Freya

Freya is a five year old Bedlington terrier/lurcher cross. She was left behind in a freezing kennel (with her water bowl a solid block of ice) when her owner was evicted. She was thin and a lot of her coat was missing. We do not know much of her history, but Cathy found that the muscles on each side of her spine were badly damaged. There are holes in them which may be associated with abuse or malnutrition. This damage may explain why Freya, although now a lively dog with a healthy coat and a good weight, has always seemed to lack stamina. If a walk lasts more than two hours, she will want to lie down and rest. Cathy has identified trigger points all down her back. We had not realised that Freya was in pain.

With regular massage, Freya is showing gradual improvement. We can tell the extent of the improvement by seeing the effect when, for whatever reason, there is a longer than usual gap between massage sessions. She is so much worse when she has not had a massage for a month.

I understand from Cathy that we will see only slow progress. Freya is a nervous dog and initially finds it hard to relax in massage sessions. However, she is becoming more used to them and I am very optimistic that she will carry on improving.