Maybe your pet is panting more than usual…or she doesn’t want to jump up on the cat tree…or he’s licking an area on his leg all the time. These symptoms are signs that your pet is in pain—and by the time they’re showing you those behaviors, there’s a good chance they have been uncomfortable for quite a while.
Pets often instinctively hide pain, and that’s why September has been designated as Animal Pain Awareness Month. The goal is to help pet parents recognize the signs of pain in their animal companions and learn about therapies available to help them. While acute or urgent pain is obvious, chronic pain can be subtle and pet owners may see it as simply “getting old” or “slowing down”.
At Animal Medical Center of the Cascades, we take treating pain very seriously and have many options for treatment. In addition to medication, we offer some drug-free options for assessing and managing your pet’s pain.
When it comes to pinpointing exactly where the problem is, there’s no better tool than digital thermal imaging. This non-invasive and inexpensive procedure gives us a visual picture of the inflammation and lack of circulation in your pet’s body, eliminating guesswork about what areas to treat.
Once the area of focus is identified, we highly recommend and offer laser therapy, which uses a beam of laser light to reduce pain, inflammation, and speed healing. This treatment is effective for a long list of conditions, including arthritis, joint disease, infections, sprains and strains, lick granulomas, skin allergies and more.
To find out if digital thermal imaging and laser therapy might help your pet, schedule a consultation online or by calling 571-434-0250.