Venturing out into public
Posted by lisa on Oct 24, 2008
I will be at Pet World, in Natick, MA, this weekend, from 11am to 1pm, giving massages to benefit their Pet Shelter. There will also be a microchip clinic, also for charity. Stop by and see me!
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Article on Stress in Animals
Posted by lisa on Oct 24, 2008
The LiveScience blog has a good article by Clara Moskowitz, on how stress affects animals. In addition to all the stressors of their normals lives in the wild or in captivity, they can pick up the stress of the humans they live with. Stress has both positive and negative physiological effects in animals, and inspires a desire for comfort food! From the article
In both humans and animals, stress causes the body to release adrenaline and cortisol hormones. These chemicals cause heart rate and respiration to speed up, and suppress the immune system. Stress also clamps down on the reproductive system, reducing libido and reproductive hormones, which ultimately increases the risk for cardiovascular disease.
All these all-too-human effects have also been measured in animals.
Wilson’s subordinate rhesus monkeys, for example, have disrupted reproductive cycles, are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease than dominant females, and seem to show up with higher rates of infection and illness.
“Stress is adaptive to a certain degree, but after a while it’s really maladaptive,” Wilson said. “One of the first things to be affected is the reproductive system. Yeah, it makes some evolutionary sense that you don’t want to reproduce if you’re in danger. But when your reproductive system shuts down, you have all these secondary effects, like increased cardiovascular disease risk, which are really maladaptive.”
Read the whole article here, and remember that massage triggers the relaxation response in humans and animals.
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Massage Event at WetnoZe
Posted by lisa on Oct 19, 2008
I traveled to Quincy, MA this weekend for a massage event at WetnoZe Pet Concierge on W. Elm St. What a cute place! They specialize in small dogs, so I was coated in Shih-tzus and Cavaliers at all times. The dogs really seem to love it there.
There is a nice pic of the event on their blog.
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Save A Dog Shelter Contest update
Posted by lisa on Oct 9, 2008
Thank you! Save A Dog is now 99th in the nation, 3rd in the state! I heard, but don’t know for sure, that there is a prize for keeping the #1 in the state position for a week. See yesterday’s post for how to help by voting for Save A Dog.
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Shelter Challenge for Save A Dog
Posted by lisa on Oct 8, 2008
I’d like to ask for a little help. For my massage internship I worked with the Save A Dog rescue, massaging their dogs that were in isolation before adoption. I’m very grateful to them for the opportunity, and I’m glad I could help the pups sleep better at night in the kennel. I still volunteer with them because they are such a good group, and a really well-run rescue.
The Animal Rescue site is having a vote for your favorite shelter challenge. Grand Prize is $25,000, which would be a great help in finishing off their new shelter they are building right now. Save A Dog is currently ranked 158th nationally, 5th in MA. Please vote for them.
All you do is go here, put “Save A Dog” in the shelter name (optional), “MA” for the state, and “Framingham” for the town. Then click vote when it takes you to the new screen. I thank you!
The Animal Rescue site is a great place to visit every day and click for free food for shelter animals. They also have cute stuff for gifts, and each purchase helps the animals.
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Wake Up Call
Posted by lisa on Oct 5, 2008
One of my wonderful commenters just reminded me I hadn’t posted in an age. Everything is good; I was just overwhelmed with working full time, finishing school and my internship, and doing my case study. And this Monday, I graduated! I’m now a Certified Small Animal Massage Therapist.
There is a writeup of my case study (the lovely Strider) in the words of his owner on my business site. I’ve been having a lot of luck lately with using massage and Reiki to help behavioral problems. I’ll write more on that later. Now that I’m done with school and am going to make a go of this business, I will be a more faithful blogger.
Thanks for reading!
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