Here is one of our current patients, Mowgli the Bengal x cat who was hit by a car at the end of September 2013 and dislocated his jaw and his right hip and broke both his hindlimbs. He went off to stay at Davies Vet Specialists for several days while the orthopaedic surgeons put him back together again and had twice daily physiotherapy while he was there. He was hardly able to walk when he got home as he was very sore and had lost a lot of muscle. He started coming to Active Pet in October and has been receiving electroacupuncture for pain relief in addition to his medication at home and physiotherapy to help keep his muscles and joints active.
After a few weeks we started him in the underwater treadmill without the water in just to get him used to the sensation of walking on the treadmill…it must be a little confusing for a cat to be walking but not going anywhere! After a couple of sessions we then added in some water to help him to walk correctly as he kept swinging his right leg out to the side and also to add a little resistance so that he can start building up his muscles in a safe and controlled fashion.
Mowgli has also been doing some exercises at home so that he can continue his progress when he is not at the clinic. Once he has found the exercises easy we have been giving him more challenging ones to do and we are really pleased with his progress. Luckily he has some dedicated owners at home to make sure that he is doing them!
Click on the link below for a video of Mowgli in action on the underwater treadmill!
