Hello and Happy July!

 

Effective healing takes place through a mind, body, spirit connection. Eliminating even one of these critical components creates imbalance in our pets.  While the Mind and Spirit encompass mental strategies and emotions, the Body with its intricacies has an equally vast terrain.  

 

The 'body's balance' is created through proper nutrition, toxin management(vaccines, environment, flea & tick products, etc.), parasite control, grooming, AND bone, joint and skin health.  As with humans, our pets inner workings can get out of alignment through play, abuse, body structure, giving birth, and the impact of collars used for walking or handling.  As we explore options for obtaining proper body balance in this article, I urge you to consider its impact on your pet's well being.

 

Oftentimes when our beloved pets display anger, aggression, shyness or fear, the pet is blamed for the unbecoming and frustrating behavior. We are quick to say "BAD" without observing the real "root" cause of this frightening exhibition.  

 

What if the reason for the behavior was caused from pain or discomfort in the body of your pet? In a pack, a dog is viewed as a weak link when they are physically compromised. The pack, always needing to be strong as a whole to survive, will even kill one of their members to maintain its resiliency.

 

This is why our pets don't like to tell us when something is wrong. The primal instincts in your pet are still with them even though they have been domesticated to some degree. You are their pack. If they show weakness, they may be destroyed. So, they lash out displaying anger, aggression and fearful behavior to "throw us off" from the real problem.

 

In addition, the increased intensity, fear, or avoidance in their behavior has another purpose, to mask pain. As energy increases in the pets' system due to discomfort, adrenaline rushes through their veins. Adrenalin is a natural pain killer. The more intense their behavior, the less likely they are to feel the pain inside their bodies.  Mother Nature created some clever beings and bodies. 

 

What should we to do to unlock the mystery of the problem behavior? With an unbiased attitude, observe your pet. Take a few moments in a quiet room with no distractions to touch your pet with a very gentle hand and a keen eye. Slowly caress your hand over your pet's body making notes of locations of muscle twitches, favored limbs, winces, growls, and avoidance of your touch on certain areas of the body. The neck of your pet, especially with dogs, can suffer a lot of trauma from leashes and boisterous behavior.

 

If you suspect pain may be the cause of this unwarranted behavior in your pet, contact Carol at Carol's Pet Cafe so a trained specialist in animal bodywork can assess your pet. A skilled Veterinarian may also need to be involved to make a thorough diagnostic assessment. 

 

We love our pets for always being there for us. The only way for them to communicate that something is wrong, is to act out.  If your pet's unwanted behavior either suddenly started or has increased over time, there may be a physical issue at hand that needs to be uncovered before it is concluded that there is no resolution and no hope for rehabilitation.