Articles with alternative treatments

Simitri Stable in Stride: Islay’s Knee Injury and Repair

Islay’s mom, Judith Brown, shares their experience with Simitri Stable in Stride to repair a ruptured cruciate ligament. Islay is a 7-year-old Gordon Setter female, she is the fifth generation of my own breeding program. I have been breeding GordonSetters under the Sassenach Prefix for 35 years. Islay is an extremely active athletic dog, she’s my competition girl. I’ve not…

by Jana Rade

PRP for CCL Injuries: Cookie’s PRP Treatment for Partial Cruciate (CCL/ACL) Tear Update and Considering the Future

Can regenerative therapy treat canine partial cruciate injuries? When I have an option to chose between surgery or regenerative therapy, I am always willing to consider regenerative therapy first. Platelet-rich plasma treatment is what we decided to try to treat Cookie’s partial CCL tears. Our experience A long time has passed since Cookie’s treatment. It is time to review how…

by Jana Rade

PRP Treatment for CCL Injury: Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Treatment for Cookie’s Bad Knee(s)

Can platelet-rich plasma treat a partial cruciate ligament tear in your dog? When we found out that Cookie’s knee(s) were bad, we had to make a decision about what to do next. Of course, there are the surgeries … but could we try something else first? We decided to give regenerative medicine a chance. It’s not like the surgery option…

by Jana Rade

Canine Partial Cruciate Tear: Theory and Actual Decisions for an Actual Dog—Cookie’s Knee Injury

As it turned out, Cookie has a partially torn cruciate in her left knee. We’ve been through this already with Jasmine. Bad ligaments in both knees. Decisions to be made. Back then, when Jasmine got her diagnosis, I had no idea what a cruciate ligament was, why it would get injured and what were our options. I had to learn…

by Jana Rade

Physical Therapy for Iliopsoas Injuries: Cookie’s Iliopsoas Injury Treatment—Laser, Hydrotherapy and Chiropractic

Now we get to the really good stuff – laser therapy, hydrotherapy, physical therapy, and chiropractic treatments. The first step in treating iliopsoas injuries is to control pain and inflammation. This can be achieved with rest and medications but laser therapy can do amazing things both for pain and inflammation control as well as encouraging the healing process. Without reducing…

by Jana Rade

Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer by day, dog health advocate, dog writer, member of the Dog Writers Association of America, and an award-winning author in my spare time. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Endless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care into my own hands. I learned the hard way that simply seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to finally get a diagnosis for her initial issue. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to use 20 years of hard-earned experience to save others from the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way, as I did.

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