LIVING WITH DEGENERATIVE MYELOPATHY – SAXON’S STORY
Saxon is a 9 year old Bernese Mountain Dog who has developed DM in the past year. As with most dogs, over the years he has been a loyal and faithful friend to me and has been typical of his breed in terms of temperament. A real gentleman with a passion for blondes (particularly Goldies), although impeccably behaved in their presence.
In his life, he had never suffered from any major ailments, so the onset of DM came somewhat as a shock. I did think, at one stage, that he had a strange form of sleeping sickness as he seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time having a nap, interspersed with the odd 5 – 10 minutes of lunacy, however, as he is my second Bernese I must say it is a trait of the breed.
Saxon first showed signs of what I now know to be DM, around Easter 2007. During a reasonably long walk we noticed he was dragging his left rear leg a bit which resulted in him rubbing a couple of claws down to the quick with the resultant bleeding. The immediate solution was to buy him a pair of protective boots to prevent recurrence; however the trial on holiday in Cornwall was a disaster. Being a typical bloke, I thought- good thick sole, maintain his dignity and looks good, unfortunately (and still not aware of DM at the time) I didn’t appreciate the weight effect of the boots and it made matters worse, particularly as Saxon did his clown boot impression and tried to lift his legs higher and flap them down flat. He spent more time dragging his feet and struggling to walk, which made me worry all the more that something was seriously wrong. A rethink and the use of a bandage covered in an old sock vastly improved the situation at the time and allowed him more mobility (could have saved me a few bob as well!).
Many of you will sympathise with my worries over my “puppy” seeming to be falling apart before my eyes and unable to do much about it. As I now know, DM is progressive and was not going to go away or get better, he started to visibly lose muscle tone on his left thigh (had always been quite strong there) and the leg started to trail more frequently and cross over the other one tripping him up (classic signs I now realise). He also started to graze the top of his foot resulting in an open wound.
As a good son always does, my first port of call was Mum, who is well versed in dog matters, and she said she had heard of a wasting disease and that the upside was there was no pain associated with it. A little bit relieved I then took the decision to seek professional advice and a trip to the Vet followed. Having explained the symptoms and my (Mum’s) thoughts, the Vet agreed it was a wasting of the nerves and muscle that caused no pain and that there was little that could be done other than ensuring Saxon maintained as good a quality of life as possible. Her advice was to take him for walks on grass! I have always vowed that the quality of life angle would always be the deciding factor in taking any major decisions.
During the summer, Saxon’s condition degenerated further, fairly quickly at first and then effectively stabilised. At this time I was in the full flow of a new relationship and Saxon and I spent many weekends travelling from Cambridge to Norwich. At one stage, when my Land Rover was off the road, we had to use the MR2 – if you have never seen a Bernese in the front seat (harnessed to the seat belt I hasten to add) of a 2-seater sports car with the roof down, and ears flapping in the breeze, you have never lived. One lesson I did learn was the healing power of a bacon sandwich. Saxon had always been an “upstairs” dog, in fact would often take himself off to bed when he saw fit. The DM prevented him from doing this as he did not have the strength to haul his rear end up, however one Saturday morning, I dutifully made the bacon sandwiches for a relaxing start to the day and, whilst taking them back upstairs, felt a presence behind me, and looked back to see Saxon following me gaily up the stairs, tail wagging, so that he could scrounge his share.
A chance meeting (or was it fate) at a mutual friend’s wedding found us sharing a table with Rachel and Roger and talking about dogs, as you do, and after mentioning Saxon’s condition I first heard about DM and the potential benefits of hydrotherapy, which I must admit I had been considering. Vowing to look into it further, I neglected to get their details. A month or so later, having put Saxon through yet another change of home as we combined our 2 homes into one, the bride and groom returned from their honeymoon and we gleaned the necessary details. At about the same time, my Mum told me about one of her dog walking friends who had a German Shepherd with DM that was using a cart. My initial thoughts were that I wouldn’t put Saxon in a cart as it was for the owners benefit a demeaning for the dog, how wrong I was, more of which later.
We started hydrotherapy with a dog that hates getting
wet above his backside, although he did take to it quite well. Two sessions a week were enough to test his mettle and Saxon being the constant clown developed his own version of front crawl which manages to get everyone outside the pool wet. He also has an extremely wide breast stroke, and I am still waiting for him to try the butterfly. The hydrotherapy had a great effect on him in three ways. The first was that we could see both his back legs working normally under the water, the second his strength and stamina built up and the third, a vast improvement in his confidence and well being. This manifested itself one night when five minutes after having been given his “goodnight” biscuit, we heard him crying, looked downstairs to see his front legs on the second step and a degree of determination as he tried to lift his back legs onto the bottom step, the first attempt for some time. The soft side of me then went down to help him and he has slept upstairs every night since. For those that might condemn me for that, I go back to the quality of life statement.
Another weekend break at my Mum’s brought home how much he had gone down hill. She hadn’t seen him for several months and therefore noticed the change in him, and was quite shocked. Saxon went for his early morning walks with “Grandma” although had to be helped by me and what reinforced the problem was his inability to drag himself over to other dogs to say hello in the doggy way (particularly the blondes). I then realised that a cart was the way ahead as his impression of a seal wasn’t going down too well with other dog owners.
A few weeks later, after researching the carts available and doing some hard thinking, I took the plunge and ordered a cart from K9 Carts in the USA. Other makes are available in the UK; however I was particularly impressed by the style of their carts, the pricing and the promise of delivery in days rather than weeks.
Having made contact with Barbara at K9 carts I then went through the taxing process of taking the measurements, if you have ever tried supporting 50kg of dog in one hand whilst trying to measure the height of his groin from the ground with the other, you will know what I mean. Having e-mailed the sizes back to Barbara with a bit of British humour attached (which she understood) I was most impressed by her challenging one or two of the measurements to ensure it was right (she was correct every time in her challenges). The final confirmation took place on the Monday evening and on the Friday morning DHL delivered the cart to me at work! Never before have I experienced such quick delivery of a specialised piece of equipment, let alone from several thousand miles away.
On arriving home that afternoon, put the cart together and tried Saxon out in it in the back garden, a few tweaks later (another impressive factor of the K9 cart is the ability to make small adjustments) and he was off and running (literally). He took to it like a duck to water and re-found his mobility; it was as though he had always had a set of wheels. That weekend we took him out for a couple of walks in the country side and he was over the moon. He got excited at the mention of the “W” word and was eager to go out and about. The cart gave him (and us) a whole new lease of life. The cart is well balanced and light, breaks down easily into 3 parts suitable for carrying in a normal car (got rid of the MR2 for a boring hatchback) and is easily manoeuvrable around kissing gates in the countryside.
Saxon has now been the proud owner of his new wheels for a month or so (he hasn’t been able to find anywhere for the furry dice yet) and is livin
g life to the full, speeding around in his cart and full of life. It has made a massive difference to him, once he is in the cart he is raring to go and difficult to stop, the mobility is awesome; he copes well with muddy tracks and fairly large roots. The most important factor is his renewed enthusiasm for his walks and his ability to do “doggy” things such as sniff the smells and meet other dogs. Benefits for us, we get an excuse to go for walks in the countryside and instead of having people make adverse comments about the treatment of the poor dog we genuinely get upbeat comments on how wonderful it is to see him out and about and “what a good idea”. The amount of smiles you see on people’s faces is immeasurable. Quality of Life – its there in bucket loads.
Saxon is still swimming on a weekly basis to maintain his cardiovascular levels and when creating havoc in his cart his tail never stops wagging. I would heartily recommend a cart to any one who has a dog with mobility problems. They are suitable for all types of problems, front rear leg and both.
Meadow farm 2008
Copyright © 2008 Meadow Farm