Pet Peeves?

Environmental Stressors —

        Population density and/or personalities. How many cats do you have? Any new cats or dogs?
        Recent changes in the home or outside.
        Space reduction or increase. Did you bring in furniture that results in less space for the cat? 
        Number and location of litter boxes. Did you move a box location? How many boxes are there?
        Litter box contents, type, shape or size. Has the type of cat litter changed recently? Go back to using the old type. 
        Quality and amount of attention.
       
Emotional Stressors —

        Erratic schedules. Has anyone in the household's schedule changed due to work or school?
            Is breakfast or dinner often late?
        Extreme dominance, territoriality or aggression or other emotional displays. 
        Emotional state of the people in the household. 

   
Physical Stressors —

        Diet.
        Chronic disease.
        Age.
        Cleaning products.

Resolving Inappropriate Urination - Further Tips

Never, ever, punish a cat for IU! This will almost always compound the problem and add to the cat's stress, often causing the incidence of IU to escalate.   If you see the cat eliminating inappropriately, do not yell! You can calmly go over, pick the cat up and carry it to the litter box. 

Bach Flower Remedies

Bach Flower remedies are 38 homeopathically prepared plant and flower based remedies which are intended to treat the animal as an individual for the temperament and personality, not a treatment for physical complaint.

ANIMAL HOMEOPATHY

The treatment of animals is perhaps more successful than humans due to several factors.  First it is non invasive, not suppressive but curative, cheaper, especially when you have a larger number of rural farm animals, doesn’t hurt the environment (as in the waste products of animals), and because there are no antibiotics involved, any by-products of the animal, such as meat, milk, eggs – will have still be good and will show no effects of the antibiotics. 

Many allopathic doctors say that the homeopathic cure is “all in the mind” – psychosomatic.  The successful treatment of animals tends to disprove this as it is hard to get into the minds of animals.  This is also untrue, as there are successful animal communicators.   Some remedies are used for more animals than humans, such as for treatment of eczema. 

Consultation is very difficult for animals as it takes more time than for humans and you have to go by what the owner tells you, which sometimes is not much, as they tend to be not as observant as we would like.  Otherwise, you can only go by what you see physically with the animal, such as physical health of the animal, irritability, ask about sensitivity to certain things, about the kind of excretions your animal has.  But for the treatment to be successful, the owner must always be involved – take an active interest in the healing.

For farm animals it is hard to individualize the treatment, therefore you take in all the surrounding conditions and find a remedy, for example when calves are being moved by truck, they may get constipation, coughs and would be given nux vomica.
For show animals, race animals, a homeopathic remedy is better as there are no forbidden, prohibitive substances in the remedies, safe and free from side effects.  Therefore, it does not stop the animal from competing in whatever event.  It is also more effective for animals, as they do not use any substances that would antidote or reduce effectiveness such as, alcohol, coffee, once again proving that it works better for animals. 

Arnica – The Sportmen’s Remedy

Arnica is a soothing remedy given for mainly trauma, but also bruising.  It can be given in pill form or cream but should never be applied to an open wound.  It is also used when symptoms develop from a past physical injury.  Can be used for recurring headaches, backaches from past trauma or accidents, before and after surgery.

It is a great remedy for all animals, especially show animals, horses, dogs, jumpers, racing, competing, hunting. They are more liable to muscle sprains, injuries, shock, tendon bruising. Also for household pet who have over exerted themselves, playing, running, sometimes fighting with other pets in the household.  Also works for fighting animals, perhaps chickens fighting in the yard, sometimes there are dog fights (illegal), cat fights. 

Older animals may also benefit from arnica, for general weakness, rheumatism, arthritis (larger breed dogs tend to have trouble with hips). 

I would also like to use Bach Flower remedy, Star of Bethlemen if there has been a trauma or shock, this would also help with healing. 

CANINE MASSAGE

Canine  massage helps relieve;   Sore, stiff muscles, torn or stretched muscles, tendon or ligament weakness, joint stiffness or weakness, unexplained lameness.  It helps to keep soft tissue in top working condition, that improves the strength, speed and agility of your dog.   For Rehabilitation, massage helps in the healing process for surgeries, strain, sprain or torn muscles, tendons or ligaments, post op hip replacement, chronic lameness and post trauma.   During Palliative Care, it is beneficial for seniors to improve blood circulation increasing body temperature, improving muscle tone and flexibility.

PET FIRST AID

First aid is the emergency measure required to save lives, prevent further injury and ease pain and discomfort until a qualified veterinarian is available.  To be able to prevent an animal from suffering further injury or discomfort is of great importance to any animal lover. 

A major difference between first aid for animals and humans is that people do not usually bite.  A frightened, hurt dog or cat will react by biting and scratching.  Protecting the care giver by restraining the hurt animal is an essential aspect of pet first aid.

TELLINGTON TOUCH for Animals(hands on light massage therapy)

 Linda Tellington-Jones introduced her Tellington Touch, a massage technique for reducing tension and changing behavior in dogs, and rediscovered what we knew all along: touching the dog not only helps us, it helps the dog.
Tellington-Jones is a horse trainer and competitive rider who developed a method of circular touches to enhance traditional training methods and complement medical treatments. The techniques are based on a similar set of body awareness exercises for humans developed by Moshe Feldnekrais; the principle is that the exercises interrupt unacceptable behavior patterns and responses and allow acceptable patterns to develop. Today, as non-traditional medicine gets a workout, the TTouch is gaining acceptance.

The central TTouch motion is a circle inscribed on the dog's body. It is done by placing the fingertips on the body and tracing a clock-face circle from six o'clock around the dial past the starting point to eight o'clock. Practitioners adapt pressure, speed, and size of circle to the particular animal .

Circles are done all over the dog's body, including the face and even the gums. Circles on the gums are done with one or two fingers. If the dog resists, back up to the most pleasant touch for the dog and try again when the dog relaxes. In this way, you can accustom dogs to having their feet handled, to accept fingers in the mouth, and to other handling that they have balked at in the past.

TTouch has many variations of the circles, slides, and rubs, including the ear slide, in which the ear is methodically caressed in a sliding motion from base to tip, and the body rub, an invigorating, all-over stimulation of the senses.

REIKI  for Pets (hands-on energy therapy)

Animals enjoy Reiki - the extra attention and feeling of the energy draws them to the Reiki Healer, who sends Reiki via simply patting, stroking or touching the animal.   Treatments involving animals rarely last as long as human sessions; they absorb Reiki energy a lot easier than we humans do. Usually, they will not sit still for an entire session - rather they receive Reiki for a few minutes, then wander off, only returning again a few more times for more healing.

Since Reiki can also be sent effectively from a distance, this means it can be used on animals that are skittish or aggressive without distressing them or risking injury to them, their keepers, or the Healer herself.

When treating animals, it is usually best to conduct the healing session in surroundings that they know and feel safe in, so I am available to come to your house as well. It can  help alleviate pain, stiffness and give an overall feeling of relaxation.