Help for Animal Owners: Animal Rehabilitation FAQ

No, dogs don’t need to have had surgery to come to rehab. Your animals can have rehab to help with any musculoskeletal condition. This includes things like muscle tears, ligament injuries, arthritis or other joint problems. Hip dysplasia, dislocating kneecaps, stiffness and lameness are common problems that I help animals with.

No, crating your dog doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing rehab.

Rehab isn’t only about doing exercises. We can still be helping to maintain proper joint function, tackle swelling and pain, and use gentle movements that are appropriate for your dog (or cat, or other smallish critter!).

How many sessions your animal needs will depend on what condition they have and how badly affected they are. After assessing them and finding out more about their life at home, we’ll also consider the logistics of appointments for you, how much you’re able to do yourself, and how much assistance you’d like to have. We’ll get together as often as you need so you have help along the way for as long as you and your animal need it.

Rehab and physio have the same aims – getting your animal back to the best they can be. Much of what we do is the same thing by different names. Both include hands-on treatment, therapeutic exercises, and things like laser, ultrasound and electrotherapy. I’m also trained in veterinary acupuncture and osteopathy (I’m a registered osteopath and also treat people). These are great additional options for pain management and mobility.

Rehab is definitely worth it for older animals. There are gentle ways we can help senior pets to have less pain and be able to move more easily. These include gentle joint mobilising, osteopathic techniques to help the soft tissues to stay soft and relaxed, and age-appropriate exercises to help maintain strength and balance. I can also use laser therapy or acupuncture to help with pain management, which in some pets helps to reduce their need for medication. Rehab isn’t all pushups and poses!

Rehab visits aren’t the same as your normal vet visit. While I do take the whole animal into account, I focus on musculoskeletal issues. With longer appointment times I can do this in more depth than your GP vet is usually able to. Teamwork makes the dream work though, and working together with your GP vet means your animal gets better care.

As well as doing hands-on treatments, I also cover other things that affect mobility, like targeted exercise, your home environment, nutrition, weight management and supplements. Rehab can help reduce the need for pain medication, as well as improving mobility, strength and balance.

Many dogs do slow down as they get older, and most of them (just like us humans!) some wear and tear as we get older. BUT that doesn’t mean we have to suffer from it. There’s a fine line between being a wee bit stiff and slowing down, and actually being in pain. I can help you to recognize the early signs of joint and muscle pain in your dog, and we can plan how best to help them. Keeping them active for longer is better for their overall health, not just for their joints and muscles.

There are several components to a typical rehab session. The first thing I do is watch your animal’s behaviour, posture and movement. I might ask you to get them to do particular movements for me, depending on the situation. This is more common for subtle lameness.

Secondly, I’ll be asking you what’s been happening with them and what problems you’ve noticed. Learning their history helps to give me valuable background information and is an important part of figuring out what’s going on.

I’ll do a hands-on check of joints and muscles, individually checking as many of them as I can touch. I’m looking for the range of movement in the joint, what the quality of the movement feels like, any signs of pain, and the texture and tensions in soft tissues. I’ll let you know what I’m feeling and what I think the causes of any issues are.

We’ll discuss various treatment options and do what we decide is the best fit for you and your animal. I can choose from hands-on therapies (osteopathy, physiotherapy techniques and chiropractic), use modalities such as acupuncture or laser, and targeted exercises.

Finally, we’ll talk about the plan moving forward, including things you can do to help at home.

Which treatments I use depend on a number of factors. “It depends” is my favourite phrase! I have to weigh up all the information you and your animal have given me –their background, their medical history, the problems they’ve been having, and how they are today. 

I have to consider your animal’s behaviour – are they relaxed and chilled, or a bit worried? How much pain are they in? 

Next, I think about the treatment options, and how effective I think they’ll be for your animal and your situation. It could be anything from veterinary osteopathy, physical therapies or targeted exercise, to acupuncture or laser treatment. The treatment not only needs to be effective, but it has to be something your animal will like. 

If I think more investigation is needed, I’ll explain that too, and can work in with your GP vet or specialists if necessary. 

Getting good results is important. The results we get for your animal will be individual to them – it’ll depend on what problems they’re starting with, and how acute or chronic they are. Everyone is different, and some creatures don’t read the textbooks! I’ll talk you through the treatment options and the pros and cons.

Most animals are feeling better by the end of a treatment session, though it can take a few sessions to get them as good as they can be. If they’ve got an ongoing condition, our aim might be to slow down the progression and keep them going comfortably for longer, rather than being able to provide a cure.

I often show owners exercises to do at home. Who doesn’t like getting homework?! There are lots of things that affect how well your animal copes with their joint or muscle pain. Exercise, weight, nutrition and your home environment are some of them. We’ll discuss the factors that are relevant for you and your pet, and help you to work out the solutions that will work best for you.

And while I love homework, I also know that life happens, so we’ll figure out the easiest way for you to achieve what your animal needs given your schedule and commitments. 

No – you don’t need a referral from your vet to come to rehab, although I like to have a copy of your pet’s vet notes. It’s always good to work in with other members of your animal’s care team, that’s the best way to get great results.

That depends on where we meet and what you need. I work from a few different clinics seeing small animals, and do home visits for horses and farm animals. Costs vary by location and service, so please contact me for more information.

It’s very possible that pet insurance will cover rehab, especially given I’m a veterinarian AND have a lot of postgraduate, university-level training. You’ll have to check your policy though, and if you’re not sure give your insurance company a call. Not all complementary therapies are covered, because many people (like some animal massage therapists, bodyworkers and others) don’t have qualifications that are recognised.

There is no regulation about who can offer treatments, so training courses can be pretty brief before people set themselves up offering animal therapies. There are also people offering animal rehabilitation who have had minimal training, and they are unlikely to have a good understanding of your animal’s health issues. It always pays to check.

Animal behaviour is a passion of mine, and I pay close attention when animals show signs of fear, stress, anxiety or pain.

I’ve seen lots of nervous animals, and most learn that rehab comes with rewards, whether that’s a yummy treat or a relaxing treatment. I go at their pace so they feel comfortable, and we only do what’s safe for us and them. It’s one of the reasons I have lots of tools in my toolbox, as I can choose the best option for the situation.

My regulars get excited when they come to their rehab sessions – dog owners usually get dragged into the clinic – and anxious dogs learn that we’re ok too, really, and that it’s actually all quite relaxing.

The short answer is no, I don’t give out longer term rehab plans. That’s not the best way to do things. While I know what I’d like for your animal to be doing in their rehab next week and next month, none of us know what is ACTUALLY going to happen. I’ve seen too many complications to be comfortable handing out a rehab recipe. All sorts of things can happen – someone forgets to close a door and your post-op dog jumps on a bed, or they manage to get an infection, they lick their wound and it isn’t healing properly, or they were doing well and suddenly have a setback and are lamer than they were before. It’s much better to keep an eye on their progress so we can pick up any problems as soon as possible.

My clients also value the guidance and reassurance they get while going through the rehab process with their animals. It can be overwhelming at first, having to cope with giving medications at particular times, manage how much they can move, trying to keep their pain under control and keeping them from being stressed. I’ve helped lots of clients through this, providing advice and solving problems that pop up along the rehab journey.

We also need to change what we’re doing during rehab as your animal heals and becomes stronger. Therapeutic exercises are progressed and changed as we go. This requires regular assessment to get it right.

Chat GPT might give you a recipe – but they’ll gather info from the webiverse and haven’t actually evaluated YOUR animal. They don’t know your pet’s medical history, they can’t see how sore he is today, or feel the crackling in her joints, and they can’t tell you when it’s time to move from one exercise to the next or when to change what you’re doing.

Remote rehab can be valuable when you haven’t got a qualified and experienced person near enough to give you hands-on help. In that case, I can work with you and your regular vet or surgeon to guide you through the rehab process. We can do on-line sessions to assess mobility and progress exercises and other rehab activities. I can work with you in-person in the Manawatu, Whanganui, Horowhenua or Wellington areas.

The other situation is animals who are very stressed, aggressive or fearful and don’t cope with strangers or clinics. Remote rehab is still better than no rehab! I often work in person with scared and nervous animals using fear-free training techniques to help them overcome their fears. When they need extra help, I work with vets who focus on helping animals with behaviour issues. But if this isn’t an option for you, I can guide you via online appointments.