Today Kai, Ella, Hattie and I visited Lowri Davies at the SMART clinic in Cardiff. Hattie was only with us for the ride, but think she quite enjoyed herself - there was plenty of liver cake going around :-)
I have noticed that Kai is slowing down, and am grateful that friends were able to recommend the clinic which is for veterinary rehabilitation by referral from your own vet. I was distressed to learn how much pain my boy is in on a day to day basis, and that he seems to be lame in his back right leg. The slowing down is obviously a result of the ongoing discomfort he is in, and I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears on hearing Lowri's assessment of him. It's a credit to him that he takes life in his stride and doesn't let this bother him as much as he could. What's comforting to me is that he enjoys attention from anyone, even vets! He happily let Lowri administer acupuncture, and although a little worried, did well in the water treadmill. We have some exercises to do before we see her next week and I hope that these will ease his discomfort and I may have many more years left to enjoy him in.
What was somewhat surprising from the visit, was how much Lowri felt Ella's old broken leg injury was affecting her current movement. Plus the lack of movement she has down her lower back - she works like a hinge at the moment, head and shoulder doing most of the work. I can't say Ella enjoyed the visit quite as much as Kai, as she's a bit of a baby really, but she let Lowri do some acupuncture on her, and did some walking on the water treadmill too. She's been given 2 weeks off work - which I hope doesn't put her off Lowri for life :-) - so my off-season with her is starting nice and gently! We're not sure how long it will take to re-train her to balance herself better, but as she's young and fit we hope it won't be too long. My only worry is that Lowri feels that by removing her pain, she's likely to move even faster than she does currently. Good Lord! :-))
I'm glad I was presented with the opportunity to better improve my dog's lives, and only wish that perhaps I could have had Lowri to consult with around Kai's accident. However we discussed this and both agreed - each of us can only do our best with the information we have available to us at that time. Life would be easy with the benefit of hindsight to make decisions, but as that isn't how it works it's futile to spend too long thinking about it. Instead we should move forward and appreciate that we are better informed than before and with more life experience than we did previously. Each of our dogs will teach us something, in Kai's case he has taught me many things and for that I truly rejoice for his place in my life.
Today I am grateful to my Dad for taking care of my darling children, and in doing so freeing me up to take better care of the other important beings in my life.
I have noticed that Kai is slowing down, and am grateful that friends were able to recommend the clinic which is for veterinary rehabilitation by referral from your own vet. I was distressed to learn how much pain my boy is in on a day to day basis, and that he seems to be lame in his back right leg. The slowing down is obviously a result of the ongoing discomfort he is in, and I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears on hearing Lowri's assessment of him. It's a credit to him that he takes life in his stride and doesn't let this bother him as much as he could. What's comforting to me is that he enjoys attention from anyone, even vets! He happily let Lowri administer acupuncture, and although a little worried, did well in the water treadmill. We have some exercises to do before we see her next week and I hope that these will ease his discomfort and I may have many more years left to enjoy him in.
What was somewhat surprising from the visit, was how much Lowri felt Ella's old broken leg injury was affecting her current movement. Plus the lack of movement she has down her lower back - she works like a hinge at the moment, head and shoulder doing most of the work. I can't say Ella enjoyed the visit quite as much as Kai, as she's a bit of a baby really, but she let Lowri do some acupuncture on her, and did some walking on the water treadmill too. She's been given 2 weeks off work - which I hope doesn't put her off Lowri for life :-) - so my off-season with her is starting nice and gently! We're not sure how long it will take to re-train her to balance herself better, but as she's young and fit we hope it won't be too long. My only worry is that Lowri feels that by removing her pain, she's likely to move even faster than she does currently. Good Lord! :-))
I'm glad I was presented with the opportunity to better improve my dog's lives, and only wish that perhaps I could have had Lowri to consult with around Kai's accident. However we discussed this and both agreed - each of us can only do our best with the information we have available to us at that time. Life would be easy with the benefit of hindsight to make decisions, but as that isn't how it works it's futile to spend too long thinking about it. Instead we should move forward and appreciate that we are better informed than before and with more life experience than we did previously. Each of our dogs will teach us something, in Kai's case he has taught me many things and for that I truly rejoice for his place in my life.
Today I am grateful to my Dad for taking care of my darling children, and in doing so freeing me up to take better care of the other important beings in my life.
I'm glad you found Lowri and took the dogs to hers, she is the reason Tia is back competing and doing so well. Like you, I was horrified at how much pain Tia had been in, I still remember getting in the car at Swansea and crying all the way back to Bristol! However as you say, we can only do our best with what information we have at the time - I just wish Tia wasnt 6 years old when we finally got a diagnosis!! xxx
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