This site was created to help you find out more about this growing field.
Whether you are thinking about a career as an animal massage therapist, searching for a massage school, looking for new ideas for your animal massage practice, want to find an animal massage therapist for your pet, or just want to learn more about animal massage, you will find lots of useful information here.
Although massage has been practiced on people for thousands of years, it is only recently that this service has become available to our pets. Massage brings the same health benefits to animals as it does to us humans: it helps to reduce stress, increase flexibility and movement, enhance circulation, and contributes to the overall ability of the body to function properly. If you have received a massage yourself, you know the feeling of well being, relaxation and rejuvenation you feel afterwards.
What is it?
Massage is a gentle, non-invasive treatment beneficial to dogs of all ages, breeds and activity levels. You don’t have to suffer from an injury to benefit from massage. Just think about how stiff you feel after sitting down for a long period of time (working on your computer, or on a road trip maybe). You get up and stretch and feel your shoulders ache. A deep tissue massage loosens all that up and you can move freely and without pain for a while again. The same is true for dogs, and while most are excellent “stretchers” they can’t book a massage for themselves to get the knots out.
In cases where there is an injury, or after surgery, massage can be a tremendous help in getting the body back to “it’s old self”. Each muscle affects other muscles. The body will compensate for pain felt in one area by transferring body weight to a different area. If for example the dog has an injury to a back leg, the muscles in his shoulders and front legs will be sore and tight from taking on the entire body weight to compensate for the injured back leg. The whole body is also joined together by connective tissue, so massaging one area of the body will have a positive effect all over.
To read more, check out my “Who Needs Animal Massage” post.
