Frequently Asked Questions

Most dogs that are afraid of water become fearful because they are suddenly submerged and their feet can't touch the ground or because they have had less than stellar experiences being bathed or groomed. Our Underwater Treadmills provide fantastic low-impact, high resistance exercise while keeping your dog's feet on the ground and their head and shoulders above the water. Your dog walks into a dry, empty treadmill, then the warm water is adjusted to fill very slowly and quietly from below them so that at first, only their toes get wet. Gradually, the water level rises and the treadmill band moves forward. Your dog is then walking and distracted and before they know it, the water level is up to their elbows and everything is fine. Of course, a CROC team member is always right there at their side (and sometimes in the treadmill with them) to provide support and encouragement every step of the way.

No. We do not offer boarding/overnight care. Please refer to your primary or specialty veterinarian for boarding options.

All breeds, all sizes, and all ages are welcome at CROC. We see everything from Chihuahuas and Maltese all the way up to Great Danes and Mastiffs. We can offer this because our patients are never allowed to interact with other patients unless they are from the same family. Each dog is harnessed and securely anchored to their own Big Barker Orthopedic bed so that while they can see other dogs, they cannot reach them or otherwise interact with them. If your dog is particularly reactive around other dogs, we will do everything we can to coordinate an appointment time during a quieter part of the day and select a bed further away or without visibility of other dogs. Often times, pups are less bold away from their family and settle in just fine, even those that don't particularly enjoy new people. Working with your dog one on one gives us both the best chance of earning each other's trust so we can get your dog on the path to recovery. We will always give your dog a chance to try it out! In the rare case that your dog is unable to participate in Rehab or Fitness Sessions, we do everything we can to equip you for exercises and treatments you can do at home.

No, packages are not offered for our medical services. CROC exists to provide customized Veterinary Medical Treatment for every patient, at every point in their recovery. Every patient's journey is different and can change at any moment. Rather than have our clients invest in a package of sessions that their pet may or may not need, sessions are charged individually. This avoids any unnecessary refunds or payment processing fees, which in turn helps us keep our prices lower for you. Did you know that CROC gives your pet more medical treatment and therapy per visit than any other facility in Orange County?

To get a better understanding of how wheelchairs work for dogs, we strongly recommend reading our in-depth article at the link below. If after reading the article, you feel that a cart is a good fit for you and your dog, give us a call to schedule a Cart Consultation. This is an appointment specifically for pets needing a cart but not pursuing therapy. During this appointment, you will meet with our Rehab Practitioner to determine if a cart is the best choice for your dog, what kind of cart should be ordered, and to begin your education on how to use a cart. After this appointment, we will get your dog scheduled for a Cart Fitting. Be sure to speak to our Patient Care Coordinator if you're wanting to get these appointments done on the same day. The Cart Fitting requires multiple CROC team members to do properly, so we want to ensure we schedule appropriately. During the Cart Fitting, we will collect all of the measurements and photographs necessary to order your cart. We send these directly to Eddie's Wheels for you so all you have to do is contact them for payment and shipping information. Once your dog's custom built cart arrives, we will complete any assembly, make any final adjustments, introduce your dog to the cart, and show you how to use it. This last appointment is included in the cost of your Cart Fitting Appointment.

CROC does not offer facility tours out of respect for our existing patients and clients. Remember, CROC is a medical facility; not daycare or boarding. During our operating hours, we have medical treatments and consultations taking place which would be greatly disrupted by tours. You probably wouldn't appreciate a stranger walking through your doctor's appointment, right? Add in that a vast majority of dogs become agitated and vocal when strangers come into their space. We all know dogs that rush to the front door to bark at whoever rang the doorbell. Rehab requires a calm, quiet environment for patients to get maximum benefit from their therapies. Disturbing that calm and quiet means all of the patients in the building get less out of their session that day because they have to return to a relaxed state before our work can take effect again. Rehab is also an investment of both time and money and just like you, our clients want their pets to get as much benefit from each session as possible. Most people would not appreciate paying full price, but only getting partial service. It is not fair to interrupt someone else's visit just because a person wants to see what the facility looks like. Some people take this policy to mean that we're hiding something from our clients. Nope! In fact, we're sharing photos and videos of real CROC patients receiving therapeutic treatments on our Facebook & Instagram @caninerehaboc all the time and we strongly encourage you to check them out!

Not Required - Prescription or Referral from your Veterinarian Our Veterinarians and Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioners will prescribe your pet’s Rehabilitation Treatment Plan. Thanks to our many years of formal education and the successful Physical Rehabilitation of thousands of pets, we have the tools and training necessary to safely maximize your pet’s comfort and mobility. It’s not uncommon for a pet to be referred to us for a specific modality, Hydrotherapy being a particularly frequent one, when in fact that modality would not be effective or safe for that pet and only our specialized training saves that pet from inappropriate treatment. Required - Exam with your Veterinarian for this Problem within the last 12 months For multiple reasons, we require that your pet be seen by their regular Veterinarian within the last year, at minimum, before coming to see us. This exam is important because it ensures that your Veterinarian has an opportunity to identify any conditions that would make Rehab unnecessary or unsafe. Some conditions are better treated with medication or surgery and some can be made worse with Rehab. We also want to make sure that your pet is up to date on vaccinations as appropriate and that any other medical conditions they have are well managed before beginning therapy. As part of preparation for your pet's appointment with us, we will request your pet's medical records so that our Medical Team can review them before meeting with you. Strongly Recommended - Diagnosis Having a diagnosis for your pet’s condition makes it safer for us to proceed and helps us truly tailor your pet’s Rehabilitation Plan to address their body’s deficiencies. Rehab for a dog with a torn Cranial Cruciate Ligament will be different than Rehab for a pet with a Luxating Patella despite both conditions affecting the knee. It will also help us set goals and better predict your pet’s outcome. For example, we would expect a dog with weakness of the back legs caused by aging and inactivity to improve with therapy, while a dog being treated for Degenerative Myelopathy would continue to decline, though at a slower rate than one without therapy. We treat symptoms like weakness and limping daily, but without knowing the cause for those symptoms, we’re making an educated guess and therapy could be ineffective at best, harmful at worst. Some conditions are better treated with surgery. We hope to help as many pets avoid surgery as possible, but the truth is that Rehab cannot fix everything and there are situations where surgery really is the best treatment and most efficient use of your resources. By having a diagnosis before coming to see us, you could potentially skip the cost and time of a Consultation with us and go straight to a Board-Certified Veterinary Surgeon and get your pet back on their feet that much faster. Strongly Recommended - Imaging & Bloodwork Is that dog limping because of dysplasia or because of a bone-eating tumor? Therapy can absolutely help improve a dysplastic patient’s comfort and mobility but could fracture the bone of an Osteosarcoma patient. So how do we know if it’s safe to proceed? Imaging! Why does this dog have hind limb weakness? Is it because of spinal cord impingement caused by Intervertebral Disc Disease? Or maybe it’s a Fibrocartilaginous Embolism (aka Spinal Stroke)? It might be because Spondylosis is making certain activities painful, so the muscles of the hind legs have become weaker from disuse. How do we know what to do? Imaging! Imaging and bloodwork may not seem necessary for Rehab, but they will make therapy safer and more effective. You might bring your pet to us for one problem, but therapy affects the entire body. Chest radiographs might identify changes to your pet’s heart that could make certain exercises unsafe. Bloodwork might reveal that your pet has Hypothyroidism, which if left untreated could be a huge contributor to a pet’s excess weight and make weight loss more difficult. When pets come to see us without diagnostics and/or imaging, we often refer them back to their primary Veterinarian to have these things performed before beginning in-clinic therapy. By having these steps completed before coming to see us, you can help ensure that your pet’s Rehabilitation Plan is best suited to their needs and can begin right away. We do not perform any imaging or lab work at CROC.

We believe in providing gold standard veterinary care in the most affordable way possible. We're proud to offer more therapy per session than any other Rehab Facility in Orange County. We also believe in transparency and honesty so our complete list of services and pricing is available to see here: Our pricing is structured so that every pet gets the perfectly tailored medical treatment they need at every visit without adding additional costs or complicated menus of services. At every Therapy Session, your pet is evaluated by our Veterinary Professionals and their presentation is compared to their previous visit to determine what exercises and treatments will need to be performed today. We know that you want to get the best value for your money and for your pet to get top quality medical care. By using this pricing structure, your expense stays the same but your pet gets custom therapy sessions prescribed by our Rehab Practitioner and Veterinarians who have the Veterinary Medical education and experience to know exactly what your pet needs at each and every visit.

When humans experience a significant injury or have a major surgery, we're referred to Physical Therapy to help us return to normal strength and function. Canine Physical Rehabilitation is the application of human physical therapy techniques in a veterinary medical setting to give dogs the highest level of function and best quality of life. While human Physical Therapy utilizes Physical Therapists to provide this type of care, veterinary medicine utilizes a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner (CCRP), Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist (CCRT), or Certified Companion Animal Rehabilitation Therapist (CCAT). Physical Therapy is a term protected by human medical law in the United States, so while Veterinary Physical Rehabilitation is essentially the same thing, it cannot be referred to as such. This is similar to Registered Nurses and Registered Veterinary Technicians (RVT) sharing much of the same knowledge and responsibilities, but RVTs cannot be called Veterinary Nurses.

Closed Rehab is a term used to describe therapy being performed without Pet Owners present. This approach is just like when you take your dog to the vet for a medical procedure. This approach is proven to help dogs achieve better recoveries, faster than they would have with their family present. It is in the patient's best interest to allow the Medical Professionals to do their job without interference or outside pressures. The patient is also more likely to bond to the next available human when their Owner is not present, instead of feeling like they must defend both themselves and their owner from strangers. This part is VITAL for Rehab to work it's best magic! Open Rehab, in which Owners are present with their dog during therapy, unfortunately is only of emotional benefit to the Owner. It has been proven that patients in Open Rehab experience higher levels of stress and lower rates of healing than patients in Closed Rehab. For more information about the importance of Closed Rehab for maximum patient benefit, be sure to read our FAQ "Why can't I stay with my dog during their Rehab Session?".

We know. You've already seen your regular vet and maybe even a veterinary specialist or two and now you have to prepare for yet another exam appointment. Veterinary medicine is similar to human medicine in that doctors have a legal requirement to examine a patient and establish a relationship with them before they can provide any medical care or prescribe any medications. Physical rehabilitation might seem like "just exercise" or "just massage" but the truth is that it is so much more medically involved than most might think and we also cannot legally perform ANY sort of Physical Rehabilitation without one of our veterinarians examining your dog and establishing the Veterinary-Client-Patient Relationship. Our highly trained staff has years of medical training to properly understand the myriad of medical conditions that our patients present with. Not only do we have to have a thorough understanding of the conditions that we treat, but we also have to understand the conditions that often come along in addition to their presenting problem like gastrointestinal diseases, cardiac and respiratory conditions, dermatological issues, cancers and their respective treatments, as well as cognitive and behavioral changes for all stages of a dog's life. Without this deep understanding of a patient's medical status, one could easily overexert or injure them. This is why it is so important to ensure that your dog's rehabilitation facility has staff formally trained and licensed in Veterinary Medicine and Rehabilitation.

We commonly evaluate and create custom recovery plans for dogs with: Arthritis Obesity Age-Related Weakness Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD) Torn or Ruptured Ligaments Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) Hip and/or Elbow Dysplasia Degenerative Myelopathy Total Hip Replacement Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO) Medial Luxating Patella (MPL) Swimmer Puppy Syndrome Post-Op Amputation Congenital Defects Post-Op Fracture Repair Nerve, Muscular, or Joint Injuries Muscle Atrophy & Contracture Fibrocartilaginous Embolism (FCE) Post-Op Arthrodesis And so much more! We couldn't possibly list all the different conditions that we treat without taking up an entire page but if you want to be sure that we can help with your dog's condition, feel free to call us at (949) 444-2451 or email us at CROCrecords@gmail.com.

CROC is a medical science-based practice. We have and will continue to only offer treatments that are clinically proven to be safe and effective for our patients. While we've had clients ask for other services and even offer to pay extra for them, our priority is always the wellbeing and best interest of our patients. If you are interested in a particular treatment that you don't see offered at CROC, feel free to chat with us about it. We're always open to learning new things and if the scientific evidence exists to show that a treatment is safe and beneficial, we would absolutely consider adding it to our repertoire.

By California law, we are required to perform a Consultation before providing any services to your pet. The Consultation is an approximately 1.5 - 2 hour appointment that begins with meeting one of our Rehab Practitioners and one of our Veterinarians to discuss your pet's medical history, including what brought you to Rehab, any other medical or behavioral conditions your pet might have, as well as nutrition, home routine, and goals for your pet. Once we have a general understanding of your pet's case, we will ask you to drop them off with us for about an hour. During this time, your dog will get a detailed "Nose to Tail" Physical Exam including Gait Analysis, Pain Evaluation, Neurological Exam, & Range of Motion Assessment. If appropriate and safe, your pet will also get their first therapeutic treatments after their exam. Some pets do participate in Hydrotherapy on their first visit, so be prepared for a potentially wet pupper! When you come back at your scheduled return time, our team will meet with you again to provide our assessment of your pet's condition, discuss which treatments would be most effective for your pet, and go over your pet's custom Homecare Program. Your dog's Homecare Program will include Veterinarian prescribed daily treatments and exercises as well as any recommendations for changes to diet, pain management, or home environment. Your participation in the daily Homecare exercises is paramount for your dog's optimal recovery. Lastly, we will provide our recommendations for continued treatment if your dog is a good Rehab candidate. Every dog is different and there is no one size fits all approach. Some pets can get away with just once weekly Therapy Sessions, but most need 2-3 Sessions each week. Please make sure to give your dog all of their regular medications as prescribed on the day of your Consultation and make sure they get to visit our grass potty area in front of our building before coming in.

If your pet is considered a good candidate for Rehab Therapy, we will schedule your pet for regular drop-off appointments. We ask that you please have them potty outside before dropping them off and bring at least 2 towels for your dog at every visit (larger or furrier pets may need more!). These sessions are usually 1-2 hours long and owners are not present. At every Therapy Session, your dog will receive a brief Physical Exam, Massage & Stretching, Range of Motion exercises and Cryo/Thermotherapy. Hydrotherapy, Balance & Proprioception exercises, Laser therapy, Ultrasound therapy, Electrostimulation, and PEMF therapy are used as appropriate at no additional charge. Acupuncture is available for an additional charge. Our facility is 100% Cage Free! Your dog will rest on a Big Barker Orthopedic Foam bed in between exercises and during some treatments. While dogs from the same family are allowed to share beds, all other patients get their own area and bed for the length of their session. Your pet's Treatment Plan will include a recommended time frame for therapy, after which a Progress Exam should be scheduled to assess your pet's recovery. Some pets are ready to graduate at this Progress Exam while others may need some adjustments to their therapy before they're ready to graduate from Rehab.

No Referral Required! Just submit your New Client & Patient Forms and we will call you to schedule your Consultation. If you have other questions before scheduling that were not answered here on our FAQ page, then give us a call at (949) 444-2451. A Consultation is legally required before we can provide any services. During scheduling, we will need your basic information, your pet's information, the name of all veterinary facilities that your pet has been seen at within the last year or two (even if the visit does not seem related to your Rehab visit), and a credit card to hold on file to secure your appointment. Please see our Cancellation/No Show Policy before booking.

The CROC team places a high value on honesty and we would prefer that you spend your time and money on the best possible course of treatment for your pet. Some pets are better off with a surgical repair of their injury. Others are delicate, geriatric patients that are not medically stable enough to safely participate in Rehab Therapy. If your dog is best treated with a surgical repair, we will provide you with information for Board Certified Veterinary Surgeons that specialize in the surgery your pet needs and that we have seen good results from. CROC does not get any sort of referral kickback or other compensation for referring you and your pet. We only refer to Specialists that we would be comfortable sending our own pets to. You will need to call to schedule an appointment with them to discuss surgical options for your pet. If your dog is determined to be too medically unstable to safely participate in Rehab Therapy, we then move forward with an truthful evaluation of your pet's Quality of Life. We want your dog to be happy, comfortable, and at your side for as long as possible. As Veterinary Medical Professionals, we take an oath to prevent and relieve the suffering of animals. This sometimes means guiding our clients through the painful process of letting their pet go with love and dignity. We also want to protect the precious remaining time with your pet so we will not risk shortening that time by having them participate in therapy that could be potentially life-threatening.

We understand the incredible bond you have with your dog and we know it can be difficult to be away from them, especially when they're already in a fragile state. Our goal is to get them as healthy, comfortable, and fit as possible so they can continue to be with your family for as long as possible. In order for them to benefit the most from their rehab visits, we ask that you be prepared to leave your dog with us for their treatments. Most pets that come to see us have suffered from kind of trauma or pain, so being around a new person can be scary for them. By working with your dog one on one, we get to develop a special relationship with them built on trust and relaxation. They need to trust that we are not going to hurt them when handling their surgical site or injury. They have to bond with us enough to perform whichever strange, new exercise we are asking them to do. And they have to be able to relax so the therapeutic treatments can work their magic. A relationship like this takes time and consistency to build. The unspoken promise, "I won't every hurt you" is our number one priority as we challenge their physical abilities. This bond is vital to their recovery process. When an owner is present, their pet can't focus on their therapy. They remain attached to their person and are less inclined to bond with us. This impedes your dog's progress and limits their ability to recover. It's also important to remember that your dog is not the only dog receiving treatment at any one time. Most dogs don't take kindly to strangers walking through their area of safety and comfort, especially when they are in such a vulnerable state. The best compromise we could find was to start sharing photos and videos of our patients during their rehab sessions so we created our Facebook, YouTube, & Instagram accounts to do just that! We do our best to share as much as possible, but therapy will always take priority over pictures so this is something we can only do when time allows. We cannot guarantee any specific pet or therapy will be posted.

We get this question often and we want to be very clear! PLEASE! Give your dog all their medications as prescribed by your regular vet! Some pet parents are concerned that our evaluation of their pet will not be accurate if the symptoms are "covered up" by pain medication. While we appreciate that the pet parents just want to help, we would prefer that you maintain your pet's pain management routine. Many years of medical training allow us to see even the tiniest signs of pain or weakness. By seeing what your dog can do while on their current pain control, we can help weigh in if their pain management plan needs adjusting such as dose or medication changes/additions. Ultimately, a dog too painful to participate in rehab won't be able to do the work necessary to heal and won't be comfortable enough to trust us. That trusting relationship that we build with our patients is vital to their recovery. Please, always give them their medications as prescribed so we can help them feel even better.

At your Consultation, we will determine an approximate time frame in which we expect to see improvement. This can range widely, but many pets fall between 10-15 sessions. We will then have you schedule a Progress Exam. Before your pet's Progress Exam, we will send you a Questionnaire to get more information about how they are doing at home and collect any new medical records from your other veterinarian(s). During the Progress Exam, we will conduct all the same evaluations as we did at your initial Consultation so that we can compare and measure the changes in your pet's physical abilities and level of comfort. If your pet is not making measurable progress, we may refer you back to your veterinarian or to a veterinary specialist to further investigate the reason for this. If your pet is progressing as expected, we often send you home with new, more challenging Home Care Exercises and adjust their in-clinic sessions as appropriate to keep them on the road to recovery. When your pet has reached the highest level of function and comfort that Rehab can provide and they no longer have a medical need, your pet Graduates from Rehab! On a case-by-case basis, Rehab Graduates may be able to continue to return for either Rehab or Fitness Sessions to maintain their condition and ability. The Progress Exam is an optional service at the earlier stages in your pet's treatment, but must be performed at least every 6 months in order to keep your pet's sessions relevant to their comfort and ability.

All sessions at CROC are Veterinarian Prescribed and structured by our Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner (the veterinary equivalent of a human physical therapist). This means that your pet's exercises are specifically chosen for their physical needs with the science to back up their safety and efficacy. Our team of Veterinary Medical Professionals will help keep your best friend lean and fit in the safest and most balanced way possible. CROC was built to cater to the most fragile and injured patients, to help them heal and recover so we are outfitted with a variety of equipment and a plethora of Veterinary Medical knowledge that the average pet parent does not otherwise have available to them.

Fitness Sessions are not a free for all. There will be no off leash exercises and no interaction with other patients from other families. At the beginning of every session, your dog will be evaluated by our Rehab Practitioner to make sure that they are physically sound enough to participate in the exercises planned for them. The point of Fitness Sessions is to provide customized, safe, structured exercise and part of that is making sure that there are no injuries or other conditions that we could aggravate by exercising your dog. Your pet will then do some light, warm up exercises to get started. We want to make sure they are limber and ready to take on more challenging exercise. It cannot be overstated how vital this warm up period is! Letting your dog go from inactivity to full blast exercise is a recipe for injury. Once warmed up, your dog will participate in more difficult exercises on our obstacle course, targeted to strengthen areas where your dog may be weaker and improve their balance and coordination. Next, they'll walk in to the Underwater Treadmill for Hydrotherapy. The Underwater Treadmill provides low impact, high resistance exercise to build muscle and stamina while being gentle to and supportive of their joints. Lastly, your dog will do some cool down exercises before going home!

Yes! Fitness Sessions offer active, healthy dogs the opportunity to improve their strength, balance, coordination, and stamina under the educated eye of Veterinary Medical Professionals. You can think of it like Personal Training for your dog! They're great for high energy dogs that need a little extra exercise to help them be calm at home or for Sport Dogs that need regular conditioning to be able to perform at their best when competing. Regular, balanced exercise that challenges the body in a variety of ways will help keep your best friend lean and fit while also making future exercise related injuries less likely.

Because CROC is a Veterinary Medical facility, every dog that comes to see us must complete a Consultation first. The Fitness Consultation begins with you and your dog coming in to meet with our Rehab Practitioner and one of our Veterinarians. We will discuss your dog's medical history, their lifestyle, current exercise routine, and your goals for your dog. After this meeting, you will leave your dog with us for about an hour. During this time, we will perform a Nose to Tail Physical Exam, including Gait Analysis, Range of Motion, Orthopedic and Neurological Function to determine if your pet is a good candidate for Fitness Sessions and do some Fitness Exercises with your dog if safe to do so. When you return to pick up your dog, we will meet with you once more to discuss our findings and recommendations. If your dog is determined to be free of any conditions that would make Fitness Sessions unsafe, we will provide you In-Clinic Fitness recommendations and send you home with a custom Home Exercise Program as well. From that point, you may book Fitness Sessions as appropriate. Sometimes during these Consultations, we find a new or unnoticed medical conditions that would make Fitness Sessions unsafe. Depending on what was found, your pet may be a candidate for Physical Rehabilitation Therapy Sessions or may be referred to either your regular veterinarian or a specialist for further work up.

Fitness Sessions are open to dogs that are free of any medical condition that would make more rigorous exercise unsafe. Working dog, Sport Dog, or House Pet, all are welcome! Examples of Disqualifying Conditions: Arthritis, Muscle Atrophy, Orthopedic Conditions, Neurological Conditions, Soft-Tissue Conditions, Obesity, Heart Disease, Respiratory Disease, and many others. It is not possible to list all applicable conditions here. Dogs with disqualifying conditions like the ones listed above may still be eligible for Physical Rehabilitation Therapy Sessions depending on the diagnosis. Some Rehab Patients may qualify for Fitness Sessions when they graduate from Physical Rehabilitation Therapy at our Veterinary Team's discretion.

We know that most owners would like to be present for their pet's treatments. We get it! You want to know that your pet is okay and that their getting the therapy you are paying for. At CROC, our #1 priority is to provide Gold Standard Veterinary Care and it's been proven that animals participating in Closed Rehab get more out of their therapy visits than those whose owners were allowed to come with them. In an effort to find some sort of compromise, we started our Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube accounts so that we can share what rehab at CROC looks like. Because Gold Standard Veterinary Care is our #1 priority, Photos & Videos are captured only when doing so does not interfere with our patients' quality of care. We cannot guarantee Photos & Videos of any one animal or treatment, but we do our best to collect as much as possible. Posting Photos & Videos to our Facebook, Instagram, & Youtube is the most efficient way for us to share these files so we do not send files directly to owners. Clients wanting Photos & Videos of their pet must sign and submit the Photo & Video Release form included in their New Client & Patient paperwork.

While every patient is different, it is usually recommended to reassess their overall condition after 10-15 Rehab Sessions (or a timeframe otherwise determined at your initial Consultation). This is so we can continue to tailor their Therapy Treatments, ensuring maximum healing and recovery. To do this, we perform a Progress Exam. This is scheduled as an addendum to one of your pet's Rehab Sessions for $50-75, requiring an additional 30 minutes. Before your dog's Progress Exam, we will send you with a Progress Questionnaire to gather more details about changes you're seeing at home. We will also collect any updated medical records from your Veterinarian(s). During this exam, our Rehab Practitioner and one of the CROC Veterinarians will re-examine all of the same parameters from your initial Consultation, then meet with you after to discuss recommendations based on their findings. Some pets are ready to Graduate from Rehab by this first Progress Exam! Some are at a point where they can come less frequently or do shorter sessions. Others may need their Recovery Plan amped up a notch to better support their needs. Regardless of where your pet is at in their Recovery, should you decide that you would like to discontinue Therapy for any reason, we still strongly recommend having a Progress Exam done first so that we can make sure it's safe for you to stop and to give you all the resources you need to continue your dog's recovery at home. Several conditions that we commonly treat can quickly deteriorate if Rehab is stopped too soon. Patients returning to regular activity before being cleared by a Veterinarian are also at risk for re-injuring themselves, requiring you to start the process all over again. Should you have any questions about this process, please reach out to us! We want to make sure your pet has the best recovery possible. **Please Note: A Progress Exam is not a suitable replacement for an updated Consultation for patients returning to Rehab after surgery. The Progress Exam is structured to expand on the initial findings from the Consultation. To learn more about this, be sure to read "Returning to Rehab After Surgery".

- Cancellation Policy applies only to Consultation appointments - Rather than charge a deposit up front, at the time of scheduling your Consultation, we require that a credit card be saved to your file to secure your appointment. There is no charge applied to your card at that time and you are welcome to change the card or pay with cash or check at the time of your Consultation. If you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment, you must do so with more than 48 hours' notice to avoid any cancellation fees. Consultations cancelled or rescheduled within 24-48 hours before your appointment have a cancellation fee of $120.00 charged to the card on file. Consultations cancelled or rescheduled with less than 24 hours' notice or if you do not show up to your appointment have the full cost of the Consultation, $240, applied to the card on file. Rescheduling your Consultation appointment does not mean that you will not be charged a Cancellation Fee. We were reluctant to have a Cancellation Policy at all, but on multiple occasions we have had time-sensitive patients that desperately needed our services waiting weeks to get in and not enough notice to get them in when time slots opened up. We don't like having to have a Cancellation Policy, but we do it in the best interest of our patients that need us.

After surgery, we do recommend that your pet return for therapy. It has been proven that pets receiving physical rehabilitation soon after surgery recover mobility, strength, and pain relief faster and better than those that do not. Surgery is often quite the investment, both financially and emotionally so we want to make sure you get the best possible result. Make sure your surgeon documents when your pet can safely return to physical rehabilitation. Often, it’s just the time it takes for the incision to heal enough for sutures or staples to be removed but it can vary. The Consultation is a snapshot evaluation of your pet's medical health and physical abilities so that we can tailor their physical rehabilitation specifically to their needs as determined at that visit. Therefore, patients who are returning to rehab after such a huge change in their physiology will need an updated Consultation before beginning therapy sessions. Post-surgical patients have just undergone a massive change in their body’s condition. Their muscle mass, stamina, pain levels, compensatory issues, and many other variables significantly change after surgery so the evaluation from before surgery will no longer be relevant to their post-operative condition. Attempting to proceed with therapy without an updated Consultation is dangerous for your pet and we would not have all the details needed to properly form their custom homecare and in-clinic treatment plan for best recovery. The process to return to therapy is almost identical to your first visit. We'll need to schedule your Consultation, we'll gather your pet’s most recent medical records, and we will need you to fill out and send in updated Client/Patient Forms. Your return Consultation will include all the same aspects as a brand new patient's Consultation.

We ask that all patients are regularly bathed/groomed and free of topical medications when they arrive for their therapy session. Should a patient start Chemotherapy treatment, CROC must be notified before the patient's next therapy session. Hands on therapies, such as Massage & Stretching, means the CROC team is vulnerable to unwanted transdermal medications when handling patients that have had recent Topical Flea/Tick Prevention, CBD Oils, certain Chemotherapies, and other topical treatments. Topical medications and any excessive dirt/debris in your dog's coat also contaminate the water in the Underwater Treadmill, exposing our other patients. The water we use in the Underwater Treadmill is chlorinated, filtered, and heated but it cannot remove all contaminants so when something like this enters our water, we have no choice but to dump the entire water supply and decontaminate the entire Underwater Treadmill system including the treadmill itself, the heater, filters, pumps, the water reservoir and all piping to connect these parts. For the safety of the CROC team and all CROC patients, please disclose any and all medications to the CROC team before your pet's therapy session. Topical Flea & Tick medications can be applied a few days before your pet's next therapy session to give it time to fully absorb before hand.

Refunds are only applied when a charge is mistakenly applied or a service is not rendered. CROC provides state of the art medical care, however as much as we might wish it, positive results are not guaranteed. You, your veterinarian, and the CROC team can only try our very best and see how your pet responds to treatment. Medicine is also considered an art with many nuances and schools of thought. At CROC, our Veterinary Team always provides their opinion based on their years of formal education in Veterinary Medicine (including pursuing additional education to specialize in Physical Rehabilitation) and in-clinic experience. Just like any other doctor appointment, when you Consult with us, you are paying for our medical opinion on your pet's condition. Disagreements in opinion do not constitute a refund. Discounts are available for 501c3, Military Personnel, and Licensed Veterinary Professionals.

Unlike human health insurance, the vast majority of pet insurance is structured as such that clients must pay for their pet's care at the time of service, then submit their receipt to their insurance for reimbursement. The upside to this is that this also means that you can go to any Veterinary Medical facility of your choosing (no having to check if the doctor is in network) but it does mean that clients are on the hook for medical costs until insurance reimburses them. Many pets come to us having already experienced intensive (and expensive) medical care or surgeries and we know that insurance coverage can be the difference between continued recovery care and having to just hope for the best. We do recommend checking with your insurance policy to make sure they cover Physical Rehabilitation (sometimes also referred to as Physical Therapy, Physiotherapy, Hydrotherapy, etc) as not all plans include that kind of coverage. We do our very best to make sure that your dog's visits get covered to the maximum extent that your policy allows, so feel free to chat with us regarding your claims.