We have the best rehab vet! We’ve gone many times before for all of the dogs. This was a recheck day.
Blaze: Pain management is much better! We’re going to even try reducing one of his meds to twice a day instead of three times. Some of his exercises are being changed – adding in some easy cavaletti ( ground poles to walk over), pivoting, side passing (walking sideways), and a few other small changes. Our goals are to maintain his comfort level and maintain/increase mobility. In some ways we’re fighting a losing battle – he’s 15+ now and nothing can make him a young dog, but we don’t want to lose what we have and we may be able to make some small improvements.
Griffin: I was the most worried about Griffin! There’s nothing very different – but he has never moved well while walking/trotting, he still can’t do a stand to down with all paws still, and he makes funny breathing noises when heeling. We’re changing some of his exercises and will see what happens, he felt good to the vet and is doing well at agility so we don’t have any cause for concern yet.
Viktor: Yay Viktor!! If we moved his elbows to a normal position, his leg rotation was within the realm of normal! We have more/different exercises to continue to increase his use of his pectoral muscles. Now that it’s warm we’ll be able to do outdoor swimming. We’ve tried doing water treadmill at a facility near home but he will be much happier swimming outside. We’re waiting for his ribs to ‘spring’ and chest to widen. Griffin was over 2 when this happened with him. At 2 years we will also do his hip and elbow xrays to get more information too.
Best news: We don’t need to come back for 3 months!