Animal Rehabilitation, Pet Rehab, & Canine Sport Conditioning

Rehabilitation and Conditioning for Animals provides science-based functional rehabilitation, wellness conditioning, nutrition counseling, and athletic training for all ages and stages of companion animals in collaboration with veterinarians while also engaging community and worldwide participation in programs that benefit the human-pet experience.

What You ‘ll Find on This Site –

• programs for pets for after surgery and conservative treatment programs to use instead of surgery
• programs that you may do at home, in a standard clinic, or elsewhere
• a lot of work for you to do with your pet
• first-hand details about programs I have developed and used as well as information about results
• pros and cons of rehabilitation I have discovered in my years of practice in veterinary rehab (see clients I’ve helped)
•  programs designed by a professional certified in several disciplines related to conditioning, recovery, and strength (this is important because there is a lot of bad information on the web about how to rehab a pet, even though most of it is well-intended)
•  pet rehab = principles of exercise science + neuroscience + clinical medicine

How Are These Programs Different?

My programs are based on over four decades of my having participated in, worked in, and created programs in human sport science, nutrition, and medical recovery. They are also based on my experiences working hands-on with veterinary specialists, and sitting in on medical, neurological, and surgical specialty evaluations of patients.

I design these programs so that almost anyone may use them at home or in a standard veterinary clinic. You may do all rehabilitation on pets in the home environment in most cases.

Why Did You Create Different Programs?

I professionally began small animal veterinary pet rehab in 2004. At that time there were no standard, concise, systematic, and progressively oriented rehabilitation programs available on the web or that I could find in publications.

I had hoped to find programs based on exercise physiology and recovery principles like those I already had experience using for athletes. I wanted them to exist already so that I could follow-up on specifics that also interest me. I’d like to investigate breed recovery differences and give more complementary rehab care for veterinary cancer patients.

Over the years, I have ended up developing and using the types of programs I thought would already exist for small animal medicine and recovery. I figured they already existed, in part because I was used to systematic programs from human exercise physiology science and in equine science.  

May Anyone Use These Programs?

These programs mean a lot of work for you. Your work should be successful if you follow the recommendations I give. 

I have shared my rehabilitation protocol with many pet healing groups, veterinary clinics, trainers, boarding facilities, and specialty hospitals. I have shared rehab programs in person, on the phone, and on many internet platforms over the years (remember MySpace?).

You Don’t Need to Have a Certification to do Successful Rehabilitation on Your Own Pet!

There are a couple of standard courses of pet rehabilitation in use in veterinary medicine. None of these teaches practitioners foundations in exercise science and exercise physiology-based recovery.

My programs use a combination of a small amount of clinic-type rehab and a large dose of recovery science. I’ve pulled over athlete recovery methods from the “human” side and successfully applied them to the veterinary side of rehab.

My rehab work is designed to teach you how to work with your pet and gain success in recovery. 

In addition, I have certifications in pet massage, canine rehabilitation, human strength and conditioning, and wilderness medicine, to name a few. I use information from a wide variety of experiences to help pets recover or to improve sporting conditioning. More here…

Nside Texas MD Rehabilitation and Conditioning for Animals Article by Heather Daniels

Other “Official” Information –

Check out my semi-updated profile on  LinkedIn

We discuss lots of issues on this site, so I recommend you look through the Q&A. Please use the search box to find specific topics. More info about how to get the most out of this site is on this page, “How Do I Find Help For My Pet on This Site?“.

Rehabilitation and Conditioning for Animals is subject to guidelines overseen by the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (TBVME).  Therefore, I do require that your pet has recently gone to their veterinarian for acute issues. Additionally I require that your pet’s veterinarian has evaluated your pet within the past year for any chronic issues. I also need to be able to communicate with your pet’s regular veterinarian about the issues I will be addressing.

I do not need a referral from a veterinarian to begin rehabilitation work with you and your pet. The TBVME does not require a referral for me to work with your pet on sport training and conditioning.

After my consults, I direct clients to be in communication with their regular vet to discuss medications, signs & symptoms, and collaborative treatments. Your pet does need to go to their veterinarian if they have a new medical issue the vet hasn’t seen.

Thank you for visiting and I believe you will find useful information for you and your pet!

Rehabdeb

Originally Published February, 2015 and Updated April 14, 2018