Tara's back-end is back again!

Tara arrived on a blanket.
Her back-end had completely gone, she'd been on steroids and painkillers and her vet was about to put her down. Her owners Mick and Sue thought she was at the end.

But just at the moment the injection was about to be made, Sue told the vet “She got up in the middle of the night for a few minutes”. Donal, the vet said “That changes everything!” and recommended treatment by Vav. Unfortunately, Vav was booked solid for several days and couldn't see Tara as quickly as Donal wanted. When he heard this from Tara's owners, he phoned Vav and twisted her arm: “She needs treatment NOW!”.

Tara is a 12 year-old German Shepherd, who had been in good health, although she was slowing down as she got elderly. No-one has any idea what happened to make Tara so sore: suddenly she yelped and couldn't get up. Then she lay unmoving over the weekend, despite the painkillers.

Because she couldn't walk, Mick carried Tara in to see Vav on a blanket. Vav assessed Tara chiropractically, and found her pelvis was out of alignment and several lumbar vertebrae were too.

Three hours later, Tara was up and walking around fast - with Mick and Sue supporting her back-end with a blanket, and trying to keep up! “We found that unbelievable”, said Sue.

Three days later, Tara was squatting to pee and poo, and eating normally - unaided! They took her to see Donal as he'd asked, and when he saw her walking up and down the road he said “Bloody Hell!”. “He couldn't believe it either!”, Sue said.

Then Tara overdid it, started limping and needed more treatment. This can happen to animals of all sizes, if their temperament makes them too enthusiastic when they begin to feel better. Joints that have been treated can take some weeks to fully regain normal strength, and can misalign again if over-stressed before that. However, she came right after one treatment.

Four months later, Tara came for a check-up. She immediately knew where she was and cantered across the grass to see Vav with no problem – so different to her first arrival. Vav was really pleased: “I'm delighted to see her so well – it makes my job worthwhile!”