understanding your pet's
rehabilitation and recovery
If your pet is recovering from surgery, injury, or dealing with ongoing pain or mobility issues, it can feel a bit overwhelming. You might be wondering what’s normal, what they should be doing, and how to help without making things worse. You’re not alone.
Our rehabilitation team is here to support your pet’s comfort, strength, and confidence as they heal. We work with you to build a safe recovery plan that fits your pet’s needs and your day-to-day life.
We have put together answers to the most common questions our rehabilitation team receives about their services, including what to expect, what we do and how we can help your pet get back to moving well and feeling good.
Rehabilitation means to restore to normal function.
A rehabilitation veterinarian helps animals in their recovery from surgery or injury. A rehabilitation veterinarian may also help puppies or dogs who have been diagnosed with orthopaedic conditions like elbow or hip dysplasia, or those who are suffering from arthritis in their later years.
Veterinary rehabilitation borrows from many disciplines, such as physiotherapy, exercise physiology and occupational therapy and applies those principles, translating techniques to accommodate for the different anatomy and needs of cats and dogs.
Veterinary rehabilitation consultations are designed to help you and your pet develop solutions for recovery. Your rehabilitation veterinarian may guide you through the problem and work with you to tailor a solution that will work best for you and your pet, so that they can live their best life.
Veterinary rehabilitation is a unique partnership that puts the solution for your pet’s recovery into your hands.
Rehabilitation helps your pet recover more comfortably by improving mobility, easing pain and supporting healing after injury, illness or surgery. It also strengthens weak areas, builds confidence and can slow the progression of long-term conditions so your pet enjoys a better quality of life.
Veterinary rehabilitation techniques include:
- Massage therapy
Our team will show you how to do effective massage for your pet, so that you can treat them at home yourself.
- Exercise therapy
We will show you how you can strengthen muscle groups to help your pet recover from injury or surgery. Working specific muscles helps to protect joints and can be a helpful remedy for chronic conditions like osteoarthritis.
- Laser therapy
Laser therapy is one of the tools we might recommend for your pet to assist and accelerate the healing process.
Laser works to reduce pain, swelling and inflammation in multiple areas of the body. This happens through a process called photobiomodulation. Photobiomodulation accelerates cellular metabolism to promote healing of tissues. In slow healing tissues like the spine, nervous system and tendons, laser therapy is particularly useful.
- Underwater treadmill therapy
The underwater treadmill is a great addition to any rehabilitation plan. Water supports the body weight while exercising, providing a reduced weight bearing environment, decreasing stress on joints. This means it is less painful to exercise with painful joint conditions like arthritis.
The hydrostatic pressure of the water also provides effective resistance training, building muscle strength rapidly. The water also supports flexibility and improves range of motion of joints.
Using a treadmill is also uniquely beneficial for improving balance, stability and gait patterns. Our rehabilitation team can tailor a solution specific for your pet.
Read more about our specific treadmill and the benefits it offers.
You can request a referral from your regular vet; however, we also welcome enquiries for pets from pet owners directly.
It is, however, extremely helpful for us to understand what treatments and medications your pet is already taking, and we prefer to work collaboratively with your regular vet so that we have a full understanding of your pet’s general health.
We will ask for your pet’s history to be emailed to AREC, so that we can review all their medical details prior to the initial consultation.
Veterinary rehabilitation services can assist in a range of neurological and musculoskeletal conditions. Virtually any condition that impacts mobility and movement can be supported by our rehabilitation team.
- Neurological conditions and degenerative neurological conditions including:
- IVDD surgical and non-surgical management
- Degenerative myelopathy
- FCE, spinal embolism
- Post-surgical recovery following:
- Tibial Plateau Levelling Osteotomy (TPLO)
- Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) repairs
- Medial luxating patellas
- Fracture repairs
- Total hip replacements
- Femoral head excisions
- Amputations
- Septic Arthritis
- Tendon injuries including:
- Iliopsoas tendinopathy
- Gastrocnemius tendinopathies
- Tendonitis
- Tendon repairs
- Chronic conditions including:
- Arthritis
- Obesity management
- Pain management
- Muscle atrophy and wasting
- Developmental conditions such as:
- Hip dysplasia
- Elbow dysplasia
- Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) and joint diseases.
A rehabilitation consultation starts with a thorough musculoskeletal examination.
We will refer to your regular vet’s clinical findings, X-rays and/or CT images to formulate our plan of treatment.
Each patient can respond individually, so we assess your pet for where they are hurting and how best to help.
We take into consideration the level of training you have done with your dog and whether they are anxious in the clinical environment when we formulate our plan.
We use exclusively low stress handling techniques and will only encourage your pet to participate. We choose not to force your pet to do their exercises – rather we will use treats and training techniques, until they are confident enough to try just about anything!
We do use a lot of food rewards for the exercise part of the plan, so please let us know if your pet has any dietary requirements.
Better still, if you have concerns about the treats your pet can have, bring along their favourite food items.
We use warmed up BBQ chicken (skin removed) as our regular reward.
We also have a range of selective protein treats for dogs that can’t have chicken.
You can find a list of our costs for an initial and a follow-up rehabilitation consultation on our Fees page.
Our rehabilitation team will send you an email with your pet’s program included.
There will be training tips and videos for each exercise and written instructions that you can use at home to achieve the best results for your pet.
The numbers of exercises, repetitions, etc. will depend on your pet’s condition and the various therapies we are using.
Our rehabilitation veterinarian, Dr Lindy Price, has more than 20 years’ experience in general practice and rehabilitation. She is passionate about providing animals with long, healthy lives and for supporting pet owners to help with the process. She is a certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner (CCRP) through the University of Tennessee.
Our rehabilitation nurse, Candice Carroll, is an experienced registered veterinary nurse. She has a specific interest in rehabilitation, with qualifications and experience in canine massage and senior patient care.
Together, Lindy and Candice provide and implement comprehensive and caring treatment plans to support pets’ recovery from surgery and injury and general quality of life.