Pain Relief For Cats & Dogs

Cats and Dogs, like people get  their fair share of ailments  the older they get.

Joint displacement, illness, broken bones, rheumatoid arthritis, or even just by now healing injuries are many of the most frequent ailments that treatment is necessary

We must be very careful and observant whenever we sense they might be in pain. We also need not worry that a trip to the vet means your four-legged friend being put to sleep. The days are gone when the vets first thought was that, nowadays there’s a lot more known about illness and cures for it.

I for one had a terrible time several years ago, when my dog died. She was only seven and never appeared to have been ill all her life. About a week before she died, she was out running around as usual, but when she came in she just lay at my feet and wouldn’t move, even for her food. I brought water to her and a couple of hours later, she got up, a little unsteady and appeared to be ok. I never went to the vet, but a week later she just died in her sleep. She never showed any sign of pain, but was surely in some. I only wished I had gone to the vet and got her checked out straight away. So do not fall into the same trap, as it is easy to do.

For example, frequently cats and kittens get over severe  injury without any ill effects  whatsoever, but don’t allow that to put  you off visiting the veterinarian.  Most of us  are aware that felines conceal their pain.   How they ‘tell’ you they may be  suffering is usually to go off their meals   and the fact that they may be so weak  they are able to hardly get up the stairs,  should also suggest that they’re  extremely not well and need to visit a veterinarian  promptly. I must stress, that  although stated previously, it really is  usually very difficult to advise  if felines are in pain,  they are going to display behavioral changes  when they’re in pain and just about  always they go off their meals and  become extremely withdrawn and  depressed.  I highly recommend you don’t take the  idea that your cat is quietly purring necessarily mean  that they’re well, as it is understood  that a cat will purr a good deal when  they may be about to pass away.

Dogs are very similar in the fact they normally go off their meals when not well, and may hide their pain, but a dog is more prone to display discomfort and may yowl more frequently. The visible difference, is they won’t go away to heal by themselves. Observe them closely and they’ll continue to keep attempting to lick or scratch an corrupted vicinity. After all Watching your dog’s toilet patterns is probably not one of the top ten spectator activities, nonetheless it can provide priceless clues about the overall health of your pet. The quantity of bowel motions daily may differ substantially from dog to dog. The # 1 consideration is always that the evacuations are regular in addition to constant appearance. Keep in mind particular foods may possibly alter the colour of the faeces. For example, charcoal cookies will generate dark faeces. Any chronic or severe diarrhea or bowel obstruction calls for veterinarian consideration, as also does the existence of blood or mucus. In the event the urine looks dark, cloudy, or blood tinged, or maybe the dog is urinating constantly or has problems in urinating, yet again, speak to your vet.

Many folks have told me with pride that they are strong supporters of animal rights and they seem to revere and respect animals to a high degree. I have sometimes wondered if these same people might possibly have more respect for animals than people but that is another topic altogether. Many have even gone so far as to basically indicate to this writer that animals should be revered on just about the same level as humans. I am not sure about taking it to that degree, nevertheless I do believe that all animals are God’s creation and should be treated with tenderness, dignity, and respect.

Unfortunately when it comes to the raising of animals for food this mindset is light years away from the actual modes and customs of the industry. The only consideration in this billion dollar money machine is the bottom line in dollars and cents, and innocent animals pay a dear price in terms of the unimaginable cruelty inflicted on them in order to satisfy our insatiable unhealthy desires. According to the “USDA Slaughter Stats” for 2008, over 18.5 billion animals were slaughtered (there is a good reason the word “slaughtered” does not sound very friendly) and that figure rises every year. You can be sure that precious little consideration will be given to any of the more than 18 billion animals that will die this year as to the methods of raising and then killing them. Many who speak of their love for animals turn a deaf ear to this obvious and incomprehensible cruelty when they sit down to their regular ritual of gorging on the flesh of innocent animals.

The High Cost of an Animal Based Diet

First of all let me say that if the flesh of animals was necessary for human survival I would be the first to stand up and say that we should consume them, hopefully using humane systems of raising and killing them. However, the fact is that eating animals is not even beneficial, much less necessary. It is actually the cause of the massive increases in the rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, clogged arteries, strokes, and high blood pressure. Therefore the hamburger you will eat tonight will come at an extremely high cost. The environment will suffer as excessive amounts of precious natural resources are necessary to raise the animal, and the animal will undergo unspeakable humiliation, degradation and torture. Moreover the consumer of the flesh will be taking a long step towards one or more of the above mentioned infirmities.

In the high stakes world of raising animals for human consumption the key is to squeeze the most out of each animal for the least amount of money. Therefore whether you are chowing down on some turkey, chicken, pig, duck, cow, or any other animal, be assured that your dinner was probably kept in a space so small that it couldn’t even turn around or lie down and that is, by the way, for the entirety of its cruelly shortened life. Many of the animals that you have consumed in the past and will consume in the future, were of course, not allowed the luxury of even a little exercise in the totality of their existence so that every bit of energy that their tortured bodies generated went towards producing flesh, eggs or milk. The huge corporation heads that are responsible for getting your supper to Safeway, have discovered that the more animals they pack into a smaller space, the more mansions and cars they are able to buy.

Your Dinner Was Most Certainly Tortured

In order to satisfy your ritual craving for animal flesh, your “main course” was fed drugs and growth hormones to get it fatter faster and to make sure it didn’t die before it could “pay the piper”. You see the living conditions it was subjected to would normally kill it were it not for the drugs. Your dinner was probably genetically mutated so it would be able to produce more eggs, milk, or whiter flesh. The type of cruelty your choice of animals for dinner has endured is universal to all farmed animals although each type, whether they be hens, chickens, cattle, pigs, turkeys or any other factory farmed animal has faced tortures unique to the way that industry raises (it sickens me to use the word) them. Hens that suffer abuse so that you can get your breakfast served over easy are warehoused in cages no bigger than the space underneath your sink. These tiny cages which house up to seven hens are stacked in tiers one on top of the other by the hundreds. That is where these intelligent animals will live until they are slaughtered. They won’t be let out for an afternoon walk or even a stretch. They will not get out of that enclosure until they die.

Your breakfast bacon was warehoused in a crate so small that it was not able to turn around or lie down comfortably for the entirety of its shortened life. The pigs you have eaten (which is the reason you are fighting obesity and clogged arteries) are actually kind, intelligent sweet, inquisitive, loving creatures who certainly should not end up on your fork or stuck to your intestinal walls.

When you take a bite out of your “Flame Broiled Whopper” at lunch, remember that the cow that provided your indulgence (and your next heart attack) was castrated, and was subjected to branding, and had its horns torn out of its head. Rest assured that your hamburger won’t cost you one dollar more on account of these atrocities because the big corporations didn’t waste any money on things like pain killers before they ripped out the animals horns. And if it is all the same to you I don’t even want to discuss how uncomfortable castration would be while still completely conscious and without pain relief.

Drugged and Genetically Altered

Wash your hamburger down with some nice cold milk and rest in the fact that the dairy cows were drugged and genetically manipulated to produce more milk then they were naturally capable of. They were artificially inseminated so that they could have babies and thereby produce milk, but of course the farm factory did not allow any of your breakfast milk to go to the babies. They were stolen from their whaling mother right after birth and sent to veal farms where they will be housed in a cage too small to move for the remainder of their short lives. They will have their flesh artificially whitened so it looks more appealing to your palate, and when they have outgrown their incredibly small cage (remember they have never been out of it one minute since being stolen from their mother) they will be slaughtered so you can have some tender veal and a glass of wine at your favorite restaurant. Meanwhile their mother will be artificially inseminated again and the same process will be repeated until she is physically incapable of producing any more milk. She will undergo all of this and also face the most inhumane treatment imaginable awaiting the time she is deemed to be no longer useful and then she will be sent to the slaughterhouse.

There is No Such Thing As HUMANE MEAT

Every animal you have ever bought at King Soopers has undergone an existence that is nothing short of torture. Many would now make the case that they buy only “Humane Meat”, or “Free Range Eggs” or “organic” milk and so they have assuaged their guilt in the ritual consumption of animals. Even if these animals were truly raised in a totally humane system (they almost certainly were not) there is for all practical purposes no regulation in place to protect their slaughterhouse fate. When they have outgrown their usefulness (which means their bodies are wasted and spent) they will be jam-packed into trucks, unable to move, and driven over many miles in every possible extreme weather condition. Many will not survive the trip which will actually be a more merciful fate. If they do make it alive to the slaughterhouse they will likely experience one or more of these injustices; strangling, beatings, skinning, scalding, and butchering while still fully conscious. Find a Federal Meat Inspector or just the regular Joe who works in the slaughterhouse if you need verification of the above because if they are honest they will admit to witnessing these heinous acts repeatedly. Please do not turn a deaf ear to this because this most certainly was the fate of the animal you will consume for dinner tonight.

If You Really Love Animals the Solution Is Not Difficult

You might be one who claims to love animals (and really do) and even champion their rights but if you are an animal consumer you are the cause of unthinkable torture and cruelty to many of these innocents each and every year. If it were your dog or cat you would have the full extent of the law on your side if anyone were to so much as think of hurting it. I can say with utmost confidence however, that the cow that is the main course on your plate was also an extremely intelligent animal with a distinct personality. It was loving and loyal and an amazing creature. It truly would have made an excellent friend and companion no less suitable then your dog or cat, except that it would eat more and wouldn’t maneuver very well in the living room. You would probably be astonished to learn about the intelligence and distinct personality traits of chickens, hens, pigs, and other farm animals. If you really knew more about the intelligence of these animals and their true natures you would not readily be the cause of their misery. If you don’t know, or refuse to know, then your ignorance will continue to cause their torture. The law is on your side however and certainly not on the side of the farm animal. Large corporations have long since paid for the right to inflict untold suffering on these wonderful creatures, and have lobbied for the right to make you believe the lie that you need to eat these animals for health. Nothing could be further from the truth however, and I hope that at the very least you are willing to take off the blindfold of indifference and open your eyes to this brutal inhumane treatment of the animals that share our planet. The only solution is to stop eating animal flesh. All you have to lose is your diabetes and a few excess pounds.

More to come…
Healthy Vegetarian Choices For Life Dedicated to the advancement of informed choices that will benefit our health, our environment, and our animal friends. Please visit my website at www.ourhealthforlife.com and look around awhile. I would very much appreciate comments concerning your reaction to what I have written as well as any input that might aid me in the task of making my site more helpful. I thank you in advance for your consideration.

Some of the symptoms of an ear infection include fullness and pressure in the ear, earache and there may be fever even higher than 103 degree F. To get relief from the pain and pressure, the children may even pull up their ear. When treating ear infections, make a short list of the symptoms, using the above list as a guide. Then get out the instructions and see which remedies seem to fit your symptoms. Jot down the remedies beside each symptom. Do that with all the symptoms.

The cause of infection mostly determines the treatment to be given for ear infections in dogs. If the infection is due to yeast then medications like ketoconazole or itraconazole might be prescribed by the veterinarian. This type of infection is diagnosed by examining swabs of the ear under a microscope for bacteria, yeast or any other infection. Normally, there is discharge and bad odor. The ear must always be cleaned before applying medications.

Bacterial related infections are treated with antibiotics. If infection is diagnosed immediately or you go in to see your doctor at the first sign of symptoms, antibiotics could be delayed. This is because in adults, improvement can occur without the use of medication. All these symptoms of the infection of ear make it hard to diagnose in children as they cannot express their feelings. Having smaller canals could also be one of the reasons. Children often have cough and cold. This bacteria or virus may also cause the ear infection in children. Others feel tired and like something is ‘coming on’ and the idea that a fever is mandatory is a myth.

When taking the remedy, there should be some improvement after about four doses. If there is, keep going, but now only as the symptoms come back or get worse. If no improvement occurs, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and try your luck again.
Read About weight loss tips And losing body fat And Also weight loss diet pills

Note that no therapy of any kind has been found to reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s. But it’s possible to slow its course or simply improve the quality of life for someone battling the disease.

As many pet owners will attest, just being around an animal can have a soothing effect. This is the idea behind pet therapy for people with Alzheimer’s disease, who are at particular risk for anxiety and depression. In this kind of therapy, the pet’s human companion introduces the animal — whether it’s a dog, cat, guinea pig, or other domestic pet — to the person with Alzheimer’s and helps the interaction go smoothly and safely. These visits generally occur in nursing homes, adult day centers, and hospitals, but of course the idea can be used in the home as well.

The benefits of pet therapy include lowering anxiety and stress, encouraging communication, improving mood, and lowering blood pressure. People with Alzheimer’s may feel especially comfortable with a pet because it lets them interact nonverbally.

* What you can do: The person you’re caring for probably isn’t capable of looking after a pet, so it’s not a good idea to run out and buy her a kitten unless someone is available around the clock to provide its care. But even pet therapy that doesn’t involve direct contact with pets — bird-watching and looking at an aquarium — seems to have positive effects. Research funded by the Pet Care Trust, a nonprofit foundation, and conducted by Purdue University, found that Alzheimer’s patients provided with aquariums gained weight (indicating better nutritional intake — people with Alzheimer’s often have trouble eating adequately) and showed less aggression. Try setting up an aquarium or bird feeders outside a favorite window view.

Whether spiritual activities include prayer, religious services, or visits with someone who offers faith-based counsel, they have a therapeutic effect on many people with Alzheimer’s disease. Spirituality and faith offer stress relief, hope, and reassurance. Some studies have found that people with probable Alzheimer’s who have higher levels of religiosity show slower rates of mental decline.

What’s more, religious participation usually involves regular events, rituals, or traditions. Repeated over the years, these memories tend to be wired more fixedly in the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s. That’s why someone with Alzheimer’s may find religious or spiritual activities comforting and easy to follow. These activities also offer an opportunity to socialize and bond with family, friends, and members of the community.

* What you can do: Make provisions for the person in your care to continue attending her routine religious services as long as possible. If her behavior is erratic and sometimes disruptive, see if a “quiet room” is available. (Usually used by mothers of young children, this spot is helpful for people with Alzheimer’s, too.) Try going to early or midweek services where attendance is lightest.

Consider other things that may nourish her spirituality, too. For some people, that’s a walk in the woods, looking up at the night sky, listening to classical music, or meditation.

If you’ve ever found yourself singing a pop song you haven’t heard since high school — and knowing the lyrics — you have some idea of the power of musical memory. Someone with Alzheimer’s might not remember breakfast, yet the lyrics of old favorites from 50 or 60 years ago may be at the tip of her tongue.

Listening to familiar music is both enjoyable and comforting. It can relieve stress and anxiety and improve mood. People with Alzheimer’s often “open up” and start to clap and sing along. In group settings, music may prompt listeners to reminisce about their past and interact with one another. At music therapy programs in adult daycare or assisted living facilities, caregivers may arrange live performances or music with dancing, which has the added benefit of encouraging exercise.

* What you can do: Select music carefully, and stick to what you know your loved one likes and enjoys. (If you’re not sure, look for CDs or old LPs of tunes from her 20s and 30s, when almost everyone is most attuned to popular music. You may even be able to borrow some from the library to try them out.) Playing music during meals may improve appetite, and calmer music played before bedtime may help her get to sleep more easily and agreeably.

Some people with Alzheimer’s enjoy making music. Many children’s musical toys are appropriate without seeming juvenile, so look for maracas, tambourines, xylophones, or toy lap harps (zither) that offer easy-to-follow music sheets or can simply be plucked when she can no longer follow the written notes.

Both viewing and creating works of art can be therapeutic. Walking through a museum or gallery is a great way to relax a person with Alzheimer’s disease while providing some exercise. Talking about certain pieces with a companion or a group on a special tour gives her a chance to converse about something in the moment without worrying about failing to remember names or facts. (And art interpretation, after all, is up to the individual, so there’s also a freedom of expression.) This, in turn, can be a huge mood booster and way to increase self-esteem.

Working on an art project can help release emotions in a safe, healthy way. If done in a group setting, art also generates conversation and encourages bonding among participants. Using different tools, a person with Alzheimer’s practices hand-eye coordination: If fine motor skills are declining and painting or drawing is difficult, she may enjoy the tactile work of sculpting or simply painting with a larger brush.

* What you can do: Don’t worry if the person you’re caring for was never very “artsy.” Provide safe, nontoxic, easy-to-use materials and encourage her to spend time with them. (Even crayons and pages torn from coloring books work. Offer adult coloring books or nonjuvenile images if she’s sensitive to this.) If you’re unsure how to proceed on your own, look into adult daycare programs, where art therapy is often used and attendees enjoy feeling like they’re learning a skill or creating something.

Visit your local museum together often. Weekday mornings are least likely to be crowded. Between the large collections and her short-term memory, this is one outing that can seem new every time for quite a long while.

Storytelling. Storytelling is another therapy that taps into creativity. A caregiver or other companion presents the patient with a picture or series of pictures and invites her to construct a corresponding storyline. As in art therapy, communicating about an image doesn’t require remembering anything, which can be an intimidating and uncomfortable aspect of other conversations. Storytelling exercises creativity, gives emotional release, and provides caregivers with interesting insights into the life and mind of the person with Alzheimer’s.

In storytelling therapy, as in art therapy, the key is letting the person with Alzheimer’s take the lead once the activity is introduced. The companion simply helps the story along by asking basic open-ended questions. Sometimes the story is written down.

* What you can do: Find a coffee-table book with large images. At a relaxing, quiet time, when there are no distractions to interrupt or confuse your family member, sit down with her and look at the book together. You can also use postcards, calendar images, or a magazine. (Avoid celebrity or historic photos, which cause the person to get stuck trying to remember the “right” details.) Say, “Let’s make up a story about this funny picture,” or “I wonder what she’s thinking about. What do you think?” Avoid asking questions that might feel like tests. (“What’s that?”) Stress the fact that there are no right or wrong answers. Offer open-ended prompts to help move the story along.

Look into TimeSlips, a facilitator-led storytelling-therapy method designed for groups, developed by Ann Basting, director of the Center on Age and Community at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Reminiscence therapy. Different from storytelling, which doesn’t specifically involve memories, reminiscence therapy invites a person with Alzheimer’s to exercise her long-term memory by encouraging her to share positive recollections from younger days. Especially in the earlier stages of the disease, she may still remember with astonishing clarity events and people from childhood and young adulthood. Old photo albums, mementos, and music are common tools used to generate this type of conversation.

Focusing conversations on these more solid memories can improve her mood, encourage verbalization, and raise self-esteem.

* What you can do: Keep the atmosphere relaxed so she doesn’t feel like she’s being given a memory quiz. When children and grandchildren are involved as listeners, a person with Alzheimer’s may feel especially proud to be able to share pieces of family history. As a bonus, you may learn things about her you didn’t know or may be moved to record new and familiar tales on tape or paper to preserve them.

Massage therapy. Perhaps one of the most unexpected therapies for someone with Alzheimer’s disease is massage therapy. In all people, the healing power of touch is well documented. It can trigger the relaxation response, lower blood pressure, and reduce the pain of chronic diseases. Few studies have been done on massage for Alzheimer’s patients, but so far it’s been found to reduce episodes of wandering and other agitated behaviors associated with anxiety. Massage can also help people with the disease sleep better, ease muscle pain and tightness, and ward off depression. Massage therapy is sometimes combined with aromatherapy (see below).

* What you can do: Ask the person you’re caring for if she’d like to try it. Someone who’s apprehensive or has never had massage may want to start with hand, foot, or back rubs. Massage therapy only works when the person feels at ease with it. She may be very sensitive to touch or may feel uncomfortable with a stranger or even a family member touching her in this way. Be sure that if you hire a professional massage therapist, she knows that her client has dementia. Realize that you don’t have to sign her up for a full body massage in order to harness the benefits of the power of touch: Hug her, hold hands, touch her gently when you talk to her.

Aromatherapy. The use of essential oils from flowers and other plants to treat physical and mental disorders has a long history dating back thousands of years. Certain scents appear to work directly on connections in the brain to create associated responses. Scented oils can be applied directly to the skin (in diluted form) during massage, burned to release their scent into the air, or placed in bathwater. Some nursing facilities use aromatherapy to calm residents. This therapy hasn’t been well studied with Alzheimer’s, and as the disease progresses the sense of smell is often impaired, so it’s unclear whether people with advanced Alzheimer’s can benefit from it.

* What you can do: The relaxing and stimulating powers of scents may be worth trying at home if you find the idea appealing. Even familiar scents like chocolate chip cookies or pine needles can trigger happy memories.

About The Author

Paula Spencer, Senior Editor of the Alzheimer’s/Dementia channel, has specialized in writing about family care and health from her very first post-college job as an editor of 50 Plus magazine through her most recent post as a columnist for Woman’s Day . She’s the author or collaborating author of a dozen books, including Momfidence, and her articles have appeared in Newsweek , Health , Parenting , USA Weekend , and other magazines and websites. She has received writing awards from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Arthritis Foundation.
Alzheimers Non Traditional Therapies Alzheimers Pet Therapy

Many folks have told me with pride that they are strong supporters of animal rights and they seem to revere and respect animals to a high degree. I have sometimes wondered if these same people might possibly have more respect for animals than people but that is another topic altogether. Many have even gone so far as to basically indicate to this writer that animals should be revered on just about the same level as humans. I am not sure about taking it to that degree, nevertheless I do believe that all animals are God’s creation and should be treated with tenderness, dignity, and respect.

Unfortunately when it comes to the raising of animals for food this mindset is light years away from the actual modes and customs of the industry. The only consideration in this billion dollar money machine is the bottom line in dollars and cents, and innocent animals pay a dear price in terms of the unimaginable cruelty inflicted on them in order to satisfy our insatiable unhealthy desires. According to the “USDA Slaughter Stats” for 2008, over 18.5 billion animals were slaughtered (there is a good reason the word “slaughtered” does not sound very friendly) and that figure rises every year. You can be sure that precious little consideration will be given to any of the more than 18 billion animals that will die this year as to the methods of raising and then killing them. Many who speak of their love for animals turn a deaf ear to this obvious and incomprehensible cruelty when they sit down to their regular ritual of gorging on the flesh of innocent animals.

The High Cost of an Animal Based Diet

First of all let me say that if the flesh of animals was necessary for human survival I would be the first to stand up and say that we should consume them, hopefully using humane systems of raising and killing them. However, the fact is that eating animals is not even beneficial, much less necessary. It is actually the cause of the massive increases in the rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, clogged arteries, strokes, and high blood pressure. Therefore the hamburger you will eat tonight will come at an extremely high cost. The environment will suffer as excessive amounts of precious natural resources are necessary to raise the animal, and the animal will undergo unspeakable humiliation, degradation and torture. Moreover the consumer of the flesh will be taking a long step towards one or more of the above mentioned infirmities.

In the high stakes world of raising animals for human consumption the key is to squeeze the most out of each animal for the least amount of money. Therefore whether you are chowing down on some turkey, chicken, pig, duck, cow, or any other animal, be assured that your dinner was probably kept in a space so small that it couldn’t even turn around or lie down and that is, by the way, for the entirety of its cruelly shortened life. Many of the animals that you have consumed in the past and will consume in the future, were of course, not allowed the luxury of even a little exercise in the totality of their existence so that every bit of energy that their tortured bodies generated went towards producing flesh, eggs or milk. The huge corporation heads that are responsible for getting your supper to Safeway, have discovered that the more animals they pack into a smaller space, the more mansions and cars they are able to buy.

Your Dinner Was Most Certainly Tortured

In order to satisfy your ritual craving for animal flesh, your “main course” was fed drugs and growth hormones to get it fatter faster and to make sure it didn’t die before it could “pay the piper”. You see the living conditions it was subjected to would normally kill it were it not for the drugs. Your dinner was probably genetically mutated so it would be able to produce more eggs, milk, or whiter flesh. The type of cruelty your choice of animals for dinner has endured is universal to all farmed animals although each type, whether they be hens, chickens, cattle, pigs, turkeys or any other factory farmed animal has faced tortures unique to the way that industry raises (it sickens me to use the word) them. Hens that suffer abuse so that you can get your breakfast served over easy are warehoused in cages no bigger than the space underneath your sink. These tiny cages which house up to seven hens are stacked in tiers one on top of the other by the hundreds. That is where these intelligent animals will live until they are slaughtered. They won’t be let out for an afternoon walk or even a stretch. They will not get out of that enclosure until they die.

Your breakfast bacon was warehoused in a crate so small that it was not able to turn around or lie down comfortably for the entirety of its shortened life. The pigs you have eaten (which is the reason you are fighting obesity and clogged arteries) are actually kind, intelligent sweet, inquisitive, loving creatures who certainly should not end up on your fork or stuck to your intestinal walls.

When you take a bite out of your “Flame Broiled Whopper” at lunch, remember that the cow that provided your indulgence (and your next heart attack) was castrated, and was subjected to branding, and had its horns torn out of its head. Rest assured that your hamburger won’t cost you one dollar more on account of these atrocities because the big corporations didn’t waste any money on things like pain killers before they ripped out the animals horns. And if it is all the same to you I don’t even want to discuss how uncomfortable castration would be while still completely conscious and without pain relief.

Drugged and Genetically Altered

Wash your hamburger down with some nice cold milk and rest in the fact that the dairy cows were drugged and genetically manipulated to produce more milk then they were naturally capable of. They were artificially inseminated so that they could have babies and thereby produce milk, but of course the farm factory did not allow any of your breakfast milk to go to the babies. They were stolen from their whaling mother right after birth and sent to veal farms where they will be housed in a cage too small to move for the remainder of their short lives. They will have their flesh artificially whitened so it looks more appealing to your palate, and when they have outgrown their incredibly small cage (remember they have never been out of it one minute since being stolen from their mother) they will be slaughtered so you can have some tender veal and a glass of wine at your favorite restaurant. Meanwhile their mother will be artificially inseminated again and the same process will be repeated until she is physically incapable of producing any more milk. She will undergo all of this and also face the most inhumane treatment imaginable awaiting the time she is deemed to be no longer useful and then she will be sent to the slaughterhouse.

There is No Such Thing As HUMANE MEAT

Every animal you have ever bought at King Soopers has undergone an existence that is nothing short of torture. Many would now make the case that they buy only “Humane Meat”, or “Free Range Eggs” or “organic” milk and so they have assuaged their guilt in the ritual consumption of animals. Even if these animals were truly raised in a totally humane system (they almost certainly were not) there is for all practical purposes no regulation in place to protect their slaughterhouse fate. When they have outgrown their usefulness (which means their bodies are wasted and spent) they will be jam-packed into trucks, unable to move, and driven over many miles in every possible extreme weather condition. Many will not survive the trip which will actually be a more merciful fate. If they do make it alive to the slaughterhouse they will likely experience one or more of these injustices; strangling, beatings, skinning, scalding, and butchering while still fully conscious. Find a Federal Meat Inspector or just the regular Joe who works in the slaughterhouse if you need verification of the above because if they are honest they will admit to witnessing these heinous acts repeatedly. Please do not turn a deaf ear to this because this most certainly was the fate of the animal you will consume for dinner tonight.

If You Really Love Animals the Solution Is Not Difficult

You might be one who claims to love animals (and really do) and even champion their rights but if you are an animal consumer you are the cause of unthinkable torture and cruelty to many of these innocents each and every year. If it were your dog or cat you would have the full extent of the law on your side if anyone were to so much as think of hurting it. I can say with utmost confidence however, that the cow that is the main course on your plate was also an extremely intelligent animal with a distinct personality. It was loving and loyal and an amazing creature. It truly would have made an excellent friend and companion no less suitable then your dog or cat, except that it would eat more and wouldn’t maneuver very well in the living room. You would probably be astonished to learn about the intelligence and distinct personality traits of chickens, hens, pigs, and other farm animals. If you really knew more about the intelligence of these animals and their true natures you would not readily be the cause of their misery. If you don’t know, or refuse to know, then your ignorance will continue to cause their torture. The law is on your side however and certainly not on the side of the farm animal. Large corporations have long since paid for the right to inflict untold suffering on these wonderful creatures, and have lobbied for the right to make you believe the lie that you need to eat these animals for health. Nothing could be further from the truth however, and I hope that at the very least you are willing to take off the blindfold of indifference and open your eyes to this brutal inhumane treatment of the animals that share our planet. The only solution is to stop eating animal flesh. All you have to lose is your diabetes and a few excess pounds.

More to come…
Healthy Vegetarian Choices For Life Dedicated to the advancement of informed choices that will benefit our health, our environment, and our animal friends. Please visit my website at www.ourhealthforlife.com and look around awhile. I would very much appreciate comments concerning your reaction to what I have written as well as any input that might aid me in the task of making my site more helpful. I thank you in advance for your consideration.

Some of the symptoms of an ear infection include fullness and pressure in the ear, earache and there may be fever even higher than 103 degree F. To get relief from the pain and pressure, the children may even pull up their ear. When treating ear infections, make a short list of the symptoms, using the above list as a guide. Then get out the instructions and see which remedies seem to fit your symptoms. Jot down the remedies beside each symptom. Do that with all the symptoms.

The cause of infection mostly determines the treatment to be given for ear infections in dogs. If the infection is due to yeast then medications like ketoconazole or itraconazole might be prescribed by the veterinarian. This type of infection is diagnosed by examining swabs of the ear under a microscope for bacteria, yeast or any other infection. Normally, there is discharge and bad odor. The ear must always be cleaned before applying medications.

Bacterial related infections are treated with antibiotics. If infection is diagnosed immediately or you go in to see your doctor at the first sign of symptoms, antibiotics could be delayed. This is because in adults, improvement can occur without the use of medication. All these symptoms of the infection of ear make it hard to diagnose in children as they cannot express their feelings. Having smaller canals could also be one of the reasons. Children often have cough and cold. This bacteria or virus may also cause the ear infection in children. Others feel tired and like something is ‘coming on’ and the idea that a fever is mandatory is a myth.

When taking the remedy, there should be some improvement after about four doses. If there is, keep going, but now only as the symptoms come back or get worse. If no improvement occurs, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and try your luck again.
Read About weight loss tips And losing body fat And Also weight loss diet pills

Note that no therapy of any kind has been found to reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s. But it’s possible to slow its course or simply improve the quality of life for someone battling the disease.

As many pet owners will attest, just being around an animal can have a soothing effect. This is the idea behind pet therapy for people with Alzheimer’s disease, who are at particular risk for anxiety and depression. In this kind of therapy, the pet’s human companion introduces the animal — whether it’s a dog, cat, guinea pig, or other domestic pet — to the person with Alzheimer’s and helps the interaction go smoothly and safely. These visits generally occur in nursing homes, adult day centers, and hospitals, but of course the idea can be used in the home as well.

The benefits of pet therapy include lowering anxiety and stress, encouraging communication, improving mood, and lowering blood pressure. People with Alzheimer’s may feel especially comfortable with a pet because it lets them interact nonverbally.

* What you can do: The person you’re caring for probably isn’t capable of looking after a pet, so it’s not a good idea to run out and buy her a kitten unless someone is available around the clock to provide its care. But even pet therapy that doesn’t involve direct contact with pets — bird-watching and looking at an aquarium — seems to have positive effects. Research funded by the Pet Care Trust, a nonprofit foundation, and conducted by Purdue University, found that Alzheimer’s patients provided with aquariums gained weight (indicating better nutritional intake — people with Alzheimer’s often have trouble eating adequately) and showed less aggression. Try setting up an aquarium or bird feeders outside a favorite window view.

Whether spiritual activities include prayer, religious services, or visits with someone who offers faith-based counsel, they have a therapeutic effect on many people with Alzheimer’s disease. Spirituality and faith offer stress relief, hope, and reassurance. Some studies have found that people with probable Alzheimer’s who have higher levels of religiosity show slower rates of mental decline.

What’s more, religious participation usually involves regular events, rituals, or traditions. Repeated over the years, these memories tend to be wired more fixedly in the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s. That’s why someone with Alzheimer’s may find religious or spiritual activities comforting and easy to follow. These activities also offer an opportunity to socialize and bond with family, friends, and members of the community.

* What you can do: Make provisions for the person in your care to continue attending her routine religious services as long as possible. If her behavior is erratic and sometimes disruptive, see if a “quiet room” is available. (Usually used by mothers of young children, this spot is helpful for people with Alzheimer’s, too.) Try going to early or midweek services where attendance is lightest.

Consider other things that may nourish her spirituality, too. For some people, that’s a walk in the woods, looking up at the night sky, listening to classical music, or meditation.

If you’ve ever found yourself singing a pop song you haven’t heard since high school — and knowing the lyrics — you have some idea of the power of musical memory. Someone with Alzheimer’s might not remember breakfast, yet the lyrics of old favorites from 50 or 60 years ago may be at the tip of her tongue.

Listening to familiar music is both enjoyable and comforting. It can relieve stress and anxiety and improve mood. People with Alzheimer’s often “open up” and start to clap and sing along. In group settings, music may prompt listeners to reminisce about their past and interact with one another. At music therapy programs in adult daycare or assisted living facilities, caregivers may arrange live performances or music with dancing, which has the added benefit of encouraging exercise.

* What you can do: Select music carefully, and stick to what you know your loved one likes and enjoys. (If you’re not sure, look for CDs or old LPs of tunes from her 20s and 30s, when almost everyone is most attuned to popular music. You may even be able to borrow some from the library to try them out.) Playing music during meals may improve appetite, and calmer music played before bedtime may help her get to sleep more easily and agreeably.

Some people with Alzheimer’s enjoy making music. Many children’s musical toys are appropriate without seeming juvenile, so look for maracas, tambourines, xylophones, or toy lap harps (zither) that offer easy-to-follow music sheets or can simply be plucked when she can no longer follow the written notes.

Both viewing and creating works of art can be therapeutic. Walking through a museum or gallery is a great way to relax a person with Alzheimer’s disease while providing some exercise. Talking about certain pieces with a companion or a group on a special tour gives her a chance to converse about something in the moment without worrying about failing to remember names or facts. (And art interpretation, after all, is up to the individual, so there’s also a freedom of expression.) This, in turn, can be a huge mood booster and way to increase self-esteem.

Working on an art project can help release emotions in a safe, healthy way. If done in a group setting, art also generates conversation and encourages bonding among participants. Using different tools, a person with Alzheimer’s practices hand-eye coordination: If fine motor skills are declining and painting or drawing is difficult, she may enjoy the tactile work of sculpting or simply painting with a larger brush.

* What you can do: Don’t worry if the person you’re caring for was never very “artsy.” Provide safe, nontoxic, easy-to-use materials and encourage her to spend time with them. (Even crayons and pages torn from coloring books work. Offer adult coloring books or nonjuvenile images if she’s sensitive to this.) If you’re unsure how to proceed on your own, look into adult daycare programs, where art therapy is often used and attendees enjoy feeling like they’re learning a skill or creating something.

Visit your local museum together often. Weekday mornings are least likely to be crowded. Between the large collections and her short-term memory, this is one outing that can seem new every time for quite a long while.

Storytelling. Storytelling is another therapy that taps into creativity. A caregiver or other companion presents the patient with a picture or series of pictures and invites her to construct a corresponding storyline. As in art therapy, communicating about an image doesn’t require remembering anything, which can be an intimidating and uncomfortable aspect of other conversations. Storytelling exercises creativity, gives emotional release, and provides caregivers with interesting insights into the life and mind of the person with Alzheimer’s.

In storytelling therapy, as in art therapy, the key is letting the person with Alzheimer’s take the lead once the activity is introduced. The companion simply helps the story along by asking basic open-ended questions. Sometimes the story is written down.

* What you can do: Find a coffee-table book with large images. At a relaxing, quiet time, when there are no distractions to interrupt or confuse your family member, sit down with her and look at the book together. You can also use postcards, calendar images, or a magazine. (Avoid celebrity or historic photos, which cause the person to get stuck trying to remember the “right” details.) Say, “Let’s make up a story about this funny picture,” or “I wonder what she’s thinking about. What do you think?” Avoid asking questions that might feel like tests. (“What’s that?”) Stress the fact that there are no right or wrong answers. Offer open-ended prompts to help move the story along.

Look into TimeSlips, a facilitator-led storytelling-therapy method designed for groups, developed by Ann Basting, director of the Center on Age and Community at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Reminiscence therapy. Different from storytelling, which doesn’t specifically involve memories, reminiscence therapy invites a person with Alzheimer’s to exercise her long-term memory by encouraging her to share positive recollections from younger days. Especially in the earlier stages of the disease, she may still remember with astonishing clarity events and people from childhood and young adulthood. Old photo albums, mementos, and music are common tools used to generate this type of conversation.

Focusing conversations on these more solid memories can improve her mood, encourage verbalization, and raise self-esteem.

* What you can do: Keep the atmosphere relaxed so she doesn’t feel like she’s being given a memory quiz. When children and grandchildren are involved as listeners, a person with Alzheimer’s may feel especially proud to be able to share pieces of family history. As a bonus, you may learn things about her you didn’t know or may be moved to record new and familiar tales on tape or paper to preserve them.

Massage therapy. Perhaps one of the most unexpected therapies for someone with Alzheimer’s disease is massage therapy. In all people, the healing power of touch is well documented. It can trigger the relaxation response, lower blood pressure, and reduce the pain of chronic diseases. Few studies have been done on massage for Alzheimer’s patients, but so far it’s been found to reduce episodes of wandering and other agitated behaviors associated with anxiety. Massage can also help people with the disease sleep better, ease muscle pain and tightness, and ward off depression. Massage therapy is sometimes combined with aromatherapy (see below).

* What you can do: Ask the person you’re caring for if she’d like to try it. Someone who’s apprehensive or has never had massage may want to start with hand, foot, or back rubs. Massage therapy only works when the person feels at ease with it. She may be very sensitive to touch or may feel uncomfortable with a stranger or even a family member touching her in this way. Be sure that if you hire a professional massage therapist, she knows that her client has dementia. Realize that you don’t have to sign her up for a full body massage in order to harness the benefits of the power of touch: Hug her, hold hands, touch her gently when you talk to her.

Aromatherapy. The use of essential oils from flowers and other plants to treat physical and mental disorders has a long history dating back thousands of years. Certain scents appear to work directly on connections in the brain to create associated responses. Scented oils can be applied directly to the skin (in diluted form) during massage, burned to release their scent into the air, or placed in bathwater. Some nursing facilities use aromatherapy to calm residents. This therapy hasn’t been well studied with Alzheimer’s, and as the disease progresses the sense of smell is often impaired, so it’s unclear whether people with advanced Alzheimer’s can benefit from it.

* What you can do: The relaxing and stimulating powers of scents may be worth trying at home if you find the idea appealing. Even familiar scents like chocolate chip cookies or pine needles can trigger happy memories.

About The Author

Paula Spencer, Senior Editor of the Alzheimer’s/Dementia channel, has specialized in writing about family care and health from her very first post-college job as an editor of 50 Plus magazine through her most recent post as a columnist for Woman’s Day . She’s the author or collaborating author of a dozen books, including Momfidence, and her articles have appeared in Newsweek , Health , Parenting , USA Weekend , and other magazines and websites. She has received writing awards from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Arthritis Foundation.
Alzheimers Non Traditional Therapies Alzheimers Pet Therapy

Some of the symptoms of an ear infection include fullness and pressure in the ear, earache and there may be fever even higher than 103 degree F. To get relief from the pain and pressure, the children may even pull up their ear. When treating ear infections, make a short list of the symptoms, using the above list as a guide. Then get out the instructions and see which remedies seem to fit your symptoms. Jot down the remedies beside each symptom. Do that with all the symptoms.

The cause of infection mostly determines the treatment to be given for ear infections in dogs. If the infection is due to yeast then medications like ketoconazole or itraconazole might be prescribed by the veterinarian. This type of infection is diagnosed by examining swabs of the ear under a microscope for bacteria, yeast or any other infection. Normally, there is discharge and bad odor. The ear must always be cleaned before applying medications.

Bacterial related infections are treated with antibiotics. If infection is diagnosed immediately or you go in to see your doctor at the first sign of symptoms, antibiotics could be delayed. This is because in adults, improvement can occur without the use of medication. All these symptoms of the infection of ear make it hard to diagnose in children as they cannot express their feelings. Having smaller canals could also be one of the reasons. Children often have cough and cold. This bacteria or virus may also cause the ear infection in children. Others feel tired and like something is ‘coming on’ and the idea that a fever is mandatory is a myth.

When taking the remedy, there should be some improvement after about four doses. If there is, keep going, but now only as the symptoms come back or get worse. If no improvement occurs, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and try your luck again.
Read About weight loss tips And losing body fat And Also weight loss diet pills

Many folks have told me with pride that they are strong supporters of animal rights and they seem to revere and respect animals to a high degree. I have sometimes wondered if these same people might possibly have more respect for animals than people but that is another topic altogether. Many have even gone so far as to basically indicate to this writer that animals should be revered on just about the same level as humans. I am not sure about taking it to that degree, nevertheless I do believe that all animals are God’s creation and should be treated with tenderness, dignity, and respect.

Unfortunately when it comes to the raising of animals for food this mindset is light years away from the actual modes and customs of the industry. The only consideration in this billion dollar money machine is the bottom line in dollars and cents, and innocent animals pay a dear price in terms of the unimaginable cruelty inflicted on them in order to satisfy our insatiable unhealthy desires. According to the “USDA Slaughter Stats” for 2008, over 18.5 billion animals were slaughtered (there is a good reason the word “slaughtered” does not sound very friendly) and that figure rises every year. You can be sure that precious little consideration will be given to any of the more than 18 billion animals that will die this year as to the methods of raising and then killing them. Many who speak of their love for animals turn a deaf ear to this obvious and incomprehensible cruelty when they sit down to their regular ritual of gorging on the flesh of innocent animals.

The High Cost of an Animal Based Diet

First of all let me say that if the flesh of animals was necessary for human survival I would be the first to stand up and say that we should consume them, hopefully using humane systems of raising and killing them. However, the fact is that eating animals is not even beneficial, much less necessary. It is actually the cause of the massive increases in the rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, clogged arteries, strokes, and high blood pressure. Therefore the hamburger you will eat tonight will come at an extremely high cost. The environment will suffer as excessive amounts of precious natural resources are necessary to raise the animal, and the animal will undergo unspeakable humiliation, degradation and torture. Moreover the consumer of the flesh will be taking a long step towards one or more of the above mentioned infirmities.

In the high stakes world of raising animals for human consumption the key is to squeeze the most out of each animal for the least amount of money. Therefore whether you are chowing down on some turkey, chicken, pig, duck, cow, or any other animal, be assured that your dinner was probably kept in a space so small that it couldn’t even turn around or lie down and that is, by the way, for the entirety of its cruelly shortened life. Many of the animals that you have consumed in the past and will consume in the future, were of course, not allowed the luxury of even a little exercise in the totality of their existence so that every bit of energy that their tortured bodies generated went towards producing flesh, eggs or milk. The huge corporation heads that are responsible for getting your supper to Safeway, have discovered that the more animals they pack into a smaller space, the more mansions and cars they are able to buy.

Your Dinner Was Most Certainly Tortured

In order to satisfy your ritual craving for animal flesh, your “main course” was fed drugs and growth hormones to get it fatter faster and to make sure it didn’t die before it could “pay the piper”. You see the living conditions it was subjected to would normally kill it were it not for the drugs. Your dinner was probably genetically mutated so it would be able to produce more eggs, milk, or whiter flesh. The type of cruelty your choice of animals for dinner has endured is universal to all farmed animals although each type, whether they be hens, chickens, cattle, pigs, turkeys or any other factory farmed animal has faced tortures unique to the way that industry raises (it sickens me to use the word) them. Hens that suffer abuse so that you can get your breakfast served over easy are warehoused in cages no bigger than the space underneath your sink. These tiny cages which house up to seven hens are stacked in tiers one on top of the other by the hundreds. That is where these intelligent animals will live until they are slaughtered. They won’t be let out for an afternoon walk or even a stretch. They will not get out of that enclosure until they die.

Your breakfast bacon was warehoused in a crate so small that it was not able to turn around or lie down comfortably for the entirety of its shortened life. The pigs you have eaten (which is the reason you are fighting obesity and clogged arteries) are actually kind, intelligent sweet, inquisitive, loving creatures who certainly should not end up on your fork or stuck to your intestinal walls.

When you take a bite out of your “Flame Broiled Whopper” at lunch, remember that the cow that provided your indulgence (and your next heart attack) was castrated, and was subjected to branding, and had its horns torn out of its head. Rest assured that your hamburger won’t cost you one dollar more on account of these atrocities because the big corporations didn’t waste any money on things like pain killers before they ripped out the animals horns. And if it is all the same to you I don’t even want to discuss how uncomfortable castration would be while still completely conscious and without pain relief.

Drugged and Genetically Altered

Wash your hamburger down with some nice cold milk and rest in the fact that the dairy cows were drugged and genetically manipulated to produce more milk then they were naturally capable of. They were artificially inseminated so that they could have babies and thereby produce milk, but of course the farm factory did not allow any of your breakfast milk to go to the babies. They were stolen from their whaling mother right after birth and sent to veal farms where they will be housed in a cage too small to move for the remainder of their short lives. They will have their flesh artificially whitened so it looks more appealing to your palate, and when they have outgrown their incredibly small cage (remember they have never been out of it one minute since being stolen from their mother) they will be slaughtered so you can have some tender veal and a glass of wine at your favorite restaurant. Meanwhile their mother will be artificially inseminated again and the same process will be repeated until she is physically incapable of producing any more milk. She will undergo all of this and also face the most inhumane treatment imaginable awaiting the time she is deemed to be no longer useful and then she will be sent to the slaughterhouse.

There is No Such Thing As HUMANE MEAT

Every animal you have ever bought at King Soopers has undergone an existence that is nothing short of torture. Many would now make the case that they buy only “Humane Meat”, or “Free Range Eggs” or “organic” milk and so they have assuaged their guilt in the ritual consumption of animals. Even if these animals were truly raised in a totally humane system (they almost certainly were not) there is for all practical purposes no regulation in place to protect their slaughterhouse fate. When they have outgrown their usefulness (which means their bodies are wasted and spent) they will be jam-packed into trucks, unable to move, and driven over many miles in every possible extreme weather condition. Many will not survive the trip which will actually be a more merciful fate. If they do make it alive to the slaughterhouse they will likely experience one or more of these injustices; strangling, beatings, skinning, scalding, and butchering while still fully conscious. Find a Federal Meat Inspector or just the regular Joe who works in the slaughterhouse if you need verification of the above because if they are honest they will admit to witnessing these heinous acts repeatedly. Please do not turn a deaf ear to this because this most certainly was the fate of the animal you will consume for dinner tonight.

If You Really Love Animals the Solution Is Not Difficult

You might be one who claims to love animals (and really do) and even champion their rights but if you are an animal consumer you are the cause of unthinkable torture and cruelty to many of these innocents each and every year. If it were your dog or cat you would have the full extent of the law on your side if anyone were to so much as think of hurting it. I can say with utmost confidence however, that the cow that is the main course on your plate was also an extremely intelligent animal with a distinct personality. It was loving and loyal and an amazing creature. It truly would have made an excellent friend and companion no less suitable then your dog or cat, except that it would eat more and wouldn’t maneuver very well in the living room. You would probably be astonished to learn about the intelligence and distinct personality traits of chickens, hens, pigs, and other farm animals. If you really knew more about the intelligence of these animals and their true natures you would not readily be the cause of their misery. If you don’t know, or refuse to know, then your ignorance will continue to cause their torture. The law is on your side however and certainly not on the side of the farm animal. Large corporations have long since paid for the right to inflict untold suffering on these wonderful creatures, and have lobbied for the right to make you believe the lie that you need to eat these animals for health. Nothing could be further from the truth however, and I hope that at the very least you are willing to take off the blindfold of indifference and open your eyes to this brutal inhumane treatment of the animals that share our planet. The only solution is to stop eating animal flesh. All you have to lose is your diabetes and a few excess pounds.

More to come…
Healthy Vegetarian Choices For Life Dedicated to the advancement of informed choices that will benefit our health, our environment, and our animal friends. Please visit my website at www.ourhealthforlife.com and look around awhile. I would very much appreciate comments concerning your reaction to what I have written as well as any input that might aid me in the task of making my site more helpful. I thank you in advance for your consideration.

Note that no therapy of any kind has been found to reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s. But it’s possible to slow its course or simply improve the quality of life for someone battling the disease.

As many pet owners will attest, just being around an animal can have a soothing effect. This is the idea behind pet therapy for people with Alzheimer’s disease, who are at particular risk for anxiety and depression. In this kind of therapy, the pet’s human companion introduces the animal — whether it’s a dog, cat, guinea pig, or other domestic pet — to the person with Alzheimer’s and helps the interaction go smoothly and safely. These visits generally occur in nursing homes, adult day centers, and hospitals, but of course the idea can be used in the home as well.

The benefits of pet therapy include lowering anxiety and stress, encouraging communication, improving mood, and lowering blood pressure. People with Alzheimer’s may feel especially comfortable with a pet because it lets them interact nonverbally.

* What you can do: The person you’re caring for probably isn’t capable of looking after a pet, so it’s not a good idea to run out and buy her a kitten unless someone is available around the clock to provide its care. But even pet therapy that doesn’t involve direct contact with pets — bird-watching and looking at an aquarium — seems to have positive effects. Research funded by the Pet Care Trust, a nonprofit foundation, and conducted by Purdue University, found that Alzheimer’s patients provided with aquariums gained weight (indicating better nutritional intake — people with Alzheimer’s often have trouble eating adequately) and showed less aggression. Try setting up an aquarium or bird feeders outside a favorite window view.

Whether spiritual activities include prayer, religious services, or visits with someone who offers faith-based counsel, they have a therapeutic effect on many people with Alzheimer’s disease. Spirituality and faith offer stress relief, hope, and reassurance. Some studies have found that people with probable Alzheimer’s who have higher levels of religiosity show slower rates of mental decline.

What’s more, religious participation usually involves regular events, rituals, or traditions. Repeated over the years, these memories tend to be wired more fixedly in the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s. That’s why someone with Alzheimer’s may find religious or spiritual activities comforting and easy to follow. These activities also offer an opportunity to socialize and bond with family, friends, and members of the community.

* What you can do: Make provisions for the person in your care to continue attending her routine religious services as long as possible. If her behavior is erratic and sometimes disruptive, see if a “quiet room” is available. (Usually used by mothers of young children, this spot is helpful for people with Alzheimer’s, too.) Try going to early or midweek services where attendance is lightest.

Consider other things that may nourish her spirituality, too. For some people, that’s a walk in the woods, looking up at the night sky, listening to classical music, or meditation.

If you’ve ever found yourself singing a pop song you haven’t heard since high school — and knowing the lyrics — you have some idea of the power of musical memory. Someone with Alzheimer’s might not remember breakfast, yet the lyrics of old favorites from 50 or 60 years ago may be at the tip of her tongue.

Listening to familiar music is both enjoyable and comforting. It can relieve stress and anxiety and improve mood. People with Alzheimer’s often “open up” and start to clap and sing along. In group settings, music may prompt listeners to reminisce about their past and interact with one another. At music therapy programs in adult daycare or assisted living facilities, caregivers may arrange live performances or music with dancing, which has the added benefit of encouraging exercise.

* What you can do: Select music carefully, and stick to what you know your loved one likes and enjoys. (If you’re not sure, look for CDs or old LPs of tunes from her 20s and 30s, when almost everyone is most attuned to popular music. You may even be able to borrow some from the library to try them out.) Playing music during meals may improve appetite, and calmer music played before bedtime may help her get to sleep more easily and agreeably.

Some people with Alzheimer’s enjoy making music. Many children’s musical toys are appropriate without seeming juvenile, so look for maracas, tambourines, xylophones, or toy lap harps (zither) that offer easy-to-follow music sheets or can simply be plucked when she can no longer follow the written notes.

Both viewing and creating works of art can be therapeutic. Walking through a museum or gallery is a great way to relax a person with Alzheimer’s disease while providing some exercise. Talking about certain pieces with a companion or a group on a special tour gives her a chance to converse about something in the moment without worrying about failing to remember names or facts. (And art interpretation, after all, is up to the individual, so there’s also a freedom of expression.) This, in turn, can be a huge mood booster and way to increase self-esteem.

Working on an art project can help release emotions in a safe, healthy way. If done in a group setting, art also generates conversation and encourages bonding among participants. Using different tools, a person with Alzheimer’s practices hand-eye coordination: If fine motor skills are declining and painting or drawing is difficult, she may enjoy the tactile work of sculpting or simply painting with a larger brush.

* What you can do: Don’t worry if the person you’re caring for was never very “artsy.” Provide safe, nontoxic, easy-to-use materials and encourage her to spend time with them. (Even crayons and pages torn from coloring books work. Offer adult coloring books or nonjuvenile images if she’s sensitive to this.) If you’re unsure how to proceed on your own, look into adult daycare programs, where art therapy is often used and attendees enjoy feeling like they’re learning a skill or creating something.

Visit your local museum together often. Weekday mornings are least likely to be crowded. Between the large collections and her short-term memory, this is one outing that can seem new every time for quite a long while.

Storytelling. Storytelling is another therapy that taps into creativity. A caregiver or other companion presents the patient with a picture or series of pictures and invites her to construct a corresponding storyline. As in art therapy, communicating about an image doesn’t require remembering anything, which can be an intimidating and uncomfortable aspect of other conversations. Storytelling exercises creativity, gives emotional release, and provides caregivers with interesting insights into the life and mind of the person with Alzheimer’s.

In storytelling therapy, as in art therapy, the key is letting the person with Alzheimer’s take the lead once the activity is introduced. The companion simply helps the story along by asking basic open-ended questions. Sometimes the story is written down.

* What you can do: Find a coffee-table book with large images. At a relaxing, quiet time, when there are no distractions to interrupt or confuse your family member, sit down with her and look at the book together. You can also use postcards, calendar images, or a magazine. (Avoid celebrity or historic photos, which cause the person to get stuck trying to remember the “right” details.) Say, “Let’s make up a story about this funny picture,” or “I wonder what she’s thinking about. What do you think?” Avoid asking questions that might feel like tests. (“What’s that?”) Stress the fact that there are no right or wrong answers. Offer open-ended prompts to help move the story along.

Look into TimeSlips, a facilitator-led storytelling-therapy method designed for groups, developed by Ann Basting, director of the Center on Age and Community at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Reminiscence therapy. Different from storytelling, which doesn’t specifically involve memories, reminiscence therapy invites a person with Alzheimer’s to exercise her long-term memory by encouraging her to share positive recollections from younger days. Especially in the earlier stages of the disease, she may still remember with astonishing clarity events and people from childhood and young adulthood. Old photo albums, mementos, and music are common tools used to generate this type of conversation.

Focusing conversations on these more solid memories can improve her mood, encourage verbalization, and raise self-esteem.

* What you can do: Keep the atmosphere relaxed so she doesn’t feel like she’s being given a memory quiz. When children and grandchildren are involved as listeners, a person with Alzheimer’s may feel especially proud to be able to share pieces of family history. As a bonus, you may learn things about her you didn’t know or may be moved to record new and familiar tales on tape or paper to preserve them.

Massage therapy. Perhaps one of the most unexpected therapies for someone with Alzheimer’s disease is massage therapy. In all people, the healing power of touch is well documented. It can trigger the relaxation response, lower blood pressure, and reduce the pain of chronic diseases. Few studies have been done on massage for Alzheimer’s patients, but so far it’s been found to reduce episodes of wandering and other agitated behaviors associated with anxiety. Massage can also help people with the disease sleep better, ease muscle pain and tightness, and ward off depression. Massage therapy is sometimes combined with aromatherapy (see below).

* What you can do: Ask the person you’re caring for if she’d like to try it. Someone who’s apprehensive or has never had massage may want to start with hand, foot, or back rubs. Massage therapy only works when the person feels at ease with it. She may be very sensitive to touch or may feel uncomfortable with a stranger or even a family member touching her in this way. Be sure that if you hire a professional massage therapist, she knows that her client has dementia. Realize that you don’t have to sign her up for a full body massage in order to harness the benefits of the power of touch: Hug her, hold hands, touch her gently when you talk to her.

Aromatherapy. The use of essential oils from flowers and other plants to treat physical and mental disorders has a long history dating back thousands of years. Certain scents appear to work directly on connections in the brain to create associated responses. Scented oils can be applied directly to the skin (in diluted form) during massage, burned to release their scent into the air, or placed in bathwater. Some nursing facilities use aromatherapy to calm residents. This therapy hasn’t been well studied with Alzheimer’s, and as the disease progresses the sense of smell is often impaired, so it’s unclear whether people with advanced Alzheimer’s can benefit from it.

* What you can do: The relaxing and stimulating powers of scents may be worth trying at home if you find the idea appealing. Even familiar scents like chocolate chip cookies or pine needles can trigger happy memories.

About The Author

Paula Spencer, Senior Editor of the Alzheimer’s/Dementia channel, has specialized in writing about family care and health from her very first post-college job as an editor of 50 Plus magazine through her most recent post as a columnist for Woman’s Day . She’s the author or collaborating author of a dozen books, including Momfidence, and her articles have appeared in Newsweek , Health , Parenting , USA Weekend , and other magazines and websites. She has received writing awards from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Arthritis Foundation.
Alzheimers Non Traditional Therapies Alzheimers Pet Therapy