Care

Regarding the article about canine anorexia ("Tales of the Lost Appetite," March 2008): As an RN and 50-plus-year dog owner, I appreciated it very much. However I did notice a mention of one cause of anorexia that almost took the life of my Boston Terrier: grief. I had two dogs at the time, the other being a 10-year-old Pug who suddenly became critically ill with a lethal brain tumor. We had gotten both dogs at the ages of eight weeks and they were very, very close. When the Pug did not come home from the veterinarian and her crate was put away, the Boston totally stopped eating and became very lethargic (she had always inhaled her food and was extremely active prior to this.) We were frightened that we were going to lose her too, and made numerous calls and visits to our vet to investigate. To make a long, terrifying story short, we never found a physical cause for her inappetence; it was grief. I spent several weeks tempting her with various treats, human food, and finally baby food mixed with her dog food. I also took her to a local pet supply store for a change of scene. She picked out - on her own - a small latex ball slightly larger than a golf ball, proudly carried it out to the car by herself, and it became forever known as "Happy Ball." That was what started her back on the road to health! Well, that and much loving care and snuggling from her human family.

itchy skin: in a clean jar

which are made with natural rubber."

Everyone knows that chiropractors are bone and joint doctors. They help alleviate back pain and other aches by making adjustments that improve skeletal alignment and musculoskeletal function. In recent years, chiropractic adjustments have become popular for dogs, especially those recovering from accidents or injuries. But did you know that chiropractic care can improve a dog’s digestion; speed healing after illness or surgery; treat behavior or mood changes; help alleviate ear infections, urinary incontinence, and allergies; and even correct neurological imbalances? Cheryl Morris, DC (Doctor of Chiro-practic), a chiropractor for humans in Congers, New York, knew something was wrong with Stanley Queue, her five-year-old Scottie. He vomited spontaneously three or four times a day several times a week, and when she palpated his abdomen, his diaphragm felt tight.

GB 34 maintains the body's ability to move by keeping the tendons and ligaments supple. Stimulating this point will help minimize physical injuries. This point is known to support emotional balance as well.

■Heart 7 (HT 7)

Can exposure to color change your health? What about tapping on key acupuncture points or other body parts? And is there any way to focus or concentrate naturally occurring energy so that it has a more therapeutic effect? Veterinarians and other healthcare practitioners who experiment with energy healing deal with these and related questions when they address the “etheric body,” the invisible part of the patient that is also described as the vital or energy body. Improving the etheric body’s energy flow or state, they say, stimulates a self-healing mechanism that encourages the body to repair itself, often in record time. In the past four issues, we’ve described a number of “energy medicine” tools such as homeopathy, flower essences, Reiki, crystals, acupuncture, and therapeutic touch. In this article, the conclusion of this series, we’ll describe several more modalities that can be used alone or in combination with conventional or alternative therapies and are widely considered to be free from adverse side effects.

Who doesn’t have at least one quartz crystal, turquoise pendant, jade figurine, or amethyst geode? You probably have a strand of beads, too, maybe aventurine, bloodstone, citrine, coral, garnet, or sodalite. What you may not realize is that, according to crystal enthusiasts, these items can help both you and your dog improve your health, balance your emotions, and enhance your quality of life.Whether they’re novelty items or elegant jewelry, crystals – precious and semiprecious gems as well as humble stones and river rocks – have been valued for thousands of years for their healing and aesthetic properties. The more people explore the use of crystals, stones, and gems, the more their dogs, cats, horses, and other animals are likely to benefit from this branch of energy medicine. Your pets can sleep near crystals, wear them, drink water that has been “charged” by crystals, and in other ways receive the energy that is said to be unique to each type of stone.

You're contemplating the addition of another canine family member to your pack. You've thought it through and are convinced that it's the right time. However, if you already have dogs in your home, you'll need to prepare for the potentially stressful process known as new dog introduction." There are a number of factors to keep in mind that can increase the likelihood of a positive outcome when introducing a new dog into your home. A peaceful first introduction sets the stage for long term relationships. The more heavily you can weigh the odds in your favor for that first encounter

Walking with a dog in the dark can present a number of challenges for many dog owners. You may not be able to see well in the dark; this can make you take a hard step off a curb or trip on a rise in the sidewalk. Finding your dog's poop at night (so you can pick it up and dispose of it properly) is also a problem. Although definitely in the minority, some people walk their dogs off-leash at night. I've met a number of people at night who were walking off-leash dogs on the wide trail that tops the river levee that parallels my town's main street. If I wasn't a dog person, I would probably be unnerved by the fast approach of a strange dog in the dark. And as it is, if the dogs were mine, I'd be worried that one of them would wander off or get lost if I couldn't keep sight of them.

Reading Whole Dog Journal is one of the most frustrating experiences I have each month. Side-by-side with the outstanding training articles by Pat Miller and Editor Nancy Kerns’ excellent series on dog food and diet, you publish the most mind-numbing foolishness about alleged alternative healing and medicine. Your training as a journalist was seriously deficient if it didn’t teach you to investigate all such claims before your implicit endorsement by printing them.

Two dogs have itchy skin and small open sores on their legs. One goes to a conventional veterinarian and receives antibiotics, steroids, or other symptom-suppressing drugs. The other goes to a veterinary homeopath, who studies the dog’s symptoms and asks all kinds of questions about his behavior and actions while looking things up in a book or computer. The homeopath selects a remedy, gives the dog a single dose, and instructs the owner to wait, watch, and report back. The remedy is chosen not because it reduces or eliminates the dog’s symptoms but because by itself, when given to a healthy patient, it actually produces those same symptoms. And the remedy is so dilute that it contains not a single molecule of the substance on the label. Welcome to the world of homeopathy, one of the most interesting and controversial alternative therapies and forms of “energy medicine.”

You've no doubt heard the adage, You can't teach an old dog new tricks." If you have an older dog