In this episode of Fueled Dr. Spoo talks with Dr. Kristin Kirkby Shaw of the Canine Arthritis Resources and Education or CARE website. Dr. Kirkby Shaw is a small animal surgeon and rehabilitation specialist whose career has focused on bridging the gap between these two disciplines. Kristin received her DVM from the University of Florida (UF) in 2003, followed by a rotating internship at Veterinary Specialists of Northern Colorado, and a small animal surgery residency at the University of Florida. She completed both her MS and Ph.D. at UF.
She is past-president of the American Association of Rehabilitation Veterinarians and worked as an instructor for the Canine Rehabilitation Institute for many years. In 2018, she was the recipient of the John J. Sherman Award for Excellence in Veterinary Rehabilitation. Dr. Kirkby Shaw founded CARE in 2018 to provide valuable tools and resources for her clients and veterinary colleagues, as well as those caring for dogs with arthritis around the world.
In this episode we discuss her passion for canine arthritis—from what arthritis truly is, how arthritis differs in people and dogs, how to prevent it and what options exist to treat it beyond non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. I learned a lot in this discussion and will be making some tweaks to my own treatment plans. And while I hope you never have to treat a dog with arthritis, the odds are against you if you own dogs over the course of a lifetime, should your hunting partner be one of the unfortunate I hope this episode helps keep them out in the field.
Some of the links discussed in the podcast:
- Article on PennHipp: https://caninearthritis.org/article/canine-hip-dysplasia-chd-benefits-of-pennhip/
- About CARE: https://youtu.be/SKcKRWIC-y0
- The concerns with canine obesity: https://caninearthritis.org/article/pet-obesity-5-serious-risks/
