Sick pups cured and made better (7,2)

I believe the answer is:

spruced up

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'made better' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to change as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'sick pups cured' is the wordplay.
'sick' is an anagram indicator.
'pups'+'cured'='pupscured'
'pupscured' anagrammed gives 'SPRUCED UP'.

'and' is the link.

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