Four Paws Fitness

21/12/2024

🎄Christmas Break🎄

Closed 21st December - 1st January

06/12/2024

🩶 Shadow 🩶

Another progress update and this time it’s the gorgeous Shadow 😍

His owner picked up on some weakness in his hindlimbs and wanted to try some physiotherapy and conditioning to improve his strength 🐾

Shadow and his owner are a prime example of hard work paying off! The difference in his gait and posture has been great in a short space of time, testament to his mum for keeping up with the homework alongside hydrotherapy DogFish-Hydrotherapy 🐾

05/12/2024

Great advice for getting dogs into the car 🚙🐾

29/11/2024

🐾 Tidy paws 🐾

Paw care is super important, especially for our golden oldies - clipping the fur over the pads and keeping nails short and trim can help these guys better feel the ground beneath their paws and improve their grip, helping them to navigate tricky surfaces more easily 🐾

If you would like us to help with your pup’s paw care, just let us know in your next session 🐾

29/11/2024

Gorgeous Poppy falling asleep during her laser therapy this morning 🩵

19/11/2024

A little Nelly appreciation post 😍

Nelly’s owner noticed that she had a slight change in her hindlimb gait and wanted to see what physiotherapy could do for her.

Her initial assessment showed some tension in her lower back and general weakness of muscles in her back and hindlimbs, so we started with:

💥 laser therapy
🫶 Manual therapies (massage, stretching, mobilising)
💪 Rehab exercises to improve her core strength

The difference in just 2.5 months is huge! Nelly’s owner has worked so hard and we are starting to see great improvements in Nelly’s gait and strength 🐾

31/10/2024

🎃DONT FORGET YOUR PETS THIS HALLOWEEN🎃

With today being Halloween, that brings with it fireworks season. This is one of the most stressful times for our dogs.

Fireworks can be really fun for us but incredibly frightening for our dogs, especially since they are susceptible to loud and sudden noises which can cause pain in their ears.

More than half our pets will show signs of fear during fireworks, but we often don’t give it consideration until it’s too late.

Your dog need not suffer, here are some useful tips to help you plan ahead and ensure your beloved companion feels safe throughout the fireworks season.

31/10/2024

🎃 Happy Halloween 🎃

16/10/2024

When you are definitely absolutely not allowed to reschedule a regular weekly appointment to later in the day…🐾

I just told him his physio isn’t until this afternoon, it’s always in the morning 😬😬

Four Paws Fitness

02/10/2024

Please keep your pups on lead - tiny babies may be out and about! 🐈‍⬛🐈🐈‍⬛🐾

Just a reminder to keep your dogs on a lead until they are in the Dog Park/Field/Training/Physio - we have some babies!

We believe they are feral, mum is with them but until we can make sure they are safe, please keep your dogs on leads.

03/09/2024

Please drop a comment below if interested for Rachel Gallimore 🐾

03/09/2024

Albert showing GREAT enthusiasm for his at home physio exercises 😂

03/09/2024

🏆 AGILITY DOGS 🏆

This little powerhouse is Alfie, who is racing through Grade 5 (only a few weeks in), with only one win away from Grade 6!

His owner noticed some intermittent stiffness in his hind limbs, which we have addressed, and we are now focusing on building strength so Alfie can keep smashing competitions and reduce his injury risk ⭐️

If you’re looking to improve fitness for your own dog or have noticed a drop in performance, please get in touch! 🐾

12/08/2024

Attended a very interesting CPD event last week, learning about .vet orthotics 🐾

Thank you .uk and 🐾

30/07/2024

Finally some research to support conservative management of IVDD in dogs! 🎉🐾

Over the past couple of years, some of you may have heard of the Cambridge Vet School non-surgical IVDD study. The results have just been published. It’s a great write-up and quite groundbreaking!

Dogs unable to walk due to disc extrusion (IVDD) were cared for WITHOUT surgery. They had an MRI scan at the start of the study and another MRI scan after 12 weeks. These scans helped to make the diagnosis, and they also showed how compressed (squashed) the spinal cord was in each case.

The big questions were:
❓How many of these dogs would start walking again without having had surgery?
❓How compressed was each dog’s spinal cord at the start of the study?
❓Were they still just as compressed at the end of the study, 12 weeks later?

Results were interesting and included the following:
✅Out of the dogs that had deep pain sensation, NEARLY ALL of them (49 of 51 dogs, 96%) started walking again within 12 weeks. Most of them walked much sooner than this.
✅Out of those with NO deep pain sensation, nearly half of them (10 of 21 dogs, 48%) started walking again within 12 weeks. That’s WITHOUT surgery.
✅Spinal cord compression reduced in some dogs over the 12 week study period. That’s despite not having had surgery to remove the disc material that caused this compression.
✅Many dogs started walking again despite the fact that their spinal cord was still compressed, ie ‘Recovery was not dependent on the resolution of compression’

💛The authors concluded that if spinal surgery isn’t possible as it’s not available in the area or is too expensive, non-surgical management is a valid alternative.

There’s plenty of detail in the write-up, and it’s free for all to read or download via this link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jvim.17149

Many thanks to Jep for this photo

15/07/2024

Just a snapshot of the pups in for their physio appointments last week 🐾

🩵 Errol
🩵 Frank
🩵 Lily
🩵 Roo & Darcy
🩵 Albert
🩵 Rufus
🩵 Sherman
🩵 Freya
🩵 Poppy
🩵 Marshall

Please don’t forget to tag us in photos of your pets 🐾