For those of you that have visited our Lodge building at QK Dogs, you may have seen our awesome aqua therapy room. Part of our overall plan and vision for QK was to offer hands on sports medicine with canine physical/rehab therapy. I have sought out these specialists over the past 10 years to help with my multiple field dog’s fitness, injuries, soreness’s, geriatric and post-surgical care. My goal in providing the ultimate Canine Wellness and Care at QK was to incorporate these services at our Campus here in Canterbury, CT. We initially had a wonderful specialist here but she moved back to her home state of Texas. It has been tough to find another good specialist!
What is a CCRT? That stands for Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist and in order to obtain this title you must either be a licensed veterinarian or have a degree in Human PT. There is a specific school that certifies for CCRT which includes: canine anatomy and physiology, conditions and injuries commonly referred for rehabilitation, physical therapy assessment techniques, manual therapy, physical modalities and therapeutic exercise, and neurological rehabilitation.
The CCRT curriculum includes three modules: Introduction to Canine Rehabilitation, The Canine Rehabilitation Therapist, and Canine Sports Medicine.
Once CCRT candidates have taken the three courses required for certification and successfully completed all exams, they participate in a 40-hour internship at a CRI-approved practice through the CRI Internship Program. The internship provides “real life” experience — an integral part of the training of the best practitioners.
So, a CCRT is quite a specialized person! We are excited to announce that we will be offering once a week services with a visiting specialist who is eager to join our QK Team!
Meet Katherine Orcutt, PT, CCRT
Before becoming a CCRT (Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist), Katherine worked as a human PT for over 20 years, in orthopedics, neurological rehab, pain treatment and geriatrics. As a life-long dog person, it was a perfect fit to transfer her human rehab skills to dogs, and she completed her CCRT in 2014 through the Canine Rehabilitation Institute in Florida and Colorado. She did her canine rehab internship at Belgium’s premier canine and equine rehabilitation center, Het Waterhof in Sint Truiden, outside of Brussels.
Since then, Katherine has been treating dogs in her own home-visit based practice, Dancing Dog Rehabilitation in Central Massachusetts as well as seeing dogs part time at K-9 Hydrotherapy in Northborough MA.
She has particular interest in neurological problems in dogs such as degenerative neuropathy, disc disease, and FCE (Fibrocartilagenous Embolism), but also enjoys post-op stifles and hips as well as getting older dogs more functional with less pain.
Katherine lives with her soul-mate Greyhound Rosco, and feels very blessed to have found canine rehabilitation and to be able to help keep dogs happy and moving.
Katherine is glad to join the team and share her experience at QKDogs!
Currently Katherine will be with us every Thursday to offer hands on evaluations and treatments to any dog that may have lameness, soreness, weakness, orthopedic issues, neurological conditions, geriatric dogs and even healthy dogs just needing to work on fitness. She will provide an evaluation and then begin treatments to include hydro therapy in our treadmill, laser treatments, stretching, strengthening and muscle massage work. The initial assessment is $125, and treatment may be initiated at that time as well. Katherine will recommend a plan and protocol to help with each particular dog. We will be offering services with Katherine and Kara Ames (QK Wellness Assistant) to continue treatments with laser, hydrotherapy and therapy work once an initial evaluation and assessment has been made. We offer a variety of package pricing for these regular services.
We will be booking Thursday appointments with Katherine beginning July 13th. Please call the kennel or email Kames@Qkdogs.com to book an appointment. We are so excited to have Katherine join our QK Team!
