[Rhodes22-list] Doggie update

[elle]

Hi, all,
I'm sure the quiet on the list is due to the revelry in full swing from Auckland soon to arrive here....I've rec'd a number of inquiries about paralyzed pup & his progress..thought you'd like to see...we have come to the conclusion that jackie has been afflicted with Coonhound Paralysis, not botulism, from a number of factors we have observed and been made aware of. the only real difference between the two is that the Coonhound variety has a longer recovery period.
Here are two photos ..the first was taken a week afteer we'd discovered him paralyzed in the bushes (Nov. 16). Barely holding up the head & ability to wag the tip of the tail were the only movements he had ...and holding up his head for more than a few seconds was a monumental effort.
The second photo was taken just a day or so ago....it's amazing what a bit of food held above his head inspired. 
You can see he is diapered (helps half the problem...;^) and you can see the corral my BF made as he can scooch himself all over the place now....and I needed to keep him on the tile in the kitchen & not on the carpet..he just can't climb over the rail. 
To get him to exercise & move around, we would toss a piece of cookie to the far corner of his enclosure & he'd work & work to get to it...rolling, pulling the papers with his mouth to get the cookie, etc...no dummy here!  so we'd work him out every day, several times a day. Then we put a large piece of carpet down so he would work his front legs pulling himself. After a week or so of that I started to hold him up (60 + lbs!) so that his front feet were extended & could get a grip on the carpet. It took a few days before he could stand for a few seconds and now he's good for maybe 15-20 secs before he goes down...all this in the last week! so now I'm working on the hind legs...he;s strong enough to stand on the front legs while I hold up his rear & let a bit of weight rest on his rear legs. After a few days I think things will 'click.' If you look at the second photo you'll see how his rear legs just 'fold' back behind him nowbut the right leg comes
 around properly when he sits high to get that piece of food above his head!.
as my BF seriously reinjured his back picking Jackie up(anyone know anything about the injections into the disk to shrink the disk? ) I rigged up a sling that enables me to carry jackie w/o injuring myself...I try to take him outside on nice days..the other dogs 'protect' him & also play gently with him, It is a thing to marvel about.
Happy Hplidays & more to come on Jackie !
elle

Beer is good....people are crazy

1992 Rhodes 22    Recycled '06"Watermusic"  {Lady in Red}


      
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: DSCN6351.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 51815 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20101231/85725b28/attachment.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: DSC_0001.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2286778 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20101231/85725b28/attachment.JPG