Willow's Hydrotherapy and Veterinary Physiotherapy Services

12/12/2024

A Friendly Reminder About Our Cancellation Policy

As the Christmas season is upon us, our schedule is busier than ever, and we’re doing everything we can to ensure everyone gets the appointments they need.

We kindly remind our valued customers of our 48-hour cancellation policy. Last-minute cancellations or no-shows make it difficult for us to accommodate others who are waiting for appointments, especially during this hectic time.

While we’d prefer not to enforce our policy, repeated last-minute changes may require us to do so to ensure fairness for everyone.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

08/12/2024

The list is endless….

06/12/2024

Lovely little trio that have been visiting us weekly ☺️

01/12/2024

It’s December, I am officially allowed to mention Christmas 🎄

Our diaries are extremely busy so please ensure you all have your appointments booked in 😊 We will have a very limited number of appointments available in between Christmas & New Year. I highly recommend booking this now to avoid disappointment.

I know everyone is extremely busy over the Christmas period, however please can I ask everyone to consider us 🙃, who work very hard to ensure everyone gets an appointment. It makes it difficult (and frustrating at times) when we get last minute changes or no shows over the Christmas period.

I hope everyone has a lovely December and enjoys the build up to The big day 🎅🎄

28/11/2024

Great post about using treats to reinforce wanted behaviours

When you've got a puppy (or are actively training) you go through a lot of treats. We all know that!

Dogs will value different reinforcers in different ways. These values are NOT static! They may be dependent on or influenced by the environment; by the dog's emotional or physical state (ie full!); and by how recently and how much they've had that particular reinforcer.

This is why I always rotate rewards, especially for my dogs in training.

I spent £2.79 on treats today, and came away with 125g of tasty minis, which didn't actually seem that tasty imo, and 250g of hot dogs. The hotdogs were also only £1 of my purchase so worked out quiiiiiite a bit better 'bang for my buck'.

These are also massively different in terms of reward value for my dogs. Whilst dogs do have different preferences, I have yet to meet a dog who will turn their nose up at a hot dog or squeeze cheese (IYKYK 😉) in favour of a 'tasty mini' or similar. My dogs chose the hot dogs every time!

When you're building value in a behaviour, you need to choose a reinforcer that's right for the behaviour that you want, in the context that you want. Spice needs high value rewards for check ins, loose lead walking and recall as if left to his own devices he'd quite like to hunt instead. It has to be worth it to him! But if I reached for the hot dogs every time, he would actually start getting bored of them.

Think about it: if you had your favourite chocolate every day, constantly, for any and every thing that you did... how many days would you go before you couldn't actually stand the taste of that? And what about those days you don't want *that* particular chocolate but you do want this other chocolate? Or maybe its a crisp day instead?!

So we have lower value reinforcers for environments and behaviours that are easier for him; such as building calmness in the vet waiting room, which he already understands. And higher value reinforcers for environments and behaviours that don't come so naturally; such as choosing me over the environment itself.

27/11/2024

I do love to break up the day with a cat cuddle 🥰 This handsome chap popped in for a laser ⚡️session. As the colder months are setting in, like many pets he was getting a little stiff and hesitant at times to jump 🐈

27/11/2024

25/11/2024

This lovely (bossy 😂) little girl comes to visit us weekly to help her manage symptoms she gets from having Hip Dysplasia. She has come on leaps and bounds out on her walks and at home 🤩💦🐾

24/11/2024

22/11/2024

This lovely little girl 🩷 was referred to us for rehabilitation treatment after she had undergone spinal surgery. She has been on quite a journey and has had to completely learn how to walk again 🐾

She is now able to walk again and is at a stage where she is back out on her walks with her dog pals and has even had a few a little runs 🙂⚡️💦 She has definitely been a team effort between the vets, us, Mum, Dad and of course Grandad 🤩

22/11/2024

She’s home! ☺️ thanks for sharing everyone!

❌Missing ❌ from FY4 Docky Pool lane. Missing since the 20/11/24

Please share far and wide and if you are local please please check garages/sheds. Leave them open for a short while to give her chance to come out in her own time. She will likely hide from you. Please check your gardens too in hedges etc incase she is injured.

Thank you 🙏

20/11/2024

Lilly 🩷has been visiting us for a combination of laser therapy⚡️ and hydrotherapy 💦to support her recovery after surgery to repair her cruciate ligament. Lilly is a very nervous girl, with patience, care, and working at her pace though, she’s grown so much more confident with in us and being at the clinic. 🥰

She’s making fantastic progress on her recovery too! Lilly is now putting more weight on her operated leg and is back enjoying longer walks with her mum and dad at her favourite spot – the park. 🌳🐾

30/10/2024

This little dude 🩵is absolutely awesome and is always a pleasure to treat in clinic💦⚡️ He has luxating patella‘s and is having a combination of laser ⚡️ to reduce the inflammation and provide pain relief, and hydrotherapy 💦 to help build muscle mass to support the area 🐾⚡️💦🐶

28/10/2024

Class IV laser therapy ⚡️is able to treat a wide range of conditions. It reduces pain, inflammation and accelerates the bodies natural healing process💪

​Laser therapy uses infra red and LED rays to pe*****te soft tissue, muscle, ligaments and bone. By emitting red light into the muscle/ joint, this starts a process known as ATP. The body uses this light energy to power cells, aid recovery and is an excellent way to control pain and improve the healing process.

​Some of the conditions it is able to treat are:

🐾Arthritis
🐾Hip/elbow Dysplasia
🐾IVDD/Spinal injuries
🐾Degenerative joint disease
🐾Cruciate injuries/post operative
🐾Ear infections
🐾Dermatitis
🐾Cellulitis
🐾Lick granuloma
🐾Hot spots & wounds
🐾Post surgical wounds
🐾Muscle sprains and strains
🐾Tendinitis

Contact us for further information 🙂

27/10/2024

That face though 😍 as you can imagine, he has absolutely everyone wrapped round his paw with a face like that 😂

Unfortunately this little fella has had to undergo surgery on his elbows, a common troublesome area for many labradors! We are working on building his strength up and creating some fantastic muscle mass to help support his joints 💪💦🐾

25/10/2024

Have you heard about canine hydrotherapy? 💦🐾

It’s an incredible therapy that uses the natural properties of water to help our dogs recover and stay healthy. The buoyancy of the water supports their body, reducing pressure on joints and making movement easier for dogs with arthritis, injuries, or post-surgery recovery. The warmth of the water also helps to relax muscles, improve circulation, and reduce pain, while the resistance provides a gentle yet effective workout to strengthen muscles and improve mobility.

Hydrotherapy is not only therapeutic, it’s also a fun, stress-free way for dogs to exercise! 💙🐶

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