Catching up

Sorry it has been so long since I have last posted a blog entry. Things have been very busy for me.

Spice has been to the chiropractor twice more since his first visit. The chiropractor noticed some swelling on the outside of the elbow joint on the second visit. She said to watch it and it was smaller on the third visit. I will mentioned it the surgeon next week. I have been using cold therapy more often which may be helping.

Spice got his second massage since his surgery a couple of weekends ago at one of the trials Taari was competing in. Next week he goes back to his regular vet on Wednesday for another cartrophen shot and on Thursday back to see his surgeon.

He is improving and putting more weight on his front right leg. I have noticed that he still turning his front left leg in a bit but I think that it is less than before. This is mostly likely due to him shifting his weight to his left leg.

As well as ladder work I also bought some fit discs and a Bosu. Last night he got all 4 feet on the Bosu by himself (I was lifting him up previously). He was also turning on it. I have been putting the fit disks close together and getting Spice and Taari to put their two front feet on one and two back feet on the other. Definitely a balancing act when I tried it but it may help having 4 feet instead of only two.

I have been letting Spice do stairs occasionally. He does them slowly otherwise I wouldn't. I noticed in the past day or two that when he goes down the small set of stairs he wasn't two footing it down but striding. This indicated to me that he is comfortable putting more weight on his right leg.

We are up to 20 minutes on some walks. In the morning he doesn't want to go too far so I don't make him. I wonder if he doesn't want to go far because he knows he gets cookies when I leave for work! Speaking of which he is still in an X-pen when I am at work.

Just last night I noted how much happier he seemed. He is improving but not 100% yet. I think that it will take time for him to regain his natural stride and be "even" again.

Taari and I have been having a great time at training and going to fun matches and trials (when it isn't storming outside!). This past weekend she had a really nice Steeplechase run. She was more than 12 seconds under time and it wasn't a perfect run so I estimate that we could have been around 15 seconds under time.

I started using stride regulators to help her with her A-frame. I didn't realize it until examining video that she wasn't putting her back feet down after jumping the apex and she was walking down on her front feet a step or two. The stride regulators have helped. If I can figure out how to slow down video for YouTube I will put up some clips.

First chiropractor appointment since surgery

I worked from home yesterday so that I could take Spice to the chiropractor. He seemed not too bad in the morning when I walked him. Before I took him to his appointment he was limping more than he has for quite a while :(.

His chiropractor said he wasn't as bad as she expected. I gave her a copy of the report from the surgeon and she had also read the Jump Down Syndrome article. Spice doesn't want to extend his right leg completely (the surgeon mentioned this as well). It has been a while since has. She showed me how I could gently stretch his leg. She also suggested that I massage his leg (towards his heart) and ice him a few times a day. She did notice some heat/inflamation in his elbow. More towards the outside of the leg.

She also asked if I was giving him any supplements and what other exercises I was doing with him. She also mentioned that lifting each leg would be a good exercise. I remember this from one of the DVDs I have.

She thought that it would be best if I brought him back in a week. It would help him to heal faster. I took next Thursday off so that I can take him to his regular vet for another cartrophen shot and back to see her.

After his appointment I found him to be about the same as far as limping goes. Today I am seeing an improvement. His limp is not as strong. I also noticed this morning he was tight lipped on his walk. This evening he was not. He wanted to go faster but I held him back so he wouldn't go too fast. He doesn't appear to be quite a good as I thought he was before he started this more severe limping. I am not sure why he was worse yesterday. I wonder if he curled up too much in his crate. Normally he is in his X-pen when I am not home. I brought him downstairs and he slept in his crate while I was working.

I have been walking him 3 times a day and I was up to about 10 minutes but yesterday and today I haven't been walking him as long. I also was doing cold therapy about once a day but have since started doing it more often.

Belleville CKC trial

This past weekend I went to the CKC trials in Belleville. Taari was entered in JWW only as I am still working on retraining her contacts. I brought Spice along as well.

Spice seems to be doing well. Sometimes his limp is barely noticeable though this weekend it almost appeared to my eye that he might have been off in the rear. I will be taking him to his chiropractor on Thursday. I am very interested to hear what she thinks and what she can do for him. The last time Spice saw his chiropractor was few months ago.

The Belleville trial location is very nice and I always look forward to seeing some of the dogs and handlers that I don't usually see. Two members of this year's CKC world team were at the trial. I love to watch Lucie and Nitro and Suzanne and Copine in person. They are such fabulous teams. Nitro's son Scud was also at the trial and it was great to finally see him now that he has grown up and is competing.

I got to see my friend's young dog Brigs get his first Qs. He did really well along with his brother and sister, Casey and Flicka. Cathy and Casey are previous world team members (2004 & 2005).

Taari didn't want to hold her start line stays. Luckily on the first course she knew where to go with out me. I spent the first part of the run trying to catch up to her. There were some very wide turns but we managed to Q with only one refusal.

The second run was much better. I need to improve my timing in some spots but otherwise I was very pleased with the run. It was also a Q. She came a close second to Scud with a time of 24.52 (5.71 yds/s) versus his time of 23.81. The run was not perfect and sometimes the agility gods are on your side and this was one of them. She got her Intermediate JWW title with that run.

On Sunday we ran in Excellent A. I thought that perhaps Taari would be used to the environment and would give me a stay at the start line. That was too hopeful. Nitro and Myda ran before Taari. Both are exciting dogs to watch and perhaps too exciting for Taari. I did not get any sort of a stay on Taari's first run. Taari did not know where to go this time. The run had some great parts though.

On the second course I was determined to get ahead of her and indicate which end of the tunnel to go in to. I was successful in keeping ahead of her but we had a bit of a discussion at the tunnel entrance and got a refusal. I was very pleased with the rest of the run. I wished I would have had that run on tape both to figure out what went wrong at the tunnel and what went right. Her weaves were excellent all weekend.

Both Taari and Spice got to visit lots with people and had a great time.

Massage and Progress

On Sunday we went to the Spot On trial. It was cool in the morning but otherwise not too bad weather wise. Taari's jumpers run was fast and had some good parts. We have some things to work on (start line stays) and I need to make sure she is with me coming out of tunnels. I am retraining her contacts so we are only doing jumpers runs at trials right now.

Spice had good visits with his dog and human friends. He was moving really well while walking at the trial. I was walking him pretty slowly so I think that people thought he was really old. No obvious signs of limping. Andrea gave him a massage. That was the main reason for bringing him to the trial.

I had a good visit too with my friends and stayed longer than I had intended. Unfortunately it was pouring rain by the time I left. I was glad not to be running in it.

I did some more reading about stem cell therapy and found that they need about 2 tablespoons of fat (see Vet-Stem website). I am not sure how easy it would be to find that much fat on Spice. I keep him pretty slim.

On Monday I noticed Spice limping a bit more when he went for his walks. It is too bad he doesn't like to walk on the grass. He prefers the sidewalks which is probably harder on him.

Today (Tuesday) he seemed worse (head bob and limping when walking) in the morning and got better later on (less limping). We started going for longer walks since it has been two weeks since his surgery. He seems to want to go fast on the walks and I am slowing him down. I am still massaging his leg 2-3 times a day and I have been icing it as well.

Spice does seem to be more lively which is a good sign. He is still spending the day in an X-pen when we are at work and no stairs.

Stem Cell Therapy

Using stem cell therapy to heal orthopedic issues (osteoarthritis, orthopedic soft tissue injuries) sounds very promising from this news report and from Vet-Stem's website.

I found that there is stem cell research being done on horses in Canada.

http://www.uoguelph.ca/news/2008/02/ovc_testing_ste.html

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080415/stemcells_horses_080415?s_name=&no_ads=

Not sure if it is available in Canada yet though for pets.

It was mentioned in the Jump Down Syndrome article as well.

Recheck with the surgeon

Today we went back to the clinic to have the surgeon check Spice. It has been 10 days since his surgery.

The surgeon was happy with Spice's range of motion. The small incision healed well and the bruising is gone. Spice is still sensitive at his elbow joint but there is no swelling. The surgeon could not detect crepitus in the joint. One thing that he noted was that Spice does not want to extend his leg completely. I am not too surprised as I think that it will take some time.

No stairs for 2 more weeks and then he can be allowed to do the small set of stairs going up to the bedrooms. Going up is easier on the joint than going down. We will have to wait longer before he can go down the larger set of stairs to the basement. One thing that the surgeon suggested was to use a harness (tracking harness or seat belt) when Spice is going down the stairs and lift him a bit to take some weight off and reduce the impact.

I told the surgeon that I used a physioroll before to help strengthen Spice. I have the Get on the Ball DVD. He said that we can start ball work twice a week to start and see how he does. I will wait about a week before trying this and will be starting slowly. Yesterday I did some ball work with Taari and Spice was getting excited in his X-pen thinking that he would get a turn. He got cookies instead.

Another good passive exercise is having Spice give me his paw. I will have to review my other DVDs to figure what other exercises would be good.

Up until now I have only been walking Spice about three houses down the street for his bathroom breaks. We can start walking more (6 houses) but it will be a meandering walk. He is not ready yet for 10 minutes of continuous walking but we could just go out for 10 minutes - visiting with neighbours and enjoying the spring weather.

I am at a trial this weekend with Taari and it is okay for Spice to come along and get a massage.

It will take 6-8 weeks for cartilage to form. How Spice is doing will tell us how well things are progressing with his joint. There is a danger of damaging the scar tissue if the surgeon went in again so he will only do it if necessary (i.e. Spice gets worse).

I may find that Spice gets sore during his rehabilitation and if he does then I rest him for 2-3 days. I asked about his cartrophen shots and Spice can continue to get them on his regular schedule (he doesn't need to have them more frequently). I stopped giving him Metacam today. If he gets sore again later today can give him Metacam again for 2 or 3 more days.

He doesn't think that Spice's elbow will get bad enough that it will require more drastic measures - fusing the elbow joint, amputation or elbow replacement. I was glad to hear that.

The surgeon also said that Spice looked good for his age (12 years old).

We will go back and see the surgeon in two months unless he gets worse. Until then we will continue with his physiotherapy. I am feeling more positive about his prognosis.

Diskless

Spice no longer has to wear his e-disk to prevent him from licking his legs. I think that he will be happy about that. He doesn't like being left in the X-pen at times and lets me know. Especially when I come home and want to do a few things before letting him out.

To prevent him from going up the stairs I have taken parts of my hoops (Taari's contact training hoops) and created a barrier. I have a baby gate that I use on the stairs that go to the basement. This is one of these times I wished I lived in a bungalow.

I will have to figure out a way to categorize Spice's limping so that I can see if he is improving.

Tomorrow he goes back to the surgeon for check up.