I don’t often sign petitions, but sometimes…I do. This one is partially down to the worthy cause of extending animal healthcare, and also a little bit down to the title of the movement, ‘Paws for Thought’. You have to admit, that IS pretty compelling.

As is stated in the description of the Punch-Pioneer page, Melbourne podiatrists are renowned amongst their peers, but do you know who has more legs than people? Animals. Pretty much all of them, in fact. They have to walk on all of their limbs, basically all of the time, so podiatry is even more important for them. Think of the paws. Does it not give you…paws? 

Ha ha, I like puns. Especially animal ones.

No, but seriously, we have to get podiatrists on board with this cause, so that we may have the proper medical backing. Our cause (our ‘paws’, ha ha) will be much more legitimate if we have podiatrists behind us, saying things like “In my professional opinion…” (paw-fessional opinion, ha ha) and “As a medical professional, I can ratify that statement.”

I know full well that human podiatrists only deal in human feet. I can’t go to any podiatrist clinic and get the foot specialist within to make little booties with custom orthotics for my golden retriever. But vets are overworked, and they often can’t give paws the true, specialised treatment they desire. At the very least, podiatrists can give statements on the importance of feet (im-paw-tance, ha ha) and why all creatures need custom orthotics to improve their gait and help them live their best life now.

Unfortunately, there are no dedicated animal podiatrists from which we can extract quotes and support, so we’re aiming to get some dedicated Cheltenham orthotics experts on board with the cause. Alongside my fellow professional animal colleagues online, we’ll raise awareness of this issue and help these poor creatures!

These ‘paw’ creatures, ha ha. That one totally works.

-Ashleigh