Here to Help You and Your Animals

Veterinary rehabilitation is for all kinds of animals. I can help with:

• Older animals who need help to improve their mobility and settle sore joints and muscles
• Lame animals who are sore from compensatory patterns
• Pets recovering from surgery. Common surgeries are for cruciate disease, dislocating patellas, fractures and disc problems.
• Young animals with joint problems, like hip or elbow dysplasia, dislocating kneecaps or poorly formed cartilage
• Animals recovering from nerve injuries or conditions like spinal strokes or damaged discs
• Sporting or working dogs or horses needing to get back to 100% performance
• Anxious, nervous or scared animals who need help from someone that doesn’t look like a vet
• Animals who would benefit from training to help them cope with veterinary care.

I like to be practical, down to earth and effective, working with you to find the best way to help your animals. I have many years of experience and tons of qualifications to back it up. I provide veterinary rehabilitation in the Manawatu and surrounding regions, working from vet clinics as well as seeing animals at their homes.

My road to VetRehab

I graduated from the Massey University vet school (last century…) with an interest in physiotherapy, despite not really knowing what it was. Rehabilitation wasn’t a thing then, and I could never have imagined running VetRehab! After locuming in the UK and doing government vet work for a while, I came back to New Zealand and found myself a nice wee lifestyle block to live on with horses, dogs and some sheep. When my lovely mare started being grumpy and pinning her ears back when I rode, like any owner would I tried to help her. I tried a few approaches, but it was a vet colleague with expertise in chiropractic and acupuncture who got us on the right path. While I was hugely grateful, I also felt frustrated by not being able to help Suse myself. Realising that other horse and pet owners might be having problems that our normal vet skills didn’t cater for, I starting training, and I haven’t stopped since, because there’s always so much more to learn. People often ask me what I like doing best, but I like everything that I do, and I enjoy the variety. I also love getting to explore all sorts of wee corners of New Zealand that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen, especially when I have my two dogs with me and we find places to go walking. VetRehab is great fun, and really rewarding.

That list of qualifications and training:

BVSc – Bachelor of Veterinary Science (Distinction), Massey University

MRes – Master of Research, Glasgow University

MOst – Master of Osteopathy, Unitec

PhD – Doctor of Philosophy (Veterinary Science), Massey University

PGDipAnChiro – Postgraduate Diploma in Animal Chiropractic (Distinction), RMIT

CVA – Certificate in Veterinary Acupuncture, IVAS

CCRP – Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner, University of Tennessee

Other courses

Veterinary Behaviour, Centre for Veterinary Education, University of Sydney

Behaviour Analysis paper, University of Waikato

Biodynamic Osteopathy Phases 1 & 2; Power for Change

CranioSacral Therapy 1 & 2, Upledger Institute

Zero Balancing 1

Canine V Elective – Canine Sports Medicine Course, University of Tennessee

FDSA Canine Fitness Trainer (Bronze course)

Accredited Saddle Fitters of Australasia Saddle Fitting Course

Introductory Saddle Fitting, Society of Master Saddlers UK

Saddle Reflocking, Cumbria School of Saddlery, UK

Equine Athletics and Functional Assessment, Animal Rehab Institute, Florida

Equine Touch Levels 1-3

Lecturer, British Equestrian Trade Association Introduction to Saddle Fitting Course, Auckland 2018; Introductory and Intermediate courses, Auckland 2019

You can also find me on LinkedIn, and on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Tiktok. I post short videos of some of my cases on social media, as well as other animal-related things.