Quick update on Mika's lameness

So Mika's had several chiropractic appointments now. She's still very slightly lame, off-and-on, but there's been a gradual steady improvement. Her chiropractor told us that his job is mostly done (except for occasional adjustments, but not every two weeks anymore). What needs to done now is muscle work, according to him. So I've reinstigated daily massage for Mika, focusing on her shoulder muscles. I've also been doing FitPaws egg ball work with her almost every day, and have been taking her on regular walks. (Mika is one of those dogs who doesn't really enjoy walks, but I've been making them enjoyable for her by playing find-the-treats-on-the-ground games with her.)

So she's doing pretty well :)

Chillin' at this weekend's trial

Summer dozing

Shadow loves the summer because she can spend her days outside. She's somewhere between 18 and 19 years old now (my family found her as a stray long ago!) and she's still going strong.

Just playin' around

M offered this trick in the backyard while I was taking photos of her. It's one of her favourite tricks :)

It's a good life!

Wall-e running in his new Julius K-9 IDC harness! (With the extra Y-belt attachment that I ordered.)

 

Quick shot of Wall-e

Mika’s first chiro adjustment

On Wednesday Mika had her first chiropractic adjustment (as recommended by our regular vet when I brought her in for very slight lameness).

I literally just copied/pasted these rough notes I made on a word document on my computer, so they're just random/unedited jot notes:

-          Muscle spasms on left side (shoulder area and rear leg area)

-          Out of 32 possible adjustments, did 18, had 8 concerned about

-          Right pelvis higher than left

-          Above caused pelvis (?) to rotate/tilt toward the left (left is tilted more forward)

-          This caused the front to tilt/rotate toward the right (left is tilted more forward) to compensate

-          This caused everything in between to be affected

-          Compensating with left side for the right side (where lameness was initially noticed)

-          Main area of concern is middle/back (more middle)

-          This is where she appeared most uncomfortable (especially back-middle – more back)

-          Recommended aspirin

-          Give Traumeel right after we get home, then before we go to bed, then in the middle of the night

Her body's been doing a lot of compensating, and rearranging as a result of compensating. The chiropractor adjusted 18 different areas, and he said eight of these areas are of concern. We'll be back in two weeks and see how it goes from there; she'll probably need 4-6 regular appointments over the coming weeks. The vet is great, though. Lol, I took to him right away when we walked into the exam room and he'd just finished loading an assortment of treats onto the exam table :) Next step for me is to research Robaxacet (the muscle relaxant he wants me to give her before our next appointment, because Mika had a couple areas of muscle spasms).

Oh, he also doesn't think Mika has any problems in her joints that I should be concerned about, unlike our regular vet who suspected possible minor arthritis. I didn't mention about Mika's joints cracking when she changes positions though (this is why our regular vet suspected arthritis). I myself am not sure that cracking is a sign of arthritis, as I've read articles that say it's something normal that can happen with aging but doesn't necessary mean that the individual is experiencing discomfort. I'll discuss this with our chiro vet next time though.

Yesterday Mika experienced a short period where she showed no lameness at all in her front legs. Woot! She went back to a very slight limp later, though (like she had before the adjustment).

And yesterday I brought Wall-e in to get his B12 injection (like I mentioned in a previous post, our regular vet thinks he has low B12). He'll be getting this 4 times a year.