Missi’s got her Life Back Again!
“She's been a totally different dog,
charging around everywhere with no ill effects” said Dave. “After everything
that went wrong [an accident at home], it’s wonderful to be able to let her run
without worrying. Thank you all who helped get her back on her feet.”
 Missi
is a young American Bulldog who was growing strongly and winning shows – healthy
and happy. Always energetic and playful, she had a play-fight with another big
dog whilst out for a walk in the forest one day. The two dogs went
chest-to-chest on hind legs, and when they disengaged, Missi landed awkwardly.
The ground was soft and one of her hind legs gave way and then she fell onto a
tree-stump.
Dave saw that Missi was limping and after
the vet recommended conservative management, he called Vav who had been
recommended to him. The vet hoped that an operation would not be necessary. Vav
found enough chiropractic problems in Missi’s pelvis to warrant treatment. She
suggested that Missi try hydrotherapy to exercise the back-end.
Missi, was very nervous of the water. In her
first swim, she was pushing Alex (Senior Animal Therapist) out of the way
immediately her feet hit the ramp in her hurry to get out! This is not
surprising for this breed – the short nose makes them very wary of water. Alex
encouraged her to relax in the pool and play. After some weeks she was confident
enough to swim without control ropes and seemed to be getting stronger and
fitter.
Dave and Judy went away on holiday feeling
confident that Missi was on the mend. They arranged that she was only
lead-walked to prevent her over-doing things. But on their return, Missi was so
full of exuberance that after only 10 minutes on the beach, she had over-exerted
and was limping seriously.
 The
vet said Missi had damaged her cruciate ligament, probably in that fall that
twisted her hips as well. He operated to strengthen the ligament and advised
calm for the next ten days at least. But again, she went too far and opened up
the cut, suffering some internal bleeding so that her leg swelled up.
“It was a month of worry and frustration
before the vet said that Missi was ready for hydrotherapy.” said Dave. “We were
always conscious that she could bring on another set-back through her own
excitability and strength. It was a relief to start her swimming, as it tired
her out a bit and calmed her down. We brought her every week for nearly six
months.”
 Vav
explained: “We had to take it slowly to prevent another accidental set-back.
Every minute in the pool is equivalent to a mile of walking. But Missi was very
unlikely to twist or jolt herself in the water as she could have done on land.
So it was a safer and more controlled method of rebuilding her leg muscles and
stretching her joints to bring her back to healthy movement. During that time,
Missi rejected her stitches through her scar, one bit every week! So we were
also checking her healing progress.”
Gradually, Alex introduced Missi to the
Water Walker. Using the underwater moving belt, she aimed to get Missi
weight-bearing on all four legs instead of favouring the healing one. To begin
with, Missi tried to carry that leg while trotting in the Walker, but slowly she
started to use the leg again.
After 5 sessions, she was trotting as well as ever. Later, she ended up so fit
that she was also able to swim for 14 minutes in the pool!
Now Missi is back to her normal self – “It’s
amazing” said Dave, “she wouldn’t be on all four legs if it hadn’t been for Vav
and her team. Now she enjoys Agility, does shows again and is doing well in her
Good Citizenship training. She’s got full use of her life again!”
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