Taho is an athlete and a necessary member of Team Dalton, a DockDogs team well acquainted with VetriScience. When we heard that he had experienced an injury, we wanted to find out more and share his healing process with you. We spoke with Taho’s owner Jen through email to get a better picture of what Taho is experiencing, and how you can take steps to ensure your dog heals quickly in the face of an unexpected injury.
VS: How did you first notice what was going on with Taho?
Jen: We traveled to Tennessee from Massachusetts for our first DockDogs event of the season. Taho’s jumps were much shorter than normal. On Saturday evening he jumped up on my husband, Jesse and yelped. Later that evening we had an on site vet check him out. She determined that it was a pulled iliopsoas muscle. His range of motion on the right side was much less than the right.
When we returned home we had him checked by our vet and PT and confirmed.
VS: What changes have you seen since the strain?
Jen: This is a tough one for us…Taho is not normal. He is an extremely high drive dog and other than the short jumps and one vocalization we would have never known anything was wrong. He hates being on rest! And has no patience for icing…
VS: Was an injury to the iliopsoas something you were already familiar with or did you have some other first thoughts about what the condition might be?
Jen: Our first thought was to look at his feet because he had been on pavement and didn’t know if he has tore a pad open or broke a nail.
We were a little familiar with this injury as we have been seeing it a lot in the dog world over the last year.
When we had the on site vet look at him and she explained a little more about why this injury could happen. It makes sense. This was our first event of the season and he was stretching out off the dock in a different way then he had all winter.
VS: How did you get a diagnosis?
Jen: We had an on site vet take a look at him. By stretching and feeling his body in different positions she knew pretty quickly what it was. And once we returned home our vet and PT confirmed.
VS: What supplements is Taho currently taking?
Jen: Taho is currently taking Glyco Flex III and VetriScience Mobility FLEX. He is also on coconut oil.
VS: Has your vet recommended anything for this, specifically?
Jen: So Taho is on two weeks of leash walking with no physical activity and ice two times a day for 10 minutes.
The following two weeks we will be able to add in a light workout and will be starting water treadmill as well as some conditioning exercising with some fit paws equipment.
VS: How has it affected his performance in DockDogs competitions?
Jen: It did affect his performance and he will not see a dock until we get the green light from his PT! It is not worth it to us to rush this injury. His health comes first! But I know we are on the right track to getting him where he needs to be.
VS: How have you taken steps already to mitigate the pain? What kinds of things has Taho been responding well to?
Jen: We added the VetriScience Mobility Flex to his daily regimen. But we have not seen any sign of pain from him. He is a dog that would not show us unless it was unbearable.
He is not happy that he can’t go out and play but he is dealing with it.
VS: Anything else you wanted to tell us?
Jen: As an owner of many dogs, it is so important to pick up on any signs your pups are trying to give you! Taho is an extremely fit dog and we do our best to keep all of our dogs in the best shape we can. A good diet, supplements by VetriScience and daily exercise. It is so important to try and think for them as best as we can since they cannot talk.
If we would have let this injury go, we believe it would have turned much worse, very fast.
Thanks Jen! If your dog has experienced an injury to the iliopsoas, or if you’ve got an athletic dog who’s had to heal in the past, share your story in a comment.
