremity joints, and cranial sutures. The goal of an adjustment is to restore normal position and movement of the vertebral column, which in turn improves neurologic function.

Most animals respond well to adjustments. They are instinctively aware of the problem in their body, and most of the time they are pretty tolerant of the chiropractor’s manipulations. In fact – and I’ve seen this in my own practice – some pets actually adjust their position to help the chiropractor in treating the subluxation.

How Chiropractic Care Helps Pets

Chiropractic care is an excellent way to prevent and treat joint degeneration in your pet. Proper vertebral alignment keeps the body from shifting into unhealthy positions to compensate for joint pain caused by injury or degeneration.

Regular manual orthopedic manipulation, especially with large and giant breed dogs, will help keep the musculoskeletal system from degenerating as the aging process occurs. It can also help keep your pet moving comfortably throughout her whole life.

Dogs with floating kneecaps can benefit greatly from chiropractic adjustments to keep the hips and knees in alignment and to help prevent the condition from progressing.

Dogs with hip dysplasia can avoid compensating injuries through chiropractic adjustments as well.

Some pets with urinary incontinence are helped by chiropractic adjustments, and I have seen many cases in my practice of improved bladder tone and neurologic function through maintenance chiropractic care.

If your pet has been injured, a veterinary chiropractor can help realign the spine to avoid compensating injuries from occurring in addition to the underlying primary injury.

If your pet has had surgery with general anesthesia, I always recommend a visit to the veterinary chiropractor afterwards to realign a body that has potentially been flopping or jerking around while the animal was anesthetized.

I also recommend maintenance chiropractic care proactively for all my patients to reduce the risk of injury and joint degeneration. This is especially good for puppies and kittens because they are ‘loose’ – their joints are not yet completely formed. Their bones are still growing and they’re prone to subluxations.

Other conditions that often respond well to chiropractic care include:

• Neck and back pain
• Difficulty chewing or swallowing
• Tail injuries
• Sporting or working dog injuries
• Muscle spasms and nerve problems
• Bowel, bladder and other internal organ disorders
• Injuries from slips, falls, accidents
• Maintenance of joint and spine health
• Jaw or TMJ problems
• Post-surgical healing

I have also seen dramatic improvement using chiropractic for patients with internal medical issues, for example chronic constipation.

Finding a Licensed Practitioner

If you decide to explore chiropractic care for your pet, it’s important to find a practitioner who is licensed for pets.

Human chiropractors can become licensed to treat pets, but only after special training. Two-legged animals (humans) have an entirely different biochemical system than four-legged pets. So you must insure that the practitioner you choose to care for your dog or cat, whether it’s a veterinarian or a chiropractor, is certified to perform chiropractic on animals.

You can search for a certified animal chiropractor in your area at the American Veterinary Chiropractor Association and/or the College of Animal Chiropractic.

“Dr. Becker is the resident proactive and integrative wellness veterinarian of HealthyPets.Mercola.com. You can learn holistic ways of preventing illness in your pets by subscribing to MercolaHealthyPets.com, an online resource for animal lovers. For more pet care tips, subscribe for FREE to Mercola Healthy Pet Newsletter.”

Many pet owners are taught that rotating diets are not good for their pets’ health, and if they ever do decide to switch, it must be done slowly and over a 2 – 3 week period of time. While part of this can be true let’s look at the reasoning behind this advice and why feeding a more varied diet allows your pets to thrive.

Hap chewing on an elk neck

Many commercial pet foods found in your local supermarket and big-box stores contain ingredients which derive the bulk of protein and calories from plant sources as opposed to meat sources, and the high incidence of grains in these foods are also known allergens to many dogs and cats. For dogs, there is also an added issue of switching from a corn-based to a wheat-based diet which if not done very slowly, can cause severe health issues. With the wheat glut of the 1980’s, many pet food manufacturers changed their formulas causing dire consequences to some animals, which is where the “do not change their diet” started, and became the prevailing wisdom.

Many holistic and integrative veterinarians support rotating diets with healthy animals. Dr. Leanne Lipton, DVM of Meridian Veterinary Services adds “Combinations of foods and rotations of foods are very important to maintain a proper diet. If you feed just one type of food all the time over months and years then you will miss something or most likely cause a health problem in the future. Many studies of companion animals allowed to hunt and forage for themselves showed that a typical diet has much more variety than expected. In fact, many animals will eat smaller animals whole, bugs, bark, etc. I frequently tell my clients to rotate flavors and brands of foods for their pets. Sometimes gastrointestinal (GI) upset occurs so just keep a list of what works and what doesn’t. Often adding probiotics and prebiotics can prevent or treat GI upset. In the end it is trial and error”.

If you as pet owner are taking the time to read your labels, and identify good foods which have meat proteins or meat meal proteins as the top ingredients (not meat by-products) you are already going a long way to improving your pet’s health.  Many holistic and integrative veterinarians recommend that the better the quality of the proteins, the more you can avoid and/or support some of the health issues that are prevalent in our pets today, including arthritis, diabetes, thyroid disease, pancreatitis and allergies.

Consequently, as you feed better foods you can start to add variety by switching proteins in the same brand or rotating between different brands of dry and canned food. The advantage is each food has different ingredients and just like us,  will draw a variety of good health benefits from a varied diet which is lean in calories. You should be able to do this without a long transition time if using premium foods. If you do want to do a slower transition due to sensitive stomachs etc then it can be a 50/50 mix over one to two weeks.

At The Big Bad Woof we encourage rotational diets and have several brands, like Fromm’s and Nature’s Variety which were designed to allow rotation of the protein sources for both dogs and cats. We also like to see fresh, whole foods used in both our own and our pet’s diets. A simple way to integrate whole foods into their diets is to provide fresh veggies (like peeled carrots of the ends or broccoli as fresh chews) give them the ends of fresh (not processed) meats you are preparing, as long as you trim the fat and don’t cook the meat. NEVER feed them cooked bones, they can splinter and cause severe abdominal issues. Raw bones can be fed as a special treat and are high in key nutrients.

Raw diets allow much more moisture to be taken in by your animal, as well as being a very clean diet, which allows the animal to maximize their nutrient uptake and lead to lower stool volume. Transitioning to a raw diet as an alternate or addition to canned food or kibble is easy.  Adding  complete raw foods daily or weekly to their normal fare is a great way to start.  There are a number of easy to serve local and national raw diet manufacturers available now in the marketplace, making the feeding as easy as taking out a sausage or patty and placing it in their bowl.

Rotation is good for your dogs and cats, as well as making sure they are getting plenty of moisture, so read your labels and don’t be afraid to make a switch. The associates at The Big Bad Woof can assist with further questions about the right food choices for your pet and any other supplements your companion animals may need.  It is not about having your animals survive, but about having them thrive!

Pennye Jones-Napier

Co-Owner

The Big Bad Woof

Stores located in Old Takoma & Arts District Hyattsville

(originally printed in The Washington Blade / DC Metro Weekly, Sept 2011)

As a cat lover, a woman who has cared for four cats the last fourteen years, and an animal professional, I have learned a great deal about caring for cats.  In the last two years, namely, I have learned about hyperthyroidism in cats, because two of my cat companions became hyperthyroid–a common condition in cats as they age.

Besides making a homemade diet, cooked or raw, it has been difficult to find a quality canned cat food that does not have the ingredient kelp in it.

By quality, I am referring to foods that are grain free or well balanced, that support superb feline health, bring shine and luster to their coat, and keep fecal odor to a minimum!  This last factor is definitely important when living space is in close quarters (fyi–high quality grain free and raw foods lessen odor).

Kelp is one type of seaweed, and is generally good for us and our pets, as it stimulates thyroid activity.  This is good for cats that are overweight.  But this is not good for a hyperthyroid cat, in fact it makes the condition much worse.  Due to being overwhelmed with two of my cats passing this year and moving to a new home with my remaining two, finding brands ideal for hyperthyroid cats came to me slowly.

Frustrated that I could no longer give Gem, my cat with borderline hyperthyroidism and FUS, frozen prepared raw food anymore because of the kelp and bone in it (bone or calcium fuels crystals/stones to form in cats with FUS), I was desperate to find canned food that would nourish him without activating either condition, and meet all of my above mentioned criteria.  I spoke of my frustration to Pennye, an owner of The Big Bad Woof.  She directed me to Annamaet’s new cat food, Chicken & Fish-antibiotic, hormone and gluten free food made specifically without kelp with cranberries and DL-Methonine for bladder health.  I don’t feed my cats dry food for many reasons, but I was happy to know about this food and decided to take some samples home and try it out anyway.

I have been feeding Gem and Rosie small amounts of Annamaet every day and they love it, and Gem is doing well with no urinary issues. For canned foods, I used to feed Nature’s Variety, but Weruva is now at the top of my list.  Their food is ‘above and beyond human grade’ and my cats love it too!!!

Hyperthyroidism is one of the top five reasons cats visit the vet.  I thought cat food manufacturers would make food without kelp, but the majority of them don’t, especially the healthier ones.  Thanks so much to these conscious pet food companies who do, and many thanks to all those that operate with the animals best health in mind.

May your cats be thoroughly fulfilled and nourished, a major task for a cat guardian if the cat has thyroid challenges.

Wendy Groomes
Shared from our Nourishing Kitty Blog

After writing this I decided to do some research to see exactly which cat foods in our store (BBW) are kelp free.  There are many foods that are kelp free (listed below), but not many that meet all of my standards listed above (i.e., healthy coat, minimal odor).

Freeze Dried: Honest Kitchen Prowl

Grain Free Canned:
Weruva, Addiction, By Nature, Blue Wilderness, Go, Evo, Verus, Wellness Healthy Indulgence, Nature’s Variety Homestyle

Grain Free Dry:
Evo, Go, Taste of the Wild, Legacy

Regular Canned:
California Natural, Blue Spa Select, Evolve, Innova,

Regular Dry:
Fromm, Health Wise, California Natural, Blue Spa Select, Sammy Snacks