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Animal Spotlight - Faith
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“Faith” is a 9 year old German shepherd mix. When she was 12 months old she started limping, so her elbows and hips were x-rayed. They showed that she had hip dysplasia, where the head of the femur does not sit properly in the hip socket, and an ununited aconeal process of the elbow. A femoral head ostectomy (FHO) was performed on her left hip and a month later on her right hip. An FHO is the removal of the head of the femur and the resulting scar tissue takes the place of the hip joint. Due to the severity of her hip problem she was not a good candidate for surgical repair of the elbow. It is important that the weight of an animal that has musculoskeltal problems be kept down throughout it’s lifetime to maintain mobility. Since she has multiple joint issues she was unable to exercise as much as we would have liked and subsequently gained too much weight. She was at the point where she was no longer able to walk short distances comfortably.
Dr. Frier recommended that “Faith” start doing hydrotherapy to lose weight, build muscle, increase joint mobility, and have more stamina. Hydrotherapy is an effective physiotherapy because the water provides buoyancy that reduces weight on the joints and at the same time the training effects are increased by the pressure of the water. When she started her biweekly training sessions she weighed 98 pounds. Over the past three months she has lost 11 pounds! Her endurance has increased as well. When she started her sessions she was only able to walk for four repetitions of 30 seconds each. She can now do six reps of up to 3:00 minutes each. Her owner reports that she is able to go on short walks at home and is a much happier dog.
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