How To Promote Weight Loss: The Big Dog, Big Losers CompetitionJune 21, 2007Nine-year-old Winnie used to spend her evenings like many children her age: lounging around on the couch, watching television and eating her favorite snack—chicken alfredo pizza. The only problem: Winnie wasn't a 9-year-old child. She is a schnauzer-poodle mix. And at 27.3 pounds, she was also 8 pounds overweight, according to Anne Chauvet, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM and owner of Veterinary Neuro Services LLC in Sarasota, Fla. Winnie's owners, Bonny Rauch and husband Larry, of Bradenton, Fla., decided to take action on Winnie's weight problem when another family pet, also an overweight schnauzer, died of kidney failure at age 7. That's when Rauch found an advertisement in her local newspaper for the Big Dog, Big Loser contest, a weight-loss competition hosted by Veterinary Neuro Services to help dog owners get their pets back into shape. The 12-week competition started Jan. 17 and began with eight contestants, each of whom received a health check-up from their own veterinarian before the competition. After Dr. Chauvet's staff got the go-ahead from participants' veterinarians, they loaded the dogs' physical information into Royal Canin's "Fit for Life" software program to determine their target weight and the diet needed to get them there. The software also calculated …
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New Center To Use Alternative Medicine To Restore Pets' HealthMay 22, 2007It's not every day that a dog gets to lounge in a Jacuzzi, receive an acupuncture treatment or sleep in a room that more closely resembles a bachelor's pad than it does a kennel run. But that is the type of treatment pet owners can expect their animals to receive at the Restore Health Center, a nonprofit rehabilitation center for dogs and cats. Although the center is still in the planning stage, the land for it has already been purchased in Garden Grove, Calif., and construction is expected to begin this spring. "It will be a unique center for short-term health care," says W. Jean Dodds, DVM, who is the driving force behind the multi-million dollar operation. "As far as I know, it [will be] the nation's first center focused on restoring health for dogs and cats with special needs and during recovery." In addition to acupuncture and chiropractic treatments, Dr. Dodds' center will also offer herbal therapy, aromatherapy and physiotherapy. A health care center for recovering pets is long overdue, says Dodds, a veterinarian for 42 years. She adds that the center is neither a hospice nor a boarding kennel, but merely an option for pets whose health conditions …
