Question submitted by a participant in the Water Therapy webinar:
Properties and effects of water were discussed in the webinar. What about salt water?
Salt water pools are becoming more popular. They boast that the salt water does not dry out the patient's coat as they suggest a chlorinated pool would. Considering my own experience managing a large rehabilitation service for many years we did not have any problems with coats / infections.
Maybe a bit of a tangent, there was a paper published in JAVMA 2015 by Drs. Cain and Mauldin entitled Clinically and Histopathologic Features of Dorsally Located Furunculosis in Dogs Following Water Immersion or Exposure to Grooming Products: 22 cases. One of the 22 dogs was in an UWTM 24 hours prior to onset of skin lesions. The paper states that "bacterial contamination of water in small enclosures, like hot tubs, whirlpools, or hydrotherapy tanks, is a common source of infection for humans developing postexposure folliculitis. In this particular case, towel-drying may have contributed to microabrasions of the skin surface, hair follicle trauma, and subsequent furunculosis."
