When Cato the German shepherd arrived at the rehabilitation and boarding center in January 2008, he had ruptured two disks, undergone spinal surgery and was unable to walk.
Three days a week, physical therapists at Scout's House in Menlo Park, Calif., worked with Cato. They stepped into a hydrotherapy tank and got the shaky animal to start walking. They administered massage, laser treatments and neuromuscular electrical stimulation.
A year later, the canine with a fondness for chew toys and chicken treats is walking again.
In the midst of a deep recession, a business started to help animals with special needs -- whether geriatric dogs with arthritis or animals recovering from surgery or loss of a limb -- is finding success, although not in the ways planned.
"The pet industry is not recession-proof, so the trick for us has been finding a variety of income streams," said founder Lisa Stahr, who tapped into her home equity line of credit to expand her business and open a new facility at a cost of $300,000.
Stahr said that while her therapy business is slower than anticipated, online sales of products such as joint supplements and car ramps are steady, and boarding is strong -- a pattern being played out nationally.
"As the economy slides, people are postponing some vet appointments and therapies," said Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Association, which tracks data on industry spending. But because people are working longer hours to make ends meet, Vetere said, there has been a spike in demand for pet sitting, walking and boarding.
Stahr, walking around the 2,100-square-foot site, with its state-of-the-art equipment and nonslip floors, said she was working happily as a writer and editor before a puppy named Scout changed her career path.
The black lab mix, dumped in a neighbor's car, was partially deaf and blind and walked by falling down, getting up, taking a few steps and repeating the pattern. Stahr discovered through testing that the dog had neurological damage from having survived distemper.
"I loved that dog so much," Stahr said. "She always picked herself up and tried to walk again. That was her way."
Three days a week, Stahr drove Scout to offices around the Bay Area for therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic treatment. Over time, she saw Scout grow stronger and steadier until the day she stopped falling down.
"When you go through rehab with a dog, the bond you develop is so much stronger," Stahr said.
Scout died months before the renovated center opened.
Not far from Stahr sat Cato, the 12-year-old German shepherd who has two 45-minute therapy sessions a week. On another comfy bed lounged Crissy, a 14-year-old yellow lab with severe arthritis. Getting into the $45,000 hydrotherapy tank filling with 90-degree water was a three-legged greyhound named Barney.
Krista Niebaum, who worked as a licensed physical therapist on people for seven years before joining Stahr as a physical rehabilitation therapist, said, "A lot of what we're doing with animals comes from the human world." (The 45-minute treatments start at $83.)
Speaking of Barney, who spent his early years racing on tracks in Tijuana and had his leg amputated in August because of cancer, Niebaum said that water therapy will help him re-establish his center of gravity and balance.
"I've always loved animals and physical therapy, so this was a way to marry my two favorite things," said Niebaum, whose next client was Crissy, resting belly-up in hopes of a rub. She receives therapy once a week.
"She's tired after her therapy but she never refuses to go," said her owner, Pat Callender, a fifth-generation San Franciscan who now lives in Menlo Park. "I started bringing her to Scout's House after knee surgery. She got back to walking 2 miles a day with me. Recently when she started to have her back legs collapse on her, we came back. Some friends tell me I'm nuts, but I'm giving Crissy all of the comfort I can. She would not be on her feet at all if it weren't for Scout's House."
E-mail Julian Guthrie at jguthrie(at)sfchronicle.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit the San Francisco Chronicle
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