Veterinary Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
Having worked for many years as a veterinary nurse and then for the last 14 years running our canine hydrotherapy centre and small boarding kennels alongside looking after, training and competing with our Siberian Huskies in sled dog races and championship level dog showing for 20+ years I have always had a huge interest in keeping dogs fit, healthy and happy and when I discovered a veterinary physiotherapy diploma course which would accept me due the amount of practical knowledge I possessed I wanted to achieve this so badly I threw caution (and a lot of money) to the wind and despite thirty years since doing any formal learning decided failure was not an option! It has been a dream of mine for many years but following an injury to one of my own young dogs which resulted in my travelling up and down the country for physiotherapy appointments in an effort to fix him I decided the Isle of Wight’s dogs and dog owners deserved better and so I set about learning how to achieve this for them. I have just completed my level 6 diploma in professional veterinary physiotherapy and rehabilitation with Justo Development and have just begun the level 6 diploma in professional equine physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Once I have achieved this I plan to continue on to top up to the Level 7 degree in veterinary physiotherapy as I want to learn everything I possibly can about how to help mans best friends.
I am extremely lucky to have an amazing team supporting and working alongside me including my partner Lee who runs our own canine hydrotherapy centre ‘Doggy Paddles’ with our other fantastic part time hydrotherapists and my son Rohan who is currently finishing his A level exams but helps out in our boarding kennels alongside our fantastic kennel staff at our small luxury boarding kennels ‘Canine Country Retreat. I work closely with ‘The animal chiro’ Phil Milner who holds canine chiropractic clinics at our centre and am lucky to have the support and friendship of many of the Islands vets, vet nurses, chiropractors, behaviorists, trainers, groomers and many other dog professionals. I strongly believe the very best way to help any dog who is recovering from injury, illness or operation or coping with hereditary problems, degenerative problems or old age weaknesses is for everyone to work together to find the best solution for each individual.
I can provide physiotherapy in the forms of massage, stretching and joint mobilization, electro physical agents and remedial exercise and rehabilitation plans. Electro physical agents include Pulsed Magnetic Field Therapy, Phototherapy/Cold Laser, Therapeutic ultrasound and Neuro Muscular Electro Stimulation. Although these all sound a bit scary they are actually painless ways of introducing energy into tissues and cells to promote and even re start healing which often will not occur without them. This is why we have spent a considerable amount of money making sure we can provide these very valuable agents for your dogs as we believe the Islands dogs deserve to have this kind of treatment easily available to them.
Veterinary permission is necessary by law in order for a physiotherapist to provide treatment to animals so if you think physio could help your dog ask your vet provide a referral. I have referral forms to make this easier or alternatively your vet can just email me at doggypaddles@aol.com stating they are happy for me ‘Julie Platt’ to provide physiotherapy for your dog (please include dogs name).
