Our foster husky Spike has been chronically lame in his front legs for nearly 4 months. While his hind legs (hip dysplasia) have improved immensely through a combination of hydrotherapy, exercise and good nutrition his front leg lameness has progressively worsened.
This week we took Spike to Fitzpatrick Referrals to determine
what is causing his lameness. The
consultant we met had already been given the full details of Spike’s medical
history from our local vet who has treated him since April. He also had the x-rays of all four limbs taken
in August.
Long story short, Spike has degenerative joint disease in
his elbows and without surgical intervention it will worsen. Based on his deterioration in the past few
months this means that if we do not act quickly Spike does not have a long term
future.
The orthopaedic consultant was able to see the elbow joint
abnormalities on the original x-rays.
How much it has worsened since then is presently a guess based on Spike’s
behaviour and movement.
His elbow joints will continue to deteriorate and he will
require more and more assisted pain relief.
There will come a time when his body will no longer be able to cope with
the medication and the pain.
If we intervene with surgery then we can prolong his life
and with careful rehabilitation he may go on to live a semi normal pet dog
life.
Surgery is very expensive, between £4k and £15k and involves
between 3-6 months of cage rest, which as you can imagine would be quite a
challenge for a husky puppy.
As we do not know the extent of the damage within the
joints, the corrective surgery and rehabilitation is an estimate within this
spectrum.
 |
| Watching the big boy huskies run.... |
My immediate thought when told the news was that Spike
should not run, full stop. However, the
consultant has advised us to continue doing exactly what we have been doing since
Spike came to live with us. The combination
of hydrotherapy and controlled running is without a doubt helping him. In general he is fit and healthy and the
muscle development in his hind legs is helping his hip dysplasia. If we reduce his exercise furthermore this
will deteriorate and we risk a more rapid deterioration in his mental health
and well-being. This is good news as
Spike loves to run and when he does not he becomes depressed and stressed.
 |
| Happiness is... |
Through all of this, Spike continues to smile when he can
and run when he can. I have no intention
of denying him this basic right.
His condition is not dissimilar to the condition of my ankle
joint prior to surgical intervention and look what happened there…. For those
that do not know me I was advised to never run more than a mile and that I
would be a cripple within 5 years…. I refused to accept this and since then
have run nearly 100 marathons and ultra marathons and represented Scotland and
Great Britain in international competitions.
Spike was born with deformed hip, elbow and jaw joints and
his poor start in life has contributed to their deterioration. It is highly likely that Spike has other
health issues that will be discovered over time.
Realistically Spike will never run the way normal well-bred
Siberian Huskies can, but he can still have a happy future that includes
running - if we can find a way to manage his surgery and rehabilitation.
We have tough decisions to make in the coming days and we
will make them with Spike’s best interests in our hearts and minds.
