I would really appreciate any suggestions. Anybody else's experience.

My very active very fit 7 1/2 year old Aussie bitch became slightly lame after resting about 2 months ago. After two weeks of it occassionally happening in the evening, always walking it off very quickly, I decided it was time to see my vet - that was 6 weeks ago. He diagnosed a slight muscle strain of the equivalent to the muscle at the front of our thigh. Which means every time she gets up she uses it. He said rest for 3 weeks with only lead walks and literally walking, she mustn't trot, only in straight lines. I do competitive obedience and I could think of nothing that didn't involve moving at faster than a walk or involved turning, siting or going down that I could do with her. The poor little girl has been bored out of her mind. I also have a two year old Aussie and an 11 1/2 year old Aussie. Stopping my little girl and my youngster (a boy) playing has been murder but we have managed. After 3 weeks he examined her and said he could find nothing wrong. He said start very slowly exercising her - she should be aiming to be doing 75% of her normal activity in 3 weeks. The next day I, stupidly, took her with me for a private dog training lesson with my youngster. I thought she could do a scent discrimination, present but no finish and an 'A' recall from the stand. I think it was probably the 'A' recall that was the problem as that evening she was dead lame. The next day, Thursday before Easter I phoned the vet but couldn't get an appointment until the following Wednesday. I rested her for 3 days - to her discust - and then short leather lead walked her at progressively faster paces. On the Wednesday the vet could find nothing. So again we have started building her up again. Much slower this time. We went from full length leather lead for a few days to 5m flexi to 8m flexi and then finally last Sunday I did some straight lines of heelwork. (You have no idea how boring straight lines of heel work is when you can't change pace or duck to one side etc.) In additon, that evening, I stupidly (stupid seems to be a much used adjective) wanted to do some work with my youngster and thought I would let her do a very short retrieve. I had been doing find-its of her ball on her 8m flexi with no trouble. However, the dumbell must have gone as much as 2m instead of the 1m I had intended and she shot out doing a beautiful retrieve  but that evening she was lame. Needless to say she was rested Monday. Street walked yesterday and today I took her for a  5m flexi walk round the local park. Not so clever (didn't use the word stupid) as she managed to chase a duck. She is now dead lame again. I have an appointment to see the vet this evening at 6.00. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Perhaps I should add that I have been through repetive muscle injuries with my old dog. When he was about 3 years old he started straining his shoulder muscle. He would strain it, be rested, built up again and after about 4 months do it again. Repeating this over a number of years. All my nagging and worrying turned him from a young 3 year old into a much older 5 -6 year old. I don't want to do the same to my little girl. I just don't know what to do for the best.

Hi  - In this situation I'd take her to hydrotherapy.  Where do you live?  Someone might know of a pool near you.  If she's insured you can usually claim it on the insurance although you may have to get your vet to refer you - ask him for a referral.  Have a look here and see if you can find a pool:

http://www.k9hydrotherapy.co.uk/main.html

If I were you I'd not let her do too much walking at all.  I know it sounds mad but I also had a dog with the same thing and I totally rested her, no walks nothing, spent most of her time in the cage and you'd be surprised that she did cope with this for 6 weeks.  It was well worth it as she's never had a problem since.  As the other person has said some hydrotherapy would help too.

After doing an injury to the muscle in my shoulder which is continually used it took 12 months before the full feeling came back and 18 months on I still don't have use of my thumb fully.

Hi There,
            I have a four year old aussie bitch who seems to go repeatedly lame when she does agility....... It seems to be on the very base of her back. She is a very fast and agile bitch who would do fabulously if we could compete, but every time we train, the same thing happens so we have given it up......
I find that hydrotherapy helps her, and we have a session twice a week if she seems to be in pain. On top of that, she swims in the river and the sea at least twice a week, and suffers no ill effects from swimming at all. She has crate rest (which she hates) and has been x-rayed as well.
We also visited a chiropractor who was really helpful. so that may be an avenue for you to explore...
Hope that helps,
Gabrielle

I think you should try Hydrotherapy it's great to work the muscles without putting any strain on them!
It would be great if your insurance would pay, ours wouldn't even though we had a letter from the vet advising this!
Good luck!
Maria

Sorry to hear about your dogs injury,I just want to tell you your not stupid as my dog peg who I posted about many times last year went lame(different reasons auto immune) but I did the same thing as resting her was really impossible (shes a saluki) and just when you think its ok,a small walk or run ruins everything,also heart breaking to keep them shut in, you just have to try not to feel guilty about doing it. I can no longer run her with her brother as they play fight and then peg can't walk, it is really hard as I know you feel that you are stopping all the fun, but you just get used to it you just have to remind yourself better in the long run.
ash

Thanks very much for all your replies. It's so nice to know that others have been there too.

The news from the vet is that the original muscle is fine. She has pulled a different muscle on the same leg. This time it's her calf muscle. It's good news that it's not the same muscle because apparently if it was then we'd be looking at a much longer recovery. The bad news is that it feels worse than the last muscle injury to him, it could be a tear. He's hoping it's because it's much fresher and may be because it's still in spasm but time will tell. He's given her anti-inflamatories for ten days and she's to have just toilet breaks for the next 3 days then no more than 10 minutes slow street walk for two weeks when he will look at her again.

I asked about hydrotheropy. He says that during hydrotheropy the muscles have to work very hard. They do it slowly so that there is no sudden strain but the muslces have to be good first. So when we get back to the point where she is having good 8m flexi runs then maybe I could sugget it to him as a way of building her up without risking her doing things too fast. I just hope that by continually saying steady to her and always nagging at the dogs not to play I'm not going to kill off her wonderful playful, go for it attitude.

Out of interest what is the specialty of a chiropractor. Am I right in thinking that an osteopath is a sort of bone specialist - dealing mainly with ligaments & tendons and that sort of thing. A physiotherapist works under a doctor and provides excersise (massage) presumably for muscles (??). Am I talking balderdash? But what does a chiropractor do - suddenly thought is that the person who puts out of alined joint back in aline.

Thanks again for your support.

Hi There,
           Yes, the chiropractor feels the joints etc, and manipulates them back into place if they have moved..... The one we use in the North West is fantastic and I do take the other aussies with me and he always goes over them to make sure they are ok !! :D

Hydrotherapy is good because although the muscles have to work, the water bears the weight so it will in a sense cushion the injured joint. I am lucky really because all my aussies love swiming and because they swim a lot their muscle tone is really good.

Hope your bitch gets better soon and she doesn't go crazy with having to rest...... Aussies are not the type of dog for lots of rest and relaxation, so I pity you !!!!!

Gabrielle

I know what you mean. Fortunately she is getting at least a bit used to it. The problem I have is that I would like to be doing more training at home with my youngster but if I do she just doesn't understand why she can't have a turn. I can't just shut her out of the room I am working him in because she knows and screams and jumps around on the other side of the door. Similarly I can't work him in the garden. I have to take him right away from the house or do something very simple with her first and work him for a very short amount of time. Obviously for the next couple of weeks I won't even be able to do that.

Regarding water. I used to take my old boy to a doggy pool - we're talking about 6 years ago so I don't think it was a proper hydrotheropy pool with jets etc. It was just a donut heated swimming pool. I took him as a way of building him after after one of his numerous muscle injuries. He quite liked water before we went but I can't say he really enjoyed the swimming because he had no control. We lifted him in and he could only come out when we let him and helped him. Having said that he became a fantastic swimmer and absolutly loves water now. My little girl really is not so keen on water. If we go to a super lake with depth and yet a sort of beachy bit where the dogs can walk in and out Dale (my old boy) will just jump in from one of the sides where he then has to swim to where he can walk out of the beachy bit while Gypsy will walk around in the  shallow end and will only swim to get a stick that is just out of reach. I will talk to the vet again about using hydrotheropy though when she improves again.

Thanks again

Aussiemad-  Not all vets know exactly how hydrotherapy works or in what cases it is advisable to use it.

Your best bet is to phone and speak to a hydrotherapist - describe the condition and the problem and ask them if they think hydrotherapy would be appropriate.  If they say yes, then you could go to a different vet at your practise and ask for a 2nd opinion - you could pursue the hydro option a bit more, I think.  I've seen dogs swimming after car accidents when they have wasted muscles and can't even walk, so I'd be surprised if your dog couldn't go.

It's also worth going to watch a few hydro sessions if you're concerned your dog might not like swimming.  From what I've seen, standards to differ quite a bit.  Make sure they are members of the Canine Hydrotherapy whatsit (link I posted above).  The first place I took a pup to, they just put a life jacket on her and plonked her in the water out of her depth!!!!  The second place I went to took a long time and had lots of treats ready to encourage pup into water and reward being in water, and also a person in a wet suit who went in the water with her and that helped no end.

I will follow the hydrotherapy idea up. I had a look at the web site you posted and there are at least two places that are not to bad (about 1/2 an hour's drive) and a 3rd place that we could use at a pinch. However, I think my vet is probably right in that she has got to get over this new muscle injury before she can proparly use it. However (again), I am concerned that if she could so easily pull this muscle after only 6 weeks rest. She will have even more wastage after another 3-6 weeks and my little girl doesn't know half speeds. Swimming would enable her to build muscle at slow speeds.

My other problem is though that I presume to get useful benefit from the theropy she will need to build up to several sessions a week, I think I built up to 3 sessions with my older dog. I suspect that it's going to be expensive so I will need a referal from the vet. We have veterinary insurance and according to the policy it is covered so I will need to persuade my vet.

It would be good to find a pool where somebody would get in with her. Certainly at least one that had a ramp. Of the three pools identified only one had a working web site and it appears to have some sort of ramp but I suspect it's quite steep. She would need somebody to coax her in or she will end up very frightened. She is a bit of a timidy beasty - not at all like my other two Aussies.

Thanks for your advise though - I will follow it up.

Hi - which are the pools on there that are near you?

Perhaps someone on here uses them and can tell you more about them if you say which they are?

Whereabouts are you based?  I use one in West Sussex which is great.

Hi - I live in Essex.

I phoned the three pools listed. Left a message which hasn't been replied to for the Stanford one but spoke to people in Chelmsford and Rochford. Both were obviously very confident on their ability to get her in but neither would get in with her or allow me to get in with her. Insurance and all that.

At dog training tonight, however, I have been told of somebody in Earls Colne, Maddie Ashworth (The Dogs Body). Two people sang her praises. One of whom told me they had a very nervous dog who she got in with and got her happily swimming. To be honest she is rather a long way from me (at least an hours drive each way) which is fine for once a week or so but I can't help thinking I would need to build up to a lot more than that. My feeling is that I will almost certainly get in touch with her, once Gypsy is given the go ahead by my vet to start exercising, and see if she is willing to help me get her going. If she's really brilliant I'll probably put up with the two hours drive but if I need to do it long term I might have to consider moving to somewhere closer purely from a time point point of view (I work part time and have children's activities in the evenings to consider). If any body can recommend anybody closer that is equally good that would be great as I hate mucking people about, let alone putting my dog through getting to know two potentially scary environments. I live in Essex, close to but just outside the M25.

You could always start by driving a bit further to a pool which has great staff to get her in, then after a few sessions when she is happier, change to a pool closer to you?

I got my east and west confused - the pool I use is in East Sussex, not West.  It's Silverden and is excellent.  It's based in Heathfield - is that reachable from you?  I think they're brilliant - has a ramp and someone will go in the water with her too.

Thanks for your advise. I've had a look at my map and Heathfield seems a very long way. I think I may get in touch with the lady I've been recomended and see if I can go and have a look next time I go for a private lesson with my young dog. I go once a fortnight so the timing would probably be not to bad.

I must admit it has occured to me that if I took my girl once or twice a week, depending on advise, for a few weeks then if the journey was proving a problem I could think of trying a closer place.

Thanks for your help.

Hi

I know it is a long way from you, but there is a hydrotherapy pool just outside Guildford.  I took my boy there and when he started he was taken in by two people, one each side.  He had a couple of sessions like that but wouldn't go in on his own, so I put on my costume and went in with him - cheaper that way and definitely good for his confidence!  They also have a nice gradual ramp to get in and out.

Good luck.

The one in Guildford is very good but is probably a bit far for you. I have done the 'fun' swims with mine and they love it and it certainly helps their confidence :)

>Aussiemad-  Not all vets know exactly how hydrotherapy works or in what cases it is advisable to use it.

>Your best bet is to phone and speak to a hydrotherapist - describe the condition and the problem and ask them if they think hydrotherapy would be appropriate.  If they say yes, then you could go to a different vet at your practise and ask for a 2nd opinion - you could pursue the hydro option a bit more, I think.  I've seen dogs swimming after car accidents when they have wasted muscles and can't even walk, so I'd be surprised if your dog couldn't go.

Actually 123, Aussiemad's vet is quite right.  Never swim a dog with a fresh muscle/soft tissue injury.  Wait until the injury heals and the dog can use the limb with ease and then swim her to build the muscle.  

Muscle wastage, DM, some joint problems, arthritis etc is totally different. 

Hydro takes the strain of the joints, NOT the muscle, puts the joints through their paces without load bearing, massages the limbs, increases circulation and improves cardiac output, reduces the chances of a future injury, amongst other things.   But it will not repair a fresh soft tissue injury, especially a torn muscle.  Our Hydro centre certainly would not allow a dog to swim until an injury like that healed.

PS. A good Hydro Centre will require a vet referral anyhow.  

Aussiemad - Wishing your girl a quick and a full recovery :-)

have you been to a physiotherapist?  one of my boys went completley lame as a pup and after visiting vets and orthopeadic specialists and a chiropractor all of which could find no boney reason for the lameness i took him to a physiotherapist.  the results were amazing!  after each session you could see the results as the lameness lessened.  she showed me stretches and exercises to do at home with him and within a few sessions he was complety sound again.  we concluded he had had a very nasty bang/crash with one of the adult dogs and had injured his shoulder muscles.  also since this i am careful to warm up my dogs prior to racing and use some of the techniques outlined in a book called something along the lines of "canine stretching and massage" might be worth a look at if you are having repeated problems?  perhaps arnica might also be useful??
hope she is feeling better soon,
kelly

Hi Aussiemad,

I would first have a check over with a Chiropractic. The McTimoney foundation would put you in touch with your nearest practitioner. If it is a muscle strain I would seek veterinary advice, but a referal from the Vet to a good Canine Massager would help. Originally I worked as a VN and trained at Liverpool, but have a huge interest in Canine Alternative Therapy.

Pam

Thanks everyone. I really do appreciate your replies.

I've come to the conclusion that if possible I will go and visit the pool that has been recommended to me near where I train once a fortnight. If possible I will go when I next go training which is a couple of days before I take my little girl back to the vet. That way I'll have something to talk to him about.

I feel sure that he and Spender are correct that I shouldn't swim her until she has good healthy muscle. My problem is that because she is such a speed merchant it will be hard to build the muscle, once he gives the go ahead to start building, on land because I will have to keep her on a lead for a very long time. This means a lot of road excersise. What I was thinking is that once she has had a reasonable amount of this so the muscle has proved itself as fundamentally sound then swimming might be a good way for her to build the muscle whilst not being able to do it fast. However, I'm not 100% sure of this because when a frightened dog swims it kind of panics and goes mad with it's front legs doesn't it - I'm not sure what the back legs are doing. Although it is the rear left leg that she has hurt the front legs will have wasted through lack of use. I will try to get some advise from this recommended pool person.

Thank you for the suggestion of a pool in Guildford. To be honest that is really a bit far but I will bear it in mind if I don't like what I see or hear when I go to this place near where I train.