★★★★★ 5.0 · 40+ families
The most important investment you'll make for your pet isn't a treatment. It's finding someone who takes the time to see the whole picture.
At Ruff Day Vet, we work with one patient at a time.
It's the only way to do what we do.
Most veterinary practices aren't built for this. Complex pain, neurological recovery, and long-term mobility work require a different kind of time, a different set of tools, and a different way of thinking about what's possible. That's a full-time commitment. It's all we do.
That means looking at the whole picture: your pet's physical condition, their nervous system, their history, how they move, and what they're telling you at home that no appointment can capture in 15 minutes. It also means looking at you. Recovery happens in your living room, on your schedule, with your capacity and your follow-through. We build the plan around all of it.
This is integrative veterinary rehabilitation.
Acupuncture · Rehabilitation Therapy · MLS Laser · Shockwave · Mobility Devices · Longevity Care
*Done by two people who practice every approach they recommend — in their own lives, before yours.
What brings most people here:
This isn't a general veterinary practice — we don't do vaccines, routine wellness visits, or 15-minute appointments. We focus on complex pain, neurological recovery, mobility work, and the kind of proactive care that keeps problems from becoming crises. Some of our clients come in because something is wrong. Others come because they want to keep it that way.
Find what's closest to your situation:
CHRONIC PAIN & MOBILITY
The pain hasn't gone away. And "let's try another medication" isn't an answer anymore.
Persistent pain from arthritis, old injuries, or conditions that haven't been fully explained often responds to approaches that conventional medicine doesn't have time to offer. We do.
"Brady couldn't do stairs. Now he does stairs and sleeps through the night."
— Jane B., Brady's mom
NEUROLOGICAL & POST-INJURY
IVDD. Paralysis. Post-surgical recovery that's stalled. This is what we focus on most.
The prognosis you were given may not be the ceiling. Comprehensive integrative rehabilitation — acupuncture, laser, manual therapy, targeted movement — is not the same as cage rest. We've seen what it can do.
"My dog went from completely paralyzed to walking again within two months. No surgery."
— Brittany C.
SENIOR CARE
"This is just aging" is one of the most common things we hear. It's also often wrong.
Slowing down, back leg weakness, difficulty with stairs, cognitive changes. Many of these respond to treatment. We help you find out which ones do, and build a plan around what's actually possible.
"Our 15-year-old lab is back to two walks a day. She's kicking butt."
— Jake S.
PROACTIVE & PERFORMANCE
Movement capability is far easier to preserve than it is to rebuild.
Think of it like a retirement account: the earlier the investment, the greater the return — and the lower the cost. A dog that moves well, has strong supportive musculature, and knows how their body works has a fundamentally different healthspan than one who doesn't. That's true whether they're a working dog, an athlete, or simply a pet you want to keep doing the things they love for as long as possible.
We also work with owners who want focused, integrative oversight — a different vantage point, a deeper read on how their dog moves, and a partner who thinks upstream.
"Early intervention at 6. Her limp is rare and brief, her energy is back. People say she looks 'young' again."
— Nora V., Koda's mom
CARETAKER SUPPORT
If the caretaker goes down, so does the pet.
Every owner we work with is carrying something — worry about what's coming, grief about what's already changed, exhaustion from being the one who holds it all together, or flooded with too much information and not enough clarity. We address that as deliberately as we address the clinical picture. Because your wellbeing and your pet's are not separate things.
"They care about your pet's wellbeing, but also about yours as their caretaker."
— Paige, Addi's mom
Not sure this applies to you? It probably does.
MOBILITY DEVICES
Your pet has a diagnosis that means their mobility is permanently changed. That doesn't mean their quality of life has to be.
Custom wheelchairs, braces, and assistive devices can extend active, comfortable life well beyond what most owners expect. The difference is fit and integration — a device that's properly sized and built into a rehabilitation plan does something a device alone never can.
We fit, adjust, and follow up. The device serves the animal — not the other way around.
40+ families. ★★★★★ 5.0. Gig Harbor, WA.
WHAT THIS ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE
Your first visit runs 75 minutes. Not because we're slow.
Because building an accurate picture of your pet's health, understanding your goals for their quality of life, and establishing enough trust for your pet to accept treatment willingly — that takes time.
Trust is a clinical variable here, not a nicety. A pet that trusts its practitioner responds to treatment differently than one that doesn't. The first visit is where that foundation gets built.
Follow-up appointments run 15 to 45 minutes, based on what your pet needs that day. Every visit is with Heather, or Heather and Adam together.
What we ask from you: show up. Do the home exercises. Tell us what you're noticing between visits. The families who get the most from this are the ones who understand that what happens at home is as important as what happens here.
We bring the expertise, the time, and the tools. You bring the knowledge of your animal that no one else has.
That's the whole model. When both sides follow through, it works.
A FEW THINGS WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU ARRIVE
✓ You won't wait.
We don't double-book. When your appointment starts, it actually starts.
✓ You won't fill out forms on arrival.
Everything is handled online before you come in.
✓ Your pet won't be separated from you.
Assessment, treatment, conversation — all of it with you present. Always.
✓ You won't be handed off to a stranger.
One of us greets you at the door. First names. Your pet gets time to orient before anything clinical starts.
✓ Your dog won't navigate a lobby full of other animals.
We coordinate entry and exit. When we run behind, we let you know so you can wait in your car.
✓ We don't sell things we don't believe in.
We carry a small selection of products we've tested and recommend with confidence. If something works better elsewhere or costs less somewhere else, we'll tell you. If you'd rather take the information and source things yourself, that's perfectly acceptable. Our job is to give you the clearest possible picture.
✓ You won't be asked to accept anything on faith.
We explain the evidence. We name the gaps. If you bring us information that challenges what we're doing, we take it seriously.
If that sounds like the kind of care you've been looking for, you're in the right place.
Families who were exactly where you are right now
Before: Years of unexplained pain
After: Running, playing, thriving at 11
"When Dr. Heather evaluated Esse, she gave us a diagnosis and a treatment plan — years after a neurologist, MRI, and genetic testing had all come back without answers. I thought we had a physically very limited dog for the rest of her years. She is now thriving."
Debra E. · Esse, 11-year-old dog, iliopsoas injury
Before: Couldn't walk
After: Beach romps + peaceful goodbye
"Heather's results-oriented treatment helped Daisy recover from a serious spinal injury — she went from not being able to walk to enjoying an occasional beach romp. When it came time to say goodbye to Sundance, Heather's quality-of-life coaching gave me the support and confidence I needed to give him the peaceful transition he deserved."
KD A. · Daisy (border collie) + Sundance (Catahoula mix)
Before: Facing spinal surgery
After: Surgery avoided
"It saved our girl from a hefty surgery. Nali, who hates to be poked, took to Dr. Heather very well — Dr. Heather read her signs and never pushed her. Little by little, we saw our crazy girl come back to us."
Lesli E. · Nali, 10-year-old husky
YOUR CARE TEAM
The people behind the care.
Dr. Heather Misener
DVM, CCRT, CVAT, CVNN · Co-Founder
Her path to integrative medicine started with Ralphie — her own dog, whose mystery lameness no conventional vet could explain. That experience, alongside her own health journey through a system that treated symptoms instead of causes, is why this practice exists.
She focuses exclusively on complex pain, mobility, and neurological conditions. She is also the person who will sit with you for as long as it takes — not to fill time, but because she has found that understanding changes outcomes.
Adam Yoshida
Integrative Health Coach · Certified Canine Strength & Conditioning Coach · Co-Founder
Before Ruff Day, Adam spent years as a first responder and hospice caretaker — for pets and for people. He shadowed clinicians in hospital settings from every angle: patient, provider, family member in the waiting room. What he kept seeing was that the diagnosis was rarely the whole story. The environment mattered. How information was delivered mattered. Whether the person in the room felt like a partner or a bystander changed everything.
That's what he builds here. Every detail of your visit — how the space is set up, how your pet is introduced to the room, how we explain what we're doing and why — is deliberate. As a Certified Canine Strength and Conditioning Coach, he works directly with your pet in the gym, applying movement principles that most veterinary practices don't have time to consider.
He and Heather are married. They sold their California home to start this practice, and they haven't recommended anything here that they haven't tested in their own lives first.
Chloe and Wesley — our dog and cat — have been patients of this practice since day one. They keep us honest.
The first step is a conversation.
Your 75-minute initial consultation includes a full physical and neurological assessment, your pet's records reviewed in advance (we request them directly from your vet), and a treatment plan you actually understand before you leave.
We also send prep materials before your visit — an overview of what to expect, plus our acupuncture and laser overview video, so you arrive oriented and we can start further along from the moment you walk in. In most cases, treatment begins the same day.
Questions first? Email hello@ruffday.vet or text 253-252-0127. If you call and we don't answer, we're most likely with a patient — leave a message and we'll get back to you.