21/12/2025
Meet ZIGGY:
Ziggy is a 4yo M/N Groodle.
Ziggy came to us for assistance with musculoskeletal issues.
Ziggy has not had a great run with health since he was a wee pup.
When Ziggy first arrived to his new home as a pup he was already in the incubating phase of developing parvo. Within a few days of arriving he was literally fighting for his little life. Since then he has had ongoing gastrointestinal issues.
In 2023, he became super aggressive in his personality and was identified with pain related skeletal issues. He was given 6 months of Beransa injections 😞 to assist.
Feb 2024 Ziggy had a full right hip replacement surgery.
Jun 2024 Ziggy had a full left hip replacement surgery performed along with his left CCL TPLO.
Feb 2025 Ziggy then underwent a full right hip replacement surgery. All this and he is only rising 4yo. 😞
Since Feb 25, Ziggy's recovery to bring back his optimal self has had many limitations. He has suffered exercise intolerance struggling with fitness and has had a mountain of inflammatory processors going on severely subtracting from his day to day quality of life.
Ziggy inevitably increased his body mass so much from lack of movement and poor nutrition that he gained unhealthy weight and maxed out at 34kgs and he should be low 20s.
He was struggling with his respiratory rate and also with testing comfortably. Not to mention the added stress and potential pain inflicting on those recovering joints.
His mum Amy knew she had to somehow help her boy or he wasn't going to live a long life. She searched for more answers and further help and she reached out for me to assist.
The problem was his breathing. Especially at this time of year with the heat and humidity. He can't actually do much physically as he is on struggle street and just wasn't coping.
Plus with all the surgeries and vet visits he is not a fan anymore of vet clinics and gets high anxiety. His mum had managed to get his weight down a few kilos to 30kgs.
My first consultation with Ziggy was only 8 days ago. He was initially brought in for frontend lameness.
We discovered he had a small ulcer between his paw pads and why he was lame on his front right leg. His left front leg was muscle-sore and after some bodywork and acupuncture he was much better on left leg but still understandably nursing his right paw.
On Amy & Ziggy's 2nd visit after HBOT I was almost ready to send this boy to a specialist for a respiratory assessment. After his Hyperbaric treatment he struggled to return to a normal resting rate.
I left him in the aircon for longer period as it was over 30 degrees outside. His heart rate was good but he was roaring with his intake of breath. Partly because of his heightened anxiety to clinical situation and because of his health conditions. Amy indicated this was normal for Ziggy. That he would be like this often.
He was to return the next day for his 3rd session. We made it a late one to assist around the Summer heat. I was even considering that HBOT may not be for this patient. He was borderline.
When he arrived for his 3rd session he was so excited to be here. He also had just been clipped by the groomer earlier that morning and he had an extra spring in his step. I could see the power of HBOT was already at work.
So, I decided to give him one more chance. This session I would change up his treatment to give him a shot of success and success we achieved!
He came out of session happy and bouncing around like a puppy. He was breathing like a normal dog and we were all happily surprised at him.
I checked in with Amy the following morning and she said the difference had been like night and day. That for the first time in his life, he slept next to her on the bed together. 🫶
That he had been sleeping on the couch instead of trying to find the coolest part of the floor to lay on. She indicated he strictly only ever sleeps on the couch in Winter. 🫶
We started to change Ziggy's diet over to a healthy species appropriate diet. One he could thrive on and assist to manage his weight better reducing his inflammation.
This comes with owner education and guidance to help transition and track the patient to make sure they are managing it ok. Plus we really needed to get Ziggy off his medication Previcox and we transitioned him onto our herbal medication to assist.
In just over a week Ziggy has lost 1.35kgs and is down to 28.65kgs. He is loving his new food, he is drinking less (normal amount). The owner feared he GI tract would become a problem but we transitioned him on our Gut Harmony and he has been producing smaller perfect stools. He is also off previcox and no lameness, moving well and is happier within himself.
Amy is over the moon at how her boy is going. She can't believe the difference. We are so super happy for these two and I know this boy will have a chance to get his life back.
We have a long way to go, but he is so keen to be a happier dog. He wants to be able to run around and engage with the other dogs at the dog park. He doesn't want to be the one lying down sucking in air after only 5 mins of play.
Watch this space. Ziggy will be unrecognizable in the next 5 weeks.
I love nothing more than working with owners that are open and enthusiastic to putting in the effort to change the best friends outcome.
Go Team Ziggy. 🐾
