Another good start to the day, no overnight problems and a hearty breakfast. Let's try a slightly longer walk today, as she seems very keen. So we went to the true "open space", this is about a 300 metre walk from home, accomplished very nicely with good sits at the kerbs.
At the open space is a stream, so we sat and watched this quite fascinated for a while - I did not let Poppy go paddling yet though, as I want to see how strong she can get first, and the trouble is in the Winter the stream gets quite deep.
She was determined to climb up the hump and then stare in amazement at the field of sheep - given half a chance I think she would have been amongst them trying to sort them out.
We nearly made it back, but with about 20 metres to go, I noticed her getting slower and her front paws "splayed" which seems to be a quite obvious sign with her of fatigue. Her back legs then didn't quite come through quite right, so I scooped her up and carried her the last bit. On arrival at home though, having had a short rest she was ready to go again!
I left my riding boots in the kitchen to be ready for when I cam back from the loo - but what's this when I came back, no boots. Oh there they are in the garden with a naughty puppy. Only disadvantage for Poppy stealing boots or shoes, is that they are slightly heavy and can topple her over as she goes out of the back-door step.
A sleepy morning after all this excitement, but again a lovely time with this precious puppy.
Consideration needs to be given about her quality of life, as obviously this is what we are trying to give her. My friendly vet, asked for a second opinion from a well respected Orthopaedic Vet and was told that the note he has against Hereditary Myopathy is very simple - RIP. To me this seems very desperate, as the puppy has not asked to be born, and us humans are probably to blame with our close breeding for the genetic defect.
I feel that we probably need to consider some sort of scale for life quality and I have come up with my own necessary ADLS for a dog. Taking this from my industry (finance) where for care home cover you have to fail 2 out of 5 ADLS for cover to enable you to go into care.
ADLS or Activities of Daily Living, for a dog (to me) are the following:
1. Drinking water from a bowl
2. Eating (with assistance from a raised bowl, or spoon if needed)
3. Toileting (with easy access to the garden, including a ramp if necessary)
4. Walking (for a dog with this condition, we will accept walking around the house/garden, but with no dragging of hind legs etc)
5. Playing/chewing - important to a Labrador. Again not necessarily to the same standard as a normal able-bodied dog, but to enjoy and with some enthusiasm.
Well fortunately at the moment, Poppy easily passes all 5, but we will try to "stick to our guns" and give her quality rather than quantity, so if the worst happens we will be brave against this scale.
I am intending to post some short videos of her progress, partly for us to cherish, and partly to help anyone else who comes across the disease to see what can be "coped with".
No comments:
Post a Comment