Aaditi Badam, a Ghaziabad-based physiotherapist, recently left her career to use her skills to help abandoned and disabled animals get back on their feet and start walking again.
She once rescued a pup with spinal injury and took him to a veterinary doctor, who advised her to put the pup to sleep because the pup couldn't walk. This incident, she says, turned her life around.
She quit her career and decided to rescue injured animals, and also participate in awareness drives and fight for rights of the abandoned. Julie, the puppy she rescued, is in a happy-go-lucky state, and this gave Aaditi a whole new perspective about caring for animals.
Ignoring the vet’s diagnosis, Aaditi brought Julie to her house and cared for her, and started helping the puppy with basic physiotherapy exercises that one would provide human beings with an injured spine. To Aaditi’s delight, Julie was not only cooperative but also responding positively to the treatment given.
And sure enough, within a period of 6 months, Julie was back on her feet. It turned out that her spine wasn’t broken, only compressed. That’s when I realised that this can be a life-saving option for so many paralysed dogs. Due to lack of facilities here in our state, 90% of paralysed dogs are either put to sleep, or they die due to bed sores and lack of care. When I found out that it was possible for many such dogs to be able to walk again with physiotherapy, I decided to take it upon myself to make this happen.Aaditi Badam to The Better India
Deciding to put her skills to use on a larger scale, Aaditi started the NGO – POSH Foundation in Noida – which works in rescuing stray animals, fighting for their rights, and creating awareness among the public. She started giving more physiotherapy treatments for dogs like Julie and realised that like humans, these exercises are used not just to ease pain, but also improve the strength and balance, along with mobility and flexibility of the pets.
Our canine rescue and recovery unit Nirvana has been taking care of several animals like rabbits, dogs, cats, goats, deer that get into road accidents, and birds like kites that get injured because of electricity wires. However, working with paralysed animals has been difficult since we don’t have enough equipment to treat them.Aaditi Badam to The Better India
Ranbir Virk, an animal rights activist, took to Facebook to applaud the work done by Aaditi. “ Abandoned, rescued, injured as well as disabled dogs are treated here with medical care and love. I was lucky enough to meet her on that day. It was really inspiring to see the happy dogs no matter in what condition they were ,” he wrote. Not only did he declare that he would volunteer at the shelter on weekends, he also called for his friends to volunteer at the shelter.
Her ultimate goal is to start a physiotherapy centre for animals where her team would provide professional care for the disabled and injured pets, with the help of state of the art equipments and technology such as treadmill for pets, balance board, and an elevated pool among others. POSH therefore, she says, is just a beginning and that she hopes to achieve the target soon.
(With inputs from The Better India)
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