Animal Chiropractic

Animal Chiropractic: Realigning the human-animal bond
By Julie Kaufman, DC, CAC

Is it possible that your animal friend could be "maladjusted?" If you've ever experienced the pain and frustration of being out of alignment yourself while trying to perform routine tasks, then you certainly know first hand the depleted sensation of a misaligned body in need of chiropractic care. Our animal friends probably feel the same exhausted and painful sensations, but can't tell you directly what's wrong.

The main indicators of a need for chiropractic care as a result of maladjustment may be as simple as a sudden change of personality. There may also be hints in behavioral changes such as a reluctance to climb stairs, stiffness when getting up, an excessive wear pattern on a toenail, or intermittent crabbiness.

These things can be subtle and missed by owners because of the slow progressive nature of minor misalignments and the body's compensations for those misalignments. Your intuition may tell you that something just isn't right. When people trust this inner voice, it is usually accurate. When many owners bring their pet in for an examination, they listen to my findings about their pet and say, "You know, I thought that was going on, but I just didn't listen to my instincts." Most of the time I can draw out a lot of information from an owner with just a few questions.

When an owner finally has the animal evaluated and adjusted the first time, she often will notice her dog or cat becomes his old self again. He may begin doing things like digging in the yard, or jumping up on a chair, just hours following the first adjustment. These are usually behaviors the animal had stopped several years ago perhaps following a minor slip, fall or other injury, which went unnoticed. One cat owner recently expressed this phenomenon by exclaiming, "He just loves being in his body again!" This happened after just one chiropractic adjustment.

The Bare Bones of Animals
On a basic level, chiropractic simply helps many dogs, cats, horses, birds, snakes, ferrets, cows, and a variety of other fur, finned and feathered beings, live a more comfortable and a higher quality of life. Chiropractic adjustments can help relieve the pain of arthritic joints, the paralysis of an acute disc injury, the agony of hip dysphasia, and the imbalance of Wobblers Syndrome in many animals. It can also address the distress caused by many other conditions.

As a healer, my job is to create an environment that allows the body, mind and spirit to move back into wholeness or balance. Dr. Joel Sperling, another certified animal chiropractor, was quoted in a recent newspaper interview saying: "If I took a handful of grass seeds and threw them on the floor here, would they sprout? No, the conditions wouldn't allow them to. But if I took the same handful and threw them outside, over there in the dirt where the sun and rain could get to them, they would sprout." What he is expressing is the need for alignment and balance, equivalent to the correct soil conditions, which nurture health and discourage disease.

An Average Day at the Office
For the past 8 years, I have worked in two main veterinary clinics, and visited other practices throughout Wisconsin. Each day is an exciting experience full of surprises and miracles. One day a wildlife rehabilitator came in with two Northern Goshawks. The female hawk had flown into a picture window and could no longer fly due to injury and misalignment of her neck. I had to learn a lot more than her anatomy to provide care for her. With piercing yellow eyes and razor sharp talons, she was not as easy to handle as your average Golden Retriever. The rehabilitator knew exactly how to calm her and position her for my care. Next I had to palpate her delicate porous bones, which are too easily fractured, to determine the site of misalignment. It was quite exhilarating to work with such an exquisite being. In the end, she was gently realigned and eventually released back into the wild. Now it is common for our clinic to provide charity work for this particular wildlife rehabilitator whenever we can.

On a more average day, I will treat horses, dogs and cats chiropractically. Occasionally I will work on a rat, goat, cow, llama, bird, snake, ferret, rabbit or other exotic animal. When working with dogs, I see many conditions. Many geriatric dogs become arthritic and benefit greatly from a combination of natural supplements, which strengthen cartilage and joint function, in addition to the chiropractic care. The chiropractic adjustment can increase general joint mobility, and release spastic muscles and trapped nerve tissue. The adjustments are extremely gentle and require a minimum amount of force. If the animal is relaxed the joint is easily realigned with a small amount of pressure, equivalent to the amount I would apply when adjusting a human infant. Most dogs seem to think they are at a dog spa. Owners comment on how happy their dog is to come in for their chiropractic adjustments. They report that dogs are ready to jump out of the car and run up to the door the minute they arrive. That makes me feel as though I am really making a contribution to their well being, and they know it.

One of the veterinarians I work with, Dr. Maria Glinski, is a holistic practitioner who also uses acupuncture. Together we have successfully treated hundreds of these paralysis cases with over a 90% recovery rate. It is a euphoric moment when a dog, who just weeks earlier was dragging his or her rear end and facing euthanasia, comes trotting in the office in front of a joyous beaming human after only four or five visits.

The synergy of acupuncture and chiropractic can potentially add years to a dog's life in such cases. When a vet tells you that you have to let your best friend go in her peak years, and someone can offer you an alternative that works, it can be a joyous life-altering experience.

The Transformation of Animal Chiropractic
There are also deeper currents in chiropractic and the energetic exchange between human and animal. I see so many devoted animal companions who give of themselves to their human beings, patiently teaching them without condition or limit. I have found that healing is occurring not only for the animal, but also for the animal's human during the course of chiropractic care. Our animals are so deeply bonded with us spiritually and mentally that their emotional and physical "dis-eases" are often reflections of our own. To assist in an animal's healing process, the human guardian can also practice forgiving, releasing and healing, because, so often, when the human gets on a balanced track, the animal will often miraculously get well also. Many tribal peoples throughout the world believe that animals, particularly dogs and cats, will pick up pernicious influences in our lives, and protect us from their direct influences. This may lead to sacrifice of the animal's own well-being, even the loss of his physical body.

Recently a close friend of mine was diagnosed with breast carcinoma in both breasts. She had a double mastectomy. Simultaneously, her terrier had to have his tail amputated because of severe allergies which caused him unrelenting suffering. Two holistic vets took him home and tried every traditional and holistic treatment available with no lasting improvement. When my human friend started her chemotherapy regimen, which suppressed her immune system, her loving companion had to be put to sleep as his immune system crashed too. Coincidence or inseparable bond? I don't know that answer, but it is interesting how many animals have the same or similar diseases and symptoms as their humans.

I always laugh when I see a new client who is hiding behind a façade and their little dog or other animal is telling on them with the urgency of a five-alarm fire. Our animal will often act out all those things we try to hide. We can't hide our secrets from them. I just smile each day and allow the surprises, miracles and healing to occur.

Animal Chiropractic? You Must Be Joking!
If you had informed me 18 years ago that I would spend my next 10 years in college learning the extensive intricacies of anatomy, joint function, and every secret of pathology known to the modern human mind, and that I would complete this arduous journey with the title "Animal Chiropractor," I would have laughed in disbelief. As it turned out, with enough education to become a brain surgeon, I became an animal chiropractor.

It appeared that the universe knew I would have to be given a push toward my path in life. So, my "career path guardian angels" chose to literally knock me on my rear end in the middle of a Wisconsin horse pasture one early spring as an invitation to explore the benefits of chiropractic care. This was akin to the sort of "invitation" you get when a 150-pound guard dog, teeth barred "invites" you to stay out of her territory. At the time, I was a rigidly serious pre-veterinary student guiltily stealing a few hours out of my heavy schedule for a Sunday horse ride with friends. Following the pleasant spring ride, as I was leading my blind mount back to pasture, the horse was suddenly bitten in the rear by a pasture mate. His maneuver to avoid the bite was quick and landed me on my back on a bed of spring mud and manure, which thinly blanketed a large rock. The owner of the farm found me in my compromised horizontal position and suggested that I see his daughter who was a great chiropractor. I smiled and silently thought, "Sure buddy, there's no way I'll see one of those quacks!" The "career path guardian angels" were surely rolling on a cloud somewhere joyously laughing at my serious obstinancy and ignorant self-righteousness.

It was shortly thereafter when the muscle relaxants and pain pills my doctor prescribed kept me from peak performance in my college studies that I changed my tune and discovered chiropractic care. One visit and I could walk in a vertical, pain-free fashion again. I was fortunate to find a chiropractor who explained how chiropractic works with the system of joints, muscles and nerves to not only promote health but to relieve pain and restore balance. This explanation was comprehensible and fit into my belief system, which held a death grip on the nature of scientific realty as "the truth."

Shortly after being invited to see a chiropractor, I changed my academic direction and became a pre-chiropractic student. As a result, I earned the second animal chiropractic certification awarded in the world from the US Veterinary Chiropractic Association. There are now approximately 400 certified animal chiropractors worldwide.

My interest in animal health care has never waned and I am committed to improving the quality of life for animals and their humans in a holistic non-invasive manner with nurtures the human animal bond. Animal chiropractic has become a tremendously successful vehicle for fulfilling that commitment.

Julie Kaufman lives in Cottage Grove, WI and is a doctor of chiropractic and a certified animal chiropractor. She works on large and small animals through the state of Wisconsin.