Healing Touch for Dogs: The Proven Massage Program

My girlfriend moved in with me a few months ago and with her, a cute black cat. The only problem was that this cute black cat was traumatized and would spit, hiss and hit me whenever I would get near. It got so stressful in my home that I didn't know what to do anymore. Nothing I tried worked. I couldn't get through to this traumatized cat. I finally decided to pick up this book. I must have read only 20 pages or so and managed to approach the cat with those techniques I learned without her running away. When I finally got close enough to put my hand on her, she reluctantly allowed me to massage her for a few seconds. She freaked out a bit, hissed and slapped so I walked away gently maintaining a positive attitude. I was persistent yet patient and kept trying multiple times a day for about four days. To my surprise, in only four days she was beginning to ask me for massages. The massages went from 3 seconds with violent reactions to 30 or more minutes with reciprocal behavior. It's been about a week now and instead of running away from me and hiding, she jumps on my lap and lets me know she's ready for some love. My relationship with this cat went from being absolutely terrifying to positively loving and it took just one week. Now instead of her running away and hiding when she sees me, she waits for me at door when I come home and begs to be held. I am sure people who have traumatized pets will have different "time of recovery" results. I am assuming that I experienced a best case scenario, however the important things I took away from this book outside of massage technique is the perspective and attitude you must have to begin healing. You must believe this is going to work. At first I didn't. I thought this cat was far too traumatized to be helped. I am glad I was wrong. All she needed was love, attention and a patient yet persistent approach with a sprinkle of gentle. A word of advice. If you've never received a massage you should try it. See how it feels and what you like and don't like. When you begin your pet massage you should try and imagine how what you are doing would feel for you. A frame a reference is key to understanding how gentle to be and where to touch. In short, I found this book to be very helpful and I am very happy to have picked it up. If you are willing to see healing through a new perspective and try alternative treatments, you will find that trauma related negative behavior can be healed physiologically through physical touch. It's pretty amazing. You will see a complete change in personality and experience reciprocal love. Don't give up and don't be discouraged no matter how long it takes. And never ever be angry with your cat. Instead give them love and affection. It's never their fault they carry trauma. It is up to you to show them the power of healing and they will love you for it. This book will help you do just that.

Compassionate book. It gave me the confidence to massage my dog knowing what everything was that I was touching and how to be sure I wouldn't be hurting him. The very first time I gave him a massage, he absolutely melted with pleasure. He was not alone, I enjoyed it tremendously also. He gets massages often now. I feel the magic of bonding with him across species lines and the thrill of getting to know his body and he to feel my love and caring for him. As I do this with him more, I will better know his body and reactions and be in an ideal position to locate any places he is hurting and how I can best help him heal if he is ill. If you want a strong bond with your dog, this is a great place to learn about doing that. Dr Fox is very compassionate and caring for all animals.

I bought this book because I have two ill, elderly cats, and want to do more for them than shove pills down their throats. Although I was already intuitively doing a lot of what's described in this book, it does provide some new options for me. I gave it only a 4 because a lot of the information wasn't new to me. For someone newer to being the servant of cats, this is an EXCELLENT resource (probably a 5 star book) for learning how to interact physically with your cats, and what you learn in this book will bring both of you loads of good times and pleasure, as well as mutual healing.

Great instructions, and wonderful breakdown of the how and why to massage your pet. I think it's always worth investigating whether or not you can help yourself and others holistically, and the beauty of a cat is that she has clear and easy communication signals to hear when something is working or not. Purrfect book.

I'm not crazy about the author's writing style. He's a little wordy for me and I found myself skipping over things, because the first several chapters there's tons of details and he talks about himself a lot. That's fine for a biography, but what I was looking for was the something that when straight into how to apply massage to my dog. I don't think everyone is interested into an author's personal story of how or why they got "into it"....meaning their professional field. At least that is my perspective. It would have been fine had he contained it to one short chapter. I have small kids at home and can only squeeze time into reading before I turn out my own light.

I have a very "special" cat. He has been too interbred. He has what I would call an obsessive compulsive nervous disorder. He doesn't handle ANY change at all well. If I hang a mirror, my cat will freak-out. He will run around me with his eyes crossed, vomit, and then urinate. You don't want to know how he acts at Christmas!!! I have owned many cats in my time and I was truly at my breaking point with him. I tried everything...talked with my vet and medicated, cat-nip, calming remedies...nothing was working. My family gave up on him & for the very first time in my life, I was considering giving away a furry family member. I didn't because I knew nobody else would put-up with him, so I just distanced myself emotionally from him more and more and tried to accept the fact that this was forever. Then I bought this book. I didn't really believe that it would work, but I was desperate. I learned how to give him relaxing messages. His behavior changed from the first message. I saw him really relax for the first time ever. (I had him since he was a kitten and he was now 4 years old.) I'm not saying that he's completely "cured." He still occassionally freaks-out, but I haven't seen him cross his eyes in over a year. The vomitting & urinating occurs only rarely now. Through message not only did his behavior change for the better, but we emotionally bonded and now I can tell when he's "do" for another message and he actually tells me himself by jumping-up on me with a certain meow and paws at my hands!!! My family still laughs at him for being so weird, but there is no more talk of getting rid of him!!! Sometimes just petting a cat is not enough...a theraputic message is the key...your cats will thank you!!!

This is a great book with wonderful massage therapy for dogs and it gets specific to the problems the dog is having. It is also very easy to read and understand. I have not read it all, but did read the parts I needed right away and it helped a lot. A dog who had not been walking for several weeks is now able to walk again. I won't say it is all due to the therapy, but it certainly did contribute a lot. Well worth having in your book collection if you own dogs.

I'm so glad I got this book, my dogs love it too. I was thinking of getting the books on accupressure for dogs, but this one contains that informations, plus more. It has terrific tips on how to massage the animal, different kneading motions, my dogs were so relaxed after they get massaged, you can see they're so happy from it. It's a great way to bond with your dog. This book also contains step by step ways to check on your dog, how to check for ailments, and what to look out for. Very good buy! Highly recommended!

Dopo un'accurata spiegazione della morfologia e della muscolatura canina, spiega con accuratezza semplici tecniche di massaggio rilassante o terapeutico. Davvero utile!!!

Bien expliquez. Bonne lecture. Je suis contente d'avoir trouve ce livre. Bon outil de travail. Rien de plus a ajouter

Muy contento con este libro, se nota que el autor le puso mucho cariño al escribirlo. Detalla muy bien el cómo hacer los masajes, además de información básica sobre anatomía felina y puntos de acupresión (o acupuntura) en los gatos para fines de diagnóstico y terapéuticos. Sin olvidar que hace hincapié en tomar conciencia de nuestra nuestra actitud hacia nuestro amigo felino y de cómo le afecta, para bien y para mal, nuestra conducta.

This is a fabulous self help book to use to take care of your pet's health. Whether you know massage techniques or not,this book is easy to follow. There are explanations of anatomy and physiology which are very helpful. The explicit guidance on how to approach your dog with the massage routine are well written and easy to read. My dog was in seventh heaven as I applied her first massage. If a dog purred, she was doing it! She certainly let me know she loved it. Love the book and love the effect it has on my dog. If you love to receive massage yourself, try this out for your best friend! Wonderful!

With the vets approval we have been using massage on my 18 year old cat and he loves it. I found this book to be very helpful there is so much information in it.