On July 8th, we came back from holiday and picked Betty up from the dog boarder. She seemed fine but when we got home she tried to jump on the sofa and just fell backwards. We knew didn't know what was wrong but her mobility got steadily worse that evening.
The following morning at 8am we took Betty to our vets for an emergency appointment. They (incorrectly) diagnosed a luxating patella as the problem, prescribed paracetamol and booked her in for corrective surgery. At this point Betty could not stand without support. We took her home but were increasingly concerned.
Betty had completely lost movement and feeling in her hind legs. We made another emergency appointment for that afternoon, when the vet correctly identified a spinal problem - Intervertebral Degeneration Disease (IVDD). They made an urgent referral to a specialist surgeon for the same evening. Surgery took place the following day, July 10th when part of a vertebrae was removed.
Post surgery Betty's walking was very 'wobbly'. She didn't have full movement or feeling in her hind legs, had lost weight and required 8 weeks cage rest with just short on-lead walks.
When the specialist surgeon signed Betty off in early September and recommended physiotherapy. We got Jessica's derails through a work colleague. Jessica was able to access the details of the surgery Betty had undergone.
We were initially sceptical about the benefits of a physiotherapy programme. How wrong we were! In late September at Betty's first appointment Jessica observed Betty's general mobility and used laser on the damaged spinal area. She devised an exercise programme specifically for Betty to do at home in-between visits. Jessica adjusted the programme as Betty progressed. We had 6 or 7 appointments over three months.
Betty made an excellent recovery from surgery but Jessica's physiotherapy programme has been so important in her making a full recovery. Betty has got full movement, strength and feeling in her hind legs. Although we probably won't let Betty go squirrel-chasing as much as she used to, she's having a great life!
Our review We took our 2 year old Cockapoo, Betty to Jessica after she'd had spinal surgery to remove part of a vertebrae (connected to IVDD). We found Jessica to be very knowledgeable, professional, friendly, a good listener and really good fun! She devised a 3 month exercise programme specifically for Betty which we followed in-between visits to Jessica and it worked really well.
Jessica was always available for advice in-between visits too. Jessica showed a lot of love for Betty who really enjoyed her visits. She's played a massive part in Betty making such a good recovery. We plan to to take Betty for 3-monthly check ups to make sure she's on the right track. Thank you Jessica! We thoroughly recommend Jessica Parker Veterinary Physiotherapy!