Here at Blue Bear, we are revolutionising animal rehabilitation in Essex for small pets such as dogs and cats. We talked last time how the centre, based in Copford near Colchester has a large hydrotherapy pool and treatment rooms however one of the most specialised treatment we offer for mainly dogs is our aquatic treadmill.

This is an amazing piece of equipment that has a standard treadmill with an enclosed tank that can be filled with warm water to any level to take the weight off the limbs of the animals as they exercise. This is particularly useful for dogs and now cats too with joint issues such as hip dysplasia, spinal injuries and particularly useful after surgery.

The treadmill is also really successful in treating animals with water phobia to help them relax and build confidence especially if their treatment plan is to include a dip in the hydro pool.

We are one of the only centres in Essex to offer this range of services to care for you pets, coupled with our highly experienced...

It is hard to believe what has happened since we last posted a blog, so firstly sorry for that, however since the last post Blue Bear Animal Rehabilitation has opened its state-of-the-art facility for pet and canine hydrotherapy and treatment in Colchester in Essex. The centre is actually located just outside Colchester in Copford and houses a huge hydrotherapy pool to be able to offer the very best treatment for your dogs. We also have a fantastic aquatic treadmill which allows for treatment without putting pressure on joints.

The kind of cases we have seen have included post operative, joint issues, hip dysplasia, spinal problems, elbow issues and weight management.  

Beyond the canine hydrotherapy we have several treatment rooms and we can offer laser therapy and canine massage, so we are able to tailor the treatment for your pet.

The centre also has a lovely retail area and we will tell you more about this in future posts, but if you are in Essex and passing us, pop in and have a look...

Poor Cody had pulled a muscle in his back resulting in some pain and discomfort so we went out to him straight away.

We used a combination of Laser and LED on the area of pain and spasm and within 30 minutes the muscle spasm had ceased.

A couple of hours later we received a photo of a much happier looking Cody! 

Beautiful Tilly is a young schnauzer who has bilateral hip dysphasia, osteoarthritis and also some hind limb lameness.  Tilly's mum contacted us to see if we could help her with laser and we had our first session this week.
We never push the animals as it all has to be a positive experience so we will only do what they will allow us.  Tilly was a little unsure to start with so we adjusted the programme until we found something she was comfortable with and relaxed.

She soon settled down and snuggled onto the sofa to have a snooze.

We shall be seeing Tilly regularly over the next few weeks so can keep you posted with her progress 

We first met Ryan this weekend and what a lovely boy he is!  Ryan suffers from chronic elbow osteoarthritis in his left forelimb and sadly has a deformed right forelimb which adds to the pressures on the left leg for support.  
As he relies so heavily on his hind limbs it's really important that these stay as pain free as possible.

Ryan was an absolute star during his first laser session and really relaxed and enjoyed the treatment, he nearly fell asleep!  We focused on reducing pain and inflammation in his left forelimb and also treating his lumber spine and opposing hind limb to ensure support.

Ryan was facing a possible and high risk elbow replacement surgery so it is vitally important for us to improve his quality of life and reduce pain so if the surgery becomes absolutely necessary later down the line, Ryan has a good head start on the healing process.

His mum reported to us a couple of days after his treatment that his whole demeanour has changed, he's active, wanting to...

After our first treatment with gorgeous 15 year young Flora, her mum contacted us to say what an incredible improvement she had seen in her girl, her tail was up in the air and she was finding it much easier to move and get about which she hadn't done in quite some time.
It was our pleasure to return to see Flora and continue her laser therapy as good maintenance to keep her moving freely.  As usual Flora greeted with a big fuss and settled down to enjoy her time with the laser.
It's amazing to see how much benefit she has found from a short session and what an improvement there has been to her quality of life.
We are now starting to treat her gingivitis too so she will feel ever better.

Gorgeous Preston is suffering with intermittent forelimb lameness which has been investigated by the vets but they haven't been able to give a clear diagnosis.  Preston is such a beautiful gentle giant and was a pleasure to work with.  
We completed a gate assessment and watched some films his family had recorded of him showing that his right forelimb certainly was causing a bit of bother especially when trotting.

We started our treatment focusing on this limb and also on his left hind too so to relieve some of the tension he has been carrying through there.  He sat wonderfully and throughly enjoyed his tummy tickles from mum.

He managed a good session and really relaxed, the next day his mum reported he was in very good spirits and has been playing up on his morning walk meaning he must have been feeling better!

We shall be seeing this gorgeous boy again in a weeks time

Beautiful Flora is 15 Years young and is starting to suffer with arthritis in her joints, especially her hips.  Her family have noticed she has started to have a few mobility issues and wanted us to come along and see if we could help her mobility, pain relieve and improve her quality of life.

Flora was fantastic and took everything in her stride, she wasn't phased by the treatment at all.  We used a strong laser to treat right into her joints and then followed up with the LED with some lovely pain relieving frequencies.

As you can see from the photos Flora was thoroughly relaxed, had a wash and then settled down for a snooze once we finished.  

The following day her mum reported that she was much brighter and had better mobility, we shall be seeing Flora again very soon to maintain her great start at a better quality of pain free life 

Cody is a gorgeous romanian rescue dog with an incredibly thick double layered coat.  His owner had noticed he had been worrying a spot on his back and after clipping away some of his fur discovered quite a sore and scabby mark on his skin.

He popped to the vets to have it checked over and we were invited to laser and LED the area to help promote faster healing, pain relief and to stop Cody from worrying the spot so allowing it to heal.

We used a combination of laser and LED and Cody was a star patient, relaxed and fell right asleep as soon as we were finished.  His mum contacted us the following day to say the area had significantly cleared and Cody was much calmer and less aggravated by the area.

Beautiful Primrose is currently with New Hope Animal Rescue after finding herself needing somewhere safe to be.  She has been dealing with severe skin issues including very painful paw pads and severe thickening of the ear canal tissue. 
We went along to offer our laser and led therapy to her to help her heal faster. 
She settled down beautifully and found it all quite relaxing! 
Well done Primrose you were a star patient