Stumbling On

Fips' stumbling is getting worse. His gait is very stiff on the rear right and that same leg often just gives out from under him, causing him to slide down onto his butt, as if keeling over on the right rear side. Once down it is difficult for him to stand up again, although eventually he still manages.

This has been building up, but since the seizure it is radically worse. On the Alderpark trail walks, in December or January, I was able to "massage out" his hips and this would cause the curving back and the bias to the right to correct itself.

In the morning he would be stiff, and stumble a bit but as the day wore on he would get better.

The walk before the last one at the athletic field, which was either Sunday or Monday, he was quite okay. Stiff in the rear with a very slight right bias but otherwise pretty good. His hesitation and reluctance had more to do with blindness than with lameness.

Immediately after the seizure he was collapsing on his rear a lot. But once home, that night, he was walking around and around in a circle. Stiffly but walking.

However since then it has gotten worse... and it seems to get progressively worse. Even if he can manage to walk stiffly and straight, the slightest turn causes him to collapse. He is not dragging his leg, it just doesn't hold him up.

So I took him to Dr. Jack who looked at the December X-rays. Jack says L2, L4 disks have growth and this is the disk through which the nerve trunk line to the rear leg runs. He gave him a shot a cortisone and said to put him back on the previcox and that he would be up and running again. Come Monday when we do the blood test, he wants to put him on steroids.

I'm getting different diagnoses here. Back in December, Rana said he had no significant spurs on his vertebrae and that I could take him off previcox. Two doctors down in California said that if hadn't developed back problems by this age, he was basically free and clear. Could the phenobarbitol interfere with his brain control of the hind leg?

As for the eyes. Jack said he does react to light (the lens closes) but that he is effectively blind. He doesn't think the carnosine will work for this type of "cataract"

-oOo-

This degeneration is pathetic to watch. Fips does seem confused or at a loss and does struggle with his failing gait. Sometimes he just gives up and curls up on the floor where he is... for a pseudo "nap" before lifting himself up and then stiffly walking about and stumbling. He doesn't see things (like his bowl) and so he walks into it and then falls over it. He walks himself into corners and then just stares. None of this strikes me as happy.

I watched him very closely during our walk down mainstreet in Blaine before taking him to the vet. He actually managed better on the street than in the house or around this farm. In fact he managed OK on the gravel. He stumbled but was actually able to lift himself up. He also crossed the street slowly but without collapsing as cars patiently waited.

Most important, he was interested in smelling the bushes and posts and this much he seemed to enjoy, albeit in a quiet elder way.

He still has appetite and although he eats slowly he clearly wants and to still enjoys food (especially meat and mush).

Coming back home this afternoon, he did bounce over and down the door ledge and took a challenge poke at Rosco. (Jack said he would do this).

He enjoys cuddling with me along my side.

With Fips the stumbles don't just produce perplexity. I have a clear sense that he is disappointed and perhaps even humiliated. It is also clear that he is in at least SOME discomfort but not so much that he doesn't want to walk at all. But although he may be frustrated, he has not given up.

He also knows that I am trying to do something about the eyes.

It's pointless to prognosticate, since time will tell shortly enough. What matters is that he not suffer pain, humiliation or demoralization and that he still have moments of enjoyment in life.

My job is to care for him and watch and be patient. I get exasperated when he stumbles into a bowl and sets of a big CLANG. But I take a deep breath, walk over, lift him up and stroke him. I should try to crank up some "cheerfulness" from within me to impart to him. Patience and stroking is fine and good, but it is also sorrowful, and I think I need to find a way to inject some emotional happiness into him, if I can.

There will be time enough in the future to think back to brighter puppier days.

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