« Valentine's Day Is Upon Us | Fingertips Home | Silence As Communication »

February 16, 2009

Massage Your Elder Dog

Dogs slow down as they get older. In fact, many age-related declines in canines are the same ones that show up in people. Certain health care practices that are important throughout a dogs life (such as keeping their teeth clean) become even more important as your pet ages.

For the average person, 50 seems to be the golden age where daily movement is shared with some aches and pains. For the baby boomers, glucosamine and chondroitin supplements began flying off the shelf in an attempt to stave off the inevitable joint pain that comes with age. What cracks me up, is my client, a newly minted tetragenarian, commenting that massage made all his aches and pains go away -- he said he felt like he was in his 30s again.

I imagine the same is true with our dogs. Cats live the good life. Because they're soft and fluffy and malleable, we're much more likely to sink our hands in and give them a good rubdown. Special attention needs to be paid to the elder dog, however. Massage will take away their aches and pains the way it will for people. Incidentally, petting a cat is not the same as a good, focused massage designed to ease aches in joints. There are plenty of books available about how to massage your dog and your cat, too.

tags: massage massagetherapy wellness animal massage therapy dog massage href="http://technorati.com/tag/cat+massage+therapy" rel="tag">cat massage bodywork pet health

Posted by linda at February 16, 2009 11:23 AM