Today was a pretty quiet day at the Triangle Vet Referral Hospital. There were no surgeries or crazy emergencies, but I still got to participate in many interesting situations that wouldn’t occur on a daily basis for me. I got to view some ultrasounds, help hold a dog as one of the vet technicians gave him a pain medication injection, but the main thing I did was help with dog physical therapy. Usually after surgeries on an animal’s limbs, the animals need to go through physical therapy to help them gain control over their muscles and walk smoothly again. The first patient was a little dog named T-Rex. He was born with a bone deformity in his front leg that had to be fixed through surgery. In physical therapy, the vet technician guided T-Rex through a variety of activities such as walking over poles, and practicing balance which were all used to help the dog put his weight evenly on all four legs. The second patient was another small, fluffy dog named Linus. He had surgery on his back leg and did the same exercises as T-Rex with more of a focus on the back legs. The third patient was a lab named Maddi, who is pictured below. She had surgery in her front leg, but also went to physical therapy to help her hip joints since she was getting older. The vet technician used heat and ice therapy on the dog. She also used an electrical therapy that stimulates the muscles. I was surprised to learn how similar dog physical therapy is to humans and it was an experience I will not forget.
