Animal Massage (massage for cats, dogs, horses and all animals)
Animal massage is becoming more popular. It is being used on animals
that are competitive (dressage and eventing horses) and dogs and cats for
enhancing health and treating injuries.
There is some controversy over who is legally able to perform animal
massage. Veterinarians often claim that they should have control over who
performs the massage. They are asking for a certain level of knowledge of
animal anatomy.
While I don't disagree with someone having to know what is going on in an
animal, I have some issues of what is being done around licensing. Here in
WA to become a massage therapist for people, it requires that you have 500 hours
of education. To massage animals, you need an extra 100 hours of education
which means you need more hours of training to massage an animal than to massage
a human! It just doesn't seem right to me. I would prefer seeing
students in school having the option of selection animal massage classes instead
of something else that they may not need or be interested in.
To find out what you need to be licensed in your state to perform massage on
animals you will need to check with your state board.
Licensing requirements for animal massage therapists - International Association of Animal Massage and Bodywork
(IAAMB)
Animal Massage
Schools- list of schools from IAAMB
