yaretzi
Wise Old Thumper
Winston has severe arthritis covering 8-9 of vertebrae, mostly his lumbar ones. Treatment is obviously quite limited but cold laser therapy was suggested. I found it hard to find much information so I wanted to make a thread that people could find if they search for it!
So the standard course is 8 sessions, twice a week for 4 weeks, and it came to £180. My insurance (PetPlan) have covered it under complementary therapy, and because I've paid out the £50 excess already they covered the full £180. Yay!
I have to travel just over an hour to get to the referral surgery where they do it.
Here's some pics of Winston having it done:
They basically just run the laser over his back area for about 4 minutes. The machine beeps regularly which doesn't bother Winston, and he tends to just faff around in a small circle. In these pics there was a trainee nurse holding him but usually we just plonk him on the floor on a towel or on the vet table and allow him to bumble about. He would be perfectly capable of wandering off but he enjoys the sensation and stays in a small area. Most times, he ends up chattering his teeth with happiness towards the end of the treatment. The nurses have all used it on themselves and report that it feels pleasant - slightly warm, a tiny bit tingly. Winston certainly does not mind one bit, and he is always very chilled out afterwards.
So far Winston has had 5 of his 8 sessions. He has them every Tuesday and Friday. We did 3 sessions, then unfortunately I was involved in a pile up on the way to the 4th so we skipped that Friday and picked it up again on the following Tuesday and he's had another Friday session since. Even with missing a session in the middle the improvement in his back is noticeable.
He can now lie down with his back legs out behind him whereas before he could only sleep with his legs under him:
He can also flop over on his side now whereas before he was too stiff and sore to allow him to:
He's also able to binky higher. He's able to hold his back end higher up off the floor too... he used to have quite a prominent skirt around his back end where his back end was so low. I used to barely be able to distinguish his tail from the rest of him but now I see his tail all the time! He is able to turn more easily too - if he ever needed to turn in a tight space he used to pivot around quite clumsily on his back legs but now he is able to do it a little more delicately (as delicately as any rabbit is able to!)
So the standard course is 8 sessions, twice a week for 4 weeks, and it came to £180. My insurance (PetPlan) have covered it under complementary therapy, and because I've paid out the £50 excess already they covered the full £180. Yay!
I have to travel just over an hour to get to the referral surgery where they do it.
Here's some pics of Winston having it done:
They basically just run the laser over his back area for about 4 minutes. The machine beeps regularly which doesn't bother Winston, and he tends to just faff around in a small circle. In these pics there was a trainee nurse holding him but usually we just plonk him on the floor on a towel or on the vet table and allow him to bumble about. He would be perfectly capable of wandering off but he enjoys the sensation and stays in a small area. Most times, he ends up chattering his teeth with happiness towards the end of the treatment. The nurses have all used it on themselves and report that it feels pleasant - slightly warm, a tiny bit tingly. Winston certainly does not mind one bit, and he is always very chilled out afterwards.
So far Winston has had 5 of his 8 sessions. He has them every Tuesday and Friday. We did 3 sessions, then unfortunately I was involved in a pile up on the way to the 4th so we skipped that Friday and picked it up again on the following Tuesday and he's had another Friday session since. Even with missing a session in the middle the improvement in his back is noticeable.
He can now lie down with his back legs out behind him whereas before he could only sleep with his legs under him:
He can also flop over on his side now whereas before he was too stiff and sore to allow him to:
He's also able to binky higher. He's able to hold his back end higher up off the floor too... he used to have quite a prominent skirt around his back end where his back end was so low. I used to barely be able to distinguish his tail from the rest of him but now I see his tail all the time! He is able to turn more easily too - if he ever needed to turn in a tight space he used to pivot around quite clumsily on his back legs but now he is able to do it a little more delicately (as delicately as any rabbit is able to!)
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