Mandeville, LA's Premiere Veterinarian For Canine Rehabilitation
Our mission at VetNaturally™ is to provide the gold standard in comprehensive rehabilitation for your pet. Our treatments combine the best of Eastern and Western medicine to manage and reduce pain while resolving its root cause. At VetNaturally™, we are equipped with the highest-quality techniques and equipment to make your dog feel better faster.
Underwater Treadmill
Our state-of-the-art underwater treadmill is used for hydrotherapy to ensure a safe, speedy recovery for your dog after a surgery or injury. Underwater treadmills alleviate pressure on joints, soothe muscles, and assist with balance. Aquatic rehabilitation is one of the most effective ways to improve strength, endurance, and range of motion, which are all incredibly influential markers of recovery. Our underwater treadmill is also a cornerstone of our K9 Flab to Fab Program, which is designed to help dogs exercise all year long.
Veterinary Acupuncture
As a Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist (CVA), Dr. G administers the safest acupuncture procedures. Most pets don’t even realize the needles are being placed and often fall asleep during treatment. Each session lasts about 40 to 60 minutes. During the first 15 minutes, your pet’s health is assessed along with a history and physical exam. The following 30 minutes is dedicated to needle placement and treatment time. The number of acupuncture treatments needed depends on the nature, severity, and duration of a disease. A single treatment may be enough for an acute condition. A series of three to ten treatments can resolve many chronic problems; however, some chronic conditions may need monthly treatments spread over time. A pet will typically be mildly lethargic or drowsy for 24–48 hours after an acupuncture session.
Therapeutic Home Exercise
Therapeutic exercise is one of the most important parts of any rehabilitation program. To improve your dog’s strength, balance, flexibility, endurance, and coordination, we create a customized therapeutic exercise program for your dog to continue working on at home. As your dog’s condition improves, we introduce new challenges incrementally to further their progress until full recovery is reached. Our rehabilitation facility features balance pads, resistance bands, weave poles, cavalettis, boxes for plyometric exercises, and our underwater treadmill.
Manual Therapy
We use a variety of manual therapy treatments, including joint and tissue mobilization as well as massage, to treat pain, improve range of motion, and relax muscles. Combined with our tui na treatments — a branch of TCVM combining acupressure, conventional massage, and chiropractic therapy — we work to soothe aching muscles and help your pet feel relaxed and energized. Learn more about tui na.
PEMF Therapy
We use PEMF (Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy) mats and an Assisi Loop to distribute PEMF therapy. PEMF therapy heals injured bone and tissues, relieves pain, and can even stimulate organs. During PEMF treatment, mild bursts of low-level electromagnetic radiation stimulate natural repair processes of cells deep beneath the skin. Because it is an effective, non-invasive way to reduce pain and speed recovery, it is a rehab treatment of choice at top veterinary practices.
Electrical Stimulation
Electrical stimulation is used to push an electrical current into the body between needle insertions into acupoints. E-stim relaxes spasming muscles and can aid the body in re-establishing nervous impulses when nerve damage has occurred (nerve root or spinal cord damage from a ruptured inverterbral disc, etc).
Laser Therapy
Laser energy can be used to stimulate acupoints. The class IV lasers used at VetNaturally™ are cold and don’t generate enough significant heat to burn hair or skin. Dr. G may also use lasers to perform “needle-less” acupuncture treatments, especially on patients that don’t readily tolerate needle insertion. They can also be used as a post-needling add-on to enhance the effects of the chosen points.
Nutritional Therapy
Food therapy is used to speed and optimize recovery. We will evaluate options and determine the best diet for your dog. A customized diet will reduce inflammation and provide them with the necessary nutritional tools to minimize bodily stress and promote healing.
Multi-Modal Pain Management
At VetNaturally™, we use multi-modal pain management techniques to address acute and chronic pain issues. Depending on what is right for you and your dog, an individualized pain management plan may include joint and nutritional supplements, food therapy, laser and manual therapy, acupuncture, and Chinese herbal therapy. Our multi-modal approach to pain management uses a combination of Eastern and Western medicine to holistically mitigate the causes and symptoms of pain.
Wound Management
Dr. G specializes in integrative wound care. In addition to her experience addressing acute injuries as a veterinarian in the U.S. Army, Dr. G has also extensively studied and presented the antimicrobial effects of essential oils and their beneficial role in wound care. Using both Eastern and Western remedies, Dr. G provides comprehensive care for both acute and chronic wounds.
Our Canine Rehabilitation Program offers treatment for:
- Arthritis
- Joint disease
- Post-surgical recovery
- Neurologic conditions
- Lameness or limping
- Ligament, tendon, or muscle weakness
- Mobility issues
- Weight loss
- Pain
Our program combines the treatments mentioned above with TCVM for total pet wellness. At VetNaturally™ we provide holistic care to keep your pet in the best overall health possible.
