I have news about Miss Pink who is now Pele. Pronounced Palay, Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, fire & wind. All unstoppable forces of nature! Just like Miss Pink! She is a true unstoppable force of nature!
We went to a canine physio specialist last Tuesday. (Seems so long ago!) We came up with the idea to have the vet sedate her, pop her hip back into place an put a special sling on it. It would be on for 72 hours, then taken of and practice weight bearing exercises. Then the sling would go back on for 72 hours and off for exercises. This would last for 2-3 weeks.
So that was Tuesday. Wednesday the vet came to do vaccinations, health checks and microchips etc. He felt the therapists ideas were great in theory but unless I could x-ray every day to be sure the hip was still in place, it would be useless. While we talked, I was holding Pele down while he tried to manipulate the hip back into place. Something that was very painful for her, I had spent a lot of time the day before holding Pele for the therapist to do the same thing. At one point I just SNAPPED! I grabbed the vet's hand and thrust it away from Pele. He looked at me in surprise. I was not going to put this puppy through anymore pain!! I told him I'd rather put her down than have her go through this over and over again. We discussed euthanasia as a real option. I even told him to go ahead and I took off her collar. I was sobbing, He had tears in his eyes. It was just awful. Then I said "she does so well when she's just running around with her littermates". He said "explain". I said it didn't even slow her down. She played and ran and wrestled just like everybody else. An unstoppable force of nature! Sure she got tired faster and tipped over more but she didn't seem to mind. We decided to let Mother Nature take over and see what would happen. Wait 2 weeks and reassess. So that's what we have done. She is too young to have any kind of surgery, physio wasn't going to work so Mother Nature and prayers were going to be the answer.
So that's where it is sitting at this point, HOWEVER! The story continues! But I have to rush off because I'm late feeding the puppies! To be continued…
Mary Ann
Welcome to Guardian Angel Shepherds! Join us on our journey of breeding, training and caring for our four legged family. Be prepared to laugh, and sometimes cry, with us. You never know what's going to happen next when you live with a pack of German Shepherds! And oh my! The puppies are SO CUTE!
I really think you should keep up with the physio suggestions. Yes, you won't know if the hip is properly in place, but what harm does it do to try? The sling is what I would have done. Reassess in a few weeks. And if she can keep up and keep going, let her go until she either tells you she's done, or she's old enough for surgery. I will always promote surgery whenever possible (affordable).
ReplyDelete-Julie F.