Rehabilitation of the feline patient: physiotherapy treatment as part of a multidisciplinary team approach

The benefits of physical rehabilitation have been well documented in canine practice (Levine et al, 2005). It is far less applied and documented in feline practice and as such the benefits found in treating feline patients are often missed and under utilised. In many cases of feline referral, the referral is made as a last attempt to find support for a patient and owner, when other more conventional treatments have been tried; in these cases many of the benefits from physiotherapy or other complementary treatments, which can be dependent on application in the early stages, are lost. According to studies carried out by PetPlan in 2006, approximately 630 cats per day in the UK are hit by a car (unpublished data). In research by Rochlitz (2004) it was found that on average a cat recovering from a road traffic accident (RTA) took 47 days to recover, and that the severity of the injury directly correlated with cost and length of treatment and to the number of days to recovery. None of the cases followed received any form of physical rehabilitation which may have improved recovery time.