Rehabilitation and physiotherapy in small livestock (dogs and cats)

Physiotherapy helps to restore movement and function when someone is affected by injury, illness or disability. It can also help to reduce your risk of injury or illness in the future. It takes a holistic approach that involves the patient directly in their own care. Physiotherapy is a new dynamically developing field of science in which the original idea was to improve the care for convalescent patients. Its positive effects observed in humans suggested the need for the adaptation and implementation of human physiotherapy techniques in animal care. Animal Rehabilitation (Rehab)/ Physiotherapy is the application of physiotherapy assessment and treatment techniques to the animal patient. Human Physiotherapists who are passionate about animal health care, obtain advanced education (dependent on country or provincial/state regulations) to translate their skills to specialize in equine, canine, feline, etc. The goal is to restore and maintain mobility, function, independence and performance. Dogs and Cats are the second group of animals that undergo physiotherapy most frequently. These animals are diagnosed with a number of locomotor system problems, which may be congenital and are often related to the breed or acquired. The aim of the study was to collect and systematize knowledge of animal physiotherapy with emphasis on the selection and description of the most important aspects of canine and cat physiotherapy. Physiotherapeutic treatments are applied not only for rehabilitation of animals but also in healthy animals to upgrade their sports performance and improve their welfare. A majority of physiotherapeutic approaches have been transferred from human protocols. A key issue in the achievement of therapy success is the proper selection of physiotherapeutic procedures and close cooperation between the veterinarian and the physiotherapist.