Testimonials

We first met Sandy Benoit and her magic hands when we attended a Pet Day at Nutrichem Pharmacy. We had booked a Touch and Tell massage for our Jack Russell Terrier, Minou. At twelve Minou has some neuro muscular issues which have benefitted enormously from this wonderful lady. We have been seeing Sandy on a regular basis and are very pleased with Minou’s progress. Minou plays and carries on like a young pup and she loves her massages! Sandy is a caring, compassionate and very knowledgable professional. Her neurotherapy treatments are recommended by vets and are shared with the other miracle worker in Minou’s life, Dr. Eddie Beltran. We highly recommend Sandy Benoit and her Touch and Tell canine treatments.

Alex and Mary Joab
Minou celebrating

My 12-year-old Chihuahua, Chico has had six sessions with her so far, and he has definitely benefitted from them. During each session, Sandy has taken lots of time to get to know Chico’s personality as well as his physical self. She always works gently and respectfully, and most importantly, she gives me homework exercises that I can do to help him continue to regain mobility and live more pain-free. As you know, Chihuahuas can be a bit temperamental at times, and even when he decides to have a little doggy tantrum, Sandy has worked with him through it. Amazing!

Best regards,
Caroline Bowden and Chico

When my young dog developed a running in-balance, Sandy Benoit of Canine Touch and Tells was recommended. Calypso was running with her hind-end tilted over far enough that she was effectively only using 3 legs; and it was clear that continuing to run with that bizarrely twisted stride would cause permanent injury. After a few treatments her running had improved, and within 2 months my fabulous little lead dog was back to a completely normal stride. Thanks Sandy, for giving keeping my working dog off disability!

Dana Cranstone

Great results

I took my Dobe to Sandy because she had a roach that was getting worse & trembling in her flanks when she sat that I thought might be related to a bad back. It turns out that she actually has a weak leg & her back was the symptom not the cause. After a few sessions she is standing straight, sitting without any problems & is trotting beautifully again. Highly recommend. She knows her anatomy & gets wonderful results.

 

Debra McPherson

 

Dear Sandy

When one of our canine agility trainers advised me to take my eight year  old German shepherd to see you, I thought about the number of times in
our canine agility endeavours that someone thought they had seen my girl  Geist limp, never with the same leg twice. So I procrastinated for a few
weeks although this was about a rear leg dragging a bit and quite another  story.

At a subsequent agility trial where we won, as too often, ZERO qualifying  runs, I had a chat with a friend about how one of her huskys had been hiding an injury and its consequences. That is when the lights went on, finally.  The dragging leg might be the consequence of a concealed injury. It would explain years of knocked agility jump bars, leaving us so often 5 points short of a qualifying run.

So we came to you. After a couple of massage and light physiotherapy sessions with you and daily massaging as you had showed me, we enjoyed
training sessions free of knocked jump bars. Was it coincidence or were we freeing up some muscle and joints?

We were at over a month of weekly sessions with you, when we attended an agility trial where I did not recognize my old girl Geist. We would have
called her performance a miracle if we did not realize that it was your good hands and advice at work. We obtained three qualifying runs, one
after the other: bang, bang, bang. We had never done better than a single qualifying run in any trial, for years.

Sandy, you join trainers and friends in the sport of canine agility in making our AADC possible. We will return for periodic tune-ups because Geist has made it clear that she really likes what you have done for her and I realize that she needs your care.

 

 Gratefully,
Dominique

To Whom It May Concern,

BACKGROUND:

• For the past 3 years both of our dogs received the very best in medical care from Alta Vista.  We frequently joke that they saw every specialist in AVAH.
• In May 2012 our little Bear required surgery to correct an IVDD issue in his neck.  Dr.. Bruce conducted the surgery and the procedure went extremely well.  However, post operation Bear recovered well but was not able to walk more than a few meters unassisted.  On the advice of a friend (and fellow AVAH client) we arranged for a massage session with Sandy Benoit to see if this therapy could restore some mobility to Bear.  The results were excellent after one session Bear was able to walk a couple of blocks and after two sessions Bear had regained full mobility.

CONCLUSION:

• Based on the excellent results that Bear realized through a combination of both AVAH traditional medical care and the post-operative rehabilitation provided by Sandy Benoit AVAH should consider incorporating post-operative massage therapy for all patients that suffer through surgeries.

RECOMMENDATION:

• Therefore, we are referring Sandy to the AVAH team because we believe that AVAH should consider incorporating Sandy’s massage therapy services into the standard medical regime following surgery.
• To facilitate the introduction we have attached a letter from Sandy Benoit that explains the range of services she offers.

In the interests of full disclosure, we have no affiliation with Sandy other than that of a satisfied customer.  Our only relationship with AVAH is also one of happy customers.  The combination of AVAH (primarily of Dr DeMadron and the Internal Medicine Team) and Sandy provided Bear with a fabulous quality of life as he dealt with collapsed trachea, heart murmur, kidney failure, cancer, and IVDD.

 

Thank You
Jeffrey Louis and Debbie Ooi

 

Family and Friends,

Our beautiful boy passed away in his parents arms this evening, succumbing to a 13 months battle with Multiple Myeloma. Bear valiantly fought the cancer until his dying breath as proven by his appetite for Recipe #5 (as per Cat Lane’s special diet recipes) hours before he left us in-spite of his cancer and renal kidney failure. Our little boy battled a year of complications with partial trachea collapse, spinal surgery, kidney failure, two bouts of blood transfusions, bouts of anemia, inability to swallow solid foods and daily needles to administer subqutanous fluids to keep his kidneys going (for 8 months).

Bear will be remembered for his curious nature, digger of holes in backyards, daddy’s replacement for hot water bottle, mummy’s best friend and his ever loving nature. I will dearly miss my constant walking companion and my rally obedience partner. Bear has enriched our lives in more ways then I can count and without a doubt he gave us his unconditional love. Over the last year, Bear has reminded me of the meaning of love, perseverance, patience and commitment. Thank You Bear!

Thank You Corene for the wonderful care you have provided Bear every 24 hours the last 8 months rain, shine or blizzard! We could not have asked for a better nurse for Bear. Thank You Dr deMandron, Dr Bravo, Dr Bruce, Dr Lowe, Donna, Willow, Mandy, Johanne, Shannon, ICU, Emergency and all the front desk staff at Alta Vista Animal Hospital for all the care you have provided Bear. Jeff and I are forever grateful for all that you have done for our little boy.

Cat Lane, Thank You for designing Bear’s meal plans and his cancer/kidney supplements. No one was hopeful that Bear would bounce back from kidney failure due to the common symptom of no appetite in kidney failure patients… but he continued to eat well until his last day.

Sandy Benoit, you are one truly remarkable Canine Massage Therapist! Thank you for getting Bear walking after his spinal surgery along with our weekly sessions to help relieve his general muscle pain, stress reduction and aid in his general wellness.

Dr Allison Seely, Thank You for 10 years of amazing care. Thank you for getting his mobility back and a quality of life Bear truly deserved!

Cat, Sandy and Allison, Thank you for the borrowed time you gave us with Bear…The combination of traditional western medicine and alternative medicines worked wonders for Bear!

Sincerely,
Jeffrey and Debbie

My Dobe Isis has always had a slight roach but when it became more severe, I noticed that her rear legs would tremble when she was sitting. I had seen Sandy at dog shows where a knowledgeable friend observed that she had a really good grasp of dog anatomy so I decided to see if she could ease Isis’ roach and hopefully her pain. The result was better than I had hoped. By the end of the first session Isis’ back was nearly straight and Sandy had determined that the root problem was not in her back but in one of her legs. Isis feels so much better that I go regularly to have her muscles eased and keep her in shape for agility as well as the Dobie roughhousing at home.  As a wonderful side effect of the deep muscle massage Sandy found a pea-sized tumour which would otherwise not have been found until it was much larger. Thanks to Sandy it was found early, excised and Isis is now cancer free.  Not only has Sandy made Isis’ life so much better without pain, but I credit Sandy with saving her life thanks to early cancer detection. Thanks so much Sandy from Isis & me. We’ll be clients for Isis’ much longer, happier life.

 

Debra McPherson