I'm a believer! Updated: what the vet said! (Bioflow Magnetic Cat Collar)

Member Name: SueMagee

Product:	Bioflow Magnetic Cat Collar
Date:	30/10/05 (1271 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Drug - free pain relief .

Disadvantages: Unless you believe it will work £30 seems like a lot to pay for a dog collar .

Rosie the Rhodesian Ridgeback will be seven in a couple of days' time. In truth we're amazed that she is still with us, as she's been very ill for most of the year.

It began rather innocuously. Sometimes she needed help getting into the car. I mentioned this to the vet who examined her and could find no problem. He suggested that she could perhaps do with losing a little weight. We got her weight down to the optimum but still the problem persisted. In fact it got worse. She had pain-killing injections which helped for a little while and then there would be a further deterioration. We were reluctant to have her x-rayed as she has difficulty with general anaesthetics, but eventually we bit the bullet.

The x-rays were seen by an orthopaedic vet and we were told the bad news. The probability was that Rosie had a metastatic tumour in her spine and had weeks rather than months to live. There was just a slim chance that she had a major infection in the bones of the spine. We were prepared to grasp any straw and she was given massive doses of antibiotics for twelve weeks. By the middle of August the vet was prepared to say that the problem had been an infection, but we were left with a dog whose physical fitness was severely compromised. This was, he said, as good as it was going to get.

We have three steps down from our back door. Rosie was reluctant to go out on her own because she knew that she would have trouble getting back up the steps. We fitted a ramp. She couldn't manage the stairs in the house unless someone carried her back legs for her. We carried them. She had to be physically lifted into the car. We'd done our best to improve the range of movements. She'd had hydrotherapy and heat treatment twice a week. The vet had prescribed a food supplement developed for dogs with joint disorders. She'd had pain relief when necessary. I'd like to say we stopped short of faith healing, but prayers were said for her at the local Spiritualist Church. We'd tried acupuncture, but we'd seen little or no improvement in the level of her physical fitness.

And so it continued for another month until one day I met a lady whose three children and dog were racing all over the field. In the way of dog owners we got talking and she told me that two years previously the dog had been so lame that they had actually considered euthanasia. "But fortunately" she said "we got a Bio-Flow collar. He hasn't even needed pain relief since then."

I bought a Bio-Flow collar.

At £30 is seems expensive for a black webbing collar with a central reverse polarity magnet attached, but we'd already spent a sum that was well into four figures to try and solve the problem. This was a drop in the ocean and I was mollified by the guarantee that if I wasn't satisfied with the collar within ninety days I could return it for a refund of the cost less a 15% handling charge. My risk was £4.50. It's not a particularly elegant collar but we weren't entering a beauty contest.

Rosie isn't used to wearing a collar around the house, but the Bio-Flow has caused her no problems. It's light and easily adjusted to a comfortable fit. The principle behind this is that a magnetic field is applied to living tissue and this has been used to relieve aches and pains and aid healing for hundreds of years. If you're interested in the science of magnotherapy you might like to look at a leading distributor's website at http://www.ecomagnets.com/bioflow-magnotherapy.htm as I'm sure that what you really want to know is whether or not it's helped Rosie.

The collar had been in place for four or five days before I noticed anything. I'd been wondering if I was a gullible fool, when Rosie appeared at the side of me. She'd walked up a flight of fourteen stairs on her own. For months she'd needed an arm under her tummy to take the pressure away from her back legs. When she wanted to go up the stairs she'd stand at the bottom and flap her ears - it made a sound rather like someone practicing the castanets - and she had me trained to arrive at her command. Since that day she's neither needed nor asked for help on the stairs. On very good days she can manage two at a time. The ramp on the outside steps has been removed. She manages those with no problems at all.

Walks had been rather sedate affairs. Some days she would opt for a short walk on the flat. She rarely, if ever, did more than a quick walk. Since wearing the collar she has opted to go for long walks over the fields - including some quite steep inclines. She's been interested in her surroundings and the rabbits are beginning to look a little bit nervous again. A weeks ago I saw the wonderful sight of her just taking off and running at full pelt in a wide arc, jinking from side to side and doing it just for the joy of being able to. It's the first time she's done that this year.

She is much more interested in her surroundings. She watches to see what's going on around the house and she wants to play. In the excitement of a game she will do a proper jump onto a bed or the sofa. It's her that's demanding play now, rather than us that's encouraging her.

There are still some problems - the main one being that she needs help to get into the back of our 4WD car. It's assistance we're giving her though, rather than having to physically lift her in. She's making more of an attempt to help herself.

If I had to sum up the benefits of the collar it's that Rosie's moved up a notch since she's been wearing it. She has more independence and is more of a dog than a dependent relative. It was £30 well spent. Before I bought the collar I was convinced that it was "all in the mind", but Rosie didn't know that it was supposed to help her.

Update: 7 December 2005

This morning I took Rosie to see the vet for a check-up. She's now had the Bioflow collar since mid September and has had no other pain relief for her back. The vet checked her range of movement and said that they had considerably increased since he last saw her. He watched her walk, run and saw the attempt she made to get into the car. He confirmed that there had been substantial clinical improvement beyond his expectations. For the first time in almost a year we came away from the surgery without a follow-up appointment.

The vet's now a believer too!

Quick facts:

Bio-flow collars are available through www.ecomagnets.com or from:

ECOMAGNETS
PO BOX 135
SEVENOAKS
TN15 9WZ
UNITED KINGDOM

Summary: A collar with central reverse polarity magnet which provides pain relief.