Be Gentle: I know my dog is old

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JaynTinks
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Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:45 pm

Be Gentle: I know my dog is old

Post by JaynTinks »

This came up on my FB feed. It's a good post and good point I've had people almost demanding to know if Inca gets out her bike trailer and walks, not that its any of their business! ... but there's no way she can keep up with a mobility scooter and a young collie.

I could leave her at home every time to be depressed so she never came out with JJ and I again and only take her as far as she can physically walk but strangely enough I consider that cruel and its like saying to me ..you can only go out if you can walk all the way there and back without using any walking aids or wheelchair! (I'm a wheelchair user and rely on powered chair/scooter to be able to get around outside)..I'd never leave the house either!



http://thebark.com/content/be-gentle-i- ... 2441095174

Inca enjoying going off-road in her chariot

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CarolC
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Re: Be Gentle: I know my dog is old

Post by CarolC »

I like that, and some of those gaffes are subtle.
You get absurd comments with paralyzed pets, too.
I will NEVER forget what someone said to me one day. Quoting it here again.
http://handicappedpet.net/helppets/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3874&hilit=swished#p19267 wrote:I was attacked out of left field one time when I was walking my dog. She couldn't walk so I would carry her out around the neighborhood and exercise her back legs while I carried her during our walk. Then one time I was walking her on her front feet with a sling wheelbarrow style and a young woman who saw us just spat out in the most vicious, vehement way, "Well, it's about time you let that dog walk instead of carrying her everywhere!" She swished into the store and left me standing outside with my dog unable to go in and straighten her out. And here all that time I had thought if anyone was paying any attention to us, they must be smiling so see how much fun we were having! It was unconvincing to me that she might have the best interest of the dog in mind. The world is full of people who are just looking for an opportunity to let out their aggression on someone and they give themselves permission by using the pretext of a noble cause.
I'll bet Inca looks forward to those rides in the stroller. Just because she can't run anymore doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy feeling the wind in her face. :D When I got my dog a stroller, I only wished I had done it sooner! Do you ever watch the videos of balonmasa88? He has over 100 videos, and in a lot of them he is taking his dog in a stroller, or else a basket on the back of his bike.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6cJqB ... 8PHV7NLisQ
JaynTinks
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Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:45 pm

Re: Be Gentle: I know my dog is old

Post by JaynTinks »

I'd never heard of balonmasa88. I'll watch later on other computer when I get up (in bed on laptop at minute and video's won't play for some reason)

Inca can walk better on her front legs if I hold back up with a sling type, problem is that's not easy to do when I'm in a wheelchair or trying to balance myself with a crutch. The cart does support her weight but she doesn't really walk herself in it, she still seems to find walking forwards difficult but can go backwards and turn herself round.

I have noticed one of her front legs is starting to knuckle too and I wonder how long before she can't use her front legs either. Her bark is being affected so I assume the paralysis is coming into her front end too. She does still know when she needs the toilet though so her back end can't be completely paralysed and she can feel you touching her legs, it seems the messages are just not reaching the brain to walk on them and her muscle in the back end has really wasted.

I worry about people thinking I've starved her or something, though in winter she can hide in fleeces and under blankets to keep her warm, summer will be harder. She's lost so much weight off her back end the back end sling thing is miles too big even with a nappy on and I'm gonna need to go down a size in nappies soon.

To me it seems cruel to have her PTS while she is still so bright mentally and still wanting to be with us. If she had no interest in life and refusing to eat etc I think the decision would be much easier to make. In my mind this was our last xmas after the vet said as long as she was happy, she was ok and gave us a prescription for another 6 months which takes us to her 15th birthday in March.

The decision about whether to keep her going another few months is an heartbreaking one I battle with daily. Preferably I want a time no-one will be around afterwards but suddenly everyone wants to visit, come and help decorate etc and cos its winter and dark until later our walks are when more people are around who would notice I didn't have her with me. (I dread someone stopping to me to ask "where's the other one?", in case I should burst into tears in the middle of the street) If she stays with us until her birthday in march it changes to Daylight Savings time in UK clocks go back an hour and Jay and I can creep out off the estate for a long run while the rest of the estate is still in bed! (and hopefully without bumping into anyone knows us from our usual walking times who may ask)..and people are insensitive enough TO ask. .. I wouldn't ask if I saw someone I knew and they only had one of their dogs or was without their dog, to me it would seem obvious, especially if i knew the dog was old! Strangely I dread that more than the actual part of having to have her PTS.
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critters
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Re: Be Gentle: I know my dog is old

Post by critters »

I used to work with a kid with severe cerebral palsy. One day his parents ran into a nasty piece of work who gave them trouble over having such a big kid "in a stroller." It wasn't even a stroller-type wheelchair!!
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