You love your animals and you want the best possible health for them. You probably go to a great veterinary surgeon regularly for your pet to have vaccinations and a health check. So why should you consider complementary therapies? Do complementary therapies even work alongside 'conventional medicines'?

Here's some tips and answers to your questions on complementary therapies for your animals:

Question: Why consider complementary therapies for your animal?
Answer: It's true that if your animals seem well it may seem an unnecessary expense to use any supplements or therapies, but as with so many things, prevention is better than cure. By helping your horse, dog, cat or other animal to have as healthy immune system as possible, and to be fit and happy it can help to reduce the likelihood of illness, or the severity of it. Complementary therapies can help promote wellbeing as well as helping with some ailments.

What therapies or supplements maybe helpful for your animal to prevent illness?

Animal Massage - Horses, dogs, cats, cattle, sheep - many animals really can benefit from massage. It can help promote movement, ease joint and muscle stiffness and also be relaxing.
Animal Physiotherapy - This is great for not only rehabilitation after injury or surgery, but as a preventative way to reduce the likelihood of muscle or joint strain. Often an animal physiotherapist will give you exercises to use between treatments too.
Bach Flower Remedies - These will not prevent or treat illness, but they are excellent in effectively 'balancing' the emotions. For instance if you take your horse to shows and your horse gets stressed by the experience, a bach flower remedy maybe helpful to alleviate the stress and make it all more enjoyable for you and your horse!
Animal Hydrotherapy - Swimming and aqua treadmills are now commonplace in many areas, and can be enjoyed by dogs, horses and other animals - even cats and rabbits! These can be used to promote mobility and provide exercise as part of an integrated fitness regime.
Supplements - there are lots of different supplements on the market for you to buy for your animal. As with many things the quality of ingredients and processing plus quantity of the active ingredients will vary enormously, so do choose the brand/product carefully. You may think it's not necessary to use supplements if your animal has good quality meals. But some animals need extra support at different times of their life. Supplements containing MSM, Glucosamine, Chondroitin or turmeric are popular to help promote joint mobility, (especially with arthritic conditions).

There are many other therapies that can be used too. Please find information on more therapies in my directory of complementary therapies for animals here.

Do complementary therapies work alongside conventional medicine?

• Yes many therapies do.
• Some herbal supplements may not be suitable though. It depends on what medicine your animal is taking as to whether it would be safe to have a supplement, always ask your veterinary surgeon before trying any supplements to make sure there will be no adverse effects.
• But therapies like massage, physiotherapy, osteopathy and 'energy therapies' like Reiki or Radionics will be normally fine. (You can get information on all of these here at Taranet, go to the directory page or sitemap.
• Sometimes after major surgery physiotherapy or chiropractic and other 'manual therapies' may not be suitable straight away, but your veterinary surgeon will be able to advise you and of course always use a professionally qualified therapist for your animal to ensure they know their stuff!
• Don't forget that there's legislation in place around the world to protect animal health, in the UK this is the Veterinary Act. If in doubt speak to your vet. A professional therapist for animals will want to work with your vet anyway, to get the best results for your animal.

Is there any research to prove complementary therapies work to help animals?

• Yes there is! Visit my complementary animal therapies research page here for a list of different evidence.

If you've any questions or would like to find a veterinary surgeon specialising in holistic approaches or a complementary therapist for your animal, please email me at info @ taranet.co.uk for help.