“Marlowe saw the coyote before we did, pulled away and gave chase. We found him nearby, his paw impossibly bent, bones shattered and ligaments blown out. After an expensive operation, we were not looking to spend more, and we looked forward to his recovery after 15 weeks in a cast.
The recovery was slow, but he did start walking better. To a point. He plateaued and we decided to follow the vet’s suggestion that physical therapy could help. When I had a knee injury, it was the only thing that really helped. So we brought him to CARE and he went through several treatments, including hydrotherapy and acupuncture. It was not a miracle cure, nor is it a thing where you bring the dog in and he gets fixed.
No magic here–it’s work. The staff is involved and dedicated, and they give the dogs a lot of loving care. And they have all kinds of great apparatus to work with, things you could not duplicate at home. But they also gave us our homework; we had to do therapy at home, too. We were given a printout with the exercises to do and we were pretty good about it. Twice a day at first, then once, and of course we missed some days. Again, the staff was a great help in teaching us and answering our questions about the exercises.
I believe the therapy, their work and ours, helped Marlowe to walk better and recover in a shorter time. The swelling became less and less frequent, the need to ice disappeared. Dr. Waldman also made suggestions for his diet, a mix of kibble and real foods, which I know is very good for our dogs (we have two). Now Marlowe walks just fine, and we’re letting him run, getting him back in shape. He will never be quite the same, his paw is still a little deformed. But don’t tell him that. He was always incredibly fast. I don’t think he’s lost a step. We are very glad we took this step at CARE.”
D.W., September 2009