The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on a subject of interest to owners of german shepherds with hip dysplasia. It's a rehabilitative process for animals similar to the ones humans undergo:
Veterinarian Ava Frick is nothing short of a miracle worker. She manipulates their spines, massages their tails, cracks their toes and stretches their muscles to control pain and help them recover from injuries and surgery.
Frick is the founder of the Animal Fitness Center in Union, about an hour's drive southwest of St. Louis. She performs her magic in a metal building constructed seven years ago just outside of Union.
The center's website is
here. One of Frick's specialties is the underwater treadmill which she used to effectivly treat a German Shepherd with hip problems.
Elka, (an)r 8-year-old German shepherd, "could hardly get up or down a flight of stairs" before coming to the fitness center in April. "Now, she's back playing and going up an down stairs like a whole new dog," said (her owner.)
Elka, who weighs 80 pounds, spent 15 minutes (going 1.1 miles per hour) in the underwater treadmill at the fitness center to build up strength in her back legs. The water was a warm 87-92 degrees and reached up to the middle of her back legs. The dog occasionally licked at the water as she dutifully kept up the even pace of the treadmill.
No comments:
Post a Comment