Jackanory Part 19 - Freedom Day

A couple of weeks ago when walking Boris and Eko in the woods Boris suddenly pulled up lame on his left front leg

I couldn't believe it as Boris hadn't been madly racing around and had only had his Librela injection for pain relief the day before, so it was most unexpected to see he'd gone lame

One minute I was videoing Boris trotting off behind a large bush and when he emerged on the other side he'd gone quite lame, I can only assume he'd probably jumped over something he shouldn't have or put his foot down a rabbit hole, inspection of his paw and nails revealed no injury there

Video Description - Video showing Boris trotting around in woodlands after he emerged from some bushes and was unexpectedly lame on his left front leg

As a result of going lame so unexpectedly I rested Boris at home for three days using his top up painkillers to ease his discomfort, Boris was due to see Sam his Physio and massage therapist later that week, but Boris's lameness didn't seem to be improving, if anything it seemed to be getting worse not better which was concerning

When Sam saw him it transpired that he'd somehow managed to strain his shoulder very badly, this was a relief to hear that it was a muscular pain and not a joint pain, as a result of his injury it had had a knock on effect of making all his muscles go really tight on that side as he was compensating for his painful shoulder 

With some combined massage therapy and laser therapy Boris was soon feeling so much better and trotting around the coffee table on the sitting room once more, he was still a bit lame but nothing like as bad as when Sam first arrived that morning 

Boris needed to be on restricted exercise for a few more days to ensure he didn't overdo it and injure himself again

Video Description - Video of Boris and Eko on a walk out on the common, Boris is on restricted exercise as he's still a bit lame so he's on the lead 

So it was lead only walks for Boris for a week, which is definitely not his most favourite thing to do, but needs must to keep him from re-injuring his shoulder again 

Finally freedom day arrived so I took Boris for a walk on his own to reduce the amount he'd be racing around, if Eko had been with us they'd have gone absolutely potty racing around together and play fighting 

Boris was so excited to be off lead once more and he just couldn't stop doing zoomies around the field in the pure joy at being free once again

I was planning to video Boris's exploits of him doing zoomies around the field so I could review it later and see properly in slow mo how his lameness was, although he did look perfectly sound 

It wasn't until I went to turn off the video I realised I'd totally forgotten to press the record button in the first place,  I'd only managed to capture a single goofy photo of Boris in full flight and loving life once again

Image Description - Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel galloping along in a grassy field with one ear up and a happy manic expression on his face

It never ceases to amaze me just how athletic Boris is considering the chronic Arthritis in his elbows and spine, we also recently discovered his left hip isn't in the best of shape either

Image Description - The x-ray taken of Boris's hips showing the arthritis forming on the ball joint of his left hip

Luckily for Boris with the help of our amazing vet Tania and his physio Sam he's on an excellent multi modal pain management plan and has been for approx 3 years now, it's this which enables Boris to live life to it's fullest as pain free as possible

I've found the Canine Arthritis Management website an excellent source of information to help manage Boris's pain in conjunction with our vet

Getting stiff, slowing down and struggling to get up are just a few of the subtle signs of a dog in pain, it's not just a natural progression of dogs getting older, if your dog is starting to struggle it's showing you subtle signs of pain, once a dog starts showing you obvious signs of pain like limping the arthritis is already well advanced

 There's an excellent reel on Instagram recently posted by @polka_dot_loki that shows the 5 subtle signs of pain which can be viewed here 

If you're in any doubt about the subtle signs of pain a simple pain check with your vet can confirm it and painkillers can be prescribed

A quick Jackanory Story for our newer followers

I often wonder how painful Boris's life would have been if I'd not insisted on those x-rays back when he was only 7 months old and we discovered he had Fragmented Coronoid Process resulting in multiple fractures in his delicate young elbows that required surgery to repair 

Boris had none of those obvious symptoms of pain that you'd expect like a limp, I was just convinced his gait looked a bit off and that I couldn't put my finger on what it was that was wrong with it

After surgery to repair the fractures and much physio to teach him to weight bare on his front legs Boris was given a clean bill of health, along with the warning to be aware of the possibility of early onset arthritis

At around 5 years old Boris needed a large tumour removed from between his front legs, so I asked for his elbows to be x-rayed whilst he was under anesthetic to see if they were still doing ok

Sadly mild arthritis was discovered and Boris's retirement from being my Assistance Dog was put into place as it would not longer be ethical to work him with his own health problem

Boris did no more Public Access with immediate effect, I started asking Boris to do his home tasks less and less over the next few weeks whilst training Eko to do them instead, Boris still doesn't accept that he's retired though, if he wants to task I let him, but I never ever ask him too any more as that would be unfair in case he's having a bad pain day

  

Dawn

xxx

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This Post is linked too

1) DVArtist Friday Face Off

2) Brian's Thankful Thursday

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