Veterinary Health Care
This handsome redhead is Tig! His humans don’t know exactly how old he is, when his birthday might be or where he even came from, but none of that matters because he is one good boy living one great life in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
His day to day life includes going for walks, which might seem pretty routine but for him, it’s basically his job because his mom is a full-time Fernie dog walker with Pet Tech Care. Tig makes so many friends, he gets along with absolutely everyone. Each day he gets to explore a different trail and when he’s not adventuring, he’s happily sharing his bed when his friends stay for a sleepover. He is the most patient, go-with-the-flow assistant anyone could ask for.
Coming up on a year ago, he developed a very concerning and rare condition called Trigeminal Neuritis. In short, it’s a sudden and usually unknown paralysis of the face. From one day to the next, he couldn’t close his jaw which made it difficult for him to eat and drink. Unfortunately there is no treatment and dogs typically improve slowly over time. For Tig, he lost a lot of facial muscle mass and took many months to recover.
One of the most difficult aspects in being a pet owner is facing the challenge in our animals not being able to tell us how they’re feeling when they aren’t well. It doesn’t take long for us to feel lost and helpless. Most of us will do just about anything to help them and there is no better way to achieve that than by working with the right veterinarian.
Between both Fernie and Cranbrook, we have a surprising number of options available to us, some which are lesser known. Not only do we have a handful of clinics to choose from, we also have some vets offering complementary and alternative veterinary medicine.
Some will go the extra mile in their training and get additional certifications to complement and expand their practice. For example, those who can do animal chiropractic or veterinary orthopedic manipulation are able to further help patients with physical ailments and these types of methods can be very effective for pain management. Same with canine physiotherapy, although these practitioners are not usually veterinarians, but they work alongside them through referrals. Either your vet can refer you or you can ask for one if you feel your dog needs physical therapy or even professional massage.
We have one Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine doctor who offers a wide range of options including acupuncture, food therapy, herbal medicine and homeopathy. These alternative modalities can be helpful to treat the same medical issues as conventional medicine, simply with a different approach.
Much like us, dogs are individually unique and some methods work better than others. It’s important to build a trusting relationship with your veterinarian because you inevitably have to work together. Our role is to prioritize our dogs and make decisions for them. We easily forget, but remember that we each have the opportunity to choose our veterinarians as well as communicate openly and clearly with them. There’s nothing worse than working with someone you don’t agree with and veterinarians often get a bad rep but in those cases, they feel the same. They are professionals who want to give the best advice that they can. Inform yourself on their skills, ask questions, seek what you feel is right and you will be pleased and have the best success at keeping your dog healthy.