brooke's blog

What a shot! Meet Charlie. This beautiful little fella came all the way from Gladstone.  He was born with scoliosis in his thoracic spine, requiring surgery to decompress his spinal cord.  He was in hospital with us at North Coast Veterinary Specialists for a few weeks.  His amazingly dedicated owners drove down and back from Gladstone to visit and attend his physiotherapy sessions.  He is now walking (though with ataxia - neurological 'wobbly' gait) but this will improve in time. 

I look forward to seeing his progress and take my hat off to his owners (and extended family) for all the hard work they are putting into this fella to improve his quality of life.

Go Charlie!

I came across this very informative video that may help the clients taking their beloved dogs home who need bladder expression.  After a spinal injury/ surgery it may take some time for the bladder to regain control.  Sometimes dogs/cats are managed at home with permanent dysfunction. Often bladder expression is the most overwhelming technique to cope with other than managing a paralysed dog at home.

Hopefully this video will be a reminder after your vet/nurse has shown you these techniques before you go home.  I spend 1.5 hours on discharge for spinal injured dogs for treatment and advice of setting up a home program to help with daily care.  It can be a long road at times before their pet is up and walking/running independently. From a personal experience with my Missie I can understand how much work this is.  

I hope this helps a little.

Cheers

Dogs have a variety of back or spinal diseases or injuries. Slipped or protruding discs are well known in long backed breeds like Dachshunds for example. But one disease you may not have heard of can be devastating to Large Breed owners and this is an interesting case. It is called Wobblers Disease or Syndrome.

Here is a very informative video for those of you who might want to know more....

My day is certainly full of variety. I left my equine acupuncture course to come to NCVS to treat this little fella. Nelson has survived being hit by a car with severe pelvic injuries.  He is slowly recovering and has tolerated all the steps I have put him through in the last week.

We sent him home to his keen owner up north to carry on getting his legs moving again.  He will need a lot of work but such a gorgeous fella deserves to have all his 4 legs working for him. I wish him all the best and look forward to hearing how he gets on!

Cheers

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Zak has such a fantastic time in the underwater treadmill.  Have a look at this video to put a smile on your dial!
This big german shepherd is now 6 weeks after spinal surgery for lumbosacral disc disease. He is gaining great strength in his hind limbs with his sessions and falls asleep with his acupuncture after such a big play.  Mind you his brilliantly enthusiastic owner also enjoys the kip after so much encouragement! Zak is such a gorgeous dog and just doing so well. I look forward to getting him back to beach time before too long.
A pleasure working with you Zak!

I received a new testimonial from the lovely Geisha today who I have been treating for the last few months after spinal surgery.  She is a lovely little daschund and with such a diligent and keen owner doing so well.  Keep going Geisha you will be running and playing again before too long! Thanks for your kind words!

How about this before and after......



Jinkie the wonder dog has had a rough trot (excuse the pun!).  She had surgery on both her knees for luxating patellas.  When I saw her Jinkie was virtually handstand walking.  Now I love to do handstands also, but this is quite limiting for the poor girl.  So she had more surgery at NCVS to correct her patella position. With such keen owners who have been working very hard she is now a 4 legged dog and so much happier.
When working with animals it is necessary to think laterally in order to get correct muscle activation and effective rehabilitation.  So this is part of her rehab..... who would have thought!




Thanks to Karen and Jinkie's family for persisting and working so hard.  We are now starting to see some quality of life for the little one!  I think she should run away with me and join the circus with such tricks!