Local vet specialist works with pets to help them live their best lives

By MO CRANKER on January 27, 2020.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker

It’s been an interesting ride for Mylo, an eight-year-old Border Collie Shar-Pei mix.

When he was just nine months old, he was hit by a car and left to die on Highway 3. Thankfully a couple found him and took him to get care.

While it initially looked like he was going to lose a leg, the dog defied the odds and has grown up to be a happy, healthy four-legged pup. Every week the soon-to-be nine-year-old works with registered veterinary tech and K9 rehab specialist Melody Hubich to make sure he can run and play for the rest of his days.

The session starts out with Mylo getting a special vest put on, then he hops onto a water treadmill and begins walking. The goal is to work on his back left leg.

“Every week we work to bring back function to a previously broken back leg – we want to get it to as normal as we can,” said Hubich. “We use the water to allow him to use his leg easier and with different levels of water, we can make him want to bend his leg a little bit more.

“He couldn’t bend his knee or his ankle joint, so we’re using this method to get as much of that back as we can.”

Hubich says the water treadmill offers a number of different features to help therapy.

“It makes it harder and easier,” she said. “It makes it easier for him to walk because of the buoyancy taking weight off of his sore joints. It makes it harder for him to walk though because water in a box adds resistance – that helps work his muscles.

“Not only are we helping his joints, but we’re also helping him get stronger at the same time.”

Mylo stays on the water treadmill for around 20 minutes and is bribed by treats and a lick pad covered in food to keep going at a good pace. She says progress has been great and that they will continue to work together.

“In just two months we’ve seen a lot of progress and we’re getting a lot more bend out of his leg,” she said. “Our goal isn’t to get him back to completely normal – we just want to bring back quality of life and mobility as best as we can.

“As Mylo gets older, we can reduce problems he may have run into.”

After the walking exercises, Mylo is able to dry off and do some more stretching with the vet tech.

Hubich says she can help animals with a number of different physical issues.

“We can help with arthritis or physical exercise – we can help after orthopedic surgery and neurological issues,” she said.

Mylo and Hubich have spent two months working together so far and Mylo’s owner says there has been great progress.

“It’s made a huge difference,” said Taylor Kopperud. “When we started he couldn’t bend his leg in any way and he mostly just hopped on it.

“It’s not quite at full function but he’s relying on it more than he ever has.”

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