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Does Your Pet Need Rehab Therapy?

How Do You Know?

Symptoms That Indicate Pet Rehab (Physical Therapy) May Help

Signs of Pain

  • Difficulty getting up after a nap

  • Hesitation on stairs

  • Reluctance to go for walks or resistance to longer walks

  • Constantly tired

  • Painful (How do you know? Here are the signs.)

    • Agitation.

    • Vocalization, longer naps

    • Crying out, yelping, growling or snapping.

    • Sensitivity to touch or abnormal response to handling.

    • Lethargic, less active, or hiding.

    • Limping and/or reluctant to take walks.

    • Becoming depressed and/or not eating.

    • Rapid, shallow breathing (panting) and an increased heart rate.

    • Excessive grooming or licking of a particular area.

Lethargic, less active dog
Dog loss of apetite-painful

Steps for Effective Canine Rehab Therapy

Diagnosis & Pain Management

Canine Pain Management

Proper diagnosis and pain management are crucial to rehab success. Obviously our pets can't tell us they're in pain. But using the signs listed above, a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist (C.C.R.T.) can, after a thorough examination, usually pinpoint the source or sources of the problem.  Controlling pain has to come first because, unlike people, pets cannot be encouraged to work through minor pain to achieve results. And therapy cannot be started until your pet is comfortable and compliant.

Effective Treatment

Canine Rehab Therapies

Once the source of the pain is identified and decreased, the therapist can then focus on the specific exercises and treatments that will most effectively begin rebuilding you pet's strength and mobility.  Those therapies will vary from pet to pet, depending on the issues involved, but your dog will not rebuild maximal strength of ligaments and muscles without them. See our services page for treatment types and how they help. And review our FAQ page for questions about how long your pet may need therapy or for any other questions you may have.  Also feel free to email us if you have additional questions.

Home Exercise Program

Between regular rehab therapy treatments, your therapist should provide a series of easy home exercises you can do with your dog in 15 minutes or less. It's hard to overestimate how important this part of the program is. These exercises continue the momentum and progress your pet has made during his in-clinic visits and help avoid relapse.

 

  • Renews Your Dog's Love of Life - Enhances Quality of life

Acute injury, debilitating disease, or even  "normal" aging can

significantly lower your dog's quality of life. Physical rehabilitation

works to counteract this. Rehabilitation for the veterinary patient has

the ability to renew both your dog's love for life and his quality of life.

  • Speeds recovery from injury or illness

After injury or illness, the body will protect the area. After only 2 weeks of decreased activity, ligaments lose strength and become less organized. Muscles weaken. Conditioning decreases. Tendons deteriorate. Physical rehabilitation works to rebuild these detrimental effects.

  • Reduces or eliminates pain

As we mentioned above, pain management is crucial to success. Unlike in people, where the patient can be encouraged to work through minor pain to achieve results, our pets will resist us every inch of the way. Your dog will not rebuild maximal strength of ligaments and muscles without pain control.

  • Restores and maintains movement and mobility

​As your dog protects weak, diseased or injured areas, the body learns ways to compensate. These compensations lead to abnormal function which increases the risk of re-injury or of new injuries developing. We seek to pinpoint these compensations and then retrain your dog's body to move as designed. ​

  • Retrains nerves and muscles - Maximizes Physical Potential

As your dog protects weak, diseased or injured areas, the canine body

learns ways to compensate, ways that lead to abnormal function and 

increase the risk of re-injury or developing new injuries. We seek to

pinpoint these compensations and then recondition your dog's body to

move as designed. From retraining and "patterning" activities of daily

living in debilitated and even paralyzed dogs to promoting proper form for the

canine athlete, Go Dog Go Canine Rehab helps your pet improve

mobility and energy.

The Canine Athlete-Frisbee Dog
Playful Dog

Benefits of Canine Rehab Therapy

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