What is hydrotherapy? - Hydrotherapy is the use of water to enable an animal to move or exercise its muscles and joints whilst its body weight is supported. In medical/veterinary terms, Hydrotherapy is taken to mean the treatment of disease by, or in, water. In its simplest form this could be bathing your animal using a commercially available herbal shampoo or using a stronger, medicated wash which has been prescribed by your vet to treat a specific skin condition. However the commonest form of hydrotherapy, and most fun for animal  and owner alike, is swimming. It is particularly useful if animals are sore or lame when trying to walk. Hydrotherapy is important to help exercise muscles and prevent them wasting away.

Swimming - Swimming helps to improve general fitness and stamina, improves muscle tone and is helpful in recovering from injury or operation. Muscle wastage begins within 3 days of any immobilisation so to prevent further weakness or injury it is important to rebuild, through safe exercise, any muscles that have deteriorated. It is better to swim dogs in heated water since cold water causes constriction of the blood vessels near the skin and to the superficial muscles (those just under the skin) which restricts the flow of blood making the muscles less efficient.

However horses are usually swum in cold water because it helps to dissipate the enormous amounts of heat they generate under exertion - far more than dogs and with a less efficient cooling system. Therefore you are more likely to find heated pools for dogs and cold water pools for horses.

Stress Free Excercise - Swimming is an excellent form of exercise because most of the muscles normally used in movement are involved - without the stresses caused by running on hard ground. On land, each footfall creates a shock wave which travels up the limb and is absorbed by bones, tendons and joints. While these stresses are necessary to maintain healthy, strong bone (see the section below the photographs) if severe, or repetitive, these shock waves can actually damage or weaken the limb, particularly an arthritic joint or one recovering from an injury or surgery.

Swimming allows the "working out" and strengthening of the muscles while avoiding this potentially damaging concussion. Also, because of the increased resistance to movement, the muscles have to work harder than they would do on land.