I am Bill Ormston, “Dr. O.” People often ask how I ended up as an animal chiropractor. Short story: It found me. I enjoyed it. Here I am. I am not from a chiropractic family; far from it. My parents don’t believe in chiropractic. Yet here I am. The first pet I can remember owning was a puppy that came from a dog my parents bought me when I was about 5. Super Squirrel (SS) was crazy and ran everywhere she went. When she was about 5, I got home from school one day to find her in the front yard dragging her back end, unable to feel her back legs. A trip to the vet, a bad diagnosis, and I was a boy with no dog. I didn’t realize it at the time, but SS would come back to visit me in the numerous paralyzed dogs that have walked out of our offices and the offices of our students and alumni.
A dog I treated named T-Boy had recurring problems with his back. A dose of steroids would help, and he would be able to play with his toy monkey for a few weeks or months until he hurt himself again. The owners asked me to refer him to a surgeon, as they felt that this would “cure” the issue. T-Boy ended up having three surgeries in a four-week period. The third surgery killed him.
About that time, a client suggested chiropractic to control the seizures that my oldest son was having. I began to research chiropractic and attended an introductory lecture by Randy Kidd, DVM, at a veterinary conference I was attending in Kansas City. This animal chiropractic seemed like maybe it might have helped T-Boy, but most of the people I talked to at that time were just using chiropractic as a tool in their toolbox and not really embracing the philosophy.
