Sept 22, 2011
You know that feeling you get after a good massage? Well, now your best friend -- er, we mean your pet dog here -- can get one too.
Canine Myofunctional Therapy (which is the fancy name for professional dog massage) alleviates their pain if they have an illness (such as arthritis which is common in old dogs) and is also a good health booster.
And Irene Lim, 39, offers just such a service.
"The therapy is synonymous with a human massage," she said at her house. With her were her pooches Brandi, 1, and Clyde, 5. They happily subjected themselves to the ministrations of Irene as we watched.
Irene said a good massage encourages better circulation, and the dogs will have less sprains and muscle pulls (the latter particularly common in old dogs).
Aside from that, it's also a pain reliever.
She likens it to when humans go for a massage: while massages don't cure them of their illnesses -- for example, athritis -- it alleviates their pain, even if only for a while.
After all, dogs generally suffer the same diseases as ageing humans: aside from arthritis, dogs also get hip dysplasia.
"A therapy like this is not a cure, but just to ease," she said.
The massage is just 30 minutes at the most. The reason why it's so short is because dogs can be fussy!
And for some dogs, the massage lasts just 10 minutes! Irene said this usually happens when dogs are new to massage.
But they end up falling in love with the massage!
"In time they realise the benefits of the massage and will fall asleep during the therapy," Irene said, adding that she never forces the dogs to submit to a massage if they don't want to.
"I listen to the dogs, and will not force a dog to sit down for the therapy if it has had enough," she said.
So, how did all this start for Irene? Well, she said she has always loved animals and five years ago, her pet dog died of "an illness that was not detected until it was too late."
The death spurred her to find ways to help animals. She ruled out vet school as that would take four years and she didn't feel comfortable going back to school at her age (she's a law graduate and has worked here and in the UK).
A year of research led her to an intensive course on Canine Myofunctional Therapy in Melbourne which taught her the thereotical stuff (nutrition, physiology, etc.), and then she did her practical here.
Irene is adamant that the massage should only be done by a qualified therapist: "[....] an untrained person can easily hurt the muscles of the dog and make things worse," she said.
"Imagine going to a masseuse to get a massage and come out feeling battered and bruised because the masseuse didn't know what she was doing," she said.
If you are still unconvinced about Canine Myofunctional Therapy, just ask Marilyn Yen, 38. The stay-at-home-mom and owner of three pets is happy that she sent her dogs -- Maggie, 4 and Walter, 7 -- for the massage.
Maggie, a British bulldog who was rescued when she was a puppy, was not very mobile before this. She, Marilyn explains,"could run and walk but not very well" and had to drag one paw around. But now she's able to walk normally and can even jump on her hind legs!
And then there's Walter, a highly-strung miniature Schnauzer. He used to bark non-stop -- Marilyn suspects the inhumane pet store where he was from made him nervous -- but has since calmed down.
Maggie went through 15 sessions, and Walter, eight.
"I had nothing to lose," Marilyn said, explaining why she sent Maggie and Walter for the massage and describes the sessions as "very successful."
Interested? Call Irene at 012-302 7658 or visit her website for more information. Each session costs RM60 (for small dogs), RM70 (medium dogs) and RM80 (large dogs).
