His recovery has been a very stressful and heart wrenching experience to witness. We have watched his health and well-being decline during this time. The happy character that we have all come to love and admire for his tenacious and determined attitude to life moved out and a very depressed and grumpy little Spike moved in.
He was not allowed to play with his friends, interactions with the other pack members had to be carefully managed and he was only allowed a few minutes’ gentle walk from the house. Running and playing were banned and life for Spike became very mundane and boring. He lost interest in playing with his toys and got very grumpy if anyone tried to move a toy from where he had carefully arranged it within his special den. He spent 23 hours of each day sleeping in his den and did not want to eat.
During this time our worst fears were also realised and
Spike’s elbows have deteriorated. We
knew this would happen, we have seen the x-rays, analysed the CT Scans and
spoken to several orthopaedic consultants.
But what happened in early December still came as a huge shock.
Spike had been limping heavily on his nearside foreleg for
several weeks and suddenly one evening he started limping on his offside fore
as well. Only his offside hind leg was
still working, all others were causing him such intense pain that he could not
even rise from his bed without our help.
A depressed dog that cannot stand without assistance would
not lead the life that we promised Spike would only ever know. A very restless night ensued as we tried to
prepare ourselves to say goodbye to Spike.
However, if you wish upon a falling star, sometimes your
wish really can come true…..
The following day Spike struggled to get up, but he did
manage it without our assistance and as the day progressed he started looking
stronger and happier. We reinforced our
determination that whatever the future held we were going to give Spike as many
happy experiences as we could for as long as we could.We took Spike out in his special buggy to meet people and Ian ran a parkrun with Spike in the buggy the whole way – he loved it!
He was given veterinary approval to return to Hydrotherapy
the following week and allowed to once again play in the water and see his
special friends at Top Dog
Hydrotherapy in Andover.
He has been receiving laser therapy and acupuncture treatment
from Shelley
Doxley. And he continues to wear his
Trion:z
collar.
We took him to Scotland over Christmas to meet my
family. He made some new friends,
visited the beach and shared Christmas dinner with the family. Brussel sprouts were politely refused but
roast potatoes were devoured instantly.
Spike loves all form of potatoes, baked, chipped or mashed. I think potatoes and porridge are his
favourite foods as he will choose them over anything else, including all forms
of meat.
We stopped off in the Lake District on the way back from
Scotland and had some fun on the mountains in the freezing cold. Spike saw sheep and snow, lakes and standing
stones. He even had a little taste of
beer, but only on the tip of his tongue as I was not prepared to share any more!
Since we have returned from Scotland the Spike we all know
and love has returned. He is happy,
bouncy, shouts a lot and is a general pain in the backside.
A few days ago we let Spike have a very short and controlled
run. The smiles on his face during and
after were confirmation that we chose well.
As his guardians we have to make very important decisions on his behalf
and a “Spike smiles” tells us all that we need to know.
There is a long way to go yet but I now dare to dream that
Spike will one day run again in our little Husky team. A three dog Dream Mile may yet still be
possible.
