Questions fréquentes et types de RDV's
Veuillez nous contacter par email ou nous appeler si vous avez des questions ou si vous voulez savoir si la kinésithérapie pourrait être une option pour votre animal.
La séance initiale dure environ 60 minutes. Avant cette séance, l’idéal est de faire examiner votre chien par un vétérinaire afin que nous puissions établir un diagnostic. Veuillez apporter tout document vétérinaire disponible. Si vous disposez d’images de diagnostic telles que des radiographies, vous pouvez également les envoyer par e-mail, car il est bon de les avoir.
Lors de cette première séance, nous passerons en revue le diagnostic de votre chien, discuterons de ses antécédents médicaux, mais aussi de ses habitudes et de son environnement domestique. Nous regarderons le chien bouger et ferons un contrôle orthopédique de ses muscles et articulations. Nous pouvons effectuer une analyse de la démarche et nous incluons généralement des massages, des exercices de rééducation et une initiation à l’hydrothérapie, si indiqué. Pour la plupart des animaux de compagnie, nous vous donnerons également un programme d’exercices à domicile. Ces exercices seront expliqués et vous recevrez également une notice et de courtes vidéos explicatives. De cette façon, vous pourrez les pratiquer en toute confiance à la maison avec votre chien. À la fin de la séance, nous discuterons de son plan de traitement et de la fréquence des traitements.
Il est important de noter qu’on ne peut pas s’attendre à ce que l’animal soit guéri après une seule séance. Le nombre et la fréquence des séances nécessaires dépendront du problème initial et des progrès du chien. Les plans sont flexibles et seront constamment adaptés aux besoins et aux progrès de chaque chien. Nous vous encourageons à poser autant de questions que vous le souhaitez, car les traitements de physiothérapie ne se terminent pas lorsque le chien quitte notre cabinet. Ainsi, mieux vous comprendrez ce que signifie le diagnostic de votre animal et ce que vous pouvez faire pour l’aider, meilleur sera le résultat pour votre animal. Les premières séances sont généralement effectuées par Nathalie.
Ce sont des séances de suivi après la séance initiale et prennent jusqu’à 50 minutes. Nos prix sont tous compris. Cela signifie qu’il n’y a pas de coûts cachés! Les séances comprennent des traitements manuels tels que les massages et les exercices de rééducation, mais aussi le laser, l’électrothérapie ET l’hydrothérapie. Cela garantira que votre animal recevra le meilleur traitement possible dont il a besoin en fonction de son diagnostic et de ses progrès. Sauf indication contraire, tous les clients de l’hydrothérapie recevront également un traitement manuel tel qu’un massage. De cette façon, nous pouvons “ressentir” comment votre chien se porte et où il a des tensions ou des douleurs éventuelles.
Nous ne proposons pas de prix ” hydrothérapie uniquement “, car nous sommes de la conviction que la physiothérapie doit toujours être “ressenti avec les mains” à tout moment. Mettre simplement un chien dans la machine d’hydrothérapie, sans faire un contrôle manuel, ne constitue pas un bon traitement de physiothérapie. Au cours de ces séances, l’évolution de votre chien est bien sûr constamment suivie et nos plans de traitement seront adaptés en conséquence. Tout cela sera discuté avec vous. Des séances régulières sont effectuées par Nathalie, Myra et Corinne
Ces séances sont destinées à certains cas et durent au maximum de 30 minutes. Elles sont principalement destinées aux animaux de compagnie qui ont juste besoin d’une thérapie au laser, de champs électromagnétiques ou d’électrothérapie et d’un contrôle rapide. Aucun traitement d’hydrothérapie ou autre ne sera pris en charge. Ces séances ne sont pas destinées aux propriétaires pressés, mais visent plutôt à offrir un prix équitable pour ces animaux de compagnie qui ont juste besoin d’un type de traitement d’électrothérapie court et spécifique. Les séances courtes sont réalisées par Nathalie et Myra.
Nous proposons des forfaits prépayés de 5 ou 10 séances, à un prix réduit. Vous pouvez commencer un package à tout moment après la séance initiale. Le paiement d’un pack doit être effectué lors de la première séance du pack. Veuillez noter que les packs qui ne sont pas entièrement utilisés sont transférables à un autre animal, mais ne sont pas remboursables. Merci de votre compréhension.
Une séance de fitness dure environ 45 minutes. Le fitness est destiné aux chiens en bonne santé qui ne suivent pas actuellement de traitement de physiothérapie. Le fitness peut commencer pour les chiens à partir de 4 mois jusqu’aux chiens âgés et peut également être pratiqué pour les animaux de compagnie qui ont terminé leurs traitements de physiothérapie – par exemple après une intervention chirurgicale – et qui souhaitent continuer à travailler sur leur état de santé général et leur condition physique.
En fitness, nous travaillons le cardio, l’équilibre, la force et la souplesse. C’est également un très bon défi mental pour vos chiens et cela vous aidera à créer un lien avec votre chien. Souvent, les propriétaires me disent que le fitness aide leurs chiens à avoir plus confiance en eux et à prendre conscience de leur corps. Nathalie est la première entraîneuse de fitness canin certifiée du Benelux. Avoir un entraîneur de fitness, et en même temps un physiothérapeute certifiés, pour ces séances est important, car il faut avoir les connaissances nécessaires sur l’anatomie du chien, les conditions orthopédiques et neurologiques et la cinématique canine. Ce n’est qu’ainsi que cela peut être fait en toute sécurité. Je travaille beaucoup avec des (petites) friandises en fitness, car sans elles, il est très difficile d’amener l’animal à proposer volontairement certains mouvements. Des séances de fitness sont proposées par Nathalie.
Les séances d’ostéopathie durent environ 60 minutes et visent à rétablir l’équilibre du corps dans son ensemble, sur le plan mécanique et physiologique. En tant qu’ostéopathes canins, nous cherchons donc à l’aide de techniques manuelles (massages, points de pression, mobilisations, étirements, etc.) à rétablir la mobilité là où elle fait défaut afin d’assurer le bon fonctionnement de l’appareil locomoteur et des organes, et de libérer les grands passages vasculaires et nerveux. Il s’agit en fait d’une ré-harmonisation globale où le but est d’aider le corps à trouver son propre chemin de guérison : intervenir et aider le corps. L’ostéopathie peut être recommandée pour les chiens de tout âge : chiens présentant des boiteries et des troubles musculo-squelettiques ou neurologiques (éventuellement causés par des blocages articulaires, des contractures musculaires, etc.), chiens vieillissants avec une détérioration de leur état général, chiens post-opératoires, ou simplement à titre préventif comme contrôle de routine. L’ostéopathie est pratiquée par Elise.
Visites à domicile basé sur disponibilité.
Ceci est pour TOUT animal de compagnie, y compris :
? Idéal pour les CHATS ou autres animaux qui n’aiment pas visiter un endroit étrange
? Si votre chien ou chat souffre d’arthrose, nous pouvons faire un contrôle de la maison pour rendre sa maison plus confortable pour eux !
✅ Les animaux qui n’aiment pas voyager en voiture
✅ Les animaux que vous n’arriver pas à faire rentrer dans la voiture. Par exemple, les grands chiens postopératoires ou paralysés
✅ Des animaux qui sont plus calmes et plus confiants chez eux à la maison
✅ Si vous n’avez pas de voiture pour vous rendre à Fitdog
✅ Si vous préférez juste que nous venions chez vous ☺️
Nous pouvons faire beaucoup de traitements lors des visites à domicile. Cependant, tout ce que nous faisons au cabinet Fitdog ne peut pas être fait à la maison. L’hydrothérapie par exemple ou certains équipements. Contactez-nous pour plus de détails.
Idéal pour les personnes ayant des chiens qui ont l’arthrose, qui souhaitent un contrôle de leur maison pour s’assurer que leur maison est aussi bien aménagée que possible pour l’animal . Nous vous donnerons de nombreux conseils pour améliorer le bien-être de votre chien arthritique dans votre maison. Après tout, c’est aussi leur maison !
Les visites à domicile se feront par Nathalie les vendredis entre 9h00 et 17h00.
* Tarifs fixes en fonction de la distance du cabinet. Veuillez nous contacter.
? Intéressé ? Contactez-nous dès aujourd’hui pour réserver une visite à domicile!
FAQ
As soon as you have an orthopaedic or neurological diagnosis for your dog, you should contact us. For chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis, the sooner physiotherapy is started, the better the results will be. Physiotherapy should really not be left as a ‘treatment of the last chance’ when nothing else seems to work anymore. If your dog is due to have an orthopaedic or neurological surgery, we suggest you contact us as soon as possible, ideally before the surgery date. That way we can discuss when it’s best to start – this will depend on the type of surgery – and can schedule in your pet accordingly in advance. Of course if the surgery was an unplanned emergency, please still contact us as soon as you can and don’t wait until several weeks have passed. Please also do not wait to find out if your dog is properly using the operated limb. The later one starts after the surgery, the more ‘behind the ball’ we are, meaning we have a harder time to catch up. Even if a dog seems to be using the operated limb fine, there will still be compensation going on which will affect your dog in the short or long term. Getting all of this checked by a physiotherapist, will save you and your dog a lot of pain in the long run.
Great question and certainly yes! Senior dogs are my soft spot and having done my graduating dissertation at college on osteoarthritis, I really feel very passionate about helping these. Remember old age is not a disease! Therefore, slowing down and being in pain should not just be disregared as ‘he’s just old’. Osteoarthritis is one of the most common musculoskeletal diseases in aging dogs and can be a frustrating condition for you and for your pet. However, a lot of dogs with osteoarthritis will benefit from physical therapy, as it can reduce the speed of the deterioration and keep them moving to a right old age. In addition, we’ll give you home management tips which will help make your pet as comfortable as possible. If you’re interested you can even do a massage seminar either in person or online to help your senior dog in between sessions. Just contact us for the details on these.
This is a very good question! Although animal physiotherapy is getting more well known and accepted, often veterinarians are not familiar with it as it is a relatively new field in veterinary care and only recently being taught in some veterinary universities. Therefore, veterinarians might not think about referring your pet as they are either not aware of this option or they might be unsure if phsyiotherapy can actually help. As animal physiotherapists we try to visit and educate veterinarians about our education and about what we do, but this is a process that takes time. Therefore, our answer would be to still check with us if physiotherapy is an option for your pet, even though your veterinarian might not have mentioned it or might not be in favour of it. Remember you are the voice for your pet so if in doubt, ask us! Similar as in human care, physiotherapy should defintely be done as soon as possible after orthopaedic or neurological surgeries, and the same goes for acute or chronic injuries and in the case of osteoarthritis. Discussing this with a physiotherapist should be the standard of care we evolve towards for our pets .
Nathalie is a ‘Fear Free Certified Professional’® . Being ‘Fear Free’ means that we try to build a ‘trust’ relationship with your pet. At Fitdog, dogs realize quite quickly that they are not at a veterinian. The smell is different for them as we try to reduce the stress hormones as much as possible. We work with a lot of positive reinforcement, treats and relaxing sound and even smells. We will not force a treatment on a dog! This means we typically treat on the floor unless if the animal is at ease to be on a treatment table. There will be no forcing them to stay down by pulling or holding legs or pushing down on them. The dogs always have a choice to get up and walk around. Any foreceful treatment will anyway not have the desired effect. This does mean that for certain dogs, specifically the initial sessions, might be very ‘hands off’. I have had dogs which initially were too afraid to even come close to me and then we just resorted to observing them, tossing treats and giving advise to the owner, maybe doing some ‘hands off’ exercises. When given the time and trust. often dogs will eventually come to me and ‘offer’ certain body parts for treatment. I have worked with several dogs this way, some have needed several sessions for me to gain their trust, but today I can do any treatment with them without any fear or force. This does not mean that I am against muzzling of dogs to protect not only myself but also the dog and owner. However please muzzle train your dog in advance if you believe this is necessary and have an open conversation with me about this.
This is a common concern and a comment I often get! But no stress, owners are often amazed how well their water-shy dog takes to the underwater treadmill. The introduction to the treadmill happens very slowly at the speed your dog allows. For most dogs, they are totally in at the 2nd or 3th session. Some like it quicker and some will take longer, which is totally fine. Again, we work a lot with positive reinforcement and by observing your dog’s fear and anxiety levels. If at any point we estimate that hydrotherapy is indeed too stressful for your dog, than we won’t insist and maybe try again a next time. If after this is still is deemed to much stress for your dog then there are pently of other treatment options that will work too. Hydrotherapy is a great tool but it does not mean that when this is not an option for your pet, that he cannot benefit from all the other types of physiotherapy treatments!
It is important to know that physiotherapy does not equal hydrotherapy only. Hydrotherapy is just one of many treatment options that physiotherapy has to offer. For all our appointments we will always check which modalities are the best for your dog at that moment. This can include manual treatments such as massage and rehab exercises but also laser, electrotherapy AND hydrotherapy (if appropriate). This will guarantee that your pet will get the best possible treatment he needs based on his diagnosis and progress. Unless otherwise indicated, all hydrotherapy clients will also get some manual treatment such as massage. This way we can ‘feel’ how your dog is doing and where he has possible tensions or pain. We do not offer a ‘hydrotherapy only’ price as we believe that physiotherapy should be ‘hands on’ at all times. Just putting a dog in the underwater treadmill without doing a manual check is not up to the standard of physiotherapy we want to offer. Sometimes a veterinarian might refer a dog for ‘hydrotherapy’. However, often in such case, the veterinarian might not be fully aware of the full range of modalities available. We will still check in such situations what the best treatment options are for your pet in addition to the hydrotherapy and discuss this with you accordingly.
The water of the underwater treadmill is changed at least once a day and constantly filtered, as well as run through a UVC anti-bacterial light. Depending on the amount of dogs we treat, the water might be changed two or three times during the day. The treadmill has a capacity of 600 litres. Due to this quantity of water and the fact that the water is warmed to about 31 C, it would be impossible to drain the water out after every dog, like you would with a bath. However, we have filters to extract as many hairs or treats as possible that would fall in the water, as well as a blue UVC light which filters bacteria. At the end of the day, and at regular intervals, the treadmill is cleaned more thoroughly. To help us maintain this water quality for all our patients, we do ask that you brush your dog before a hydrotherapy session so as to remove as many hairs as possible and remove any dirt and sand from his coat. Hair will come out in the filters but sand and dirt not only makes the water unusable but is also corrosive and damaging for the threadmill. If your dog would loose exessive dirt or sand in the treadmill, we will be obliged to stop offering this treatment for him. We also ask to advise us so we do NOT do hydrotherapy in case your dog has: any skin infections, virusses, open wounds, urinary tract infection, females during their heath, diarrhea or vomiting within 24 hours, incontinence or fever. If your dog would defecate in the water, we do ask a compensation of 125 Eur as we will need to stop and desinfect the treadmill. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
Ideally we would like any client to come with at least a veterinary check up or diagnosis. A veterinary referral is preferred but not required. Having a veterinary referral will allow us to focus and treat the diagnosis as quickly and effectively as possible. It will also ease our contact with your vet as we would like to keep them updated of your pet’s physiotherapy treatments and progress and work together with them as your pet’s ‘health team’. Please remember that physiotherapy is complimentary to and does not replace a veterinary diagniosis or treatment.
This will all depend on the diagnosis. For chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis, ideally life long treatment will be needed as this is a chronic degenerative disease. For acute problems such as sprains or tendinitis, it depends on the issue but a minimum of 4 sessions is needed and often longer with more frequent visits at start. Post-operative dogs often will need more frequent sessions at start – sometimes more than one a week – and a minimum of 8 to 10 sessions is quite normal. Dogs with neurological issues such a hernias, specifically when resulting in initial paralysis, often need treatments for weeks and even months.
Our prices are all inclusive. This means there are no hidden costs! Sessions include manual treatments such as massage and rehab exercises but also laser, electrotherapy AND hydrotherapy. This will guarantee that your pet will get the best possible treatment he needs based on his diagnosis and progress. Please also note that we want to stay up to date of the latest techniques and medical news and therefore strive to do continuous education provided by the best international teachers and associations. Our ongoing training does not stop with obtaining our main physiotherapy degree! There is of course a rather significant cost to both physiotherapy equipment and education, which we need to take into account in our price calculations so that we can continue to provide the best possible treatments for your pet.
Yes we do! Although our main focus is physiotherapy for dogs, we do offer physiotherapy for other pets and actually enjoy this very much! We have had cats and also ferrets, but also other pets such as rabbits, goats and even chickens could benefit from physiotherapy. Of course, the treatment type and length will need to be adapted the the animal in question. Some cats for instance, could very well do hydrotherapy, but this is not a standard modality for them. For cats, depending on the willingness of the animal to cooperate, we either do regular sessions at Fitdog, or we see the cat only occasionally to check the progress and will work more with the owner to do specific home exercises with their pet at home. Home visits are always an option for cats too, when too much stress to transport to the practice.
Very good decision as acupuncture and osteopathy are complimentary to physiotherapy treatments and can benefit a lot of pets! However, I have made a very conscious decision to not offer this ourselves. The reason therefore is that both acupuncture and osteopathy are very large and complex fields and in my opinion best performed by experts in these areas. I strongly believe that animal physiotherapy is already a very large, complex and constantly evolving field on it’s own. Therefore, I believe it is better to purely focus on physiotherapy and be the most knowledgeable and best we can be for your pet in this specific field, rather than have a bit of knowledge in a lot of fields. One cannot be an expert in everything. Also, with acupuncture and osteopathy, you can do harm when not done correctly. For these fields, one needs to have a more extensive education about patologolies than what is part of our physiotherapy degree. I also lean very much towards the anglosaxan education – where I studied and do all my ongoing trainings – which states that only trained veterinarians are allowed to pierce the skin, and therefore do acupuncture. We do offer osteopathy with Elise Mosca who comes to Fitdog and is a trained human and canine osteopath. Furthermore for acupuncture and also osteopathy we partner and work closely together with Dr Jaunet from alternative-vet.lu. That way you can rest assured that only people specialised in their respective fields will work with your pets!