I’m writing this blog because I am being faced with the decision of whether or not to have gold beads inserted into my dogs spinal pressure points. This is not a practice that I was familiar with until recently. I’ve spoken with many vets, did lots of research and have come to some conclusions about this type of therapy.

I’ve long known about acupuncture for animals and people, in fact, I’ve had relatives that did have acupuncture and swore that it worked quite well. I’ve now come to know of a neighbor’s dog that had the gold bead acupuncture that couldn’t even get up, and I’ve seen him running around like a puppy with my own eyes.

My dilemma is that my dog, a large Rottweiler, had a hemilaminectomy several years ago or in layman’s terms, surgical removal of a portion of the vertebrae lamina. The doctors did not think he would ever walk again. Through a rigorous physical therapy that I instituted with him, including hydrotherapy, he now walks. His gait is odd, he has trouble getting up on tile floors, and sort of bunny hops instead of running. Because of a toe that he jammed and will not heal, the toe will have to be removed and the Veterinarian is recommending the gold bead acupuncture at the time of toe removal. Not being very familiar with this procedure has left me a little leery since his hemilaminectomy was so long ago.

However, in researching this procedure, I have found it to be quite interesting and of a great help to dogs that suffer from epilepsy, Wobblers, spondylosis of the spine, and other musculo-skeletal diseases.

How this procedure works is tiny gold beads are inserted into pressure points, depending on the disease being treated, and the beads give off positive charges thereby normalizing dysplastic joints or desensitize the vertebrae. In spondylosis treatments, the beads tighten connective tissue and and give off positive charges that normalize ionic changes in tissue.    Endorphins are also released at this time giving the dog a more euphoric feeling.  Results can be seen immediately or take up to months. The beads remain in the pets body forever.

This procedure is no doubt costly, ranging from 800 to 2000 dollars, just depending on how large the animal is and how many beads need to be inserted. Research shows that it does help 75% of the animals that receive it. My vet says his results have been 100%.  

It began in Morganfield, Kentucky over 22 years ago. I was there on business and saw him. He was for sale. I had never rode a Tennessee Walker before. Any of the horses I ever rode were those trail horses, normally quarter horses in the area I grew up in. That first ride on Scatman made me fall in love with him. He became my horse, and when I say mine, I mean that. He was great with kids riding him, but hated for other adults to ride him. He would flash the whites of his eyes, and quiver his lips. Very seldom did I ever put him through that. 

I remember one winter back in Indiana when we were all snowed in. I lived about 1/2 mile from the grocery store and knew there was no way to get there by car, so, I bundled up and loaded up Scatman and off we went to the store to get the essentials for my family and some of the neighbors. While coming back from the store, we decided a hot coffee was in order, and went through the Hardees drive thru. When we approached the window, Scatman decided he wanted to see what was inside, and he stuck his entire head in the window, up to his chest. Maybe he was just warming up, I don’t know, but it sure shocked the girl working the window.

We had many trail rides over the years, and his trusted feet never failed me. A couple times we were in pretty stick situations, and he would lay down and let me get off, and then thrust himself out. For a retired racking horse, he sure was a good trail horse.

Friday night his life came to an end. He would have been 33 in May. He will be missed more then words can ever say, but he will live on in the hearts of everyone he touched, but most of all mine.

For a couple days it seemed a bit better, and then, yesterday morning, disaster struck. Scatman was down. He didn’t have any desire to get up. He wasn’t thrashing or acting like he had any energy. I tried to get ahold of the clinic to no avail, and was instructed before to do a dex shot along with some bute and he would get up on his own time. Well, he didn’t, so after 4 hrs of struggling, 4 of us managed to get him to his feet. He walked extremely stiff and wouldn’t even put a bit of weight on his left hoof. We got him into his stall and I got ahold of the vet. I told them what had happened and they said they would send someone out that afternoon. I fed Scatman some hay and got him water and tied him up in the stall so he wouldn’t go down again. About 7 hours later the vet showed up. I had never met her before, she was yet even a different one. After about a 4 min examine, she determined that he had an abscess in hoof. It was quite obvious when she used her hoof tool and squeezed he pulled away like someone shot him and moaned.

This is good news and bad. You see, they don’t want to put weight on that hoof, so they will lay down, but since we can hardly get him up, I don’t want to let him lay. He isn’t eating his grain, just hay, so I’m sure his belly is upset too. So, I gave him Maalox for his belly and stayed in his stall with him all night to make sure he didn’t lay down, which he didn’t. We are doing the Epson Salt soaks as instructed and a little bute. We are hoping that the abscess breaks through quickly, that will make him feel so much better. So, now, its a wait and see game.

This morning I let him loose in his stall. He is not happy. He is hanging his head over the chains trying to get out. Of course, it doesn’t help that Cybil, his pasture buddy is over there too because she is so concerned about him. Later this afternoon I will turn him out, if it doesn’t rain. If he lays for a bit, thats ok, I just hope that we are able to get him up a lot more easily then yesterday. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome. I’m hoping its a quick recovery.

How can you participate? You have the opportunity to submit your pets photo online or vote online for another pets photo. To vote, it simply is a $1.00 donation and you can vote as many times as you like for as many pets as you like.

If you submit your own pets photo, you can then facebook or twitter, or let your friends know so that they can go vote for your pet also.

The winning pets entrant will then get to choose the charity of their choice for the proceeds to go to. This is a fun way to get your pets photo online and raise money for charities.

There is no cost to submit your pets photo. There will also be some other great prizes that your pets photo can win including a $200.00 shopping spree to Humane Domain in the Judged cateogry, and 500 winners in the Fundraisers category which is based on the number of votes the pet photo gets.

Pencil, a Tennessee Walking horse had an unfortunate accident when he slipped into a muddy, icey pond in Campbell County, KY. Getting out of a situation like that is not easy for a horse to do, so it required some assistance from many men to retrieve him. A large harness was used to hoist him up onto a piece of cardboard, pulled by several men. After a few minutes, Pencil then got up and started walking.

At this time, Pencil appears to be no worse for the trauma he endured.

Because horses are one of the more costly animals to keep, and not usually considered a “pet” like cats or dogs, with the downturn in the economy, they are being hit very hard. In Montana and other mountain states especially, people that cannot afford to keep their horses are turning them loose, hoping that they will find their own food and run with the wild horses. In other states, horse owners are keeping their horses till the very last minute, many of them skin and bones, and then taking them to auctions, hoping to at least get some meat market money for them. Those horses are then transported to either Mexico or Canada and slaughtered, in most cases, very inhumanely.

I wanted to clarify for those people a couple things. First off, the horse in your back yard is domesticated. It cannot survive in the wild. Not only is it not adept at finding its own food, it also cannot hold its own against those wild horses who are use to fending for themselves, and will probably be killed by those horses in their efforts for survival. This is not an option.

For those that are holding on and then taking your horses to auction, is .15 a lb really worth making your horse suffer through starvation. I can tell you, it isn’t. If you have exhausted every single means of finding a home for your horses, rescues, friends, family, your veterinary office, the internet connections you can find, everything, and you are going to just let it wither away till you finally drag it to auction, where it will be taken to the slaughter house and die a very inhumane death, at least have enough compassion for your horse to have it humanely euthanized.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am NOT in favor of euthanizing any healthy pet, at all. However, I also hate to see pets suffer and their final end be killed inhumanely. I also think as a pet owner that when push comes to shove and you’ve made up your mind that you must get rid of a pet or have it put down, you will find a way to either keep feeding it or a place to send it to someone that will care for it. I know there are some cases where people just can’t afford to feed their horses anymore, that feeding their families takes priority, I understand that, but remember, that horse has been a dedicated family member to you too, and you do owe it to them to make a humane decision on what happens to them.

If you can foster a horse or would be willing to become a horse owner or add to your stable, please contact the various horse rescues and let them know as they are in dire need of people willing to help out. If you can’t take a horse but can afford to sponsor one, also let them know, your help is badly needed.

My test of a good horse blanket is to put it on my old guy for 24 hours and see how it holds up. Well, this Tough Rider held up fantastic. It didn’t slip off or slide around underneath him one bit. The little bit of dirt that had accumlated on it was brushed off easily. Its waterproof and breathable, which is exactly what I need for him. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with this blanket. The prices are great too. I’ve had to spend upwards of $100.00 to get a half way decent blanket, but this one, for less then $75.00 is a much higher quality. Shipping was quick also.

If you need a good blanket at a great price, no fooling, PawsUpPetSupply is the place to get it.  I’m not sure who likes this blanket more, me or Scatman. He actually got a little indignant this morning when I took it off him. Oh ya, I decided to get this blanket from them because I had bought some boots for my dog there at half the price of other places, so I knew their deals were good.

Once I got home, I started pouring it into the container that I always store it in, and it just didn’t seem right. There wasn’t enough there. Strange. It usually fills up the container, plus more. This prompted me to look at the bag, and there it was, in the corner, 16.8 lbs. So, that was why the new design. It certainly throws off looking for the weight, which was always 18lbs before. Not only is there less in the bag, but the price was higher. Needless to say, I am quite a bit disturbed at Friskies for taking advantage of the public this way. Again, a large company that deceives the public. Ya, I know, its there in plain sight, but, I’m not in the habit of checking the poundage of something that I’ve been buying for years and years, but I will be now. So, buyer beware, this is probably the first of many pet foods that will be doing the same thing.

This time, its not Bingo, its my cat and other horse, Scatman.

I noticed last night that Oz, my 11 year old cat didn’t seem to feel well. I even remarked to my husband that he didn’t look good. When we went to bed, he didn’t come with me, which is really unusual. Through the night, he didn’t rattle the door like he normally does either. Another sign that he isnt feeling well. So, when I got up this morning, I decided it was time to check him over good. When I did, I found a huge golf all size nodule on his neck with a puncture wound. I have absolutely no idea how he got that. I immediately started him on antibiotics, and he did so good at taking them. After that fiasco, I headed to the barn to feed the horses and noticed the explosion all over the pasture near Scatmans stall and in his feeder. I removed the feeder and cleaned it out, and then promptly came into the house for some probios to start his treatment.

Why, when I am leaving for just a couple days, trying to get a little  R and R, do my animals then pick that time to get sick. It never fails. Its like they get sick so mom don’t leave town. Well, I’m leaving anyway and hoping that by time I get home, all their ailments are clearing up.

The $5.99 package includes a 5×7 photo of your pet, a pet photo on CD and pet treats and coupons. The best part is the donation that Best Friends and Delta Society will receive.

This event is being sponsored by Walgreens. To find a Walgreens near you that is participating, click here.  I am so totally impressed by Walgreens for doing this. I hope there is a really big turn out for this.