The Vet Physio

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The Vet Physio

Veterinary physiotherapy for all small and large animals, specialising in dogs and horses.

23/09/2025

A really great couple of days teaching level 6 Veterinary Physiotherapy students at Plumpton College alongside my best teaching partner. It was really lovely to catch up with the students just starting their third year with us and work with some lovely dogs 🐾 🥰 Lunch time in the sun with gorgeous views was a huge bonus today too 👌😊

16/09/2025

First small animal attended days done for a brilliant cohort of first year vet physio students, I really enjoyed the last two days spent with them at Plumpton College. We were all so engrossed in learning about anatomy, gait analysis, SOAP protocols, static and dynamic assessments, palpation, professional, legal, health and safety considerations and lots more I only remembered to take pictures of their fab muscle building efforts! We covered a lot but they were all superstars 🌟👌👏

15/09/2025

It's that time of year again! Dusted off my staff ID and sat at a very blustery ferry port but excited to meet a new first year Veterinary Physiotherapy cohort at Plumpton College and even more excited to be back teaching with my amazing friend, best travel Wendy, best vet physio teacher I know, person who believed in me enough to teach me in the first place Katie Lawrence - Veterinary Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, I mean it's a bit worrying she says I'm still in charge but.... it's going to be so good to spend some time with her 👏😊

12/09/2025

When my lovely friend-client Tina, who is a similar age to me, retired I felt a little jealous as sometimes more time doing things at a slower pace is really appealing! However now I've come to realise that Tina being retired has HUGE benefits for me too ..... last appointment cream tea, this time savory tea, absolutely yummy again and very much appreciated not to mention the beautiful hand painted card 💜 thank you Tina 😘 xx

09/09/2025

What a brilliant day of consultation at the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary collaborating with the brilliant and very lovely Matt of Shackleton - Veterinary Physiotherapy focusing on primate and big cat physiotherapy and rehabilitation. So lovely to meet you Matt and discover we are very much on the same page despite the fact you have so much more knowledge on the zoo industry and exotic animals it is another reminder how transferable the principles of rehabilitation are for all species. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me and for such an enjoyable day which will undoubtedly benefit all the animals hugely 🙏👌🥰

01/08/2025

NEW SERVICE LAUNCH – Equine Physiotherapy with Alice!

You’ve asked - so we’ve listened!

We’re thrilled to share that The Vet Physio is expanding to offer Equine Physiotherapy, delivered by our fully qualified Veterinary Physiotherapist, Alice!

Starting with one Sunday a month, Alice will be available across the Isle of Wight to support horses with:

✅ Injury recovery & rehabilitation
✅ Improving mobility, performance & comfort
✅ Ongoing musculoskeletal maintenance

This service is ideal for all types of horses – from retired golden oldies to competition athletes.

For vets and referring professionals:
We’re happy to collaborate on rehab plans or receive direct referrals. Please feel free to get in touch to discuss how we can support your equine clients.

We’re currently gauging demand – if you're interested in booking, referring, or learning more, drop us a email at thevetphysioIOW@gmail.com, comment below, or tag someone who might be!

Let’s help your horses feel, move, and perform at their best 🐎

30/07/2025

I have some amazing clients! 🫶

It's been a very difficult day, for numerous reasons, in an already very trying week in a far from easy month but this level of thoughtfulness and appreciation makes everything much much better!

Thank you soooo much Tina, I'm always so grateful for your amazing gifts but this one of a cream tea with home made scones just blew me away and was utterly delicious 😋😘 xx

19/07/2025

Our amazing rehab team!!

For a long time our physiotherapy and hydrotherapy team consisted of only Lee and I. The responsibility of being a couple providing valuable treatment for the Islands dogs while living on site can sometimes weight heavy! Times when we have been poorly or a family member (human or canine) has been poorly or just when we need time off to recharge our batteries and remember we are a couple not just colleagues have been really difficult. Not to mention all the other work and life responsibilities we have and the fact we aren't getting any younger and working flat out often 7 days a week gets harder 😜

Also demand for the therapy services we provide has hugely increased as owners and vets realise how hugely beneficial they are for so many dogs with so many conditions. So we've set about building a bigger team but we knew it had to be absolutely the right team and I'm proud to say we have achieved this 😊👌

This is last night at an impromptu, after work bbq, lots of laughs, banter but equally respect and admiration at what an awesome team of trustworthy, lovely, caring and capable friends working together can achieve 🥰

18/07/2025

First day at work here for our brilliant new veterinary physiotherapist Alice and what a great day she's had! This was the aftermath of her treating our very own elderly boy Sparky .... I mean I knew he was moulting a little but..... 🤣🤣🤣 Sorry about the weirdly placed fur coat Alice, but you've been a superstar today, not just with our Sparky who is usually a complete fidget for me to treat and who thoroughly enjoyed his treatment with you but with all your other clients today 🥰🫶

11/07/2025

The great thing about taking an extra 'day off work' so you can have a relaxing day on the camp site with Lee, our dogs and friends is it means there's time to treat my own four show dogs competing this weekend! 😜

I spend quite a lot of time at shows providing performance enhancement treatments to other competitors dogs and often I forget to leave time to treat my own 🤦‍♀️Last week in the ring i realised a few of mine needed tweaking and did a few 'running repairs' during the classes which is far from ideal 😬.

So this week all four girls have had full treatments this morning and all four (two 5 year olds, a 3 year old and a 20 month old) had quite a lot of areas of muscle tension and some restricted shoulder and spinal ROM, nothing at all serious but just enough to mildly restrict movement or change posture which of course is never ideal for a show dog, working dog or sporting dog..

People often ask why young, healthy dogs would have such problems but it is very common. Our girls are work hard, play hard kinda girlies which can often account for little niggles occurring as well as other reasons such as slips, falls, jumping down out of van crates, slippery flooring, repetitive ball play etc etc. The good thing is it's easy to resolve little niggles before they turn into bigger problems and this is why I absolutely love performance enhancement treatment, or as I like to think of it .... fine tuning athletes 🥰

21/06/2025

Your dog doesn't need to have an injury or clinical history to benefit from physiotherapy treatment. We treat many dogs using gentle techniques to improve range of movement, comfort and strength to support older age, young development, performance enhancement or owner peace of mind that they are doing everything possible to keep their best friend happy and fit 🥰

Our musculoskeletal assessment included gait analysis, history taking, palpation and range of movement checks to pinpoint if there are any areas of restriction which treatment could help improve. There is no pressure to book in for subsequent treatment but we think all owners should have the opportunity to have their dogs checked if they wish and by adding to our physio team and extending our opening times we are now able to provide, more easily, what many have been asking for 👏. Catching small changes early before they become bigger problems really is the best way to go!

If we do find an injury, illness or pathology on assessment we would need you to have this checked by your vet and approved for treatment to ensure gold standard multidisciplinary treatment and to cover our legal requirements as professional practitioners. If we find small imbalances or restrictions we can improve with maintenance or performance enhancement treatment we can discuss this with you and book this in if you wish. This subsequent treatment would involve a lovely deep tissue massage and stretch treatment for your dog, EPA treatment as appropriate, advice on lifestyle and environment changes that could be made to help your dog, and the discussion, development and demonstration of a home exercise plan tailored to your dogs needs and your capabilities.

Email us at doggypaddles@aol.com or thevetphysioiow@gmail.com for more information or to book 🫶

20/06/2025

Wow, it's been quite a week, I'm not going to lie I'm struggling to keep up with my workload over the last few months BUT it's all good as Alice will be starting four weeks today and this will hugely ease the pressure for me while improving the service we can provide so I have been soldiering on and very much looking forwards to this change 😊.

But with some worries over a couple of our own dogs health recently as well I was having a bit of a difficult day yesterday and then a very lovely lady who I haven't seen for a while who's equally lovely little dog I rehabbed through an injury last year had booked in for a check up treatment and brought me this present, how lovely are the words and the thought. It made me well up and reminded me again how lovely it is to be so appreciated 💜

Being a vet physio can be a bit of a lonely responsibility and in order to constantly clinically reason the best possible treatment for every single dog you constantly have to question, which can lead to self doubt and the dreaded imposter syndrome! 😬 A little thing like this or just hearing the benefits you have made to an animal really does make all of that worthwhile though 👌🫶

Address

White Rails
Newport
PO334RN

Telephone

+441983882669

Website

http://www.doggypaddlesretreat.co.uk/

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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).