28/05/2026
📢 Testimonial Thursday 📢
Ziggy's Story 🧡 and a video of Ziggy going to the beach, being able to run and dig to his heart's content 😆
Following six weeks of pain and discomfort, our beloved cockerpoo Ziggy was diagnosed with low grade discospondylitis by Oxford Veterinary Specialists (OVS) at the beginning of October 2025. Hannas Bergmann – the specialist orthopaedic vet at OVS was confidant that Ziggy could fight the infection himself and recommended the following course of action:
• Carry on taking pain killers/anti-inflammatory medication
• Reduced walks (on lead)
• Hydrotherapy/Physiotherapy
So, life changed over night! No more long walks (we would typically average a minimum of 10,000 steps – mostly off lead!). But the important thing was to try to get Ziggy right.
As well as the medication and reduced walks, we embarked on weekly hydrotherapy sessions with Woozelbears in Witney. Lianne and the team at Woozelbears have been absolutely amazing. There was an initial reluctance from Ziggy, but with their skill, expertise and unbelievable patience Ziggy overcame his apprehension (I think the Primula helped as well!). Ziggy was initially very reluctant to even go into the Hydrotherapy tank but over the weeks the guys at Woozelbears got him more and more confidant. You wouldn’t have believed the change in him when he has his final session on 25th March! He couldn’t wait to get in there and see Lianne this morning! (A bit different to the ‘tail down’ nervous walk in on day one!)
As well as Hydrotherapy, Woozelbears recommended that Ziggy have Physiotherapy as well. So, from January 2026 Emma from Woozelbears would come to our house to do so massage on Ziggy and give us some exercises every other week. Again, we saw significant benefit from this.
Fast forward to today, (25th March), Ziggy has been discharged by Lianne and we have our old Ziggy back. The pain and discomfort that Ziggy was experiencing started to go away at the end of October so with Hannas’s blessing, we stopped the medication. Under Woozelbears guidance we gradually increased the lengths of Ziggy’s walks and I’m pleased to say that we’re back to our previous lovely long walks. The sessions at Woozelbears have without doubt contributed in a major way to Ziggy’s recovery. Hopefully the problem has gone away for good, but if it does return at least we have the tools in our toolkit to deal with it.
The guys at Woozelbears in Witney are an amazing bunch of very clever and caring people! Thank you so much.
Alan and Deb - Ziggy's parents 🐾