Starkie Vet Physio

20/06/2025

Today I have spent the day at Loddington Coppice Equine Healthcare track system for an equine lower limb dissection and trimming talk from Mark Johnson Farrier. Why and how can hooves be balanced? When can boots or pads be appropriate for additional protection and support? Why does early foal management affect later hoof health?

18/06/2025

No dog has ever died from missing a walk, but dogs have died from one walk in the heat. 🥵💀 If your dog can't go without a walk get up at 5.30am and take them then when its much cooler 🤷‍♀️

No dog has ever died from missing a walk, but dogs have died from one walk in the heat.

Also please do not leave any pets in any vehicles for any period of time alone today.

If you have an emergency please call us on 01225 832521.

18/06/2025

Signs of heat stroke in dogs 🥵

Is your dog panting a lot? Excessive panting can be a sign of heat stroke. Let’s look closer at the signs of heat stroke and what to do if your dog is suffering from it . . . https://www.myfamilyvets.co.uk/heat-stroke-in-dogs

13/06/2025

How beautiful is Meadow 🌾 She felt much better after some maintenance LASER and massage today 😍

08/06/2025

She's home, meet Nona 🥰🐾

08/06/2025

Important advice for Dachshund owners. If you are the owner of this breed you will need a comprehensive insurance policy or £10k in the bank as IVDD incidents can occur at any time. Your insurance policy should have lifetime cover, at least £10k limit per condition and ideally will enable direct claims so that you only have to pay the excess. If you don't have these things in place your decisions may be limited to euthanasia or cage rest and a lot of pain medication if you're lucky. Without a £3k MRI you won't know the full extend of the injury to your dogs spine. 24% of dachshunds will have a spinal episode so be prepared and have a plan in place.

As we are often asked about Insurance for D2D newsletter features some important guidelines for choosing adequate insurance.

If you would like a copy of the PDF please get in touch.

08/06/2025

I am so excited for this show and have sponsored ring 2 (indoor) and the in hand championship in order to contribute to this important cause 🐴

07/06/2025

Freedom from pain is an essential welfare need for dogs under UK law. Just because a dog is older or 'seems fine when they're doing something fun' - doesn't mean it's acceptable for them to be in pain. Dogs don't limp 'because they're old' they limp because they're painful and allowing a dog to live with pain is not acceptable.

The UK Animal Welfare Act (2006) sets out the essential welfare needs of dogs, which include comfort, proper nutrition, healthcare, and freedom from fear and distress.

Dogs must be given the opportunity to carry out natural behaviors and have time with other dogs when appropriate.

Proper care and protection ensure they lead healthy, fulfilling lives.

04/06/2025

How sweet is Tilly the labrador?

She is well used to being handled all over which makes my job a lot easier! Its an important part of puppy education to get used to being handled as if for a vet visit including picking up legs to check paws and joints, checking ears, eyes and mouth and to some reasonable extent being able to stay still while this is happening.

Sometimes a nose touch cue can focus them or in Tillys case she just melts into my lap and will let me do whatever I need to 🥰

If your dog isn't happy to be handled I can often manage to do a good visual assessment and may ask you to do some things with them for me. Ultimately while this isn't ideal, I can usually learn a lot from stance and movement alone when needed. I can do infrared LASER therapy with a non contact attachment to target painful areas and give you exercises to do with them yourself with video examples to help you along. Often most dogs allow me to handle them eventually but I have worked with a few who just weren't able to tolerate it. I try to be flexible with solutions to get the best results we can.

03/06/2025

Billy finally started to relax at the end of his session today 😌

Billy is a typical labrador and loves any affection or attention with wild enthusiasm 🐾 he is 10 years old and having regular physiotherapy as hes starting to feel his age 🦴

29/05/2025

Luna enjoyed being demo dog at our canine conditioning workshop today at MAD Dog Club

We looked at exercises that can be incorporated into a 15 minute routine 3x per week to build and maintain muscle mass, strength and stability. This will help to reduce the liklihood of injury and support joints to help our dogs bodies stay healthy for as long as possible.

Starting early means any issues can be picked up quickly instead of waiting until a dog is older and starts to lose muscle mass and mobility.

Luna makes it look easy but all the dogs worked their socks off today 🧦🐾

25/05/2025

I'm sure my clients are sick of me talking about our newest family member who is due to come home in 2 weeks 😁. Yesterday we finally met Nona, as well as all her siblings and beautiful gentle mum Ida.
This means I'm trying to have some quiet weeks through June to be at home more. 🐾