Sept. 30/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner

 Feature:
 Modern Treatments For Pets
     “CALGARY- Acupuncture is not the only human-type health care available to pets.

           Some other medical services include:
 
Physiotherapy: Can achieve similar benefits seen in human physical rehabilitation to restore function after surgery or injuries, reduce pain & inflammation or improve general well-being in old age.
     It can include hydrotherapy…general stretching & manipulation of limbs (yoga), massage, & simple exercises…

Dental care: Dog & cat owners are urged to brush Fido & Fluffy’s teeth regularly…
 
Diagnostic Imaging: Includes X-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds, & magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) to diagnose or confirm everything from fractures to tumours. 

Radiation therapy: Uses complex equipment to shrink or destroy cancerous cells…
 
Radioiodine: An option instead of medication or surgery to treat hyperthyroidism. Involves injection of radioactive iodine…
 
Diabetes treatment: Insulin injections administered by owners are considered benchmark therapy. The treatment involves careful monitoring of insulin levels, diet, & exercise.

     In-clinic procedures can include ongoing laboratory tests to measure blood glucose levels & liver enzymes…

 Major surgeries: Some of the same operations performed on people can be performed on animals, including pacemaker implants, gastrointestinal surgeries, & kidney transplants.

Reiki: Channels healing energy through the hands to the animal to relieve pain & provide calming influence…Cats seem to be especially receptive.”

THE CANADIAN PRESS
In The Gazette, Montreal
June 6/2015

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Weekly Chuckle

 

Sept. 23/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner
                          
Feature:
Oakland Zoo to Auction Paintings by Its Animals

    “Elephants, giraffes, lemurs, & even a cockroach at the Oakland Zoo have been exploring their creative sides to produce colorful paintings that will be auctioned for charity.
 

     The painting sessions were conducted by zoo keepers who used only positive-reinforcement, including plenty of treats, as they worked with the animals…

     Elephants were helped to hold paintbrushes in their trunks, & giraffes held them in their mouths, as they produced their artwork one stroke at a time. Goats, lemurs, & meerkats had their hooves, paws or claws dabbed with nontoxic, water-based paint & ran over a blank sheet of poster board while chasing a treat. 

     Andy, a Madagascar hissing cockroach, scurried around a canvas & the result was a piece in purple, green, & yellow tones. 

     Maggie, a Nigerian dwarf goat, had her hooves dipped in blue, green, & yellow paint & the keeper coaxed her with snacks to walk on a canvas… 

     Last year, Oakland Zoo auctioned off 12 paintings & raised nearly $10,000.” 
 
The Associated Press
www.nbcnews.com
Sept. 10/2015 

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Weekly Chuckle

 

Sept. 16/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner

Feature:
Shell Game 

     “EL VALLE, COLOMBIA… Daniel & Federica are on their honeymoon. They’ve chosen this small fishing village of El Valle, on Colombia’s Pacific coast, to explore some of the world’s greatest biodiversity, & live their dream of watching humpback whales migrate from the South Pole.

           I’ve come to see turtles, to witness them emerge from the ocean & lay eggs on the beach at night…

           Because it’s mid-September- prime whale-watching & egg- laying season- I expected the beachfront eco-lodge, El Almejal, to be bouncing with camera-toting nature fanatics. In fact, it’s almost empty. Daniel, Federica, & I are the only guests.

           …We return to the beach to find a dozen people standing around a female turtle laying eggs. Kneeling beside it are two women in caps with headlights shining red, the only color that won’t disturb the reptile during nesting. One woman scribbles notes on a pad. The other uses tape to measure the shell, about 61cm long. Everyone else watches in silence.

           After the last egg plops out, the turtle flicks sand over the hole with its back flippers. It circles the hole twice, then uses its front flippers to crawl toward the ocean. Everybody tiptoes behind. The turtle stops at the edge of the water, as if to take one last breath. It crawls forward, a wave submerges its shell & then it’s gone.

           One of the women, meanwhile, has collected the eggs- 48 in total…These women are part of Asociation Caguama, a group of 20 conservationists who walk beaches at night protecting eggs from poachers.

           Asociation Caguama workers collect the eggs & save them in a pen until the hatchlings are ready to be released into the ocean…”

Simon Willis 
WASHINGTON POST
In The Gazette, Montreal
July 18/2015

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Memorial

 

Sept. 9/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner

Feature:

A Horror Harnessed

           “LONDON, ONT. A helicopter flies across a blue eastern Ontario sky, & Master Cpl. Roger Boudreau is suddenly transported back to the dirt roads of Afghanistan…

           Boudreau, 49, now living in Petawawa, fell through the cracks. Not until he found solace through horse therapy, on a Pembroke-area farm, did he start to feel like himself again…

           Boudreau…said traditional therapy didn’t work for him…

           Boudreau had been seeing a psychologist before he heard of the War Horse Project in Pembroke, near the Petawawa army base northwest of Ottawa. The volunteer-run project pairs wounded soldiers with horses, to help them heal.

           ‘Horses live in that particular moment. They don’t worry about what you did yesterday. They worry about what you’re doing now,’ Boudreau said.

           Those with PTSD are often stuck in the harrowing past, said Alison Vandergragt, a Pembroke- area woman who brought the War Horse Project to life, using a volunteer team & relying on donations.

           Participants like Boudreau get together once a week outside a barn on a range...

           … ‘The horses are actually teaching us to come out of the past & back into the present’…

           Horses are different from animals such as dogs & cats because they’re not predators but prey, said Morrigan Reilly-Ansons, a London clinical counsellor.

           ‘That means they approach the world differently. The approach it always with the

No. 1 question: ‘Am I safe?’ And that makes them really in tune with their environment…

           Riding the horses is an important part of the project, which tries to help soldiers find inner peace & social interaction…

           So far, 36 soldiers have completed the program…

           The program costs $16,000 a session to run for 10 participants. So far Vandergragt & her team have put in 1,800 volunteer hours, & most of the money is raised through private donations.

           Boudreau said he hopes other veterns get the chance to take the program. ‘It’s incredible how far I’ve come in such a short time’.”

Emanuela Campanella

THE LONDON FREE PRESS

In The Gazette, Montreal

July 4/2015

 
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Sept. 2/2015

(E.B.W.) Critter Corner

Feature: 

Offer of New Hope for Old Friends

           “CALGARY- Chilko has seen better days.

           A good walk for the 15 year old black lab is now 8-24 metres. The grey hair on his chin is a testament to his advanced age.

           Owner Gino Furano isn’t willing to say goodbye to his constant companion just yet & has embraced a holistic approach…

           Furano has been bringing Chilko to the Calgary Holistic Veterinary Clinic for acupuncture for 3 years & says the hour-long sessions appear to be working.

           ‘Most of the time he’ll just fall asleep,’ says Furano, sitting on the floor with Chilko’s head in his lap.

           ‘When we first brought him in, we noticed a significant change in his mobility…He’s happy & he’s doing really, really well,’ Furano says.

           ‘The acupuncture relieves some of the stress. Now I just think he has a lot of aches & pains in his joints…’

           Chilko barely seems to notice when veterinarian Yanhui Qi inserts needles & hooks them up to low-level electrical current.

           ‘It works the same as on humans,’ Qi says. ‘We know that it’s working by observing after the treatment if there is less pain & they are moving easier.’

           The cost is $220 for the initial consultation & treatment. Follow up treatments run between $73 & $100.

           Qi grew up in rural China where he says acupuncture has been used on horses & cattle for thousands of years.

           It’s rarer in North America…But recent articles suggest there is evidence it is useful in pain management in cats & dogs.

           ‘There is a solid & still growing body of evidence for the use of pain in veterinary medicine…

           ‘When I first started at the clinic 16 years ago, people were sceptical, but now more & more people want to try this kind of treatment for their animals,’ Qi says. ‘With acupuncture we are able to save animals & improve the quality of their lives.’

           Miki Zahner brought in her big Maine coon cat named Tony after he injured a ligament in his leg in a tussle with another cat.

           ‘He’s felt a lot better He’s no longer limping,’ says Zahner.

           ‘I think he’s only had 3 treatments. He’s jumping again & so he’s doing just fine,’ she says. ‘He fell asleep during it’.”

Bill Graveland

THE CANADIAN PRESS

In The Gazette, Montreal

June 6/2015

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