Piper and her Physiotherapist - Part One

Its been a few months since our dog, Piper, has had her pelvic surgery. For  newbies,  she has hip dysplasia, and she was an excellent candidate for corrective procedure called a Bilateral Double Pelvic Osteotomy.

If she was a human, it would go without saying that she would be seeing a physio two to three times a week, starting probably almost immediately after her surgery.  But, in the vet world,  many times we think it is not needed - they are moving fine, and all seems to be fine.  And if we do act, it is often weeks after the surgery (like us).

Canine rehabilitation medicine is one of my interests, which was developed many years ago during the care of Indy. (if you read my earlier blogs, I did write about him earlier this year). So after Piper's surgery, we knew she needed a physio visit.  An appointment was made at the Animal Referral Hospital, to visit their physiotherapist, Dr Helen Nicholson, who established Animal Physiotherapy Services. 

Yes, we drove 1.5 hours for our dog to have a physio consult.... and it was worth it.



Maddie (Physio Intern) examines Piper
with Tegan

Today, we had our first visit, and it was F U N!  It was confirmed that Piper's muscle is not as strong on her right hind than her left, and that she gets tired easily, because of the many months of not using her muscles appropriately.  As a result, she is using other muscles to compensate, which, unfortunately, if she keeps on using them that way, will cause her significant pain down the track.



Use of "rails" to check her coordination

I would liken it to the Dolphin who lost his tail, and had a prosthetic put on.  It was made into a movie (Dolphin Tail) which is great family entertainment, if you ever get a moment to watch it.

Back to Piper's visit - It started with an examination with Maddie, which checked her muscles, and her coordination.  Maddie explained everything that she was doing, and what she was finding. 

After this preliminary assessment, the real fun began, with a visit to the gym, and meeting with the bubbly Dr Helen, the founder of Animal Physiotherapy Services.

In the gym, was all of the fun toys that you would expect to see - bouncing balls, rails, treats (yummy yummy treats), mats, wobble boards and probably a lot more.  Did I mention the yummy yummy treats?  They spend a lot of time getting a range of treats to keep our pet's motivated, as this is as important as the exercises themselves.  If our pet's don't think its fun, then we don't think its fun... and then it isn't going to get done!

So F U N was the key word, using F O O D!

I learnt that dog's have "chicken wings" when their core is weak (yes, dog's do have a core too), and that Piper's chicken wings were showing!  We needed to develop her core strength and flexibility to help her in the long term.  Whilst the physio could show us the exercises, it was ultimately up to us to do it all at home, every day.

So what are chicken wings? 

Most of you would've seen them in your older pets, not knowing what they were - it is when the elbows swing out slightly (like a chicken wing).  It just means the dog is tired or lost its core strength), and so the wings come out.

We were shown the exercises that Piper needs to start on daily, and a program developed for her.



One of the first exercises we need to start doing is standing her front legs on a flat ball.


The first exercise! Position is important - easier said than done with our
energetic Piper.

 

It is just as well that we used positive reinforcement training for Piper from the outset, as I struggle to see how any trainer could have got her doing all of these exercises in a short time using a different technique.



The second exercise - the rails, which encourages Piper to
life her legs higher than she would normally need to
during walking. 

 



The third exercise - retraining Piper's back to increase its flexibility.

 

One of the things I didn't realise was how inflexible Piper actually was, which was not normal for a dog of her age or breed.  When she weaved around two witches hats, she moved like a big truck, rather than smoothly. We hope with her ongoing exercises, that she will achieve her full potential, and of course, be pain free.

Her inflexibility was a surprise as she runs well, jumps up and down ok, happily jumps on the bed (where she sleeps at night time), so without a physio consultation, I would never have known.



The fourth exercise - although not a good picture of it.  Doggie situps.

Please do not attempt these exercises on your own pet, as they may not be the appropriate ones for them.  Piper was assessed by a professional, and these are the best exercises that is needed for her to address her particular problem.

Now that Dr Helen and Maddie have done the hard work in giving us the homework, it is up to us to do these exercises on our Piper daily.  And I do mean "us" loosely, as I suspect it will be mostly Tegan doing it all.

Next check up is in two weeks time, and probably, more homework too. 

Tomorrow we are off shopping to buy a few essential bits and pieces, and I promise to share the photos of our own doggy gym in the future.   I can just see it now - opening in a suburb near you - the 24/7 Dog Gym!

Don't forget to read about the eventful first six months of Piper's life! It will be her first birthday in October, so I promise to share more about the eventful second half of her first year!

Thanks for reading. I am Dr Liz, the mad vet from Bellambi.

I always joke about Piper being my "problem child", but isn't she an adorable one?  Can't imagine our family life without her!