Muzzle to Muscle is located at 251 Ingham Road, Garbutt, Townsville. You’ll notice we are directly in front of Happy Pawz Doggy Daycare, we share the same block of land, our building is the white house on the front of the block. We have parking directly in front of our building as well as on street parking. Please read the following information before your first visit to us, so as you know what to expect. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions.

During your dog’s first consultation with us, your pet will be examined thoroughly, and we will take a full history of your pet. If your pet has any relevant veterinary history, we encourage you to ask your vet to fill out our veterinary referral form and send through via email any relevant supporting documentation such as radiology reports and clinical history. If your vet is unable to do so prior to your first visit, please don’t worry, we can gather this information as needed, when needed, and referral from your veterinarian is not a necessity to access our full range of services.

We will evaluate your pet’s condition and other aspects of his or her overall wellness, asking you questions around this and perform a thorough examination of your pet’s gait, range of motion, strength, mobility and potential pain. From this information, we will create an individualised rehabilitation plan for your pet. This plan may also include a written, home exercise schedule for you to follow between visits. Rehabilitation is not only about coming to us for regular visits, but also includes many at home care techniques and exercises, all of which will benefit your pet’s recovery immensely. We are strong believers that we can’t get your canine friend back to their full potential without another key ingredient – you!

When you arrive, please toilet your dog and allow them to sniff around and become relaxed before coming into the clinic. You’ll have to arrive a little early to be able to do this as we do run appointments back to back and do our very best to run on schedule. Please pick up after your dog if they eliminate around our premises – if you forget your poo bag, just let us know, we have plenty!

Please bring your dog to the clinic on a leash and under control. We have an on-leash policy and no dogs are allowed off leash until otherwise directed by a staff member. Your dog may be friendly but, not all dogs are comfortable with other dogs approaching them. We always try our best to avoid dog to dog contact so please be respectful of the dog leaving the building as you come in for your allocated appointment time. If the previous dog is still present, we ask if you can kindly wait in your car or out of sight of the exiting dog if at all possible. Many of our patients are recovering from injury or surgery and we try our very best to keep all dogs as calm as possible for the duration of their appointments. Please advise us when booking if your dog is particularly dog or people reactive so we can make arrangements around this, there are many options for avoiding increased arousal and we can only do the best by our patients if we know prior to the appointment how your dog might react.

It is a firm reality that your dog may not swim or get wet in the treadmill on their first visit. However, when they do, giving your dog a good brush to remove loose hair and dirt before their hydrotherapy session, is greatly appreciated. We recommend that you do not feed a meal to your dog within 5 hours prior to their appointment with us, or indeed an hour after swimming. We want to be able to use food as a motivator for your dog and although we have a variety of treats up our sleeves, a hungry dog works much harder to earn their treats. Having a full belly prior to exercise can be dangerous to your pet and for this reason alone, please do not feed them prior to coming.

Your appointment time allocated will include the time it takes to prepare your dog for his or her appointment, as well as any purchases you may wish to make from our shop front. Examples include, applying float coats for swimming, choosing their favourite treats and filling the treadmill with water. We are more than happy to put aside for you and package up any products you wish to purchase prior to your appointment so we can save time during your allocated appointment time. Otherwise, we are also able to book a time around our appointments for you to drop into the store for these extra purchases or for fitting merchandise such as boots/float coats to your dog, just make contact with us for alternative arrangements.

1. Muzzle To Muscle reserves the right to refer animals under treatment to a veterinarian for further consultation if they feel necessary, and treatment may be ceased until such consultation has been taken.

2. If an owner is advised to seek referral from a veterinarian and declines this referral, Muzzle To Muscle takes no responsibility for any injury or worsening of any current conditions.

3. Animals with diarrhoea, infectious or contagious conditions will not be treated or permitted to swim. Dogs with open wounds may not be permitted to swim. This is both for your dog’s health and the health of others. Animals with fleas or other parasites may be asked to leave.

4. Owners are required to notify Muzzle To Muscle if during the course of treatment, the animal’s injury or condition worsens, or if the vet advises that treatment is to be altered, stopped or suspended.

5. Muzzle To Muscle reserves the right to refuse treatment to any animal.

6. Muzzle To Muscle reserves the right to use any video footage or still shots taken during the session unless otherwise advised.

7. Muzzle To Muscle does not take any responsibility for any accident or injury sustained by the animal’s handler whilst the animal is undergoing treatment, and cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to vehicles or personal property howsoever occasioned, whilst on the premises.

Muzzle To Muscle Canine Rehabilitation and Wellness Centre is not a veterinary facility. It is not intended to be a replacement for primary veterinary care. Muzzle To Muscle will provide updates and progress reports to the referring veterinarian if requested.

All session fees are to be paid prior to or on the day of your appointment. We do not run accounts under any circumstances. Session fees can be paid either:
1. Cash at the time of your appointment
2. Credit Card at the time of your appointment
3. Direct debit invoicing prior to your appointment
4. Pre Purchased packages via invoice

If you should cancel your session with less than 24 hours notice, or not show up for your allocated time, you will be charged 50% of your session fee, payable prior to, or at your next appointment. This is due to the fact that it is difficult for us to book other clients with such short notice.

We appreciate your understanding that our time is as precious as yours. This payment policy has been introduced due to unpaid accounts, and late cancellations affecting our business, and keeping other clients and their dogs waiting longer than necessary for your assistance.

We thank you for your cooperation and understanding of these payment terms for our services. Should you need further clarification and understanding of these terms, please do not hesitate to speak with us.

The links below are to our new client information sheets and veterinary referral forms, we would really appreciate you downloading and completing these and returning them via email (muzzletomuscle@gmail.com) prior to your first appointment. This will also save time and enable us to spend that little bit of extra time spoiling your pooch with treats and pats. ?