What if osteopathy could also be practiced for dogs? After all, animals face health issues too: various pains, mobility challenges, surgical recovery… While the veterinarian remains the number-one professional for animal health—especially for domestic pets—an osteopath works alongside them to enhance comfort for these animals.
Animal Osteopathy: A Still Relatively Niche Profession
Historically, the first osteopathic treatment wasn’t given to a human after all, but to a bovine. No surprise, then, that this manual therapy, now widely known, is applied to animals—dogs, cats, and horses among them.
The Principles of Osteopathy
Osteopathy rests on the principle of the body’s self-healing. The manipulations performed during sessions of this manual therapy help trigger this natural process so the body can regain its balance.
While many seek help for musculoskeletal disorders, osteopathy is not limited to that. As with humans, the scope of animal osteopathy is much broader: visceral, vascular, sensory, and behavioral issues…
A Trained Health Professional
The animal osteopath, whether a canine osteopath, an equine osteopath, or a feline osteopath, is a health professional who has completed two distinct education paths.
It can be a veterinarian who has chosen to add another tool to their repertoire. They have thus completed their veterinary studies with a two- or three-year specialization in osteopathy to become a veterinary osteopath. The future caregiver can also choose a more direct path to set up as an animal osteopath after completing a five-year program at a private school.
What Does an Animal Osteopathy Consultation Look Like?
As noted above, there are many reasons to walk into an animal osteopathy clinic with your furry companion.
Why Hire an Animal Osteopath?
Osteopathy can help your animal in a wide range of scenarios.
First and foremost, like for humans, it’s a preventive method. Professionals commonly recommend two sessions per year.
It is also therapeutic. So, if you notice your animal is having trouble moving, has had an accident, suffers from digestive issues, displays an unusual coat, or isn’t eating, you can bring them to an animal osteopath who treats these kinds of concerns.
Notice that a cat or dog’s mood is often reflected in their behavior. Animals also experience stress and sleep issues. These problems, along with behavioral concerns such as aggression, lead to consultation requests.
The method can sometimes spare the animal from undergoing a surgical operation. This may be the case when they suffer from sciatic pain or a spinal issue. When surgery is unavoidable, osteopathy can be a valuable aid to improve healing and manage post-operative pain.
In an Animal Osteopath’s Clinic
The challenge for the animal osteopath is that a crucial part of the consultation may be missing. Yes, it’s hard to talk to the patient in the same way you would with a human patient to learn their history and mood. The animal osteopath must therefore rely entirely on their finely tuned sense of touch.
Thus, through a combination of gentle palpation techniques and various pressures, the osteopath identifies tensions and determines the origin of the dysfunction. The manipulations act like messages that tell the body how to reboot the system, so to speak.
Osteopathy does not replace a veterinary visit. Keep in mind that for fractures, dislocations, or when the animal has an infection with fever, you should consult your veterinarian first.
