Swim to Recovery now available

Available now is our fantastic new book, Swim to Recovery: Canine Hydrotherapy Healing by Emily Wong

This unique book explores canine hydrotherapy, rehabilitation and weight management, and how these can improve your dog’s well-being.

A type of aquatic exercise, hydrotherapy can help prevent and treat medical problems and pre-/post-operative conditions in dogs, and can also be used for rehabilitation and maintaining health and fitness in your dog.

Obesity is one of the most common issues that domestic dogs face today, and this book brings awareness to the matter, suggesting preventative measures and simple husbandry tips that the owner can use to safeguard their dog’s welfare.

Supplemented by illustrations and colour photographs of patients undergoing rehabilitation, this book is ideal for all dog owners.

Lots of people are talking about Swim to Recovery, including The Veterinary Record's Donna Carver! Check out her fantastic review below:

"This eye-catching book includes plenty of colour photographs from hydrotherapy case studies. In the introduction, the author outlines hydrotherapy as a complementary therapy that aims to improve pets’ quality of life. Chapters 1 to 6 may be most beneficial to owners to help them understand the benefits of hydrotherapy for their pet and how hydrotherapy fits into a rehabilitation programme.

"Chapter 6 focuses on obesity and related osteoarthritis, and explains why the progressive loss of articular cartilage and inflammation of the synovial membrane leads to pain and discomfort for the patient and is common in obese patients. The chapter outlines the benefits of hydrotherapyfor obese animals with osteoarthritis; swimming is a non-weight-bearing activity that can strengthen the muscles around joints while avoiding load on the joints. Advice is given on the advantages of underwater treadmill hydrotherapy units and their use, including the control of water height, temperature, belt speed and all-round view of the patient. However, this section of the book is short. Given the growing popularity of underwater treadmills in veterinary practice, and the links with functional rehabilitation of patients, I would have liked this section to be more detailed and use of these units incorporated into the case studies in Chapters 7 to 11.

"The pre-hydrotherapy assessment section covers the basic measurements of temperature, pulse and respiration, plus body measurements, weight, pace and gait to evaluate the treatment, and how to know when to move the patient’s treatment on. Guidance is given on the water level to target strengthening of specific joints, and on the ideal water level to provide buoyancy to reduce the percentage of bodyweight passing through the joints.

"Chapters 7 to 11 may be of most interest to veterinary nurses with little previous knowledge or experience of hydrotherapy. These chapters focus on its use in treating conditions such as hip and elbow dysplasia, cruciate injuries and spinal conditions. They are illustrated with clearly drawnillustrations and radiographs, while easy-to-read bullet points within the text are used to identify key clinical signs of commonly treated conditions. Each chapter starts with outlining the aim of the swim programme, the duration of the programme, tasks to be completed during sessions, advice on what to do at home, and how and when to progress the swim programme. In summary, this book would be useful to dog owners to improve their understanding of the benefits of hydrotherapy for their pet, and also as a starting point for veterinary nurses with an interest in hydrotherapy."

You can get your copy of Swim to Recovery over at the Hubble and Hattie website. Right now we're offering 40% off in our January Sale, plus free p+p within the UK, so head over and check it out!