Meet Burt

Burts Story:

Burt is a 5-year-old Labradoodle with lots of energy! He was diagnosed with Bi-Lateral Hip Dysplasia at 6 months old. He first began his Hydrotherapy journey with us when he was diagnosed and returned to us in June 2020. He was coping at home with exercise management and pain relief but at the beginning of 2020 he had a more pronounced sway in the hips and appeared stiffer than before. He was finding it harder to get in and out of the car and using stairs.

Treatment Plan:

Burt’s specialist vet decided that he would be needing hip replacement surgery. This was delayed due to the Covid-19 lockdown. They suggested that Burt should start some Hydrotherapy to build the muscles to support the hip joint and decrease his recovery time. They also recommended Hydrotherapy to shed some weight, this means less pressure on the joint. Burt started coming to our pool weekly.

Progress:

Burt loves his swimming sessions and is always very keen. We have been able to gradually build up his swimming duration to 11 minutes (excluding rest times) and we have seen improvement in his range of movement in the hips and his stamina. We have also been able to introduce him to the high resistance jets.

Since Burt has been visiting us, he has lost just over 3kg in weight. This minimises the pressure on his hip joints. He has also increased in muscle mass in his hinds.

Burt is now able to go for longer walks off the lead and no longer requires anti-inflammatories daily. Due to Burt’s improvements, we were able to reduce his sessions to fortnightly. This has recently been reduced to monthly.

Outcome:

Burt’s owners have decided to delay the surgery for now. They want to try and maintain his comfort and fitness levels with Hydrotherapy and weight loss.