Galgo Polar – update on treatment – canine physiotherapy

Last week we visited a Dog and Cat Physiotherapist/Osteopath/Re-education with our disabled galgo pup Polar. She was recommended to me by 3 different people at the dog club which I have joined to take Polar for obedience training, as being someone who could help with his mobility problem due to his handicap.

Fazia is a fascinating lady. She is one of very few canine physios in the whole of France – just remember that France is 3 x the size of the UK! France desperately needs more people like Fazia! She covers an area you couldn’t imagine in the UK!

She loves dogs and cats and when she was young she wanted to help them and this is why she undertook 5 years of training to qualify for the work she does. If you want to read about her, click on this link. (English translation at the end of this article.) Her physio training was 3 years and her osteo training 2 years extra. A dedicated lady indeed.

She uses similar treatment on Polar as my physio used on me after an operation to repair a shoulder fracture and tendon tear. Gel, heat, massage, TENS. I can relate to that completely.

After Polar’s first treatment last Wednesday it was noticeable how much better he moved on his ‘disabled’ leg. When I took him to dog club last Sunday for Dog Obedience training (how do you teach a galgo not to steal?) one of the trainers remarked that he was moving better – she had no knowledge atall that he had been to see the physio she had recommended!

Today Fazia worked the same treatment – gel, heat, cream, TENS. However, in the meantime I had left with her last week at her request the xrays from the Spanish vet taken back in April 2013. Polar has grown – a lot – he is going to be a big galgo. 7 months old and he is already taller than Bracken at 4 years old.

After working on Polar for an hour with her treatment and listening to the movement of his bones/tendons/ligaments – and taking on board all the information and diagnosis of the specialist vets we have visited and given to her, she believes the problem could be ligament. Also she has studied the links to the Youtube videos of Polar’s movement since he first was dumped at Pepis Refuge and since he came to live with us.

From her experience and knowledge after 2 2-hour sessions with Polar, she wants to consult with a vet with whom she works – whose reputation I know from friends who take their dogs to her. Fazia would not book another treatment for Polar today because she feels that, if her vet agrees with her diagnosis, then it is just possible that the problem is with Polar’s ligament/tendon and that maybe an operation might contribute to his mobility more. I can relate to this after having an operation on one of my shoulders 2 years ago for ruptured tendon and the shoulder is virtually back to normal – I say virtually because I am extra careful in respect of how I use it – not lifting 1 ton weights!

Fazia is a fascinating lady, very well qualified in what she does and absolutely loves her work – no doubt about that. She is terrific with Polar, even when he’s too busy lifting his head to see what she is doing and getting frustrated because he really doesn’t want to lie on his side on a table – even with a lovely Frenchwoman playing with his hind leg and looking at his parts!!

After Fazia has consulted with the vet and discussed her findings with Polar and the movement in his leg, she will email me as to the next step forward.

In the meantime, she has said he needs a nightly massage – I already do that – and he is NOT to run about and play with Bracken as this will aggravate the injury to his leg! What do you do with an 8-month old leggy galgo who just wants to run and play?!

NB. Fazia suggested that swimming Polar would help his muscles – gentle exercise in a straight line with no pressure on his leg. But the nearest canine physio with a pool is over 2 hours’ drive from us. She has a walking machine at her main clinic in La Rochelle (1 1/2hours’ drive from us) which she also felt could help Polar.

I suggested to her that there was an enormous need for her and her work in our region of France (La Rochelle is a port on the Atlantic coast) If she was based in Niort where she has her clinic we attend – or even further inland at Poitiers, she would attract a huge number of client dogs who could benefit from her treatment (she’d have to train up another assistant!).

As she said, the UK is much further forward in realising how important is treatment such as hers to dogs and cats after surgery. France lags a VERY long way behind! Why don’t the French vets realise this and do something about it?! Why don’t they fund a centre for her to carry out her rehabilitation treatment and also enable her to train up future canine osteo/physio specialists?!

Life here in 79 France is good – but in soooo many ways it lags years behind the UK and that is very frustrating!

And Carmela is being the most wonderful loving Mama to Polar…seen here sharing a bed yet again.

NB TAKE NOTICE, UK. FRANCE NEEDS MORE QUALIFIED DOG/CAT/OSTEO/PHYSIOS…it’s a BIG country!

AND for those of you who can’t get the French translation on her website to English, here it is.

Provide joint and muscle comfort your pet, it is the job of Fazia Gafour, canine and feline osteopath.

Follower of the gentle approach, I work in the well-being and respect for your pet.

Have a thorough knowledge of the anatomy is to adapt to its morphology and give him the mobility to a structure in order to restore a state of balance in the body.

Various reasons can cause the animal owner to contact a canine osteopath:

Difficulty to climb or descend stairs

Lameness, asymmetry, defective paces

Sprains, sciatica, lumbago

Problem behavior, nervousness

Licking inadvertent zone

Urinary incontinence, frequent cystitis

Problem of constipation, diarrhea regular

Snoring

Before, during and after intensive training (for working or sporting dogs)

Post-operative or post-accident rehabilitation fracture types, hip dysplasia, ruptured
cruciate ligaments, patellar dislocation, herniated disc

And all the “bobos” related to old age of our companions such as osteoarthritis.

A canine osteopath must fully master the intangible language of your companion.

Adapting my needs perfectly, I work with your pet never impose any constraint.