Dog Hydrotherapy

As a young dog Lex, my english springer spaniel, had a painful orthopedic condition which affected his left shoulder (humeral head).

He had surgery in 2020 and recovered well.

One day, last summer, after a training session when he had been retrieving over a fence, he was very dejected and off his food.

The vet diagnosed him with a painful shoulder and said as he was such a young dog, we shouldn’t restrict his exercise, instead we should let him do his usual activity and treat him with pain medications if and when required.

He also thought it would be beneficial to do some hydrotherapy to enable him to exercise without impact on the joint and help maintain muscle mass and build fitness.

We had a referral went along to Gem & Evie's Hydrotherapy for dogs in Surrey (gemandevies.co.uk)

What we got from hydrotherapy

Lex is a high drive working springer and he finds everything exciting and the same was true for hydrotherapy!

The way it works is the dog is showered before swimming to warm up the muscles and remove any dirt from the coat to prevent contaminating the pool.  

The first few visits, Lex wouldn’t stand on the shower tray so he was showered on mat on the floor.

Siew Lian was very patient and did not rush him.

After showering, Lex had the buoyancy aid put on and he was ready to go.

He loved the water and he loved swimming.

During the course of the sessions, he became much more comfortable with the environment, once he was showered and ready, he was up the slope and into the pool.

He also adjusted to taking short breaks between swimming and began to enjoy staying still while Siew Lian gave him a massage

Hydrotherapy was very beneficial for Lex both in terms of his physical and mental wellbeing.