A few items to report before I get to the wheelchair. There has been no real change in Penny in the last 4 weeks.... she is still incontinent, as much as we wish she wasn't, she still is. It "looks" sometimes like she is trying to squat, but only a few drops come out, and the poop of course just falls out wherever she is. We have a pretty good sense though of when it is due, and take her outside if we are lucky, and if not, if we pick it up quickly, the smell doesn't linger..... once again I am grateful we have a dachshund, not a doberman. The washing! The mopping!
We have been a bit slack in the last 3 weeks with her daily physio- what with the weekly trips to acupuncture (found out Dr. Neil has a facebook page)....
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Holistic-Therapies/178119612240728?fref=ts
and swimming- the other days it is just too hard. Kane and I were looking at Pennys condition yesterday, and we can see a difference in her muscles, so we are going to be more diligent about doing them daily again. She really does need it- her ever so slight deterioration proves it. Just little things like her spine is a little more prominent and her cute little bum is wasting away.
Someone on the IVDD support fb posted a link to
http://www.toegrips.com/how-it-works/
these are very interesting toe grips that go over a dogs nail and provide traction. I have been in email communication with Dr. Julie Buzby who is very interested in whether or not these will help Penny at all. As Penny has a wobbly spinal walk, her back legs slip out from under her on our very slippery laminate floors. I sent a video to Dr. J of Penny walking (and I learned how to upload videos to youtube.....
Here she is at 18wks post op
http://youtu.be/P5KK4NTfr7A
the upshot is, she is sending us a free trial pack with the understanding I will report on Pennys progress over the next 6 weeks! ..... I am very interested to see how they work, and excited to be part of a trial that may help others.
Emotionally I am feeling a bit better, but no joke, it is still really a struggle. I love/hate the IVDD fb page! I love it, 'cause everyone is so supportive and has so much knowledge to share- it is a great place to ask stupid questions of people who have actually been through it, some many times with multiple dogs. The answers are always kind, thoughtful, supportive, informative and helpful. I hate it 'cause you hear everyday about another dog going down with IVDD and it brings it all back to you. It is really hard to hear of others going through what we are going through, and yet it does bring some comfort to know we are not alone. On the other hand, some dogs recover so quickly and well, and I wish Penny was one them. Happy/Sad.
One of the stupid questions I asked of the group was whether or not the consensus was if we could let Penny and Gidget sleep together again yet. Toileting issue aside, would there be any harm to it? We had been keeping them separate at night since Pennys operation, at 1st because she needed to be kept quiet for 12 weeks, then, mainly because of the incontinence, but also for fear of them hurting each other. But no one felt it would do any harm, and so we tried it. Happy happy dogs and humans!
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| Gidget GoLightly and Lady Penelope happy dogs! |
Ok, so the wheels!
As I mentioned before, we had to fundraise for them, and raised $415- pretty much exactly what we needed in the end! I got them direct from Walkin' Wheels in the US, and paid AU$366 for the Wheels, including shipping. Because I still had a little left, I splurged and got Penny the special dachshund vest for the harness and 2 booties to protect her back legs so the total bill was AU $420. Compared to the quote I got from an Australian distributor of $550 for wheels only I feel we did pretty well! They arrived 12 days after they were shipped as I did not pay for express post- but 12 days is pretty good for a largeish parcel.
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| Pennys wheels out of the box-initial set up |
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