Burning Rubber, Pet Carts in Rehabilitation
By: Cathryn Fields, LVT
Keeping our pets mobile despite challenges
Carts are often perceived by pet owner’s as a last resort for their pets with mobility concerns. In rehabilitation we see the cart as a tool to assist in rehabilitation exercises and preserve the patient’s quality of life by keeping them an active member of the family. In this month’s blog we look at two pets that were fitted into carts for different reasons and their results.
With his new wheels, Chance was able to discover refrigerators!
Chance
Chance began to see us in April 2015, after he became unable to walk or use his hind limbs to even stand for over a month. With rehabilitation and acupuncture, Chance began to use his hind limbs again. His foster mom would stand him up to do his exercises in a more natural position. In the summer, Chance began to realize things that he couldn’t reach would be brought to him, so it was easier to wait for toys and food to come to him. He did not want to try to walk, he reached a plateau.
Chance got his cart that August and adjusted to it very quickly. He began to keep up with the other pets in the house, run from window to window looking at birds, and kicking his hind limbs in the cart as he ran. He decided that being up on all four legs, even with wheels was better than crawling. His foster mom was able to do more exercises also because she had a helping hand.
In a very short time frame, Chance began to high step with his hind limbs and started standing for longer periods of time without the support of his cart. By the end of October, he no longer wanted to be in his cart. He could walk and even use stairs on his own. Continue…
Sometimes we make it to that stage where comfort and overall quality of life is our biggest priority with our older pets. Ensuring that they have more good days than bad are still able to be a part of the family and enjoy doing what they love. In these cases, rehabilitation can help keep them in that place of comfort. So often you may see videos of a dog that had a stifle surgery working on our equipment or a neurological patient taking its first steps in the underwater treadmill. But the reality is that a large portion of our patients are our aging pets that are having trouble getting up or slowing down on their usual walks. And even for some of those pets, our goal is making them comfortable during whatever time we are blessed with them.