Holiday Ramblings

Well, it's been a while since I've posted an entry. Work has been very slow this week, which in this case is good. We could all use a little breather.

My Border Collie Geordi just turned 14. Only a few months ago, the vet wanted to put him down. We were told he had neurological damage, probably from degenerative myelopathy (like MS in humans), a spinal tumor, or a stroke on the spinal cord. We had woken up one morning to find him hunched up and unable to walk. We took him to the vet and went to work. The vet called me around noon with this news and wanted to put him down then and there. While I was willing to concede that might be the choice we had to make, I could not do it just then. We had to take him home and give him some time. My husband Howard pointed out that Geordi had gotten his backside stuck under the bed the other morning, and could this be a back injury? Yes, it's possible, the vet told us when we went to pick him up. He didn't seem convinced though. A couple of doses of previcox and 48 hours later and Geordi was running around the back yard. Don't always believe what the "expert" tells you.

In doing some further research into Canine Disc Disease/Canine Degenerative Disc Disease, I have learned that this condition can indeed cause paralysis. I'm not angry with the vet, he was just basing his diagnosis on what he saw and offered to refer us to a veterinary neurologist for a definitive diagnosis. For a 40 pound dog at 14 years of age, we have decided to forego the trip to the neurologist, because it seems like a lot of cost to tell us what is wrong with him--which we think we already know--without being able to do anything about it other than what we are already doing, NSAIDs and restricting some of his activity (i.e. no more stairs!).

However, this, coupled with some recent observations, has led me to the decision to retire my little Cairn Terrier, Autumn from flyball. A friend of ours who has been breeding and coursing whippets was over the other day, and noticed that Autumn looked a little stiff. Later in the day, she noticed the stiffness was gone. The next day, she was running flyball in the backyard and looking very comfortable doing it. It was a bit warmer than the previous day. The following weekend at a flyball tournament, she was running very stiff and looked uncomfortable. Fortunately, there happened to be a vet on site who also did chiropractic and acupuncture. She noticed several places on Autumn's back/spine that needed adjustment. Then she found a muscle spasm in her groin that caused Autumn to yelp. The vet told me that because she did a quick adjustment on it, the spasm could come back. She advised me to continue rubbing it, especially before a race. During this rubdown, which was just before her last race of the day, she gave me another yelp of pain. Neither the rubbing nor the adjustment, not to mention the deramaxx I gave her made any improvement in her running. Now this is very unusual. Normally, Autumn runs very comfortably and often quite a bit faster after an adjustment. So, I was concerned enough to pull her from racing on Sunday.

This whole series of behaviors got me thinking that perhaps it was time to let her retire from this sport. After all, she was not like Geordi who lived for the game. Autumn played 90-95% for Mama and treats, and the other 5-10% for the enjoyment of it. She does have quite a good time playing in the back yard, but doesn't seem to get quite as much joy from tournament play. Anyway, the more I thought about it, the more I was sure this was the right decision. She is only 7 (8 in February) but at only 10" tall, she has had to jump 80-60% of her height for most of her career (U-FLI only came along in the last two years and NAFA only lowered their jumps to 7" this year). Running Veterans helps out the big dogs, but offers no breaks for the small dogs. This really seems unfair, because the big dogs generally never jump their own jump height anyway. For little dogs, Veterans needs to be a 4" jump height or lower. But anyway, that is a lot of jumping and stretching and landing for her little body. I don't want her to wind up in the condition that Geordi is--a balancing act between protecting his kidneys (already diseased) and reducing his pain.

So, my baby, my little heart-dog, with whom I have worked harder than you can imagine to get her to play flyball, gets to retire from the sport. I am quite sure that she will not be too chuffed about it. As long as she gets to parade around and get treats and attention, I think she will be quite content with the change. And, we can turn our attention to low-impact sports such as earthdog and tracking. It is a bittersweet decision, but I think it is in her best interests.

For now, I am greatly looking forward to a four-day holiday from work and time spent at home with Howard and the furkids. My reflections on this holiday will be thanks that Geordi is still with us and seems to still be enjoying life. I am thankful that all of my furry ones are healthy. I am thankful to whatever insight, higher power, or turn of the wind guided me to this decision about Autumn. I am thankful that my Dad is in remission from colon cancer, and that my husband and I are healthy, have good jobs, and a roof over our heads.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I'm sure the dogs are already dreaming of turkey!