Millie is a 3½ year old female rescue Labrador who on 1st February 2011 suffered a very nasty spiral fracture to the right hind leg.

The fracture was repaired but there were complications post surgery and at 1 month post surgery she was still not using the leg at all, she had lost all muscle mass – Millie started hydrotherapy on 8th March 2011. There was a very real worry that Millie would not regain the use of this leg – the only option then would have been amputation. Hoping that the leg had just stiffened up completely with non use we started her hydrotherapy assisting Millie in the water with the rotation of this leg. Millie attended twice a week and seemed to improve over the next few weeks but still there was no feeling in that paw. On arrival to session 7 Millie was not a happy dog, subdued, panting and not wanting to use the leg at all, concerned that she may be developing further problems she was sent immediately to our emergency vet and from there referred to a specialist orthopaedic surgeon. Very quickly the specialist diagnosed the repair pin was going through the sciatic nerve in her right hind, Millie was put under general anaesthetic again and the pin removed. After a 2 week convalescent period Millie returned to us.

Millie was a much happier dog, she was already weight bearing on the leg – I started her regime again twice a week, little and often. At the start of May Millie’s home exercise started with small lead walks encouraging her to use and place the paw, at this point she was dropped to once a week sessions.

Unfortunately Millie was still unaware of her right hind paw causing her to knuckle over when walking which in turn caused trauma to the toes which became infected needing more treatment. We needed to try and help protect her toes against this repetitive trauma, so along came the boots for her to have on during walking.

The boots helped to protect Millie’s toes so in turn this improved the trauma but was not the long term answer and although muscle mass was starting to improve through the right leg Millie was still quite unaware of paw placing we needed to look into something to help Millie whilst out walking as she was up to 2 x 20 minute lead walks.

Research found “The Sciatic Toe Up Sling” – the idea of this little device was to assist Millie with placing of the paw and after discussing it with her veterinary surgeon we all agreed to give it a try. The cords fitted under her pad pulled the toes gently up as she lifted her leg to enable the paw to be placed correctly each step – this stopped the knuckling and causing scraping of the toes.

Over the next few weeks this little device made a massive difference not only as you can see above to the improvement in her toes but also worked remarkably well in re-educating the ligaments and tendons in the foot, her hydrotherapy was increasing in static swim times and all in all Millie was returning to the happy Labrador she was before the accident. Her owner was able to play with the ball again in the garden and walking was once again increased up to 2 x 30 minutes.

Millie now attends once a fortnight, comes bouncing into the pool room, tail wagging full of life, she is walking twice a day for 45 minutes each time, in the words of Mrs Nicholls – “I’ve got my Millie back”

Pickle is a male 6 ½ year old Dachsund referred to us by his vet after major spinal surgery. Pickle suffered from a condition called “INTERVERTEBRAL DISK DISEASE”. This disease is common in Dachsunds and it causes discs to move and press up into the spinal cord.

Pickles owners had noticed him becoming “wobbly” on his hind-end and eventually one day he was unable to get up and walk, he was immediately diagnosed and underwent spinal surgery 3rd March 2011. Post surgery Pickle made a very good recovery and was able to walk again although weak. He was left with slight RH muscle wastage and stiffness.

We started Pickle’s rehabilitation regime with small static swims, he needed assistance with his hind-legs to gain a better rotation – week by week he improved becoming more mobile. We saw him once a week for 8 weeks increasing his regime, Pickle started to cock his leg again and by mid June was back to normal exercise.

Pickle was discharged from our care well again
21st July 2011

Roxy first started at the centre when she was 8 months old, she was diagnosed with hip dysplasia which in such a young and very large dog can be crippling. Hydrotherapy was started with a view to building up muscle mass prior to surgery for new hips, she attended 3 times a week for the first month and then twice a week for the second month, she made good progress and when she saw the specialist again at 12 months old they decided she had developed such good muscles over her hips and showed no discomfort, infact enjoying life a lot, they would not operate. Roxy’s mum and dad were over the moon, she was able to have some short walks with the other dog and would play happily rough and tumble in the garden without showing discomfort. Currently Roxy and her mate Gemma attend hydrotherapy without fail once a week and shall continue indefinitely; it keeps Roxy’s hips supple and mobile as well as keeping muscle mass there. Roxy is now swimming freely up and down the pool collecting balls which is her main love in life, well nearly .... the hot spa .... very much a favourite with this young lady !!

Basil came to hydrotherapy with a mystery lameness and reports of sudden stopping and refusing to move out on walks and stumbling over his forelegs, x-rays taken showed nothing abnormal except a small amount of forelimb arthritis but he kept getting recurrences. Hydrotherapy was given a try to see if building up his muscle bulk and loosening him off would help. His regime was started at once weekly sessions of short static sets which was gradually increased over time dependent on post swim reports. These were very encouraging with the tripping becoming less and less and the lameness also decreasing. Very occasionally Basil was reported to have a “funny” episode but again no light could be thrown on this intermittent stumbling. Basil although not a huge fan of the swimming loved the individual attention he got and always greeted us with a huge smile and sometimes even having a chat !! Currently he is still attending once weekly on a maintenance regime as he is much happier in himself at this and it is noted that the stumbling/lameness increases if he goes without swimming for longer than 10 days.

Clare and Kate thank you for everthing. We wanted to write and thank you, but perhaps we could do a bit more by letting others know the hope and support that you gave us with Gypsy, our young Collie. When Gypsy was eight months old she had an accident and snapped the cruciate ligament in her right hind leg. We were referred to Mark Owen at the Rowe Vet hospital in Bristol. He explained all the options and performed a TTA operation. Mark clearly is a fantastic orthopedic surgeon and did a brilliant job. After the op we went through two months of trying to keep such a young dog inactive, all made much worse by the fact that we had just got her as a playmate for our other young dog Vincent. That nursing period was so hard, as anyone nursing a sick dog will know, ‘funnel collars’ on her head to stop her undoing stitches, dressings, pills and all that goes with it.

At the end of the two months we went to see Clare to start Gypsy exercising. Gypsy was limping, and emotionally we were too. We wondered if Gypsy could ever come good and get anywhere near freely playing with her mate.

We were in for a real boost. From the moment we walked into the hydrotherapy unit we started to feel the weight lift off our shoulders. Clare was so professional and reassuring in assessing Gypsy and devising her programme. She had all the hands on experience to know she could get her back to normal. After a few sessions her limp started to improve, and so did her fear of water thanks to Kate. Five months on and our vet and Clare have signed her off . Gypsy now thunders around with her mate Vincent at full tilt. All this has left us with a rather nicer problem, in that Gypsy is now addicted to swimming. So we will see if Vincent fancies a swim at the centre with Gypsy every now and then, just for fun.

Apart from their technical skill, Clare and Kate are natural ‘dog people’ they make it all fun, and the dogs quickly and happily respond. Thank you both so much on behalf of Gypsy, Vincent and us.

Les and Hazel Fletcher