A True Survivor! How McTimoney Animal Chiropractic Helped Floss!

Not every animal has had a good start in life and their previous history can also be important when considering the best treatment protocols. Floss, a Yorkshire Terrier, was an ex-puppy mill bitch, who was thankfully rescued by her current owner, Louise, at the age of 7. Although the actual number of litters she had is not known, it is thought she had at least 2 litters per year from the age of 1 onwards and was roughly treated due to her nervous demeanour.

Floss’ owner Louise said “I rescued Floss about 8 years ago. She’d had a very tough start in life being used for breeding and living mostly in a cage. For an animal that’s been so let down by humans, she has the most incredible loving sweet nature, and it has been an absolute honour to have her in my life. Floss has several health issues – she has Pancreatitis, Arthritis, and had two strokes. A couple of years ago she started to have wobbles/tremors which we went to the vets about, and they agreed this was not neurological but linked to pain/discomfort in her neck. I was prescribed pain medication but saw no improvement in the tremors. I contacted Eirlys to see if this was something she could help with”.

McTimoney Animal Chiropractor Eirlys Green first met Floss, now 13 years old, last year when she presented with significant head and full body tremors that she was suffering from daily, along with a prominent head tilt on the right-hand side. Back in 2020, when Floss had suffered from 2 strokes, 24 hours apart the vets completed numerous tests, but they couldn’t find anything that could have caused this. The vets did diagnose her with mild arthritis in the hindlimbs at this time, which she receives monthly Librela Injections for, and this seems to work well for her. She also has pancreatitis, so she is quite a complicated case! Following on from her strokes in 2020 though, Floss had started having regular episodes of head tremors. This could be up to 4 tremors per hour, with some causing her to stumble and fall over due to their severity. This was investigated by the vets but nothing of significance could be found on the tests. It was at this point that Floss’s owner Louise approached Eirlys to see if McTimoney Animal Chiropractic could help.

An important part of treatment is to get full details on the lifestyle of the animal concerned as well as how the owner deals with the issues they are seeing. Apart from the head and body tremors, Floss seemed happy and healthy, living with one other younger dog with whom she gets on well. She could go upstairs however Louise would carry her down due to concerns about her falling particularly due to the head tremors. Louise had provided Floss with a ramp to walk up onto the sofa and would lift her onto the bed. Carpet runners were placed throughout the downstairs tiled areas, to ensure Floss was as safe as possible in case of any further stroke-type episodes. Floss could free roam in the garden, accessing outside using a dog flap and although the vets did advise her to be on restricted exercise of 10 minutes per day following her arthritis diagnosis, this was increased again in time.

Floss had been spayed when joining her current owner, however, a small part of her ovary had been left, which then developed a 2cm cyst – fortunately, this has now been removed as it was thought to be interfering with her hormones and pancreatitis. The pressure of having so many litters from so young may have caused several issues with Floss’s spinal symmetry. Her body would not have recovered sufficiently between each litter especially as she wasn’t fully mature when she started having puppies and the stress may have also contributed to her development of pancreatitis.

Eirlys carried out a full static assessment and says, “When completing the static assessment, I noticed that Floss was very swayed through the back (referred to as lordosis) with areas of tension focused through the mid-thoracic spine and associated muscles. She was also sensitive to palpation of the abdominal muscles as well. Floss was slightly nervous about her back end being touched and was extremely sensitive to palpation through the lower back area too. When Floss was sat, she preferred to have both hind limbs splayed to the side, however this was more noticeable on the left hind. When lying down, she would always put her head out to the left-hand side, so that her nose was tilted up on the left. Louise confirmed that Floss would never lay with her head straight out in front of her. In general, she had a noticeable head tilt down to the right-hand side. She also presented with a lateral rotation of the left forelimb from the knee meaning that her front limbs were not straight although this was not as noticeable in the right forelimb.”

Dynamic assessment is also an important part of understanding how an animal is compensating for issues they have. Floss was not able to track up meaning that her hind feet didn’t step into the tracks she made with her front feet and Eirlys felt this was likely due to the lordosis of her back and the arthritis Floss had been diagnosed with. Interestingly Floss moved straighter than expected with her front limbs, but her head tilt was still noticeable in walk and trot. She also had a very low head and neck carriage overall, possibly due to her nervous demeanour. In general, she was fairly comfortable when walking with no lameness/stiffness seen so the Librela was working well for her, and the vets are pleased with her progress on this.

These assessments are also important to ensure that the animal is appropriate for treatment and there are no hidden issues that need to be referred to the vet. Having ascertained that Floss was not showing any signs of a hidden pathology or condition that would contraindicate treatment, Eirlys proceeded to treat her using very light and gentle adjustments. McTimoney Animal Chiropractors start at the top of the spine with the first neck vertebrae and for Floss, this was a particular key area due to the head tilt and tremors she was suffering from. Eirlys explains, “When treating, Floss had an extremely prominent atlas rotation meaning that the vertebrae were positioned lower on the right side which coincided with her noticeable head tilt on this side too. The jaw joint, also known as the TMJ was also lower on the right-hand side and again this was very prominent. This pattern continued into the mid-neck area.”

McTimoney Animal Chiropractic treatment doesn’t just address the suspected problem area, in Floss’s case the neck and jaw, but also treats where compensatory patterns of stiffness and tension have built up and in Floss’s case, this was throughout the rest of the body too. The mid-back vertebrae were curved to the right and the left side of the back was also very tight with the ribcage and sternum affected on the right side too. Even the shoulder blades were positioned asymmetrically with more tension in the left shoulder muscles and the right shoulder blade held upwards on the right side. Floss was holding her pelvis further back on the left side and the end of her spine, known as the sacrum, was positioned to the right as well.

Alongside McTimoney Chiropractic Techniques, Floss received massage therapy and Low-Level Laser Therapy. The Laser settings were mainly focused on pain relief for her hindlimb arthritis and muscle spasm release through the abdominals and mid-thoracic back musculature, which were her most prominent areas of tension. Eirlys states, “As a slightly nervous dog, Floss really benefitted from the Laser therapy as she found the deep tissue massage over-stimulating on occasion. She relaxed very quickly once the Laser started, so we did this at the end of the session. Floss would then relax and sleep and this is important, so she remembered the session as a good experience.”

Often when there have been long-term compensations, a course of treatment is required to address these, and Floss’s history as a breeding bitch in a puppy farm as well as her more recent head tilt issues meant that her body had a chronic level of stiffness and adaptation that takes time to release. Whether it’s as simple as the bitch laying on the same side each time when the puppies are nursing, or pelvic misalignments as a result of difficult births, their bodies undergo a lot of trauma during the whole process. “Floss had her first treatment in September 2023 and now has regular 6 weekly maintenance treatments, alongside her monthly Librela injections, to help keep her feeling as comfortable as possible,” says Eirlys. “However, the initial treatment of her upper neck adjustment was really interesting, as Floss instantly relaxed throughout her body and was turning her head around to look at me, something she hadn’t previously been able to do. When I then moved on to massage her, she was able to rest her head straight in front of her body when lying down which I was particularly pleased with as her owner Louise had never seen her be able to do this. We also noticed an immediate reduction in the severity of the head tremors following the initial treatment.”

As animals start to feel more comfortable this also helps the emotional state in many cases and Floss became much more confident throughout the treatments. Eirlys explains, “She needed lots of breaks during the first few treatments to process the changes, but now only needs a few breaks in between chiropractic adjustments (she tells us when) and then settles on her bed for the soft tissue/laser therapy work.”

Owner Louise started to increase her walks slowly, and now Floss will happily canter along which she wouldn’t have done beforehand. She is much perkier inside the house and plays with the other dog. Her ovarian cyst removal has also made a huge difference to her perkiness, and she has had no pancreatitis flare-ups since surgery!

Eirlys summarises, “McTimoney Animal Chiropractic helped Floss in particular due to her potentially dangerous and worsening head tremors, despite no issues popping up with the veterinary investigations. Her owner was concerned about Floss hurting herself if she fell, and without knowing what was causing these tremors felt at a bit of a loss. I have seen a number of particularly nervous dogs with a large atlas rotation and head tilt, and the instant relief they get from the initial atlas adjustment is really rewarding. However, with Floss’ tremors and the lack of veterinary diagnosis regarding the cause of these, I wasn’t sure whether we would see this immediate response, so I was pleased that I was able to help her. Her owner Louise always comments how more comfortable Floss is following treatment, and how the tremors are noticeably reduced which is great. Whilst she does still have episodes, they haven’t returned to their previous level prior to starting her on regular McTimoney treatments which I am really pleased with.”

Louise said “From our first session the results were almost instant, and I saw a massive improvement in Floss with a reduction of tremors and the severity lessened also. There were certain areas where Floss was very sensitive and Eirlys would use her magical laser machine to help ease/soften her before doing an adjustment. We now have regular sessions with Eirlys and have seen a huge improvement in Floss and she is much brighter in herself”.

Since writing this article, Floss has sadly passed over Rainbow Bridge. Despite a very tough start in life, she finally found a huge amount of love with her dedicated owner, Louise, and the therapeutic help and comfort she needed from Eirlys. RIP gorgeous Floss.

Eirlys Green MSc BSc (Hons) EEBW – McTimoney Animal Chiropractor and Soft Tissue Therapist based in Hampshire, owner of Aceso Animal Therapy.

www.acesoanimaltherapy.com