Pet Care – Walking Support

Pet Care – Walking Support

By Michael Russell

My dog was getting on in years. She was around nine years old. I had been enjoying her company since she was about two. Her previous owner was having some relationship difficulties with his spouse and they were separating so he chose not to look after the dog any more. I was looking for a large heavy watchdog at the time and answering a local classified news paper ad brought us together. She was a Rottweiler. What first impressed me about her was her quiet self-assured manner. She fitted my requirements exactly.

Snoopy loved to eat. She had a big appetite. Even giving her daily exercise walks didn’t seem to reduce her weight gain. She was so heavy I could not have lifted her. It could have been her age catching up with her, but Snoopy’s leg and shoulder joints started causing her to limp. Perhaps she became too tired after one of her walks. I saw her trip badly one day and realised that she was going to have some trouble walking. Since her joints appeared weak causing her pain, I thought giving them support would help.

I went to a hardware store to look for something to use for leg support. Looking in the plumbing section, I spotted some black coloured heavy-duty pipe insulation. It was a spongy yet firm tube with an open seam running along its side. It should fit around the dog’s leg even if cut in half.

At home I checked how long a piece of tubing to use. It had to cover the weak knee joint with some support above and below. Two lengths of tube cut to the same size were place around Snoopy’s leg at the knee joint. During the fitting she wasn’t sure that she liked the feeling of the tubing on her leg and she squirmed around a little. I told her that the tubing had to be put on her leg to help her walk and she let me continue the fitting. When the tube was adjusted in the right place on her leg, I taped it into place with heavy-duty plastic box tape. I wrapped the tape tight enough to give the joint support but not so tight it was uncomfortable.

Snoopy seemed to understand that the support tube on her leg would help her walk. She didn’t chew at it or try to rip away the tape. She tested it out. Snoopy walked a few uncertain steps, still limping slightly but she accepted that this new thing on her leg would help her walk. She was able to walk around limitedly. She could go outside some but we cut out her walks for a few days.

After about 4 days of wearing the support, she was walking stronger. I waited another couple of days before removing her leg support. When her leg support came off she was able to walk more smoothly. The joint was stronger and had its movement restored.

The application of the leg support had been successful. She regained her walking ability enough to continue taking her daily walks. She was able to go on mountain hikes so she could sniff out where deer and bear had roamed. She especially enjoyed watching squirrels, and digging out ground squirrel holes. Life was good.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Pet Care

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

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3 Responses

  1. chris
    | Reply

    feed it some pineapple or pineapple juice and its poop becomes sour. The dog wont like the very bitter taste nd will learn not to eat it

  2. Dawn
    | Reply

    As noted in the post, ferrets are a member of the Order- Carnivora, not Rodentia, which you would be lead to believe by the category listed at the top. They are not rodents. The care they need is completely different from the care a rodent would need.

    It is actually incorrect that ferrets can catch a cold from humans. They can get the flu and in fact are commonly used in medical research for this reason.

    You can read about this on the Veterinary Information Network at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=467&EVetID=182970 .

    Also giving grains and fruit is not recommended. Ferrets are carnivores and their digestive tracts are not able to digest them. Along with the potential to cause life threatening blockages, there is concern that feeding foods that are high in carbohydrates such as these contributes to insulinoma.

    Ferrets are fun pets, but they are not easy, they are not low maintenance and they are not cheap to maintain. As with any pet do your research and be sure you are able to provide the proper time and care they need.

  3. HART (1-800-HART)
    | Reply

    Oh .. I agree with you about the Ferrets in here and the Rodent Category Dawn ..

    The only problem is that .. up until Q2 of 2006 .. I really DID THINK that Ferrets are Rodents!! .That was about 1200 posts into this blog (and we’re at 2400 now)

    As a result, all my other posts in this blog about Ferrets have been tagged with the “Pet Rodent” category. Once my template version 4.0+ is installed later this spring with the new tag clouds, I will be moving ferrets, rats, hamsters, rabbits, and certain reptile pets to individual tags – or off to a new “???LVR” domain. But for now, it’s just too time consuming to edit. Until then, unfortunately, I will still be coding it that way in here (for now).

    PS> Thanks for that link and extra information! // HART

    ~~~ I think there is some cross-posting of my comments ..

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