ANIMAL WELLNESS
For a long, healthy life!
WELLNESS
ARTHRITIS How diet, supplements, and
alternative therapies can EASE those ACHING JOINTS
DO DOGS
TEN
SMILE?
TIPS for choosing a
HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR
“SUPER SENIOR”
GROOMER
CATCHING
CANCER EARLY
Pancreatitis
What causes it, and how is it treated and prevented?
Ricochet rocks!
This world-famous SURFING DOG has touched the lives of millions on her mission to help those with special needs.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014 Display until September 14, 2014
$6.95 USA/Canada
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 4
AnimalWellnessMagazine.com
BONUS INSIDE!
Contents August/September 2014
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FEATURES 18 CATCHING CANCER EARLY
These new blood tests can determine his risk of developing this dreaded disease, and even detect it in its earliest stages.
22 SPROUTS – SUPER FOODS FOR YOUR DOG Good things come in small packages! Certain seeds, grains and lentils explode with nutrition when they germinate.
26 HELP FOR ACHING JOINTS
Diet, supplements, and other therapies work together to reduce the pain and inflammation of arthritis.
30 IS SHE A “SUPER SENIOR”?
A growing number of dogs are living past their midteens. Here are 7 factors to consider when caring for an extra-old canine companion.
34 PROTECT YOUR DOG’S JOINTS
Treat his joints right -- feed and maintain them, and keep the muscles toned and limber.
36 HELP FOR HIP DYSPLASIA
This crippling condition is common in large and giant breeds. Learn what you can do to protect your dog from debilitation.
42 10 TIPS FOR CHOOSING A GROOMER
Don’t just open the phone book and pick the first one you see. Do some research to ensure you select a well-run salon that’s right for you and your dog.
46 CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR YOUR SENIOR Misalignments in his spine do more than cause back pain. They can affect his overall health, especially if he’s older. Chiropractic adjustments can bring him back into balance.
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49 AN EFFECTIVE SOLUTION
How a passion for animals and natural health led to a company that formulates holistic remedies for parasitic infections, including heartworm and Lyme.
50 PANCREATITIS IN DOGS AND CATS
72 IT’S LOGICAL
What could make better sense than dog and cat diets made from whole foods, with no synthetic vitamins, minerals or other additives?
73 READING BUDDIES
How dogs and cats are helping kids improve their literacy skills.
Find out what causes this common disease and how it can be treated and prevented.
76 OAK’S LEGACY
54 COVER STORY RICOCHET HANGS TEN!
82 DO DOGS SMILE?
This world famous golden who combines surfing with therapy has changed the lives of countless people with special needs.
62 COGNITIVE DYSFUNCTION IN CATS
It can’t be cured, but it can be slowed down and managed with nutrition and lifestyle changes.
66 IS SHE GRIEVING?
If your cat has recently lost a companion, she may be mourning, even if she seems to be acting normally. Learn the signs to look for, and how to help her feel better.
68 CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAT LITTER
Is your kitty snubbing her tray? She may not like the litter you’re using. Find out what to avoid and look for when selecting a product.
Thanks to acupressure, this young golden recovered from hip dysplasia surgery in record time.
Some canines seem to grin just like we do, but is it a sign of happiness, or something else?
84 BONDED BY SMELL
New research shows that dogs respond more positively to the scent of their humans than to anything else.
90 SNORING IN DOGS
It may sound cute, but it could indicate one of a number of health issues, from seasonal allergies to sinusitis to tumors.
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30 54 SOCIAL MEDIA Tips, contests and more! Like us /AnimalWellnessMagazine Updates, news, events! @ AnimalWellnessMagazine Product reviews and tutorials! AnimalWellnessTV
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COLUMNS 12 Yakkity yak 39 Beyond the label 70 Feline Wellness book reviews 78 Passages
DEPARTMENTS 8 Editorial
80 To the rescue
29 Product picks
88 Warm & fuzzy
58 Animal Wellness
92 Book reviews
resource guide
83 The scoop
98 Tail end
86 Social media
68
94 Marketplace 96 Events calendar 97 ClassiďŹ eds
animal wellness
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In doing this profile for dogs in our practice, I have found that about 96% of my canine patients have low blood vitamin D levels, 48% have high CRP levels, and 12% high TK levels.
These new blood tests can determine your companion’s risk of developing this dreaded disease, and even detect it in its earliest stages.
Catching cancer early By Shawn Messonnier, DVM
Cancer can be very insidious. Often, there are few symptoms until it has become advanced. Detecting it in dogs and cats can be even trickier, because they can’t tell you about any subtle symptoms they may be experiencing. So wouldn’t it be great if there was some way to increase our chances of finding cancer before it spread, not to mention the conditions that increase the risk of its development in the first place? As it turns out, there is a way. A series of simple, new, inexpensive blood tests bundled into a diagnostic panel now allows doctors to detect cancer and other serious problems before they develop in your dog or cat. Created by VDI Laboratories, the tests look for two biochemical markers of inflammation and cancer – TK (thymidine kinase) and CRP (C-reactive protein; cats are tested for haptoglobin rather than CRP) – and are combined with a vitamin D test to give your vet an easy way to analyze your dog or cat’s cancer risk.
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1. TK LEVELS OFFER A CRUCIAL CLUE If increased levels of TK are found in an animal’s blood, there is a high likelihood of cancer somewhere in the body, or of cancer developing within the next four to six months, unless steps are taken to lower the levels. However, TK levels may also increase with undiagnosed infections since this enzyme is shed by rapidly dividing cells such as bacteria, rickettsia and viruses as well as cancer (making it useful as a general health profile to screen for infectious diseases as well as cancer). In the healthy animal, an increased TK level indicates the possibility of cancer, just as an increased PSA level in men indicates the possibility of prostate cancer or other prostatic issues (precancerous or infectious conditions). Animals with increased levels of TK may not have active cancer, but may have precancerous conditions that will respond to holistic treatment. Further testing is necessary to monitor TK levels and look for cancer.
In my practice, animals with increased TK levels are supplemented with specific herbal remedies (Healthy Qi, CA Support, etc.) to support their immune systems. The blood is retested one month later. If TK levels are back to normal, no further testing is needed for four months. If TK levels continue to increase, then we must search further for the reason why it’s increasing. A persistent elevation of TK levels predicts the likelihood of cancer developing over the next six months.
2. CRP LEVELS RELATED TO INFLAMMATION Chronic inflammation damages cells. If long-term inflammation leads to the production of free radicals and other destructive agents, tissues and organs in the presence of these agents can lead over time to cellular alterations resulting in disease and cancer. There is a long-standing and studied relationship between cancer and inflammation. There is evidence that inflammation plays an essential role at each stage of cancer (initiation and proliferation), and both tumor and inflammatory cells are able to directly or indirectly either inhibit or stimulate tumor growth. The effectiveness of tumor development has been demonstrated to correlate directly with the degree of inflammatory reactions. And it seems there are interactions between the cytokine chemicals produced by white blood cells in response to inflammatory reactions and tumor growth, and even indications that inflammatory cytokines favor tumor promotion. Furthermore, with the assistance of inflammation, tumor cells infiltrate neighboring tissues, enter the bloodstream, migrate, and establish remote colonies (i.e., metastases). Since chronic inflammation leads to many diseases, including cancer, it’s important to know if inflammation is present and to treat it accordingly so that serious diseases do not appear. In dogs and people, testing levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), the second part of this important blood profile, is done to check for harmful levels of inflammation. In cats, testing for a different inflammatory protein, haptoglobin (Hpt), is more useful. Diagnosing and treating inflammation in the early stages is essential to trying to prevent cancer. In animals with elevated CRP or Hpt levels, specific nutritional supplements (antioxidants, fatty acids, etc.) are administered to reduce harmful inflammatory proteins. Diseases know to be associated with inflammation, such as dental disease, arthritis, and allergies, are diagnosed and treated appropriately to reduce inflammation in the body. The blood is retested in one month and CRP/Hpt levels should have returned to normal. If they haven’t, further investigation is undertaken. Comtinued on page 20. animal wellness
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