E44: Rehabilitating Our Four-Legged Friends: Inside Walking Paws Rehab

Ever wondered what happens when your beloved pet faces mobility challenges? Meet Cassie Swafford, founder of Walking Paws Rehab, who's revolutionizing pet healthcare through specialized veterinary rehabilitation.

When dogs tear their CCL (the canine equivalent of a human ACL) or develop arthritis, many pet parents feel helpless. Walking Paws Rehab offers hope through comprehensive physical therapy tailored specifically for animals. Contrary to popular belief, pet rehabilitation extends far beyond underwater treadmills. Cassie and her team provide manual therapy, massage, stretching, custom orthotics, prosthetics, and targeted exercise programs—all designed to keep pets moving comfortably throughout their lives.

The practice serves two primary groups of patients: those recovering from acute injuries or surgeries, and aging pets experiencing declining mobility. For some patients, rehabilitation becomes an alternative to surgery; for others, it's crucial post-operative care. Most touchingly, Cassie's work with senior pets focuses on maintaining quality of life and comfort during their golden years. "We're really focused on keeping them comfortable and pain-free and moving as well as they can for as long as they can," shares Cassie, whose background as a human physical therapist uniquely positions her to understand both the technical and emotional aspects of rehabilitation.

What drives Cassie's passion? The profound desire to help animals continue doing what they love while strengthening the bond between pets and their humans. Whether you're referred by your veterinarian or seeking alternatives for your pet's mobility challenges, Walking Paws Rehab welcomes you. Check out their website or Instagram to see how they're transforming lives, one paw at a time!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Nick George.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a specialtyveterinary practice with a focus
on injuries and mobilityailments?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
cassie Swofford, with WalkingPaws.
Rehab, cassie, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Good, how are you doing?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Excellent.
We're excited to learn allabout you and your business.
Tell us about your practice.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, so we are a specialty veterinary practice
where we focus on treating dogsand some cats and sometimes
bunnies or goats, but mostlydogs and cats that have various
injuries, so like if a dog tearstheir CCL, which is the dog ACL

(01:01):
, or if they have arthritis, weare helping kind of keep them
moving and keep them strongthroughout their life.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
How did you get into this business?

Speaker 3 (01:13):
So I'm a physical therapist, and either you get
into the field by being aphysical therapist or by being a
veterinarian, or we have a lotof techs as well that are in the
rehab field, and I think for meI kind of knew I wanted to do
rehab but also wanted to betreating animals, and so it was

(01:37):
kind of a natural progressionfor me to join this field.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
What are some myths or misconceptions in your
industry?

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, I think some myths or misconceptions are that
we are just underwatertreadmill or we are just laser
therapy, whereas really there'sso many treatments that we can
do that, different kinds oftreatments that help with
keeping dogs mobile, so thingslike working with their hands,
doing massage, manual therapy,stretching range of motion.
We'll do exercises, we put dogsin orthotics and prosthetics if

(02:13):
they're needed, and so there'sso much more to the field than
just throwing a dog in anunderwater treadmill.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Can you save a horse that's legs broken?

Speaker 3 (02:27):
we are not.
We aren't actually doing anyequine therapy and so we're a
completely separate field.
A lot of canine rehab did startand originate from equine,
because that's where a lot ofpeople were willing to put the
money into the field initially.
But yeah, we, we're completelyseparate and actually too, I

(02:47):
can't even treat a horse.
As a physical therapistcertified in canine rehab I'd
have to get a full othercertification to treat horses,
but I assume you probably could.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Who are your target customers, since it's not horses
, and how?

Speaker 3 (03:03):
do you?

Speaker 2 (03:03):
attract them.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yeah, I think any of our customers are people whose
dogs have been injured and theyare either looking for rehab
after surgery or if they aretold that surgery is not an
option, or they don of bracingand sometimes just rehab alone
works instead of surgery.
And then the other kind ofgroup of our patients that we

(03:39):
often see are just older dogsthat are kind of slowly starting
to decline in their strengthand mobility and comfort and
we're really focused on keepingthem comfortable and pain as
pain free as possible and movingas well as they can for as long
as they can.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Do you think that people are already educated
about what you guys do, or haveyou ever thought about doing
your own podcast to try to reachpeople that way?

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Oh, we have not thought about doing our own
podcast?
I do not know where we wouldhave the time.
Honestly, I mean, it would beamazing.
but yeah, I think that there area lot of people that are aware
of what we do but a lot ofpeople that have never heard of
anything like this until theyexperience something with their
dog that prompts them to seekout therapy, or their specialty

(04:29):
clinic or their primary vetrecommends that they come see us
, and I think even within thevet field some vets have a very
good understanding of what we doin rehab and others are still
kind of new to knowing what wedo as well.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
So a lot of people come to you through referrals.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, we get a mix.
We get a mix of people comingfrom referrals from different
specialty hospitals or fromsurgeons that we work with in
the area or just from theirprimary care vets.
But a lot of people end uplooking for alternatives and
kind of searching the Internetfor alternatives or know a

(05:08):
friend of a friend whose dogwent to PT for something, and so
they end up finding us that way.
So we don't need to have areferral, but we do end up
getting a mix of both.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Outside of work.
What do you do for fun?

Speaker 3 (05:25):
I play ultimate frisbee competitively, and so
that's a big part of my life.
I coach the college, the CUteam as well.
That's where I've spent a lotof my time is playing Ultimate
Frisbee, and then I'm alwayshiking, skiing, spending time in
the mountains with my familyand my dogs.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Nice, let's switch gears.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge
that you overcame and how itmade you stronger?
What comes to mind, um, and soI think, like for me, something
that draws me to rehab ingeneral, like whether that's
treating people or animals iskeeping people doing the things
they love for as long aspossible.
And, uh, I you know I used totreat people as a human PT, um,

(06:27):
and that was a big goal, and nowit's nice to kind of apply it
to dogs, to keeping them doingeverything they love for as long
as possible.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Perfect, that's awesome.
Cassie.
Please tell our listeners onething they should remember about
walking paws rehab.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
I think we're just here to help and try to give
your help you give your dog thebest life possible and try to
help you give your dog the bestlife possible.
Everybody's goals are differentfor what they want from rehab
for their dogs and we are thereto kind of meet you at whatever
your goals are and try tostrengthen the bond as well

(07:03):
between you and your dog.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
How can our listeners learn more about Walking Paws?

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Rehab how can our listeners learn more about
walking pause rehab?
You can go to our website tolearn more um and or to our
instagram.
I think it's just walking pauserehab and we have a lot of
different information aboutdifferent conditions or some
examples of dogs getting therapyor in braces and that kind of
thing.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well, Cassie, I really appreciate you being on
our show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Thank you.
Yeah, thanks so much for havingme.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPfortCollinscom.
That's GNPfortCollinscom, orcall 970-438-0825.