Claire's 3rd Hydrotherapy Session 10-28-11

Videos taken at Claire's third hydrotherapy session at CARE in Santa Monica! Her therapy this time was upped to a total of six minutes. It's always divided into three bursts of activity, with two rest periods in between in which she stays in the water but the treadmill is not running. The last video is of the water draining from the tank after her session, so that we could open the door to get her out.

Claire doesn't particularly like baths, which we do in the kitchen sink, so I was surprised at how quickly she took to the water treadmill! Of course, someone is standing at the head of the tank offering her cookies the entire time, so she has a reason to be distracted from the water. In fact, it's quite funny--rather than keeping a nice even pace on the treadmill, she'll run up to me for a treat, then stop walking while she chews it. The treadmill takes her backwards, away from me, so she then has to run up to me for the next treat!

The hand in these videos is the male tech who runs the tank. He kindly left me free to run the camera, and he was better at teasing her with the food to stretch it out. She's only going to CARE once a week, so her progress with the length that they'll give her has been slow. I'll have to start figuring out how to do hydrotherapy in the tub at home as she has just two CARE visits left.

Claire's New Heating Pad

After Claire's latest setback, due to the cold temperatures that day and just the general change of seasons, a friend told me about a thermo heating pad for cats that is reactive to the pet's weight. I had an aha! moment and filed the idea away. The next day, a generous donor sent Claire a $50 check, so I immediately placed an order.

It arrived this weekend, and both dogs have already discovered it! I ordered only one to see how well it would work, but it's obvious we'll need one for the crate and the bed in the bedroom, in addition to the couch in the living room. Chance found it first and nestled in, but as soon as Claire figured out what it did, she laid claim to it, so Chance will have to get his own.

I've always left blankets out in chilly weather, and the pups dug around in them until they were comfortably nestled in. But now Claire seems not to burrow at all due to her back injury, so this will be an invaluable tool in her recovery.