Hydrotherapy
Our canine hydrotherapy program provides a safe, low-impact form of exercise designed to support your dog’s mobility, strength, and overall comfort. Using the natural resistance and buoyancy of water, hydrotherapy helps reduce stress on joints while improving muscle tone, endurance, flexibility, and coordination.
It can be beneficial for dogs recovering from surgery or injury, managing arthritis or other orthopedic conditions, working on weight loss, or maintaining mobility as they age. Each session is tailored to your dog’s individual needs and supervised by trained veterinary staff to ensure a comfortable and positive experience.
Our goal is to help your dog move more easily, build confidence, and enjoy a better quality of life.
Establishing a Therapy Plan
We work with your veterinarian to plan an appropriate swimming regimen for your companion. The indoor pool provides a safe place for pets to learn to swim, whether young and fit or older and with health problems.
Swimming can be effectively combined with therapy laser for a treatment program of building and maintaining muscle strength and flexibility and managing pain, in post-surgical periods such as after knee (ACL) surgery and for older dogs with osteoarthritis and neurologic ailments that respond well to these modalities.
Our medical team will work with you to plan the best program for your pet’s specific conditions.
About the Therapy Pool
The indoor hydrotherapy pool is specially designed to allow easy access and is large enough for the therapist to be in the pool with your dog. Water temperature is set at a comfortable swimming temperature, similar to an indoor swimming pool.
We use a gentle, non-irritating cleanser that is safe for both pets and people. The residue-free disinfectant operates through a gentle oxidation process to keep the water fresh and clean for your pet.
Testimonial
“My dog Jack and I moved into a country home with three acres. Within a year, he was stomped by a deer, leaving him helpless and unable to walk. He had lost the use of his back legs.
I immediately rushed him to an animal hospital, where I was told he had a slipped disc in his back and would require a $5,000 surgery with only about a 40% chance of recovery. Instead, I chose to purchase a dog wheelchair from a company called Walkin’ Wheels, with the help of my brother, Jim.
Jack didn’t take to the wheelchair right away, but with my brother’s help, he eventually became very comfortable with it. He would go up and down our long driveway every day and even play fetch, bringing the Frisbee back to me until he was tired.
My brother’s dog, Apache, was a true savior to Jack. He helped encourage him to move and play every day. We used treats to help train Jack, but because he was dragging his feet, he developed sores on the tops of his paws.
Eventually, Jack began to improve with the help of the wonderful team at Forever Friends Pet Care Center & Hospital. Alex worked with him through hydrotherapy swimming sessions, and Jack became stronger with every session. Before long, he was running down the driveway and playing vigorously with Apache!
Jack lived a healthy 10 years thanks to his wheelchair, Apache, Jim, Alex, and, of course, Forever Friends.
Forever Friends also helped me with another special rescue—a stray miniature Doberman Pinscher I rescued. I slowly gained his trust and named him Tater. Today, Tater is living the dream thanks to Forever Friends and I.”
— Bill McCullough