Another consultation for Toby - my special needs puppy

I've been looking at all sorts of ways to help little - or not so little now - Toby. Today Dr Ruben at the Vet Hospital sedated him, just to see how much movement there actually is in his joints and where the problem lies.

When I picked the little fella up, tail wagging and wanting to zoom about as always, Dr Ruben said that he was only able to move the joints about 20% and that there is almost complete atrophy of the muscles in his back legs, basically rendering them useless. However, the joints can be moved and we have been told to carry on with the physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and other ways to help him live as much a normal life as possible.

Dr Ruben advised that so long as he only gets to medium size and not too heavy then he will be quite happy. But, if he gets too big and too heavy, then he's going to have real problems in later life.

I have to say at this point, although he is my little tripod pup and hops about on his legs, he does scoot around pretty well. He does however, get a bit frustrated at not being able to walk up and down stairs, or jump up (that for me is a godsend lol)!


He displays all the normal puppy behaviour and is obviously teething as he's biting and wanting to chew everything in sight! I'm happy that he appears happy and isn't in any disomfort and I'll do my best to make sure he has as normal doggy life as possible :-)