Team work

Bobi is a 2 year old Retriever cross, (although googling him he looks more like a Kuvasz – Hungarian Sheep Herding dog) who was rescued from Romania earlier this year by Blind Dogs Rescue UK. He only has some vision in one eye. 
 
It appears his shoulder was dislocated at some point and left unattended. Consequently, it has now fused in a dislocated position. He has early signs of arthritis in that shoulder and also in his hip joints. When he was taken to the vets down here, he was put on an anti-inflammatory and Amantadine. Hopefully he can be referred to a specialist. 

It is likely before rescue, that he had been chained as he has a dread of collars (so uses a harness). It is also unsure whether his blindness was due to a trauma or since birth. 

Added to all this, he has a lump on the bone on his right ribs where they were possibly broken and fused as a lump. Because of his dislocated shoulder, he doesn’t place much weight on his left front leg. This, in turn, throws his rear end out which is already stiffening due to his arthritis. Both back legs are creaky. 

Despite all this, he is a puppy with bouncy puppy behaviour. Our aim, for the first session, was to assess his physical issues and to find out if he is tolerant of physical therapy. He will never have been worked with in a helpful manual manner. 

Chris used Reiki first and calming signals which did the trick and very shortly he was lying in his lap. This allowed him to work on his stiff (very) back and stiff (very) neck. 

Bobi was lapping up all the attention and relief for 30 minutes but then had a bout of puppyness. It was almost as though he had gone “Oooooooooo…that feels so much better. I can be a daft boy again”. 

It took a while for him to regain his position on the floor, but he did. Bobi will be a team collaboration with the carers (for his wellbeing), vets (for medication and possible surgery), us (for manual therapy) and the behaviourists (to help him adapt to live after rescue) who will all work together as a Care Team to help him settle and realise he is now safe.

#imhomenow

Fostering a dog

For the past few weeks we’ve been a family of 5. Chris and I volunteer for the Cinnamon Trust – a network of volunteers who keep together housebound owners and their best chums by helping them out. It only takes an hour or so a week and we walk their dogs. Seems right really to give back to the souls who give us so much. A few Sundays ago, we were contacted by the Trust to see if we could do an emergency foster for a dog whose Mum had to be taken into Hospital. We weren’t going to leave that dog alone, so Chris went to collect her. 

She was a 13 year old Shih Tzu with poor eyesight – quite confused and anxious as to what was happening. She had clearly been the best companion to her Mum probably sitting on her lap 24/7. Here she was in a new house, with two dogs and lots of new space She also has chronic rear limb arthritis and was quite wobbly – she had come to the right house then. But like many of you fosterers out there, we had no idea what her medical history was, medication she was on or what her exercise routine was. We had to figure it all out initially (we now know she is on monthly Cartrophen injections). Plus, what do you feed a Shih Tzu? How much do they eat? How often do they go to the loo? All the things that we know intuitively with our Sam & Sarah. 

Fortunately, Stanley’s Mum makes collars and coats (Stanley is also a 13 year old Shih Tzu who I’ve been visiting for the past 2 years) and a quick call and visit resulted in me being given special Shih Tzu food, some harnesses and a coat. Thank you Viv. 

Over the next few weeks a shaking timid anxious dog turned into a confident strutting tail wagging girl. She even learned our existing routines – such as food time, walk time, pee time and quite a lot of our Sarah’s attitude! And as for our Sam, one morning our new little addition was annoyed by a dog while out. Our Sam placed himself between her and the offender to protect her – that’s our boy. We now had three dogs in a line at the front door when anyone came to visit, three dogs in a line when the food bowls went down, three dogs at the back door waiting to go into the garden for an explore and the loo and three dogs who needed lifting in and out of the car. 

It wasn’t easy, but it was an enjoyable challenge. And yes, we are quite (very) fond of her. And I have total admiration for all you fosterers who do this all the time. If any of you local fosterers ever need any help with some physical therapy for your foster dogs, get in touch with us. There will be no charge. 

Hemivertebrae in dogs

Hemivertebrae is a congenital abnormality of the spine which often affects brachiocephalic breeds, such as the English Bulldog, French Bulldog, Pug and Boston Terriers. The vertebrae become deformed, either by fusing or becoming wedge-shaped, which can cause a twisting of the spine. The deformity in the vertebrae can cause compression of the spinal cord sometimes leading to weakness of the hind limbs. Fortunately, many dogs with this condition do not exhibit any clinical signs or pain, and do not need to be treated. Rest and anti-inflammatories can be helpful for affected dogs. Only in the more severe cases would surgery be considered as necessary to relieve compression on the spinal cord. 

Now meet Will.

Just before the festive season I was invited over to help Will. He is an 8 year old French Bulldog who was rescued a couple of years ago so his physical and genetic background is unknown. 

Recently he had started to knuckle his back paws and was wobbly on his rear legs. When his Mum took him to the vet, it was thought he could have hemivertebrae. 

In Will’s case the vet prescribed anti-inflammatories for Will and recommended that his Mum try canine massage. Will's Mum, Alison, has known of AchyPaw for a while since she works for the Bulldog Rescue & Rehoming Trust where we've supported a couple of their annual bulldog picnics with our stall. Those shows have always been some of our favourites as there is a sea of bulldogs of all ages and sizes so you get lots of cuddles. 
There are some pictures half way down the page on the AchyPaw website here http://achypaw.com/news-and-articles/events2014/ with the adorable Kiss-A-Bull booth.

When I heard of Will’s condition I thought there could be two options. Firstly, I could treat him myself but that may involve several visits to help him along. Or I could provide Alison with a tailored massage lesson and routine with specific exercises to help him regain his posture and confidence. 

We opted for the second as I could always return for a top up maintenance therapy session should he need one. 

His condition didn't seem to be causing him any pain, more like annoyance because his back legs didn't want to support his movement. Initial palpation revealed a distinct tightness from his mid spine, also reinforced by the fact his fur was quite different over that area being coarse rather than smooth over the rest of his body. 

As he became more trusting with massage and touch, he subtly shifted his body so I was working over that area, his shoulder muscles and neck which were also very tight due to him overusing them. 

I showed Alison a routine on one side of his body and then she took charge of the other side. By that time Will was in French Bulldog paradise, loving every stroke and knead. He was also very good at the exercises we tried out on him. 

By the end of the two-hour session, he was visibly happier and moving a lot easier, even standing straight with no knuckling. Hopefully with his Mum doing her homework regularly, which I know she is, we can get little Will back in his feet again enjoying the New Year. In fact I received feedback later that same day “Huge thank you for coming round to give Will massage therapy and show me how to do it. Will was so receptive and to see results straight away was amazing. I have one very sleepy Frenchie now who is curled up sucking on his teddy. Les you are my hero xxxxxx”. 

Once again, this demonstrates the multi-purpose benefits that canine massage can offer. Not just for arthritis but for a diverse variety of other conditions. I guess some things are worth doing on Christmas Eve other than wrapping the presents. 

Meet Ralph and Auntie Pearl

The handsome Ralph

Lovely Pearl (and Roxy)

I met Ralph and Auntie Pearl for the first time towards the end of last year. Love at first sight for me. They are Sussex Bulldogs which is an interesting breed. Bigger than an English Bulldog (about Rottweiler size I guess) but with a face and limbs more like a Boxer. Extremely sturdy and loving dogs. Their owner once met someone who told her children that "those dogs were not the sort you touched". So the owner said "Its Ok...they are Giant Pugs". That did the trick and the mother let her kids touch them (some muvvers do have 'em!). Trust me...Ralph and Pearl would no more harm anyone than the soppiest dog going. In fact there is a third dog in their household - Roxy, a Jack Russell - who is about 1/10 of their size but rules them both! 

When Ralph was a puppy he had a bad injury to one of his front legs and the elbow never quite set properly splaying his paw out to the side. So he tended to hop and not place pressure on that leg. That led to quite a bit of muscle wastage. Deep tissue massage for an hour helped enormously. 

His Auntie Pearl simply looked 'sad' and on initial palpation I noticed she had a very stiff neck. So she received deep tissue work there. At the end of her treatment she stood up and looked around the room - first time she had done that in a while without actually shuffling her bottom around. 

Their owner has been massaging them both ever since but three months later and I am called round to give them a maintenance top up treatment. I didn't even have time to get my red massage mat on the floor before Ralph was on it. He almost jumped through my car windows to get on his special mat. The pictures show his contentment. Now this is a dog who had only seen me once before three months ago but knew "Oh yes...this is the massage therapy doctor. I'm having that mat NOW". 

Ralph with a big smile

When I had done treating him I tried to move over to Auntie Pearl but Ralph was having none of that..."Erm...excuse me Dr Les...you are MINE". So I had to massage his Auntie with him between my legs. 

Ralph pushing Pearl out of the way so he can have more more more...

 Some while later and shuffling between massaging one then the other and it was time to leave. But Ralph was not having any of that either. He sat completely blocking the front door so I couldn't open it...."Erm...Dr Les....I told you. You are MINE". 

The temptation of tripe won him over and I was able to sneak out. I bet he is still looking for me. 

Big scary dogs? Big soppy softies more like! I am looking forward to catching up with my bullie snogs in a few months.

Lovely ending to the event season

This year we have taken the AchyPaw gazebo and team to 14 shows and events. We have been in torrential rain three times, high winds twice, scorching sun twice, hurricanes once, and all things in between. 

Setting up the gazebo in rain and wind at Seaford

Our final outing of the year was the Annual Bulldog Rescue Picnic held at Lavant. The weather couldn’t have been better for our final outing – we didn’t even need the sides of the tent. 

This is the second year we have done that show and is certainly one of our favourites. Surrounded by bulldogs of every age, shape and colour is so much fun. Plus there were some great stalls such as the Kiss A Bull one – what a clever idea.

Marshall raising lots of money by selling kisses

Other stalls had bulldog bits of pieces of every description from pillows, bowls, mirrors, coats, and so forth.

As well as being surrounded by such a loveable breed, we were also visited by lots of interested owners. It was such a privilege to be asked so many massage questions by clearly caring owners. It could well be that people don’t take on bulldogs as a pet lightly. They are aware of the many physical problems that the breed could have throughout their life. And to rescue a bulldog as well is doubly worthy in my book.

We were questioned non-stop from 9:00 to 16:00 about ways that the owners could help their pets and maintain their mobility. Several even stayed in the tent to have some massage lessons and learn particular tips and techniques that would help their dog and the problems they were having – frequently arthritis (even in the very young) and also spinal issues. One couple even remembered us from last year and came along for their top-up massage lesson.

Soon the word got round the event that the ‘massage man’ was there. We had big bulldogs, old bulldogs, young bulldogs and tiny ones all snuffling in our tent. Plus wriggly Bracken, the collie, who came for a lesson too.

The smallest security guard dog in the world

We are looking forward to our Bulldog fix next year.  Meanwhile the AchyPaw tent is all put away until 2015