November Newsletter
In this issue:
Now Available: Orthopedic Braces for Dogs and Other Animals. Lower Price on Life Jackets - An Important Safety tool. Pet Diaper Contest Continues. The Handicapped Pets BLOG New Style of Pet Boots for Muddy Winter Feet - Protects from Salt and Ice Melt Chemicals New Jersey Support Group for HandicappedPet Caretakers We’re Working on an Acupuncture Article - Anything to Add? You just made a donation to a pet-related charity! Thanks!
Winter’s headed our way up here in New England. That means romping through hillsides of fluffy snow, gleefully skidding across frozen ponds, and being chased down the sledding hill by a barrelling best friend. A snow covered furry friend says “New England Winter” to me. But it also means muddy paws, harsh Ice Melt chemicals, and special care for tender feet.
Orthotics & Braces Finally Available! We’ve been working with a noted specialist in Canine Orthotics to offer pet caretakers a custom-fitted brace for stifle (knee), hock (elbow), and carpus (wrist) joints. You make the cast yourself with a kit we provide and the orthotic is facbricated from the cast. We’ve had some great success with this and, as we expand our orthotics network, we expect to make professional canine orthotic care a reality. We’re just sorry it took so long.
Learn More
Life Jackets. We won’t get to use them here for a while - at least until the ice melts, but those of you in warmer climates know how important a life jacket can be. It’s a law in many areas that humans need to wear life vests, even if they can swim. It’s no different for animals. Even strong swimmers can be injured falling into the water, get a cramp, or get tired. What’s more - you won’t believe the look on your best friend’s face when he realizes that he doesn’t have to paddle so hard! We’ve found a new high-quality jacket at a much lower price. See it here.
Pet Diaper Photo Contest: The photos are outstanding! I have no idea how I’m going to pick a winner. Fortunately, with a prize going to charity, everyone’s a winner. If you haven’t already sent in your photo of your pet in diapers, please hurry. You don’t want to miss this parade! http://www.PetDiapers.com
Standard Boots: Muddy feet are annoying. The Salt, Ice Melt, and Chemicals that are put on icy roads, though, are a hazard. Protect sensitive paws with the new, lower-cost pet boots. These boots are lightweight, breathable, and water-repellant. The first dog shoe engineered for both active and geriatric pets.
Canine Acupuncture: For those of you who have been following the story of one of our favorite cart dogs, I’van’s doing great. His acupuncture treatments have been working so well that I want to do a feature on canine acupuncture. See Ivan’s latest update, with photos of the treatment on the blog or at http://www.handicappedpets.com/gallery/ivan11/index.htm. If you have had any experience with acupuncture, or know someone that has, please let me know.
BLOG: What’s a Blog? Fortunately it’s NOT something that you have to clean up. A Blog is like a web magazine. It’s filled with articles and photos, and you can leave comments if you register (to avoid rude comments). We’re experimenting with a HandicappedPets Blog to see if people like it, and if it’s useful. Take a look - let us know what you think. http://www.HandicappedPets.org
HandicappedPets Support Meeting: Anyone who lives in the Philly, South Jersey area know that a support group for people with handicapped animals is meeting at PetPT in Cherry Hill, NJ. The first session was held tonight and there were 5 people and 3 dogs and it was a lot of fun. The next meeting will be on Thursday December 1 from 7 to 8 pm. Directions for PetPT at http://www.petpt.com. If you or anyone you know is setting up HandicappedPets groups, let me know and I’ll help!
You Just Made a Donation! Every month, when we send out a newsletter, we make a donation to a pet-related charity based on the number of subscribers we send to. The more subscribers we get, the more we donate. If you send this along to your friends and they sign up, then the donation increases. It’s our way of paying “Postage.” Please pass this newsletter on and Invite a friend to Join the List
Winter pet shows are here! If you’re going to have a booth at a show, hang our banner and we’ll chip in!
Do you have a pet-related link you’d like to share or be listed on HandicappedPets.com? We’ve got a new, automated link system when you can add your own links. Just go to our Links page, select a category, and click “Submit a link.”
Warmest regards to all our fellow caretakers!
Mark, Deb, Diane, Scott, and Angela “@” HandicappedPets.com
Privacy Policy: Corky is on guard this month and promises to lick to death anyone who comes near our mailing list and uses it for anything but occasional, interesting mailings from HandicappedPets.com. But Privacy is no joke and we guarantee that we will not allow anyone else to use the list.
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November 30th, 2005 at 1:25 pm
Hi I’m very interested in the stifle splint you mention in this newsletter. I’m taking care of a Katrina dog (Sugar) her owner and family is in Houston TX living with a brother. Sugar came to me with a pretty pronounced limp and it would get worse with any activity greater than an walk on sidewalks. Sugar is a big girl 105lbs 10yo full of life and energy, she is not easy to keep on restricted activity, she came without leash training, has great house manners is very people and kid friendly, appears to be dog aggressive with a high prey drive. We’ve tried some accupuncture and LigaPlex along with vitamins Cosamine and raw diet. nothing has helped and the other day Sugar walked through a snow dusted meadow for about 10 minutes and was so sore the next day she restricted her own activity. Our holistic vet says surgery, the surgeon of course says surgery.
I am trying to get some information on the efficacy of stifle splints. There is one called the A-Trac splint that looks like it would stay in place and provide support for an CCL injury. Would like more information on the stifle splint you are discussing. I really think any splint I decide on has to have an adjustable ROM. I’ve been to the OrthoPet site and WoundWare sites…Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
THankyou
November 30th, 2005 at 1:55 pm
I have had several requests for braces and have put up a site at K9Brace.com that discusses them based on what I have learned so far. We’ve worked with Dr. Martin Kaufmann to create what we feel is an excellent brace.
I would recommend that you bill in the measurement form and evaluation for on K9Brace.com and open a conversation with Dr. Kaufmann.
I, and other readers of the website, would be very interested in following Sugar’s progress. If you would like to keep us informed: what you do, where you find answers, what works and doesn’t work, I expect we could help a lot of animals.
Please feel free to post here, or email me stories and photos.
Regards,
Mark Robinson
HandicappedPets.com