The Petalmobile Goes To The Vet

Poor Petal has been dealt a cruel blow. Having improved so much that she was pretty much her normal self, as Ian wrote in his blog post, she is now paralyzed at the back legs, because she had a swelling on her spine which affected the nerves to her back legs. We’re pretty pragmatic when it comes to the health and life of our animals, and we both independently decided that we normally know when it is the time for us to say good bye to them, and that it was not the right time yet for Petal – she’s just too happy and well to be put to sleep. A month ago it would have been a different story.

We decided that as long as she is well, we’re not going to have her put to sleep ‘just’ because she can’t use her back legs. The vet seemed happy with our decision and has advised us on the construction of the Petalmobile. Today we had to take it in so they could see how it looked and we have some amendments to do before they are happy with it.

In the vet Petal was going up to other dogs and saying hello, wandering around the waiting room, saying hello to other people – really being the center of attention! People say how quickly animals adapt to their new condition and Petal is proof of it. Although she still has a way to go before she is completely settled, she certainly seems more like the old Petal.

We’ve decided, on the advice of the vet, to stop any treatment to try to get her back legs to work. They were using strong anti-flamatories, which could cause long term problems. After 15 days we are going to take her back and the vet will check her and see how she is then. If she is in good shape we will continue to care for her as a disabled dog. If she has any problems (it’s likely to be her kidneys), then we will make a decision based on this information at the time.