Heat for Healing

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

16 Nov 2008 04:26 PM

Heat is a great natural healer.

For pets with arthritis, hip dysplasia, and other joint conditions, heat can make the difference between a stiff, painful morning and an easy start to the day. A friend of mine takes her older dog into the sauna in the mornings to help loosen things up!

Be careful! Electrical sources of heat like heat lamps and heating pads can be dangerous to your pet. These heat sources can burn the skin -- so never apply them directly to your pet. Always supervise your pet when using an electrical heat source.

Gentler heating sources are much safer for your pet. Try these:

• A reflecting bed. These pads are designed to reflect a pet's body heat back at them, keeping them warmer than a regular bed without being dangerously hot.
• A hot water bottle. Wrap it in towels to buffer the heat -- don't apply them directly to your pet's body. A regular water bottle filled with hot water works just as well as the real thing.
• A "rice bag". Maybe you have one of those little herbal pillows that you can warm up in the microwave? I don't think mine has any actual rice inside, but I'm also not going to open it up just to satisfy my curiosity! Again, wrap it in a towel after you warm it up to help reduce the risk of burns.
• A microwave heating disk. One of our guests at the cats-only boarding facility comes with a heating disk. Six minutes in the microwave and it stays warm for almost six hours!
• A big, cuddly blanket. Some pets like to make their own warm nests! We have a hairless cat who comes to stay at the boarding facility -- his owner brings a comforter and the cat burrows inside when he's cold.

Don't force your pet to cuddle up to the heat source if he doesn't want it. My dog Moose (who has hip dysplasia) doesn't actually like heat that much. Sometimes he'll flop down in front of the heat vent, but it isn't long before he starts panting because he's too hot.

One last word of caution: don't use heat on a pet who is unconscious or unable to move -- if it's too hot, they won't be able to get away.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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