TORTEVAL IRISH WOLFHOUNDS

Tuesday 11 October 2011

During three hours of surgery the vets inserted a metal pin into the centre of the femur, running along its length, and what amounts to an external scaffolding of metalwork and carbon-fibre pins. Apart from some technical problems relating to fitting all the bits together, the op went smoothly, and Kenna is now recovering from the anaesthetic.

We thank you all for your care and concern. This has been a really horrible few days, but it has been wonderful to know that so many people have Kenna (and us) in their hearts.

Wednesday 12 October 2011, am

So far, so good. Kenna has come round well from the anaesthetic and has passed a reasonably comfortable night. She's having to learn to walk all over again and enjoyed some liver treats for breakfast.

Wednesday 12 October 2011, pm

Not a good day. Having coped manfully with carrying around badly broken leg for four days, she's now struggling to re-learn how to walk on a leg with built-in scaffolding. She's obviously in a lot of discomfort, and, unprecedented for McKenna, is refusing all food. She's depressed and feeling very sorry for herself. She'll spend one more night at the vet's as they want to change the dressing tomorrow morning which would necessitate extra trauma getting in and out of the car. We hope that once we get her home her spirits and her appetite will improve.

Thursday 13 October2011, am

Not much change - still depressed and not eating, but at least she's drinking well. There are no signs of infection, and the vet will be checking her over and changing the dressing (for a smaller one, we hope) at lunchtime today. After that, we'll know whether she's coming home today.

Thursday 13 October 2011, pm

To our great relief (and O'Mara's delight) Kenna was allowed home this afternoon. We are keeping her separate from Rafferty and O'Mara, and she has settled into her pen (which comprises the kitchen and part of the dining room) well. She now has a smaller dressing on her leg and can walk short distances with two of us supporting her on a sling, but five days of hopping on her right leg have obviously taken their toll, and she just doesn't know what to do with her back end at all.

In the photos, the redness of her lower leg is bruising, and the odd shape of the dressing is due to the external fixator that is holding the two end of her femur together. The dressings on her flank cover her analgesic patches.

Although she seems happy to be home, she shows no interest in food at all, something that we never thought we'd see in a girl who will happily eat her own poo. However, she's drinking well and we're sure that when her appetite returns it will do so with a vengeance.

We're so grateful to everyone who has sent messages of support, from which we have drawn the strength to get us through this truly horrible week. We will reply to you all in due course, but please bear with us while we concentrate on caring for the one who really does need support.

We would also like to publicly extend our thanks to all the vets, nursing and reception staff at Isabelle Vets, especially surgeons, Doreen Ford, David Jeffrey and Chris Bishop, and nurses, Dani and Naomi, for their superb orthopaedic skills and for the very professional and caring way in which they looked after Kenna - and us. They are all agree that Kenna was a model patient, tolerant and cooperative throughout her stay and stealing everyone's heart.

Friday, 14 October 2011, am

Kenna is as comfortable as can be expected (which is to say, not very). The intra-medullary pin had slipped overnight, so the vet has visited to reposition it and redress her leg, which she tolerated very well. She's coping with frequent short outings to the garden with two of us supporting her on a sling. Still not eating, but she is drinking well so we're going to give her electrolyte solution until her appetite returns.

Friday, 14 October 2011, pm

Considerable progress as far as movement is concerned - she is now taking her weight on both legs and can manage a kind of crouching hobble with just one of us leading her by the collar. Unfortunately, she is showing signs of intestinal bleeding, a side effect of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug on her empty system, so that has had to be stopped for now.

She's still not eating, but she is happy to drink electrolyte solution so at least we're getting something in her. Other positives: her temp is normal, and she's not interfering with her dressing at all so doesn't need to wear a 'lamp-shade' - not yet, anyway.

Saturday, 15 October 2011

The vet visited this morning to redress Kenna's leg, and is very pleased with her progress. She is on yet more medication to make sure there is no more intestinal bleeding, but apart from that we are carrying on as before.

She is beginning to eat - just tiny, tiny amounts at a time. We have a bowl full of biscuits and other treats on the kitchen counter, and every time we pass we offer her something. Sometimes she takes it, sometimes she doesn't, but I think her appetite is beginning to return.

It's going to be a long, hard journey, but at least we're moving in the right direction at last.

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Good news - Kenna's appetite is definitely coming back. All day we have hand-fed her tiny amounts of kibble, and this evening for the first time she ate a small meal from her bowl. And thankfully, there have been no more signs of intestinal bleeding (fingers crossed).

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The vet has visited again to redress her wound and tighten the bolts holding the fixator and pin together, and we take Kenna out into the paddock every 2-3 hours, encouraging her to take her weight on the bad leg.

This morning Paul built her a pen on the patio so that she could take in some autumn sunshine. It meant she could at least have a different view from that across the kitchen and feel that life was getting back to something like normal.

For those of you who may be asking yourselves whether it would have been better to amputate the leg rather than put Kenna through such a long and painful period of recovery with an uncertain outcome - we simply do not know the answer. We put the question to both our vets separately the day after the incident, and both said that they believe the femur will heal well enough to be functional and that Kenna's remaining years (which we hope will be many - her mother is still fit and well at ten-and-a-half) will be happier, healthier and more active on four legs, even if one is lame, than on three. We are not 100% convinced, but without a crystal ball we can only be guided by their greater experience and knowledge.

Monday, 17 October, 2011

Not a good day. After the vet visited this morning to change her dressing and replace her Durogesic patches, Kenna suddenly became very distressed: hyperventilating, restless, unable to settle. It took several phone calls and a visit to the surgery to get to the bottom of what was going on, but it seems that the intra-medullary pin (which runs through the length of the femur) may have moved and be pressing on the sciatic nerve, causing her intense pain. Analgesic and anti-inflammatory injections eventually gave her some relief and she settled - but only for about four hours.

By 7:00 this evening she was in exactly the same pitiful state and we had to summon the on-call vet. A further analgesic injection, which we will continue four-hourly though the night, was again effective, and after consultation with the orthopaedic surgeon the plan is to admit Kenna tomorrow to be reassessed under anaesthetic, possibly to have the IM pin removed and one or two extra cross-bolts inserted into the bone to compensate for the subsequent loss of stability.

Tuesday, 18 October, 2011, am

All is well. The pin has been removed and two extra fixings inserted into the bone, and the vet is pleased with how stable the bone is. Kenna has had a boost of intravenous fluids and nourishment as she had almost nothing to eat or drink yesterday. When she comes home she will have a special high-calorie diet that we can liquidise and feed her by syringe if necessary. If only they had offered us this a week ago!

It's impossible to describe how good and brave she has been over the last week. There have been just three things she could not tolerate: one was the vet attaching a dressing to her skin using staples; one was at 3:00 this morning, when Mum gave her a pain-killing injection and got it all wrong; and the third was lifting her out of the car at the vet's this morning - she was growling, but just softly at the back of her throat, as though to say, "This hurts soo much, but I know I mustn't growl at people."

Please everyone, keep those fingers crossed that our courageous girl, who is such a credit to her breed, will at last begin to really recover from this terrible ordeal.

Tuesday, 18 October 2011, pm

She's home again, and the improvement in her, both mentally and physically, is enormous. Right now, she's totally relaxed, deeply asleep, and I can do passive movements on her leg with ease, whereas before it was as though everything was sticking. Maybe we really can make some progress now.

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Today's big milestone: Kenna wagged her tail when her dad came home from work! She's also walking much better with the big pin removed - previously she continually 'went over' on her toes; now she can place her foot flat on the ground.

She's tolerating her wounds and dressings well, and is sporting a very 'on-trend' Lycra legging over the bandages which so far has been enough to prevent any interference.

Food remains a problem. We have given up trying to tempt her with this or that special delicacy - nothing works, and it's now eight days since she ate properly. But eat she must, so at regular intervals though the day we place large dollops of prescription food on her tongue. It's a highly nutritious, high calorie, tinned food, with the consistency of soft pâté, and the gloopy texture means she can't spit it out, even if she wants to. No more Mr Nice Guy! Our hope is that once we can get some decent amounts of food in her she'll start to feel better in herself and that might help her appetite to return.

Thursday, 20 October 2011

Not a good start to the day, finding that the Lycra legging had failed in its duty, and Kenna had managed to remove all the stitches from the site of the intra-medullary pin during the night. She absolutely refused to tolerate a local anaesthetic injection, so had to be heavily sedated while the necessary repair work was carried out on our dining room floor by the vet and a nurse.

And now, of course, it gets really tough for her: the head collar that we'd hoped to avoid has had to be brought into action. The slightly good news is that we've found an alternative to the traditional 'lampshade', called a 'Bitenot' collar. It restricts the dog's neck movement, and Kenna doesn't like it at all - but it doesn't freak her out as a 'lampshade' does.

"No, no, please don't do this to me!"

"That's better. Not good, but better."

As far as her appetite is concerned, the only improvement is that we've managed to force-feed her a larger quantity of prescription food. She hasn't eaten a normal meal for ten days and turns her head away from almost everything we offer as though it's poison. It doesn't seem to be a question of finding the right, tempting food. Kenna is a girl who normally eats anything - animal, vegetable, mineral and everything in between. Her anorexia seems to be psychological in origin - she's gone through so much pain and stress in the last couple of weeks that she's switched off, and no food, however scrummy, seems capable of switching her appetite back on. We hope that patience and time will allow her to put distance between the worst of the experience and where she is now, and that the improvement in her physical well-being as the leg heals and her system responds to the high-value food that we're now getting into her will lift her mood and restore her to her normal, greedy little self!

On a brighter note, she's been out enjoying the sunshine in the paddock with Rafferty and O'Mara today. Until now we've shut the other two out whenever Kenna was in the paddock. Mara is intrigued by her new smells and appearance, and if she gets too close Kenna growls as she used to when Mara was little - and thankfully, Mara pays heed. Needless to say, Rafferty has no interest in Kenna's problems at all - typical male!

"Back in my rightful place!"

"Ah yes - food! I remember it well!"

Afters!

Friday, 21 October 2011

It's now two weeks since McKenna's leg was broken, and we've travelled a huge distance. Physically, she's recovering at a tremendous pace - the wound is healing well, the discharge has subsided, and the post-operative bruising and horrendous swelling have settled. She's weight-bearing on the leg most of the time (and managing to get on and off the sofa), and this evening she decided that it was time she had a walk and positioned herself at the car with the other two in readiness. A very disappointed girl, I'm afraid, but a good sign nonetheless. We've been trying to restore some sense of normality to her routine (the pen has been taken down and she's mixing freely, under supervision, with the other two) and she simply decided to take normality a stage further than we intended.

Food-wise, there's been a definite improvement. Yesterday's 'super-food' fest having given her diarrhoea (less welcome than ever right now), we backed off and decided to wait for her to be ready to eat, just offering small amounts of her usual food at the usual times. On a friend's suggestion (thanks, Sue!) we started her on some herbal anti-stress medication (Zylkene). It may just be coincidence, or perhaps Zylkene has magical properties, but this evening Kenna ate a small portion from her bowl, independently - a first for 11 days. She then followed it up with a brief bone-munch for pudding. Maybe, just maybe, we're turning the corner . . .

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"This is a nice new rug, Mum!

Sunday, 23 October 2011

This doesn't feel right at all - we're having a relaxing weekend!!

Kenna is eating almost normally - not yet with quite her old enthusiasm perhaps, but she is eating. She's hobbling quite nimbly around at the house and garden, not interfering too much with her dressing and other than objecting most strongly to be left behind when the others go for walks, she's settling comfortably into a gentle routine.

And we're even getting to quite like the patchwork quilt of mats and rugs that we've had to put down through the house to keep her from slipping on the laminate floors! All is well with our world!

Now we can heave a sigh of relief (and one of gratitude to everyone who has sent in messages of support and suggestions for kick-starting Kenna's appetite) and move on to the next stage in this journey - giving her the rest and nourishment her body needs to heal that leg.

"You would not believe what I've had to go through

to persuade them to have a rug in the kitchen."

"OK, but promise me there aren't any tablets hidden in it!"

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Kenna's convalescence is continuing uneventfully. She's eating three normal meals a day, though she still hasn't quite reverted to her old 'super-suction-vacuuming' technique, is mobilising gently around the house and garden at her own pace and having her dressing changed on alternate days.

Check x-rays will be carried out next week, when we'll get some idea as to how well the bone is healing. We're grateful to Chris Bishop of Isabelle Vets for letting us have copies of the 'before' and 'after' x-rays of the fracture - you can see just how much work her body has to do.

Before surgery

After

Diary of a fractured femur

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Over the last few days, Kenna's recovery has progressed in leaps and bounds (figuratively speaking, that is) and she's much brighter in herself.

It's a joy to see her eating with almost her usual manic enthusiasm again - and she's back at her old job of cleaning the others' bowls once she's dealt with hers. She has a 50/50 mix of adult and puppy food to make up for her prolonged fast and to give her the fuel her body needs to repair the fractured bone. That's supplemented, of course, by plenty of extra treats - we think we can be forgiven for spoiling her a little - and she now joins the others in the bedtime biscuit ritual just as intently as before.

McKenna and O'Mara: ladies who lunch.

What goes up . . .

. . . can also come down.

She's also moving much more comfortably. Previously she tended to hop around the house on three legs and only used her bad one for longer distances outside, but she now motors around on four-wheel drive most of the time, independently and at some speed. Over the weekend she mastered the puppy-ramp that we've reintroduced to give her free access up the steps from the patio to the paddock - until then she had to take the gentler but longer route across the drive, which meant being on the lead every time she went out.

The Bedtime

Biscuit Ritual -

Kenna in the middle.

We continue to change her dressing ourselves on alternate days, but the vet visited yesterday to check and tighten all the bolts on the fixator and declared herself very pleased with Kenna's progress. There's no sign of infection and she's happy that everything is going well. She has decided not to x-ray for another week or two, at which time she'll take the opportunity to adjust the external fixator while Kenna in under anaesthetic.

We still have a long road to travel with our wayward girl, but so far, so good . . .

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Four weeks now since surgery and Kenna continues to make good progress and has even been seen doing play-bows to O'Mara. She's undoubtedly bored and frustrated by her long confinement to home base, but seems to have accepted that she can no longer come on walks with the others.

Having to wear her Bitenot collar whenever we're not around to keep an eye on her grieves her greatly, but when we have been foolish enough to trust her not to interfere with the dressing she has let us down badly!

The external fixator:

from the rear

from the front

On the move

Having examined the leg today, our vet is so confident that healing is taking place that she has deferred the x-ray until next week. If all is going well, the fixator will be reduced then with a view to removing it 2 - 4 weeks from now - then the hard work with physio and hydrotherapy will start.

Monday 14 November 2011

Five weeks since surgery: Kenna's x-rays this morning were rather disappointing. Although there are signs that some healing is taking place there is as yet no calcification of the new tissue and the fixator has to remain in place for another month. In the long-term, it's clear that the affected leg will be permanently shortened, which is bound to have a considerable impact on the level of mobility she eventually achieves.

On a brighter note, she can now start having short lead walks, which should cheer her up no end. And she managed to get in and out of the car almost unaided, opening up the prospect of taking her out for drives as well. She's a girl who loves going anywhere in the car, so this will give her good mental stimulation and hopefully prevent her becoming depressed as the weeks of inactivity crawl by.

The vet will see her again in two weeks when she will reduce the fixator to encourage the leg to do more work, with the intention of removing it two weeks after that.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Kenna has had a busy week, getting out for two very short walks every day, and also lots of car trips. Although she can get into and out of the car her technique isn't great, so we restrict the car outings to drives only so as to reduce the number of 'take-offs and landings' and the risk of her hurting her leg. The words "ride in the car" are music to her ears though - after five weeks of being confined to the house and paddock her world has suddenly and magically expanded and she's thrilled just to be going out. Not only does the car give provide interest in her day and something to look forward to, but because she always likes to travel standing up it also forces her to use her weakened muscles, especially in her bad leg which she needs to balance.

The walks, although lasting just 5-10 minutes, tire her considerably. She insists on starting off at full speed, managing to pull on the lead even on three legs, but as she tires and slows she tends to use her bad leg more, if only for balance.

What continues to cause her much annoyance is that she cannot lie on her left side - the side she has preferred to sleep on all her life. She tries hard to do it, getting herself into some awkward looking positions, but whatever position she adopts that damned fixator stops her getting comfortable and she reluctantly and very grumpily go backs to lying on her right side. On the plus side though, we've now dared to leave off her Bitenot collar, and she hasn't (yet!) let us down, even overnight.

Three legs or four - intruders must be dealt with!

Trying - and failing - to get comfortable on her left side.

Back on her right side - comfy but grumpy!

As far as the leg itself is concerned there's no news - we're simply waiting now, giving her plenty of high-protein food with vitamin and mineral supplements and keeping our fingers firmly crossed that the bone will heal.

Sunday 27 November

Over the last few days we noticed that McKenna was no longer using her bad leg at all. We thought it might be because she was regaining strength in the rest of her body, making it easier for her to hop on three legs than to use the broken one, but examination by the vet yesterday revealed that two of the six pins attaching the vertical bars to the bone had worked loose, which must have been very uncomfortable for her. They were removed today under sedation, together with one of the vertical bars. This isn't a setback, as the reduction of the fixator was due to be done on Tuesday anyway, and the good news is that the new bone seems to be developing well and Kenna is booked in to have the rest of the fixator removed under sedation on 5 December.

Once all the wounds have healed over, she will start hydrotherapy and the long journey back to fitness . . . fingers crossed!

Tuesday 6 December

Eight long weeks after she fractured her femur, with X-rays showing that the bone is continuing to develop and calcify, Kenna's external fixator was removed under sedation yesterday. There are no stitches or dressings - just four small wounds from the pins that should heal quickly. Already she appears to be more mobile and is making better use of the leg, and there's big bonus for her - she can lie on her left side at last (though as yet she is naturally rather hesitant about this.)

The photo on the right shows the degree of muscle wasting and also how much shorter the leg is now. We know that some of this is because of actual shortening of the femur itself and will be permanent, but some may be due to contraction of the atrophied muscles and tendons, and it remains to be seen how much this will improve as Kenna regains strength and muscle tone.

Below, you can see in the x-ray taken after the fixator was removed how the two broken ends of bone are knitting together. The 'stray' pieces of bone will remain where they are, to be slowly encapsulated by fibrous scar tissue.

On her left side at last!

I discussed Kenna's treatment with staff at our canine local hydrotherapy centre this morning, and they believe that by far the best treatment for her initially will be a water-treadmill. The bad news is that they don't have one; and the good news? We will be travelling to the mainland with the dogs in ten days' time to spend Christmas and new year at our second home in Somerset, and a nearby hydrotherapy centre does have a water-treadmill. Here's hoping they're not fully booked or closing down for the holidays!!

Before surgery

Fixator and IM pin

Fixator removed

The fracture

Monday 10 October 2011

McKenna is in hospital with a broken leg, having been kicked by a horse on Friday evening. Her left femur is badly fractured and needs surgery to attach an external fixator (metal bar), which will remain in place for at least six weeks, depending on how well the bone heals. With a six year old wolfhound there are no certainties. To make matters worse, there is no suitable fixator available on the island. One is being urgently couriered from the mainland today, and the operation will take place tomorrow evening. If all goes well, Kenna will be home on Wednesday; meanwhile, she is being as brave and cooperative as only a wolfhound can be, in very difficult circumstances.

The vets are confident that she will recover the function of the leg, and knowing how tough she is, both mentally and physically, we're sure that her recovery will be as speedy as the girl herself. The determination and strong will that got her into this situation are now the vital resources she needs to see her through it.

Tuesday 13 December

Kenna has had a good week, gradually increasing the distance that she can walk without too much discomfort (to maybe 250 yards/metres), and even managing to establish something of a regular rhythm at times - albeit with a rather rolling, drunken-sailor sort of gait.

And it certainly looks as though she's starting to regain some of her wasted thigh muscles, though that may just be wishful thinking on our part.

At the weekend we took all three dogs out in the car together with no problem, as as the Smilebox shows, Kenna thoroughly enjoyed being out and about with her pack again.

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Tuesday 20 December

We're staying at our second home in the UK for the holidays, and Kenna has finally been able to begin hydrotherapy using the water treadmill at Bath Canine Hydrotherapy.

Her first session went very well. She needed a little persuasion (sausage!) to get into the treadmill, and coped well as the water level rose, but then became a little worried when the floor started to move. Administering further amounts of sausage at regular intervals seemed to calm her nerves, and with Lauren the physiotherapist moving her bad leg and Paul encouraging her forwards against the 'flow' of the floor using the safety harness, she managed a very promising first session.

Lauren has also shown us how to massage and stretch her back and leg muscles at home more effectively, so we hope to see a real improvement in her movement over the next few weeks and months.

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Thursday 29 December

Although Kenna's first hydrotherapy session went well, her second was something of a disaster as she stumbled getting into the water-treadmill and knocked her bad leg. She was clearly in a lot of pain and we probably should have abandoned the session, but Lauren, the physiotherapist, was keen to continue so we allowed it to go ahead.

The next day Kenna was in a lot of pain and couldn't walk far, and when we returned to the clinic two days later for her third session she was very reluctant to go through the door - and then she would go no further. She was frightened and shaking (and she's not a girl who frightens easily) so we didn't even attempt to get her into the treadmill. Instead, Lauren did massage and stretches with her in the doorway, while Paul and I distracted her with treats. After twenty minutes she had relaxed enough that we could gradually coax her into the room and we eventually we managed to get her to walk into the treadmill, pick up some sausage, and then out of the other end, which was very brave of her and felt like a great triumph.

We weren't sure what to expect from session no 4, and so we gave her Zylkene (the natural de-stressor that had helped her recover her appetite post-op) beforehand. At first it didn't seem to help as she was stressed and quivering, and we wanted to abandon the treadmill and try the pool, but unfortunately it wasn't available as it wasn't warm enough after the holiday. So we decided to have one try at getting Kenna into the treadmill. Sneakily, we opened both doors of the treadmill and threw in some treats, shutting the exit door as soon as she was in. Kenna wasn't happy, but she bravely managed a full 20 minute session without any obvious increase in her stress level so it was worth doing.

Away from hydro, she is making excellent progress, and has been coping with, and enjoying, much longer walks over the last few days without any obvious ill-effects the next day.

On our return home next week she will attend our local centre, where the pool awaits!

10 January 2012

Back home after our Christmas stay in the UK, yesterday Kenna had her first session in our local hydrotherapy pool. What can we say about this girl and her phenomenal courage? Courage is not about not being afraid of anything (that's called stupidity) but about overcoming your fears, and McKenna has never more clearly displayed the 'great courage' of wolfhound legend and the breed standard than she did in the pool yesterday - albeit in a modified form.

Water is not her natural habitat, and to start with, although the pool had been drained to a level at which she could stand, and although her dad and the physiotherapist were in there with her, and although we were fully equipped with sausage to distract and reward her - she was, quite simply, terrified. She had got into the car so happily for the drive to the hydrotherapy centre, believing she was going to have a nice outing, only to find that Mum, Dad and some stranger were trying to drown her. After all she has been through over the last three months, it seemed at first to be more than she could bear, and more than we could bear to inflict on her.

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Slowly though, she began to relax, and when she stopped thrashing and splashing enough to take some sausage and then look for more, we knew we were making progress. By the end of the half-hour session, she was calmly wading the length of the pool (not far, 16'/5 metres) supported and encouraged by Nikki-the-Physio and Paul, with Anne acting as coach and cheer-leader at each end of the pool.

She will return next week for a second 'wading' session to build her confidence before the water level is raised enough to force her to swim. Although she recovered so well from her initial panic, we're expecting some resistance to a second session now that she knows what's involved - watch this space!

Away from the water, her life is slowly returning to something close to normality. She's regaining muscle tone and strength in the injured leg, and with the return of her coat she looks much more like her old self. She manages two slow 30-40 minute walks a day, making such good progress that she has worn down the nails on her injured leg to the quick and now wears a protective boot. So that she doesn't miss out on the company and security of the pack, when both of us are available we take all three dogs out together, with Kenna doing a shorter version of the walk and having a rest while the others continue on a longer loop. This is system works well, but the logistics of walking three dogs who have very different natural speeds (O'Mara - full speed ahead; Rafferty - gentle amble; McKenna - dead slow and stop) is going to be a continuing challenge for us.

"Bad leg? What bad leg?!"

20 January 2012

We weren't sure what reaction to expect from Kenna on her second visit to the pool. Would she refuse to enter the pool-house? Have to be dragged up the ramp? Freak out once she was in the water? Well, no, no and no. She wasn't exactly keen, but we had no difficulty getting her into the pool. Once in, she had a few minutes of panic, but calmed very quickly and was soon enjoying (honest!) a very workman-like therapy session, thanks to her dad's support and generous supplies of chicken.

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12 February 2012

The bad news: McKenna managed one more session of hydrotherapy, then had a week's break - and this week when we returned she decided enough was enough and simply refused to be enticed into the pool for love nor sausage. Short of forcing her, which neither Nikki nor we were prepared to do, we were at a dead-end. This was especially disappointing as her general progress seemed to have plateau'd over the previous couple of weeks, with no improvement in her gait or muscle tone, nor in the extent to which she was actually using the leg - she still had a strong tendency to 'tripod', particularly when tired.

The good news: Nikki has put us in touch with a canine physiotherapist, Lorna, who spent two hours with us and Kenna yesterday and has suggested several strategies to help us teach Kenna to use her leg properly again. First and foremost, Lorna has lent us a pulsing magnetic therapy device, which is supposed to stimulate muscle development by improving blood supply. While this is doing its work, for 30 minutes 3-4 times a day, we are also carrying out a full range of passive movements - stretching, flexing and massaging the leg to try to improve flexibility and blood supply, and also to increase sensory stimulation.

On Lorna's instructions, Paul has set up a series of very low 'horse jumps' in the paddock, and twice a day we will (try to!) lead her over these, making sure she uses her her bad leg, rather than bunny-hopping. Before and after all trips in the car, she now has to make two tight circuits of the car on the lead in each direction, the aim again being to force her to weight-bear on the leg.

Added to this, her walks have now become therapy sessions, as we seek out as many different and difficult soft surfaces as possible - long grass, sand, gravel, deep pine needles, soft mud, whatever we can find - and try to incorporate as many short, sharp hills as we can. Every time she stops to rest or to sniff, we spend the time stretching and massaging the leg so that she gets maximum benefit from every walk.

The idea of walking only on soft surfaces is to make her muscles work harder, but it also means she no longer has to wear a protective boot to prevent her scraping her nails raw. Although she tolerated the boot well, Lorna has pointed out that it prevents her nerves and muscles getting any feedback from her paw and so may have been counter-productive.

How effective all of this will be remains to be seen, but at the very least, it is good therapy for us, as it is giving us something positive and pro-active to do to help Kenna get back her fitness.

Recovery is hard work!

25 February 2012

Over the last week, McKenna has come on in leaps and bounds - almost literally.

The difference in the muscle tone of her weak leg has been truly remarkable - it has gone from being atrophied and floppy to firm and strong, with a noticeable improvement in her speed, stamina and enjoyment of walks. Her Achilles tendon in particular, which previously felt like a piece of limp string, is now back to near-normal steely tension. The gain in muscle mass has been so great that it's no longer obvious (except when she moves) which leg is the bad one, and we have to check that it's the left leg we're working on.

We're continuing with all the exercises and therapies that Lorna-the-Physio devised for us, and in addition, we attach a .5kg (1lb) velcro wrist-weight just below Kenna's hock when she's just relaxing around the house, so that every movement, whether she's awake or asleep, her leg has to work harder.

Before physiotherapy: left leg limp and flaccid.

Gait from front

Gait from rear

Gait from side

Uphill

Doing the 'humps'

Doing the 'jumps'

There seems no doubt that we're now entering a 'beneficial circle' - the stronger the leg becomes, the more Kenna uses it, and the stronger it becomes. Because her femur is shortened we know she will always be lame, and to others her gait must look very strange indeed, but she's now enjoying something approaching a normal life and is much more cheerful in herself.

For those who may think that at least what has happened will have cured her fixation with horses and curbed her hunting instinct - no, it hasn't! We have recently had two instances where she has caught sight of a horse, and one of them was the very horse that did the damage. Had Kenna not been very firmly held on the lead she would have taken off like an Exocet missile just as she did last time. Some dogs just don't learn!

10 April 2012

It's six months since that dark and dreadful evening when McKenna took off in pursuit of a horse like a greyhound from a trap, and the consequences of that failed recall will be with her (and us) for the rest of her life. However, over the last few weeks her mobility has continued to improve, to such an extent that her life is now almost back to normal. Although she can't keep up with the others on a long (hour's) walk, she can walk for an hour at her own speed, and she can keep up with Rafferty and O'Mara reasonably well for 20-30 minutes or so. Her gait remains very inelegant, but what it lacks in grace it makes up for in effectiveness.

While we were staying in England in March we took the opportunity to try her in the water-treadmill again. To our amazement, she took to it quite calmly - at least, she did once she'd learnt its secondary function as a sausage-producing-machine. We managed six sessions over two weeks, with Lauren-the-Physio gradually increasing both the length of the session and the speed of the treadmill.

The best

hydrotherapy . . .

We're now back home in Guernsey, and have had a long consultation with Lorna, our physio here. She believes, as any physiotherapist must, that there is still room for improvement in Kenna's gait and is keen for us to continue with various exercises and treatments. However, we feel that Kenna herself has had enough of jumping through hoops (figuratively speaking). For six months she has put up with everything that veterinary surgeons and animal physiotherapists can throw at her: fixators and pins, drips and pills, dressings and injections, pools and treadmills, bends and stretches, ultrasound and magno-therapy, jumps and humps, circuits and figures of eight . . . the list is endless. Through it all, she has been cooperative and compliant (mainly), good natured and tolerant, even when some of the things we asked of her must have seemed totally insane.

Operating the

'Sausage Machine'.

. . . and the best

physiotherapy.

Now, with her seventh birthday approaching, we feel it is time to let her relax and enjoy her remaining years. Her movement may not be as good as it could be, but there are no guarantees that even if we persist with every treatment and therapy on offer there will be any substantial improvement. Her left femur is about 1" (2.5 cm) shorter than the right and nothing can alter that. She compensates for the discrepancy by bending her right leg when she walks, so that she carries her back low and her tail brushes the ground. It's an ugly gait, but it works, and we feel the time has come to just let her be, and allow her to enjoy as near normal a wolfhound life as possible. We will continue to walk her on soft surfaces as her nails cannot tolerate tarmac, and to use hilly walking courses as much as we can (good for us as well as her), but other than that we plan to let her be her own physiotherapist. As her fitness and strength improve, she is increasingly demanding games from O'Mara, and the exercise that a romping game (albeit a relatively short and low-key one) provides must surely be one of the best of therapies.

So, we bring this blog to a close, but not without a heart-felt vote of thanks to all who have followed Kenna's progress over the last six months, and the friends who have been so supportive and understanding throughout (you know who you are), especially during those bleak and fearful early days.

And of course, a huge thank you to all the professionals who have done so much to help Kenna: Geoff George of the GSPCA who arrived so promptly with the animal ambulance, even though he was off-duty; the surgeons, nurses and reception staff at Isabelle Vets, Lauren at Bath Canine Hydrotherapy, Nikki at Guernsey Canine Hydrotherapy and Lorna, the Four Legged Physio (website under construction). It's thanks to you all that McKenna's recovery has reached a stage where she can enjoy life again as a wolfhound should.