Meet Buff.
He is a miniature poodle who is 15 years old. I have had him since my 7th birthday. He is pretty rad and anyone who knows me at all know that I love him an insane amount. Anyone who has met Buff can tell you how awesome he is. He still acts as a puppy and growls about literally everything (I am using "literally" in the correct sense; he growls when you pat him, pick him up, put him down.. anything) which is just his way of talking. He is extremely friendly, playful, well behaved and cuddly.
Unfortunately when I moved out I couldn't take him with me because I am on the 3rd floor of an apartment block which doesn't allow pets. Also I thought at his age it would probably be best if he stayed somewhere familiar.
About 6 months ago, Buff hurt himself by jerking his head back too quickly. He wasn't sleeping, wouldn't let anyone touch him, whining and yelping in pain. He was taken to the vet and the only thing they could do was put him on an insane amount of drugs. Don't get me wrong, vets are pretty awesome and ours is fantastic and stayed with Buff overnight to make sure he was okay. But giving him drugs was only making him numb to the real problem. His back.
Now my mum worked for chiropractors most of my life, so I have been getting adjustments since I can remember. My whole family does and it works for us, so why not for my dog? We had taken buff before and it had helped, so would it work when he was in such a bad state? We asked the vet and he said "well, at this point you might as well try anything.". Dad had started talking about cooking up a big T-Bone for Buff as his last meal..... Yeah I was going to try anything to keep my dog around.
At this stage I had kept Buff in my apartment because it stopped him from pacing in my parents big house. I was in the typing up stage of my honours and home all the time except for when I was at work when I left him at the parentals (which is 5mins from my work). This was slightly helping but not much. I drove him to Fiona Kates in Wattle Glen, which is 25km north-east from Melbourne's CBD. Her clinic is located next door to her house, so when you go there you will see number 18 before you see the sign. When you see the sign, drive up the driveway and park. The little building is the clinic (not the big main house). She put him up on this table thing because he is small (kinda like at the vets, but with grip) and adjusts him. It is not like at the human chiropractor where you lay down but he stands. She tests his reflexes, balance and how he is distributing his weight to compensate for any pain. It only took about 10-20mins and as expected he was pretty sore afterwards. She said for me to keep him in my apartment and would see me again in a week. After 3 weeks Buff was totally off all medication and was acting as his stupidly happy self again. We only had one set back when he was feeling super good 3 days later and decided to leap over the barrier and K.O. himself.
So we go every few months now as maintenance for him, it always helps him out in his old age. I want to make it clear this isn't some rich person hippy treatment, this is something that works! Fiona is certified which you can see here:
And she almost always agrees with the vet's opinion.
Now here are some more cute photos of the Buff
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