Hydrotherapy

chucknorris

My dog is 11.5 years old now (Lab/Springer cross) and is really slowing down now, he can walk slowly but can’t manage stairs now. I have been thinking that swimming would help him with future mobility problems. I was firstly only thinking of my dog and asked how much it was, our local hydrotherapy pool is £30 a session (incl. VAT), or £330 for a course of 12 sessions, so approx £3,000 a year.

I’ve started to think that rather than leave a substantial amount to the dogs trust when I die, it might be better to start up a dog hydrotherapy pool as a charity now. I can always leave it to teh dogs trust when I die. That way I will enjoy the benefit of seeing it in operation, and obviously my dog (and other dogs) will also benefit, and I would be saving about £3,000 a year for an unknown number of years, so some clawback there.

Putting my mercenary hat on, I would be interested to explore how I could recuperate part of this cost/donation(s), obviously I can make the tax man a 40% partner, is there anything else could I do?. I also would certainly want to try and make the charity be financially self supporting after the initial investment. I don’t have experience in this field and wondered if anyone could come up with some helpful hints?

gettingready

No advice but pls set one up in East London and do not charge a fortune so I can take Zara to your place once it is set up

She needs hydro but no way I can afford it at the prices being charges...

Waiting for insurance to be reneved in October.. so she can have a few sessions then

chucknorris

gettingready wrote: »

No advice but pls set one up in East London and do not charge a fortune so I can take Zara to your place once it is set up

She needs hydro but no way I can afford it at the prices being charges...

Waiting for insurance to be reneved in October.. so she can have a few sessions then

It would be non profit making and possibly run by volunteers at least partly (although there may be an issue about hydrotherapy expertise, so some paid staff might be necessary) and as a charity there would be no VAT. So it probably be a lot less than a commercial dog hydrotherapty pool. But it would most likely be in Dorking.

I am going to post this on the charities board also, but I would be interested to learn of other dogs owners experiences with hydrotherapy from this forum board.

purple.sarah

I applied to work at a canine hydrotherapy centre a few months ago and they were only just getting by financially. The costs involved in maintaining and heating the pool were quite high, so much so that they were unable to heat the office and other areas of the building, only the treatment room. The owner confided in me that she wished she was able to pay staff more than minimum wage but couldn't afford to and that she wasn't drawing a salary herself. It was very much a labour of love for her rather than a good earner. It's an admirable idea and I don't mean to put you off but do look into the running costs though as a charity you would be able to get donations to help towards them.

gettingready

Try the small business board perhaps too - for some advice...

chucknorris

purple.sarah wrote: »

I applied to work at a canine hydrotherapy centre a few months ago and they were only just getting by financially. The costs involved in maintaining and heating the pool were quite high, so much so that they were unable to heat the office and other areas of the building, only the treatment room. The owner confided in me that she wished she was able to pay staff more than minimum wage but couldn't afford to and that she wasn't drawing a salary herself. It was very much a labour of love for her rather than a good earner. It's an admirable idea and I don't mean to put you off but do look into the running costs though as a charity you would be able to get donations to help towards them.

Thanks, was this a business or a non profit making charity? Did they pay rent? I guess it was a charity if the owner wasn't drawing a salary? Where was it? If anywhere around here (Dorking) I would be interested in volunteering there.

Earner!? There would be no question of earning anything, in fact I am anticipating having to donate a substantial amount of my own money to set it up.

gettingready

I think the set up is one thing but the running costs are another and can be quite high...

chucknorris

gettingready wrote: »

I think the set up is one thing but the running costs are another and can be quite high...

Yes but if I am buying the building for the charity there wouldn't be any rent, that would save significantly on the running costs. It depends though, it might be more economical to rent the building to the charity and just run it at a loss every year, this isn't about making money, its about providing hydrotherapy treatment to dogs that wouldn't otherwise get it.

orlao

My rottie had hydrotherapy for the last 3 years of his life after an elbow dysplasia op - it really worked miracles for him. I had been very cynical beforehand but the proof of it's effectiveness was obvious to see with in a month to 6 weeks.

To start with he was going 3 times a week for very short sessions (5 - 10 minutes), then it dropped down to twice a week and after about 6 months to once a week. It cost £18 per visit.

As far as viability was concerned the pool was behind a pet shop owned by the same person which I believe covered the rent, rates and utilities for the pool so the hydrotherapy side didn't have 'earn' that - is something similar an option? Even so, I know when recession started to bite it was noticeable that a business that had always had waiting lists (even though they only accepted dogs that had a vet referral) suddenly had to cut back the pool opening hours as they couldn't justify having a therapist on site unless they were constantly booked! They also cancelled plans to open a second pool elsewhere.

There is another newer hydro opened locally - they offer 30/45 minute sessions for £30 upwards - I don't know how busy they are as everyone I know uses the same one as me

dawnie1972

Where my dog used to go to Hydrotherapy is up for sale at the moment, detached house, loads of land, hydrotherapy pool with additional room, adjoining building with kennels - so wish i had the money (its in Cambridgeshire)