Athens, GA – With all the work you do all day, your joints probably need a little loosening. But you may not think the same for your pet, who has joints just like you do. Good thing Dr. Kasey Stopp decided to start her career of animal chiropractic at The Cat and Dog Clinic in Athens.

“Chiropractic is kind of a human word, but it is very, in essence, what we do,” says Stopp. She has had a passion for this work even before she became a certified veterinarian, as she watched her mentor do what she does now. She saw how much these treatments changed the lives of the pets and their owners, how people “got their pets back,” and knew she had to make this her life journey.

Dr. Kasey Stopp got her degree in veterinary medicine at the University of Georgia. She says only licensed veterinarians trained in animal spinal adjustment can be true animal chiropractors. So that’s what she did, following in her mentor’s footsteps, and now has brought the practice to Athens.

At her clinic, Stopp works on small animals like cats and dogs from all shapes and sizes. She has even treated cattle, goats, and horses. She says other animal chiropractors that she knows have worked on elephants, large cats, and bears (oh my!). Simply put, she says, “everyone has joints,” and needs adjustments every now and then, healthy or sick.

Stopp says her adjustments cost the same amount as a routine vet check up, around forty dollars. She says she has 20-25 regular patients, some that only come every three months. A popular client of hers is her own dog, Rita, who is ten years old. Stopp says she doesn’t move like she’s ten (or seventy in dog years), and thinks spinal adjustments help her dogs have a better quality of life. “My husband and I have had three dogs that have lived fourteen and fifteen years old who were adjusted regularly their entire lives,” she says.

During her adjustments, Stopp aligns the animals’ spines by going through each vertebrae from their head to their tails. She says even though her clients can’t talk, she knows exactly what they’re saying. “It’s almost like she’s (Rita) saying yea…right there, that’s the one,” she says while making an adjustment.

Alexa Knowles, reporting.

So next time you have a crick in your neck, remember your pet may be feeling your pain. And now there’s a solution for both of you.