Michael Vick's Dogs - How are They Doing?

Posted by Clare Bristow | 6 Comments

If the following videos are anything to go by, they seem to be doing pretty well.

49 of the dogs recovered from Michael Vick's property in Virginia are now in sanctuaries and rescue groups being rehabilitated for adoption.

Considering these dogs spent almost eight months in shelters and dog pounds before going to their new foster homes in January this year they appear to be adapting to their new life very well.

Excuse me for the indulgence but here are 4 short videos showing the great work BAD RAP (the pit bull rescue and education group Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit bulls based in Oakland California) and foster parents have done in rehabilitating Hector, Jonny Justice, Uba and Ernie.

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Stem Cell Therapy for Dogs

Posted by Clare Bristow | Leave a Comment

yorkshire-terrier-with-stick

A company called Vet-Stem, which is based in San Diego, California, has started offering stem cell therapy treatment for dogs with arthritis or tendon and ligament injuries.

The company claims to have successfully treated 3,000 horses with tendon and ligament injuries since 2004, and is now offering a similar treatment for dogs via veterinary surgeons trained by Vet-Stem.

The stem cell therapy treatment takes place as follows:

  • your dog is anesthetized and two tablespoons of fat are taken, usually from his abdomen or around the shoulder blade;
  • the fat cells are sent to a Vet-Stem laboratory where the stem and regenerative cells are isolated;
  • these isolated cells are returned to your dog's vet in ready-to-inject syringes; and
  • your dog is treated by a course of injections.

Studies by clinics using this procedure on dogs with osteoarthritis and orthopedic soft tissue injuries show the benefit of each injection to last from several months to over a year.

According to Robert Harman DVM and founder of Vet-Stem, the treatment works because stem cells do more than just morph into the required body tissue - they provide growth factors and chemicals that help the injury heal by, amongst other things, reducing inflammation and preventing scar tissue from forming.

This sounds good, but as with all new therapy treatments the long term effects are as yet unknown.

The treatment is costly - according to a Live Science article it ranges from US$2,000 to $3,000 - but may be worth considering as a treatment option if you have an arthritic dog who's in severe pain and has difficulty moving around.

The Vet-Stem web site has more information about stem cell therapy for dogs and lists the vet's it has trained to apply the treatment.


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Songs to Make Your Dog Happy

Posted by Clare Bristow | Leave a Comment

dog-with-headphones

Two songwriters based in Laurel Canyon, California have produced a CD called "Songs to Make Dogs Happy".

Working with animal communicator Kim Ogden-Avrutik the songwriters, Dana Walden and Skip Haynes, identified which topics dogs liked and what style of music made dogs' tails wag.

After interviewing 214 dogs Ogden-Avrutik found that favorite dog topics included: I want my owners to love me, I want to tell my owners I love them, and I love my dog bed; and a Latin rhythm got the dogs' tails wagging.

12 songs were then written and tweaked until they were given the 'Paws Up' by a series of focus groups made up of about 90 dogs.

Here's a sample from the most popular track "Squeaky-Deakey"

If you'd like to listen to a sample of the tracks, head over to PetCDs where you can listen to an extract from all 12 songs.

Not convinced?

Apparently PJ, a dog living in Chicago, used to chew on curtains and couches whenever his owner left him alone in the house, but after listening to the CD PJ stopped his chewing and preferred lounging on the couch instead.

Still not convinced?

PJ's owner video-taped the newly relaxed pooch for 3 days to prove the CDs had a calming effect. Apparently Walden and Haynes have many other similar testimonials that they use to market their music.

I played all the sample tracks to Zoe and Fritz - Fritz was interested in 'Squeaky Deakey' and did start wagging his tail, he barked uncontrollably through 'Adventure Dog' (due to a dog barking in the background) and got up and left the room when 'I Like to Go Outside' played. Zoe lay on the floor unmoved by any of the tracks.

As we only listened to samples, it wasn't really a fair test of the music - has anyone else had experience of this CD?

The article on Songs to Make Dogs Happy appeared was published in the Los Angeles Daily News.


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