It Isn't Easy Getting Old – Even For A Dog

By Janel Bladow

New York City isn’t easy for seniors, what with the all the stairs, subways and sidewalks.

It’s even harder if you’re an old dog.

Imagine pounding the pavement twice as much. If you have four legs and the wrists, hips and joints that go with them, the impact on concrete is even more stressful on your bones and ligaments.

Not to overlook that a dog’s nose is busy sniffing up all the scents on that sidewalk, so pollution, pollen and dust and dirt gets into your lungs and fouls up your system. That puts added stress on your internal organs, which are smaller than ours.

Plus, a dog’s hearing is more sensitive than humans’, so the honking, construction, screeching brakes and all that other city white noise is assaulting your tiny eardrums.

“We have to take care of our aging pets as we would our grandmothers and grandfathers,” says Babette Gladstein, VMD, a licensed veterinarian who specializes in animal physical therapy and wellness care. For the last six years, Dr. Galdstein has practiced both traditional and alternative medical care for animals including acupuncture, ultrasound, massage and prolotherapy, which is a natural solution injected directly into ligaments and tendons that rebuilds the tissue.

“Your pet has been part of your family for 12, 13 years. You have to value that. You can’t abandon them as they get older,” she says.

Dogs today are living longer, she says because of advancements made in pet medicine and nutrition.

“As people are living longer, you’ve got to expect that to transfer and that pets are living longer too.”

My dog Rory, a Lab mix, is 12 ½ years old this month and is showing signs that New York City is hard on dogs. We live on the fourth floor of a walk-up downtown and its taking a toll on his joints and hips. He’s also developed breathing condition in the last year which is making the climb even more difficult for him. The stairs leave him choking and gasping for breath.

He’s been to his regular vet, an old country doctor upstate who said “he’s getting old,” and prescribed steroids. He’s also been treated with asthma drugs by a downtown vet, and he just had a high-tech visit to Fifth Avenue Veterinary Specialists on Fifteen Street, where they did a digital x-ray and performed a Larynogoscopy, where they put a tiny camera down his throat. They diagnosed him with Laryngeal paralysis, a condition that causes the cartilages and folds in his throat to fail, leaving him breathless, struggling for air.

But today, he’s attentively sniffing and watching Dr. Gladstein as she unpacks her doctor bag in our living room. Yes, she makes house calls.

“I’m the person who moves around to take care of them,” she says pulling cords, needles and ultrasound machines from her bag.

Dr. Gladstein reviewed Rory’s blood work and x-rays beforehand. After talking with me about his diet, exercise and lifestyle, she decided he is a good candidate for acupuncture, prolotherapy, massage and electro-stim, a series of electrical stimulations from a state-of-the-art laser machine just like those used in sport medicine clinics.

Her curious patient wags his tail as she gets down on his bed with him. She starts by inserting a hair-thin acupuncture needle in the top of his head.

“This one is to calm him,” she says as she rubs his black coat at the back of his neck.

Rory’s ears are back and he looks a little anxious, like he’s thinking “what is happening to me,” but he soon settles in and Dr. Gladstein inserts more than 20 needles in his hips, legs and along his back and shoulders.

She takes her laser electro-stim and massages it into various points on his legs and back.

His expression has changed. Now he’s smiling!

“Dogs usually like it and respond very well,” she says. “They feel comfortable and it actually feels good.”

The treatment takes about an hour and Rory has sat patiently though all the rubbing, poking and pulling. Dr. Galdstein shows me several stretching exercises to do with him daily.

“His right front leg is tight,” she says, showing me by pulling it straight out in front of him. He winces. “That means it hurts.” She explains that because of his left rear hip dysplasia, the front right leg has to work harder to compensate. The tendons should loosen up with stretching and the electro-stim.

She shows me a series of massages to do daily. First she kneads her fingers down his back, along his spine, making sure to also to gently twist the vertebra in his tail, “the tail is part of the spine and it also needs to be aligned,” she says.

Next she stands behind him to gently stretch one at a time both his hind thighs out from his hips. “As dogs age, their stance gets narrower so it’s necessary to stretch their inner thigh muscles,” she explains.

She also recommends that he go on a diet of protein and vegetables. “Feed him from the table,” she says, suggesting steamed fish and veggies, seared beef and well-cooked chicken and turkey.

“Dogs don’t need as many carbohydrates as they’re getting in processed foods,” she says matter-of-factly.

She also recommends that he take Omega 3 fatty acids, including fish oil and a natural multi-vitamin for dogs.

“And plenty exercise,” she says, stressing that a dog is never too old to learn a new trick. “Agility tubes are great to get him down and stretching his limbs.”

Rory was pretty tuckered out from his session and after a second visit, we could actually see that he was moving around faster, more confidently, and taking the stairs better than he had been. Her third visit left him running like a teenager after a squirrel at the dog run.

Dr. Gladstein recommends at least three acupuncture treatments to see if the dog responds. It can take as many as six treatments see real improvement.

After a month on his new diet, vitamins and exercising, his breathing is less labored, he hasn’t had a paralysis attack and he’s actually having more fun with the younger dogs.

And yep, there’s a smile on his face.

To learn more about dog acupuncture and wellness care, go to http://www.
animalacupuncture.net/.