GREENFIELD — In a room lit only by candlelight, the black lab, his whitened muzzle showing his age, laid his tired bones down on the soft bed. The lady sitting next to him on the floor began to massage his sides and legs as soft music played.
Like most older animals, Maverick, a 10-year-old black lab, doesn’t move as well as he once did.
His owner said he’s getting around much more easily these days thanks to the health care he’s receiving at Youngblood’s Natural Animal Health and Massage, 1220 W. Main St. Suite G., Greenfield.
About eight months ago, Heather Auble, Maverick’s owner, brought her dog to the massage center where Samantha Youngblood and her mother, Kim Youngblood, began working with him.
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“He’s just able to move around so much better now compared to when I first brought him here,” Auble said.
In addition to massages, and placing the dog on a diet with more natural foods and treats, part of his treatment included a throughout body check to find out all of Maverick’s trigger spots.
Samantha Youngblood, a Greenfield resident, has been caring for animals, including horses, most of her life. A little over three years ago she made animal care her full-time job. In March, she and her mother opened up their therapy shop for animal lovers to bring their dogs and cats in for special care.
The women are not trying to replace solid veterinarian care, they said, but instead want to enhance an animal’s life through showing pet lovers how to better care of their critters.
Samantha Youngblood found out just how well a good massage and direct therapy on a trouble spot can really help an animal when her own dog, Caution, 4, needed special care on an injured back a few years ago.
She began research on massage therapy, and now she and her mother are both certified canine/feline massage therapist and kinesiology taping practitioners.
Through their studies and practical experience, they’ve come to learn some animal lovers do want an all natural alternative option for their pets.
They offer services for pet owners whose animals have been diagnosed with an issue and want to treat it through a more natural method rather than pills or steroids, which can sometime be avoided.
