Dr. Ava Frick: A Guide to Thriving Senior Dog Care and Wellness| E43

[00:00:00] That's a thing that a lot of times people have that concept that, oh, they're just old and so it's a part of being old. But we don't have to look at it that way. Welcome to The Pet Care Report podcast by Pet Summits. Here's your natural dog health

[00:00:24] care host, Alora McKinley. Good night guys. Thanks for joining me on another episode. There is a ton of lectures we'd pet experts on a range of topics to help pet parents assist the dogs to age gracefully

[00:00:36] and thrive as they get older. Today's podcast guest Dr. Ava Frick found out of the life extent method and host of our pet summit senior dog summit. With a 42-year career, she is renowned for integrating veterinary medicine with chiropractic, physiotherapy, nutrition

[00:00:54] and microcurrent therapies. Her pioneering work, especially in microcurrent therapy, has significantly enhanced animal health among javity. Incidentally, recognized for her research in a quant exercise and hair tissue, mineral analysis. She is an inductee into the animal chiropractic Hall of Fame. And a recipient of a visionary award.

[00:01:17] Dr. Frick's journey from Farmdale to pioneering veterinarian is chronic good in her biography conversations with animals. Thank you so much for joining me today, Dr. Frick. Well, thank you. And it's lovely to be here and help to share the information that pet

[00:01:31] summits is expanding and delivering to the public. So they're really doing a great job. Yeah. And this is such an important topic because all adults age eventually some stage in their life. So what are some key factors that contribute to extending adult's lifespan, particularly

[00:01:46] as they enter those senior years? As we talk about this when we talk about the older dogs, there's really a transition timeline. So you have the seniors which depending on the size and the

[00:01:57] breed of the dog could start maybe around seven or eight years and maybe go till their 10 or 12. And then they would start into what we would consider geriatric. So that is the ones that are

[00:02:11] really a lot older. I mean, into that age like a person who would be 80 or 90 versus 60 or 70. And if we look at those in that geriatric timeline, so if it's a great day, that would actually happen around 10 or 11 years. But if it's a chihuahua,

[00:02:28] you know, that won't happen until they're more like 13 or 14 something like that, maybe even little bit later. But on those geriatric ones, now we're into that phase of their life where we're really wanting to try to make them be comfortable. We have to look at that point like

[00:02:47] is there arthritis? They've got problems with mobility and balance. So we're not wanting them to hurt themselves further. We're looking at quality of sleep because a lot of times the pain factors now

[00:02:59] have accumulated and so they have troubles sleeping and we all know if you don't sleep well, the rest of your next day doesn't pan out either. And then with them we have those chronic

[00:03:13] conditions that have built up. So whether or not it's the diabetes of a kidney problem or heart problem, well we've got the wearing down of their sustenance of those chronic diseases.

[00:03:25] So at that point in the program, we're really helping to deliver to you the pet parents out there ways that you can help ease that pain that they if it's not going to throw those kidneys

[00:03:40] or liver into some other tragic trajectory. We have a lot of different information about like lasers and the microcurrent and massage and all kinds of things that you can do essential

[00:03:52] oils to help the quality of their life so that every day is a little bit better. And a lot of times even in those geriatric students can roll them back. I've seen many of them where once you get started

[00:04:05] with the program that instead of them being at that 15 16 decrepit all of a sudden it's like hey this is like when they were 11 or 12 and even a big size dog so recently had a Gordon

[00:04:19] Sutter that 17 and that's like really old for that. I mean let's like a person being over 100. So now if we look at those that are in that senior category and they're starting to get older this is the timeline where if you haven't already been looking at preventative

[00:04:36] you can definitely start implementing things to help prevent these this more of a decrepit age geriatric dog. So again a lot of the things that's in the program are going to help so things about exercise, massage even starting with them and improving the harness fitting. There

[00:04:58] are many harnesses that dogs wear that the owners don't realize this is causing problems, causing problems maybe across the shoulders or where it connects in the back. So that wears on their overall metabolism on the organs side because of the acupuncture points that are being

[00:05:19] affected but also it creates altered posture and so this is where then the chiropractic comes in even acupuncture can help to start preventing them from declining at a faster rate. Exercise programs, different herbs improving on the diet and getting that inflammation down. All

[00:05:42] of those degenerative diseases are inflammatory. So we talk about that understanding what creates inflammation and how with the herit tissue mineral analysis you can actually find out a number like how bad the inflammation is and then work with the right nutrients to help bring that down.

[00:06:01] And I'm sorry for how you mentioned that it's not too late to start because I think a lot of pet parents may adopt an older dog or acquire an older dog and may feel that maybe there's no

[00:06:10] use because they've missed that stage but yeah I like that point that it's never too late to to implement some strategies. Yeah that's a thing that a lot of times people have that concept that

[00:06:24] of they're just old and so it's a part of being old but we don't have to look at it that way. There's always time to make changes and things that you can do even to the toenails,

[00:06:34] you know understanding about how to get a toenail trim all grovers don't trim well. So that's another area where improvements can be made that then help correct their posture. Keep ligaments and tendons from getting weak and stretch out. Make their back feel better.

[00:06:50] Hope them sleep better. They can run and play better. All those kinds of things. And now as dogs age, we change significantly. We want to be assessed when a thing's like you mentioned maybe they're diet, they exercise regime and there's some strategies specifically

[00:07:07] tailored for senior dogs that can really help improve their quality of life and maybe potentially extends their life spent. Well certainly the diet part, you know you start looking at that a little bit differently and first thing is and I'm sure most of the people that are watching

[00:07:23] these programs have seen a lot of the others. So they know that they extruded cable creates inflammation and that's not what you want to be feeding but certainly just like with

[00:07:32] people as you age a lot of times those raw vegetables and salads even though you might like them they don't your stomach doesn't process them well and it can be the same with the dog. So

[00:07:44] where you might want to feed them veggies and it worked before or even a raw diet even if they're in a fast metabolism state which you may have to warm it up. There are things that you can do just

[00:07:57] with changes like that, warming the food that helps their digestive process isn't it? That helps them get more good out of everything. So from that perspective that would be one thing and then also

[00:08:11] is looking at the home environment and making sure that you don't have slippery floors. A lot of people nowadays have gone into different kinds of lamaments and it's all fancy and it's easy to

[00:08:24] keep clean because it's not carpet everywhere but for your boy those older guys sure have a lot of difficulty slipping and sliding and getting their legs played out. So sometimes the house becomes

[00:08:34] full of runners to make it to where they don't have to worry about where they're going to step and they're not afraid they're going to fall. So things like that in the environment we talk about that you can do to help ease their concern about their day-to-day welfare.

[00:08:51] I know that carapactics is a big part of your field. What kind of things can we do for at all the dogs in that sense? So carapractically speaking and then of course it would depend on

[00:09:05] where you live but there are pretty much now doctors so either carapractors that have been trained in animals or veterinarians that have been trained in animal chiropractic all over the world. So finding somebody that's certified not somebody that just watched some videos and went to a

[00:09:21] weekend course and decided okay I can do it because there's a lot of there's a lot to know to do it correctly and so you could end up with your dog being heard if you don't have somebody who's been

[00:09:31] certified and one of these accredited training programs but the benefit of the carapractic is the fact that it's instantaneous. It is so cool to be able to work on one and instantly you

[00:09:45] can just tell by their eyes and their body and their breathing and their ears and they turn and they thank you and they look I mean like it is instantaneous. So starting with that at any age

[00:09:58] helps keep those joints moving because if you think about it the spinal column all those joints that were considering every nerve that goes to every part of the body exits some joint and as those

[00:10:10] joints become distorted or maybe arthritis ready again sometimes it's this muscle tension but you got to you know you work with it and so that program is very very key and that's all a part of those

[00:10:22] pain pathways that's one of the parts the program that you really learn about pain like why are you given this dog a medication and the pain doesn't seem to be going away. Well there's

[00:10:35] four different areas of the body between where it happens and then the perception of the pain up at the brain level but all have to be addressed and not everything works that every one of those

[00:10:48] parts. So in the program of the senior dogs where I talk about pain you get a whole breakdown of that cascade of all of those pain pathways and why there's certain compounds and herbs and products

[00:11:04] and sometimes drugs to or therapies that work at one of those four pain pathways and maybe not the others so it's very key to having that four four-way program going if you have one that has pain

[00:11:16] so that you're addressing all aspects. And of any advancements in veterinary therapy that I contributing to Longa healthier lives and dogs? Well certainly the evolution of the whole animal rehab

[00:11:30] area. So this started back in the 90s, the mid 90s, I was one of the veterinarians and there was a group of physical therapists that we got together and started looking at how can we expand

[00:11:46] work together these two medical professions work together to actually create a benefit for animals and that has evolved into a huge program. There are many veterinarians now and physical therapists that are trained and how to help those body components in the biomechanics and this has been huge.

[00:12:08] So from that you have water therapy, the underwater treadmill, you have the fit, the balls, the ball therapy. So there's a lot of different exercise and support that has become common now and

[00:12:23] available in many areas for dogs so this is very key to helping them move from young or having an injury to rehab so that when they do become the senior or the geriatric, they're not compromised

[00:12:39] because of that early injury and rehab really makes a big difference. So I'd say that's one area. And certainly the chiropractic has been another, that's improved and improved and acupuncture is accepted now and also we look at essential oils they've become more familiar and study

[00:12:59] subindone with animals so that's another area where I want to talk about what the older ones there's only so many things you can get into their mouth whether it's in a tree or in their

[00:13:09] food and so being able to diffuse essential oils or put them on their body that can also be a great benefit and a relief to the pep parent because they're not half a dead, it melts into them.

[00:13:21] And other treatments faily access to dual-toe pet elements? Oh, certainly they are. People are looking for, well first off they know what works in humans and they probably in many

[00:13:33] times had it done on themselves so they're looking for is it available in animals and also a lot of things that are out there that are approved for people were done early on in research on the animals.

[00:13:46] So this is really just coming full circle and it's bringing back to the animals what some other animals spent their life proving was going to be okay for humans. So kind of a nice way to come

[00:14:00] back around and be able to now have it for animals and certainly you know everything is going to have a price tag with it but if you start these things earlier in life as preventative measures

[00:14:12] you're going to save on other veterinary bills. You won't have all the tests, you won't have the disease, you won't have those expensive drugs and you'll have a healthier happier pet and then

[00:14:24] when it comes to that time when it gets to that point which is the part of the senior program too is talking about when is it time to say goodbye. There's so much that's happened and developed there. There's hospice care, there are veterinarians that are just specifically about

[00:14:42] on the uthanasia and there are services that focus on being able to make that departure be less traumatic not only for you but also for the animal too. Now I'm sure you've spoken to a lot

[00:15:00] of pet parents over your career. Do you find that sometimes they're surprised at the things that they can do to help their older pets? I would say that was more common like maybe 20, 25 years ago

[00:15:14] but like when this was first developing there were veterinarians who didn't think it would work. It's like oh no that can't be so it was just that parents out there thinking yeah right

[00:15:30] but we've got a lot of data, a lot of research, a lot of years, a lot of history, a lot of testimonials and success stories so that obliterates all the original skepticism and now people really don't object or think twice about something that might appear to be different.

[00:15:49] I mean you can find it may be different in America but it may not be different in India, China or the Philippines or places that have been looking at food and life force and mental health as and I'm not talking mental health psychiatrists and drugs. I'm just talking

[00:16:09] about that on this with yourself and having that spiritual awareness for thousands of millennia. We're at a point now where all of this is looked at is like this is what I deserve it's

[00:16:27] what my pet deserves it's a part of really it's almost a part of a human right there are 30 human rights and those are the same rights for animals too mostly so under our care that they

[00:16:43] then fall into that ability to have much much more than what they were granted say 50 years ago when on a farm at dog maybe it was looked at is like oh it's a farm dog and it wasn't supposed to be

[00:16:56] in the house and some people still have rules like that animals are outside and you don't have a men's side but not this group. Yeah, history is like hey they're all about one of our family that's

[00:17:08] it that's it yeah tell us a little more about this summer what kind of benefits would people get from attending well some of the points I've touched on it is a culmination of all of that that we've

[00:17:22] discussed in in programs to where they can look at part of a program for as long as they want they can stop it and pick it up later so that's a convenience where they don't have to feel like oh I

[00:17:34] got to spend four days watching everything one after another after another um it does go into detail there's the uh interviews and there's the power points and there's you know just a lot of data

[00:17:48] some handouts there's documents there's freebies there's um videos on doing like the Tai Chi Gua program which is taken from Tai Chi for using with the with animals for helping support balance and

[00:18:03] movement and posture there's just a lot of detail a lot of fun and the fact that you can do it on your own timeline and that's very convenient now. That's awesome and I think I can go back and watch it

[00:18:19] for a few months it lasts for quite a while. Yes, yeah they've got like I said you don't have to just get on and watch at that evening if something comes up or that day you need to go you can watch it

[00:18:30] and sniff it and you can make notes and you can go back and listen to something over again. Yeah so you make sure you've there at all. Do you think it's beneficial for pet professionals to listen to

[00:18:40] the summer as well? Definitely there's a lot of information like each time I listen to one of the different doctors that we have on the program. I mean I'm likely to learn something too and I did

[00:18:53] throughout the the different programs that we've done the senior and the pain and it were incorporating a lot of that together that there's always something that can be picked up and while I try to make

[00:19:06] it be at a level that any education could grasp and understand there are some of those parts of the different aspects of what we talk about that are a little bit sciencey and do have a little

[00:19:18] more detail or go a little bit deeper but that then allows those who want to know more to know why I don't ever want to talk down to the public in a way that they don't it's not something

[00:19:31] they can reach for. I want to provide more information and then they can take the part of it that they need and sometimes it's like you watch something now and then you look at it a little bit

[00:19:41] later and I didn't hear that the other time you know I didn't catch that well now it's time you need to hear it and then maybe you didn't lastly what is your number one tip for pet owners

[00:19:51] to take away from this episode my thing would be prevention it would be don't wait until you're in a trap and you feel like you see your dog going downhill fast there's so much that can be

[00:20:06] done at any point in time but start earlier in their life and do a lot of this that we're sharing with you as a prevention and then you don't have to do as much as it will be later and you're

[00:20:23] going to have that dog that was a longer healthier happier life and then when that time calms you know you've done everything. So I think that's my tip is that look at this as prevention

[00:20:35] and it's going to help stop other chronic conditions it could help stop some of these things we talk about or prevention of cancer and prevention of the liver and the kidney from just

[00:20:46] you know calling it quits so yeah that's my key is is think about it as a prevention love it thank you so much stuff to Ayford's been a close one now where can I follow his find more about you

[00:20:59] well my website is life extend method calm life extend method calm so you can log on to there and it has all my different programs there's a lot of reading you can do on the nutrition page the pain page

[00:21:12] and there's some videos about if you haven't ever been exposed to carapractic there's some little clips and videos about carapractic being done on different animals so I would start with that you can go

[00:21:23] there then if you have some questions or you're interested in and something you can email me from that website. Beautiful thank you so much and give some more in the show notes and who I follow is

[00:21:35] don't forget to sign up for Dr. Fix Live workshops in the link below and as always don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any great episodes we'll see you next time