"Fubu", whilst chasing possums, unfortunately hit a bank at high speed which left her unconscious and paralysed. The severe trauma of impact had damaged Fubu's brain and spinal cord and it took her two days to regain full consiousness. She was in a critical condition, unresponsive apart from an occasional wide-eyed glance wondering what was happpening around her.

As part of an overall treatment plan, Fubu underwent several sessions of HBOT. The high concentration of oxygen available to her body helped the intracrainial pressure to be reduced. HBOT also had profound anti-inflammatory effects on her nervous system. After her first session, Fubu delighted her owners by lifting her head, then returned home and started to regain her appetite. After session three she wagged her tail for the first time and after a week she could stand with some assistance. Fubu continued to make steady progress and is now back to being a normal dog once again.

"Scooter the cat had extensive tissue damage to one of his hind legs following a road accident. After initial surgery the veterinarians decided that, owing to the extent of the damage, amputation or skin grafting may be required. Remuera Vet clinic began HBOT with Scooter giving him five treatments on consecutive days and the surgeon was amazed not only at the speed of healing but how Scooter behaved in the chamber.
"He listened to the oxygen coming into the chamber, then groomed himself and went to sleep."
The wounds healed very well, Scooter regaining the full use of his leg.

On 27th December we took Jonty for his evening walk along the beach in Pauanui. We threw a ball high in the air and Jonty jumped up, but fell awkwardly. We knew something was wrong as he immediately lost the use of his rear legs. We carried him to the car and took him to the local vet. The vet assessed that Jonty’s injury was not a dislocation of the hind quarters but was likely to be a spinal injury. He heavily sedated Jonty and referred us to the Vet Hospital in Whangamata who had the x-ray equipment to diagnose the extent of the injury.

The vets determined that the injury was an L5/L6 injury and that a non invasive approach was the most appropriate course of action

The left leg by this stage had recovered somewhat, but the right was quite impaired from a neurological perspective. The dog had some feeling in the right leg but no instinctive reaction.

Jonty made further reasonable progress for a couple of days in Matamata. After a couple of days however, Jonty developed a severe irritable bowel. The next stage of recovery involved us taking Jonty and embarking on hyperbaric oxygenation sessions with Holistic Vets in Tauranga.

This was quite beneficial as by the third session he had recuperated to such a degree that he leapt out of the chamber at the end of the session using all 4 legs! By the end of a month's cage rest, Jonty’s left hind leg is quite robust and making great progress, although he did have a slight tendency to drag and scuff the right paw when walking in the early stages and when he shook himself.

Our summation of events is that he’s a very lucky dog. The hind quarters have not withered to the degree that we expected and, to the untrained eye, he’s very normal. He continues to make strong progress.

A young blue penguin found in a distressed state on Papamoa Beach achieved a first for its species when it underwent sucessful hyperbaric oxygen treatment in Tauranga last weekend.

The treatment, involving the breathing of pure oxygen inside a pressurised chamber, was carried out at Holistic Veterinary Clinic.

The bird which had an injured flipper and leg is believed to have been attacked by either a small shark or a dog and would not have survived in the wild but a 90 minute session in pressurised oxygen was expected to give it a flying start to recovery. It is now recovering in care of the Tauranga-based Animal Rescue and Rehabilation Centre Charitable Trust (ARRC).

The bird certainly emerged from the oxygen chamber in a perky condition before being taken away to recuperate.

Duckin: 1 year old male Peking Duck Diagnosis: leg fracture (complete horizontal distal 1/3 tibial # of R leg as gate fell onto him) Treated with HBOT for one hour duration Result: fracture healed at accelerated rate (radiographs not taken due to financial constraints) and Duckin comfortable and content during healing process. Splint removed after 2 weeks and leg functional

Dougal: 8 year male golden lab Cranial cruciate ligament rupture with meniscal tear. Treatment with HBOT 1 hour as soon as stable post surgery with a second HBOT the following day. Result: Significant improvement in demeanor after each session, decreased swelling of surgical site and more rapid weight bearing of affected leg

On January 22 “Woody” was diagnosed with stable mid-shaft comminuted tibial fracture after being attacked by a dog. A cast was placed on him but he was able to negotiate his way out of it. By February the 4th, Woody’s foot was grossly swollen, but the fracture had set. Woody’s wounds on the other hand were still present. Woody was treated with “Hyperbaric-high pressure oxygen”. After the 1st treatment his swelling went down by 1/3 and after the fourth treatment he was all healed up. Woody made a full recovery!