February 15, 2005
Dear Luis & Mary,
I am writing this endorsement of your services based upon the wonderful success you achieved with our dog Mobius.
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Mobius is a 2 year old Bernese Mountain Dog who has some unfortunate orthopedic maladies. In the summer of 2003 he was diagnosed with dwarfism in his front legs and the bones continued to develop improperly so that both front legs have a gap between the two bones at the elbows. These issues put undue stress on his hind quarters, and in addition he was diagnosed with Lyme disease in the fall of 2003. Mobius has had a series of visits to and surgeries at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital and is continuously on a low dose of anti-inflammatory medication.
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In August of 2004 Mobius partially tore his cruciate ligament on his right hind leg and subsequently underwent TPLO (tibia plateau leveling osteotomy) surgery performed by Dr. David Knapp at Angell Memorial. During that surgery Dr. Knapp also scraped and deepened the knee cap groove on the same leg because the knee cap was slipping out of it (known as patella luxation). Within the first few weeks of Mobius' recovery, it became apparent that his left knee cap was now slipping, but no surgery could be performed until Mobius had sufficiently healed from the TPLO. Fortunately, Mobius continued to heal well and he underwent surgery for the left legs' patella luxation in November. During that surgery the plate from the TPLO was removed from his right leg, the right knee cap's groove was cleaned and slightly deepened again and some muscle and tissue which had stretched around the knee was pulled up tight to promote better healing.
Dr. Knapp strongly recommended some form of hydrotherapy once Mobius' stitches were removed. My wife Heather heard about your business and visited your facility in early December. She was immediately very impressed with your facility, your work and your compassion with the animals in your care. We were both a little uneasy on our first session there with Mobius since we were not fully sure what to expect. You took the time to explain the measurements you were making to mark Mobius' progress against, the obstacle course you were using to assess his movements and what the swimming session would consist of. However, most importantly on that first session, you explained that he may look panicked or "freaked out" the first time in the pool and that this was a normal reaction, but you assured us that you'd be right there with him and he'd be just fine. Also during Heather's initial visit you had mentioned that part of the rehab requires the owners to be present to help encourage their pets to swim hard and help provide comfort. Since we love our pet dearly we enthusiastically joined in with the encouragement you and your wife Mary were giving Mobius. Needless to say the first session went beautifully and from there on over the course of the next seven weeks we happily arrived for Mobius' swimming sessions.
Over those weeks Heather and I came to look forward to Mobius' swimming nights. You and Mary were always wonderful with Mobius and very calming and comforting to us as his owners. He improved dramatically over this time and continues to do well. On our walks in the woods he's stepping over obstacles that he would not have even attempted to transit prior to his cruciate ligament problem. Dr. Knapp was extremely happy with Mobius recovery and his range of movement during the follow-up visit in January.
Your calm demeanor and excellent rapport with Mobius, and with Heather and I, made his rehab as pleasant as possible. We had a terribly difficult fall with our beloved Mobius, but thanks to an excellent rehabilitation with you we "have our dog back" and are thoroughly enjoying our time with him in his favorite season of winter. We would (and have already) strongly recommend you to anyone considering aquatic therapy for their pet.
Many thanks,
Thomas Dumas, Heather Hovley & Mobius
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