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Friday, August 17, 2012

Dog Days of Summer

We've been home from our North Carolina vacation for about a month now.   Before we left, it was just starting to get really hot here in Florida, but now, we are in the 90 degree everyday place.   Nathan has had a really hard time with this heat.    Since we got back from NC, he had been really struggling to walk.  It was so disappointing after how well he was doing in NC.

His last acupuncture was 2 days before we left and we had a 6-week stretch in between treatments.    We'd gone this long once or twice before, but this time, we really noticed a decrease in his abilities.   Normally, 2-4 days after a treatment, we see a big improvement in walking, which slowly degrades as time goes by.    He had a treatment last Thursday and we were worried because we saw no improvement, even by Monday, which is unusual.  In fact, his walking had deteriorated so much, we couldn't even take him on a walk with Frankie.  Then, as if a switch was flipped, on Wednesday, he was a walking maniac.  This morning, he practically ran down the street on his walk.   

It's a crazy roller coaster ride with Nathan.   It doesn't seem like we are going to be able to stop the acupuncture treatments because he is just a mess without them.   I also have started keeping the one toe on each foot bandaged with the tape all the time now because he is much more comfortable walking that way.  

I finally broke down and bought a ramp that sits on top of the steps to go in and out of our house.  Nathan will not likely ever be strong enough to go up and down the stairs, so this way he can walk on his own which makes him very happy.   We are in training mode now.  He's learning how to use the ramp as it is a bit steep.   He doesn't like new objects that were not there before, so he is very suspicious of the ramp.   So.....kibbles to go up the ramp and kibbles to go down the ramp!

11 comments:

  1. How pawsome to get an update. We built our own ramps for the house and trained the same way, treats, treats, treats! Lily & Muffin and now pro's at using them.

    We hope that Nathan continues on this good path that he is currently on.

    Many prayers being sent your way.

    Hugs,
    Lily Belle

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  2. Praying for you and Nathan. Our Ollie had surgery #2 in May 2012. He is doing water therapy once a week. Thought we could go one extra week w/o therapy. Tonight Ollie seems to be in pain.

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  3. Praying for you and Nathan. Our Ollie had surgery #2 in May 2012. He is doing water therapy once a week. Thought we could go one extra week w/o therapy. Tonight Ollie seems to be in pain.

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  4. Sending some prayers in Nathan's direction, but we think he'll be bouncing back soon.

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  5. Its so strange how they are walking like crazy and then just have a complete shutdown. Cher did the same thing. All off July she would walk all over the park and when we went on vacation, she would not stop walking all over the campground. Now Aug she is back to scooting all over the house. She wont really walk in the house unless I grab her tail when she is scooting and lift her up. I have wondered if I let her do to much in July. Like Nathan she has slowed way down. What gives? I keep wondering if its going to be like this forever--up and then down.

    I too have placed a ramp out the front door. I think its a good thing. It gives them more independence. Nathan will get use to it when he discovers he can run down the ramp and bark at who ever dares use the sidewalk in front of you house!

    Sending out good thoughts for Nathan, that the weather will cool soon, and he will be back to improved walking with Frankie soon.

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    1. I definitely think part of it is sore muscles and part of it is motivation. New or different places make Nathan want to walk more, even it he is a bit sore. I wouldn't mind the up and downs as much if I didn't panic that something was wrong every time it happened. Nathan is the same way as Cher around the house. He typically scoots, unless we lift his tail. And then, every once in a while, he'll just stand up and walk across the house. I think if we were more strict with him walking around the house, we could probably break him of that habit. But, I'll admit, its really exhausting!

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  6. I can't even tell you how I feel to have found your blog. Our poor rat terrier Scout just had a compressed disc and the swelling went across 6 vertebrae as well as along the spinal cord. This happened so fast. From this last Friday night when we noticed he was being strange (wanting to sit every couple of steps while out on a walk and not wanting to go potty) to Monday morning when he had to go into emergency surgery. He has also lost "deep pain" sensation and we are just praying he gets some of it back. We haven't seen him since the surgery and I've been googling like mad to find some success stories...or stories that are similar to Scout's. Thank you for writing this blog. I have a pinch of hope. :)

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    1. Erin,
      You should definitely have hope! First, have you logged into Dodger's List? If not, you should. It's dedicated to this condition. Second, even with Nathan's extreme issues, he still can walk, he still is as kooky as ever. Nothing in his personality has changed. No, he did not regain potty control, but we manage pretty well anyway. If Scout doesn't regain potty control...I've got lots of tips....

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  7. Heidi, I just wanted to let you now something good that I have found for Cher. I started her on steadfast canine chewable tablets. She has only been on them a week. She is back to walking about 70% of the time in the house, and she is once again walking quite good when I take her to the park. She still has to go in her cart if we go very far on cement, because she still drags her right paw really bad.It seems really weird to me that a supplement would make this much difference. Not positive it is the steadfast, but she sure is doing great again. I just wanted to let you know about this for Nathan.

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    1. Very interesting! That's awesome that Cher is doing better. I'm always open to trying things that have potential. I ordered one box, which based on the dosage lasts 2 months. So, that should be a pretty good test. Stayed tuned.....

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  8. It will be really interesting to see if it help Nathan. I am giving Cher a full tablet each day for the first month and then cutting back to 1/2 a tablet after that. Good Luck. Cher chows them down no problem, I'd like to think this is because they taste good, but she is just a little piggy!

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