Our sweet male West Highland White Terrier, Toby, came to use at 18 months after having lived in several
homes; in his short little life, he had changed homes five times. It is safe to assume that when he joined
our family we had a scattered, at best, understanding of the health issues that he had experienced in
those environments.

Digestive problems emerged early. We should have anticipated some difficulties while examining the
bags and boxes of grocery store quality food and treats his previous owner sent with him including fake
bacon delights!

For the first year he was with us, we had a round-robin chain of infection, vomiting, and diarrhea after
going through two series of antibiotics. We had moderate success with a change of diet and holistic
intervention. We thought we had his health somewhat stable, but almost a year to the day from when
we adopted him, we noticed skin rashes on his stomach. At first we dismissed them as fairly innocuous.
They got worse and increased in number. Toby’s focus was to scratch and lick his paws no matter how
hard we tried to break his concentration. Again, we had moderate success with holistic applications and
rinses. The diagnosis from the veterinarian was that these rashes were staph infections and required a
corticosteroid spray.

We finally got the staph infection under control just in time for the digestive issues to appear once again.
The itching and licking of the paws only disappeared briefly.

It was at this time that Toby found his way into South Hills Physical Therapy. We had no idea how, or if,
he was going to benefit from osteopathic treatment. After his first evaluation and treatment by Patricia, we
had an interesting response by Toby. He went potty at least four times in the following 12 hours! We did
not realize he was so backed-up, and we knew that it was not in his best interest to be in that condition.

There was another issue for Patricia to address. We had previously speculated that Toby may have jumped
from his previous owner’s convertible; although we had no way of knowing for sure. Patricia agreed that
he had probably sustained some type of physical injury in the past. We did notice that after the gentle
manipulation treatment by Patricia, his front paws were more in line with his body than before he
received treatment.

We have now changed his diet to raw food, have instituted Chinese herbs into his daily life, and have
continued his manipulation therapy from Patricia. We are slowly working toward ending the last of his
medication. Our sweet Toby seems to be on a road to wellness, and we are now optimistic that he is
headed toward the life he so richly deserves. His skin issues are basically resolved and he is jumping up
and down without any lameness.

Yvonne K., Eugene, Oregon