Kansas has continued to favor her right hind leg since Christmas. She still enjoys her morning walks, and walks just fine on it, but any bit of running she does reduces her to bunny-hopping. That was fine except that it seems whatever happened over Christmas, or whatever weather conditions we thought were the cause, it doesn't seem to ever have healed. When it continued to flare up again during every weekend of severe, cold, wet weather and hard freezes, it was easy to assume that was the problem. When the inclement weather ceased and she began chasing Airlie and running, we decided that was the "new" culprit. After a few attempts at limiting her activity, with no success and not change to her condition, we decided to just let her be a dog, let her have fun, let her decide what she could and couldn't do. I was fine with this. She woke up just fine every morning, but would be hopping along on 3 legs by mid-afternoon. Not just bunny-hopping, anymore, actively holding up the leg of the worse hip and running on 3 legs. I still maintain that walking is good for her, that activity is better than inactivity, that we want her to keep her weight down rather than have her gain and put more strain on her hips, that we don't want her to develop muscle weakness... DH disagrees and was campaigning for a long rest, so I complied. From last Tuesday-Saturday I didn't walk her. I intended not to walk her again for a whole week, but gave in on Sunday when it was evident that there was still no change. As usual, she's worst when she gets up from lying down (though not after a full night's rest), and she's still running on 3 legs by the end of the day. However, the past two days she's done quite a bit of running on both legs. The warm weather does seem to have helped, save for the fact it has drawn out the squirrels. So now we're back to keeping her from running the fence line and jumping up at the squirrels traversing the telephone wires. She did seem not to mind the extended break from walking, though I could tell by Saturday she was over the break. She definitely enjoyed herself when I took her along on our walk yesterday, and didn't seem to have any adverse affects later, other than what has become the new "norm".
So, it's back to business as usual, though I'm limiting the daily walks to 30 minutes, and we are deliberately walking slower. Last week walking Airlie by herself and then walking Leo separately once his toe healed taught me a few things. Airlie keeps up with the group just fine, but her pace really is slower when it's just me and her, plus then she doesn't pull as much. Leo walks quite a bit faster, by comparison. I also think faster walking probably is more wear and strain on Kansas, though she doesn't indicate this, so walking slower is a good compromise, with several benefits. Also, we're trying giving her the Rimadyl the vet prescribed daily. The plan is to do this until the bottle is empty, and then reassess. We're only giving her half of the 1/2 tablet prescribed, so she's getting 1/4 of a pill and she's getting it at the END of the day, before bed, since I figure that the long rest combined with the anti-inflammatory will best be received by her body at that time. I don't know if it's made much of a difference, or if maybe the extended break did do her a bit of good, or whether the weather being warm again really is the biggest factor. She doesn't seem to be hurting as much, whatever the case.
Sometimes I think about just having the leg amputated, if she's not going to make use of it, but, like I said, she WALKS on it just fine-
and I really don't want her to go through what Spike went through when we had to have his broken leg amputated.
6 comments:
Do you plan on asking her vet about this again? Maybe they have some more insight or tests that can be run to narrow down the issue?
It's a congenital defect. Her hips and thigh bones did not develop properly from birth. Short of invasive reconstructive surgery or hip replacement, there is nothing to do but manage the arthritis that is a result of the bones rubbing together because they don't fit properly. The hip socket is not deep enough. The head of the femur isn't the right shape. The hip joint is mal-formed because these two parts don't fit together the way they should. She doesn't even have it as badly as other dogs do, so she isn't even a candidate for the usual procedures. The main thing is to manage the pain and inflammation, which requires a careful balance of medication, exercise, and limited strenuous activity. Supervising her so that she can't chase squirrels and run and jump is a big help. Keeping her from having any fun wrestling or playing with Airlie would make a big difference, but that's mean and unfair. I'm sure when Airlie gets older and is less playful that will help. Adding a puppy to the mix seems to have made the biggest difference. But, like I said, Kansas has to be active to keep her muscles strong to support her body, and preventing her from being a dog or having any fun isn't the right thing to do. She is doing better after a week of daily medication. We never gave it to her before because she didn't need it. The difference is that now she obviously needs it. Will she always? Probably not. Some days she does just fine, yesterday she was back to holding up her leg again- but yesterday was a very busy day with regard to squirrel activity in the yard, so...
This is just how it's going to be. She still has a lot of good years left, like Mollie, who has been living with the same condition her whole life, but didn't start showing signs until this same age. Mollie has continued to take walks, play when she wants to play, rest when she needs to for the past 10 years. Kansas is just apparently one of those dogs that is more sensitive to pain and less stoic.
I'm glad to hear that she is feeling better. I think you are on the right track with her. Bear lives with his severe hip dysplasia in both of his hind legs and does fine. It will just be all about managing her pain levels and keeping her comfortable. I agree that the walking is good for her. The last thing she needs is to lay around and gain weight! Hang in there. Both of you.
Yeah, she is definitely FEELING better, though maybe not DOING better. I can tell her attitude is better, she's more cheerful and involved, rather than lying about and looking pitiful. Still this week has had some heavy squirrel activity days, which have put her right back to hopping on 3 legs when she runs (I'm still trying to get her to just WALK, DAMNIT!), despite the daily medication.
Poor baby.
A friend has a daughter with bone problems because of mild cerebral palsy. The young woman is in her 20s now and walking has become painful. There's really not much that can be done surgically. Good thing is she finally swallowed her pride and bought a cane and using it has helped immensely.
Too bad dogs can't use canes!
Hi!
Thanks! I do think something akin to a cane could make a difference for many dogs- now to wait until somebody manages to adapt one for canine use...
Until then, we'll just continue the daily anti-inflammatory, which we shouldn't have hesitated to use in the first place. It does make a difference and she has improved greatly. Even her personality is back to normal. I should have realized from that alone that she was in pain. Instead I thought she was sulking because of the new addition. She's only had two days where she has come up lame since being on her medication and those were days where she was definitely too active, playing too hard with the puppy and chasing after the many squirrels that have been invading the yard since Spring arrived.
One day at a time.
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