Meet Teegan…
Teegan is a 5 year old, very spoiled, Great Dane. Teegan is a long time patient of Greenbriar and came in a week and half ago with a “hot spot”. A “hot spot” is a term referring to a targeted area of skin infection. They can seemingly appear spontaneously anywhere on a dog’s body. This moist, raw skin has a variety of causes but the most common cause is bacteria.
Along with some antibiotics, we treated Teegan with a class IV Cold laser.
Is laser therapy new? Laser light on tissue were first found almost 45 years ago. Since then, there have been many documenting case of the healing effects laser light has on different types of cells, tissue, and disorders the treatments can take any where from 5-15 minutes and we do them over a period of time about 2-3 times a week.
How does it work? The light of the laser is delivered through a non-invasive hand healed instrument. Each pet feels gentle warmth. In some case we can administer and gentle massage with the instrument depending on what we are treating. As the laser treatment goes on a lot of pets will relax and almost fall asleep. Pain relief can almost be immediate. The way the laser provides an almost immediate relief is through a system that sends photons (from the laser light) deep into tissue without damaging it. These photons are then soaked up by the mitochondria of the cells. This light energy motivates the cell production of ATP which promotes healing. The other amazing thing about this healing process is there are no side effects to this treatment.
Laser Therapy offers so many benefits, from pain reduction, increased blood circulation to improvement in cellular function. At Greenbriar Veterinary Hospital we utilize laser therapy with many of our post-op patients, neurologic patients, arthritic patients, and even patients like Teegan with every day issues.
Teegan is doing great now, no more itchy and sore hot spot. After 1 week of 3 laser treatment her tail is almost back to normal. She is no longer licking at it and her hair is even starting to grow back. With the help of the antibiotics and the laser treatment what could have been weeks of the cone of shame, turn into a one week smooth recovery.
Contributed by Jamie Holden
Greenbriar Veterinary Hospital & Luxury Pet Resort 