Meet Amber, our February 2022 Pet of the Month! We met Amber in February 2021 when she came in for rehabilitation options for a left hind limb deformity after a fractured femur. Her fracture healed, but in an abnormal conformation resulting in her left hind limb being shorter than the other. These conformation changes caused Amber to tip her pelvis and back to reach the ground, so she is unable to sit in a normal square positon.
Bone requires forces such as weight bearing and muscles putting tension on the bone itself to fully develop. So we started with simple standing/ weight bearing exercises using pads to allow her to reach the ground without twisting. Her family was very committed to her homework exercises and we saw improvement with her weight bearing EVERY week.
Once Amber was old enough, we casted her for her own orthotic device and was fit with her new shoe in September of 2021. Her family worked very hard to get her used to bearing weight on her left hind limb, being touched, wearing stuff on the limb, and even hearing the sound of Velcro! All of this gave Amber the best outcome and within two weeks she was “looking” for the device when she had it off.
We are looking forward to Amber and seeing how she progresses with her shoe!
Amber was also featured in our Case Study section, read more about her case and see her x-rays by following this link.