Breeze went in to our terrific holistic vet, Dr. Modglin for a check to see WHY she is limping when ever she does agility lately.
Good news----she could not find anything serious, her hips are way out of alignment, but that is not that unusual for her, her back is pretty good considering (that is where she really shows it when she has been hurting a lot)
Bad news--might just be the weather, which might mean the arthritis is developing more??? The weather has never bothered her before. Or we were doing a lot of weave entry stuff and that really seems to be bothering her....so hopefully as the weather gets better and she has a little time off that will get better-but if it is that pushing off and torking her body to get into the weaves that is hurting her...not sure how we will handle that long term, but guess we will cross that bridge if it comes.
Breeze got an acupuncture and a chiro adjustment and is going to be rechecked in two weeks and in the meantime we are just working on the back end exercises, working on her core work on the exercise ball, and just taking things slow.
Someone asked about Breeze, and she is 3 1/2 years old now. She has bilateral hip dysplasia that was diagnosed when she was a year old. I knew there was something wrong right when I got her, and my vet also felt there was something wrong, but I kept hoping I was wrong. Right when Breeze turned a year old I had her OFA xray done and the dysplasia was confirmed.
She had about a long period of time where she had a lot of injuries and just had a lot of trouble, and her last big injury was a partially torn ACL which took forever to get healed. I took Breeze to a really terrific rehab vet who set up a full program for Breeze to get her through that injury and then to keep her strong. For the last 9 months Breeze has actually done really well. My vet Dr. Modglin had told me early on that a lot of dogs like Breeze will have a lot of injuries and a hard time when they are young, then go through a pretty quiet couple of years before they have more trouble as they are older. So hopefully we will keep in this relatively quiet period for Breeze for a lot of years, or maybe the rest of her life?
So Breeze is on Adequain shots every month, Cosequin, Sam E, Omega oils, Glucosamine, her Back on Track jacket that is supposed to increase blood flow and reduce inflammation, core exercises to protect her back and exercises like sits to stands, crawling, walking, back end awareness stuff....and acupuncture and Chiro adjustments every week or two when she is having problems and at least every 2 months when things are going well.
Breeze is a very cool dog but I always feel like I have to walk the line with her, keeping her mentally and physically healthy. The vets have said doing agility is good as long as we are really careful with her. I know a lot of people just say run her and no big deal, but she is my buddy and she is with me for the rest of her life and I want to make sure she lives a really good life without a lot of pain for her whole life. Keeping her healthy and mentally happy is the big goal for her life.
Breezes appointment was yesterday and today I took her out and did a very small amount of agility and she looks a lot better after her treatment, YIPPIE!
BREEZE HOW I LIKE TO SEE HER-FEELING GOOD, I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER TODAY SEEING HER LIKE THIS!
7 comments:
I'm so glad for this! It must be so hard to balance keeping her happy and keeping her safe. I've often thought of what I would do if Marge had physical issues that made agility harder for her.. since it pretty much gives her an entire whole new life, I want her to enjoy it for as long as she can.
I should probably get her hips x-rayed.. on the other hand, though, x-rays only show so much, and some dogs have horrible hips and can still run with the best of 'em.. it's a catch-22.
The pictures are great, too!
I'm so happy to hear Breeze is doing well. Hearing the news from a doctor always eases our minds a bit.
Glad to hear Breeze is doing better! Hopefully this is the beginning of that long stretch with few problems for her - she deserves to feel good!
Im so glad Breeze is ok and feeling better. Diana
Jules, I LOVE my Back on Track jacket. I use it between runs when it is chilly to keep Breeze from cooling down too quickly, I use it during the night a lot of times, it seems to help Breeze. I got one after I went to an Elicia Calhoun seminar-she uses one for her dog. Anyway, it fits nice, I like that her tail can go out and be carried naturally and it covers her whole hip and thigh area, I have some nice flannel coats and a coat that is waterproof but none of them cover her whole hip like the back on track ;-).
PS, forgot it also covers all the way up on her cervical area to right behind her ears!
I am glad she's doing well.I agree, we want them healthy and happy as long as possible. :)
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