Hope (Pics & videos of Hope in her Braces)-UPDATE

I thought id let everyone know the surgery went great this Monday. Its actually a challenge to keep her still now that she's feeling better XD

Oh, I'm sorry I didn't catch this before, but I'm so glad she's doing well! And what a gorgeous pink belly! I bet it gets lots of kisses

Thank you! she got her stitches off Saturday and the vet is very happy with her surgery turnout.

Glad to hear that surgery went well!

Glad everything went well. She's a cutie.

Thanks guys

So an update: Well she is now 14 months old, her hernia has not come back and we are great full. But within the last few weeks we have discovered two things:

1) Hope suffers from allergies, which do seem to be seasonal, so she gets a spray and bath on a certain schedule and reactine.

2) Hope has Hock laxity. The only way to explain it is that her ligaments are loose and when she walks her hocks pop to the side.
"Popping Hock (Laxity of the Hock Joint)

This condition, which may affect one or both hocks, is due to looseness of supporting structures around the joint. It is more common in large dogs with straight rear-end angulations. Usually it is not painful, but can impair the dog’s drive and agility. In late stages the joint can become arthritic.

The diagnosis can be suspected by observing the dog in motion, at which time the hock will appear to give, causing an irregular gait. Manipulation of the joint reveals the lax ligaments. The hock slips out of place (either forward or to the side) when the joint is straightened."

She has been getting a laser treatment a few time a weeks (which seems to help her feel less pain), she also get thera bites (which have glucosamine in it) She did get x-rays and dr yelen spoke to a specialist. So the only thing we can really do for it is get her hock braces and try and stabilize her legs. She will get arthritis pretty young.

[BBvideo:23qgqztg]http://youtu.be/Jltl9pDNrKw[/BBvideo:23qgqztg]
Anyways the big thing is that it very expensive 400+ for each leg with all the appointments. we are hoping to do it at pawsability.ca

here is some info on the braces that Mika the vet tech got for me and here is an example as well:

"I just talked to Janice from Pawsability. She has done braces for another Chihuahua, which worked out very well. She does require that Hope visits her twice - once for the analysis and casting (plan to be in Toronto for 3-4 hours), then again once it's finished for a fitting. The braces run about $400 - $450 per leg, including all the processing. She uses fiberglass to make the shell of the splint, which will last for quite some time. She will discuss management, but that includes daily cleaning of her skin, as well as of the padding, and routine "tune ups" for the straps and padding of the splint. She also recommends using socks over the splints while she is outside, and a protective, waterproof booty if she is out in the rain/snow/mud. "


"An orthosis for the hock joint can be used to limit flexion and extension. It can also support and control joint instabilites in the frontal plane (looking at the joint from the front). Hock braces can be made rigid, to completely eliminate motion, or hinged, to allow motion within a specific range"


So right now, once again, we are fundraising. im pet siting two dogs right now and will save 200 from the 300 for her legs. I will also be working for a few days as a vet assistant/receptionist so ill put a more money away from that. We are also trying to organize a garage sale, and hoping some of our friends can donate some items/books etc they dont use anymore for it. Anyways Wish us luck, and lets hope that Hope will have a healthier/longer life.

Smaller Update. Okay so we are planning to have a garage sale on the 27th. We have 200 saved so far, plus another 100 im getting for dog sitting. Im hoping to have at least 500-600 by the time my parents come back from vacation (august 15th). Wish us luck!

oh my goodness. what an awful lot for such a young girl to go thru. finger crossed your yard sale brings in some funds. I would love to send a small donation. do you have a paypal account?

Thank you so much, i fell bad for her, but you can say that if she had another owner or was still at the breeder they may not notice all of these problems. You could say she is lucky to have us. And thank you so much temblabamomo, i do have an account, its [email protected]

I really hope the garage sale goes well for us .

Im Happy to announce that we made $150 today! Plus we have some extra things we can put on kijiji. Hope thanks you all. We now have 650 out of the 800-900 it will cost! Thanks everyone.

Hi, just thought id let everyone know that we have an appointment at Paws Ability on sat the 24th. Now all we have to do is pick out the a fabric we like so that will be the color of her braces (she uses a processes that the color/patterns come on the fabric and onto the races, but its no actually the fabric there.

She also sent me an example of what hr braces may look like.

amanda1472 said:

Im Happy to announce that we made $150 today! Plus we have some extra things we can put on kijiji. Hope thanks you all. We now have 650 out of the 800-900 it will cost! Thanks everyone.

Click to expand...

:joy: :joy: :joy:

Oh, she is going to be so cute in her designer boots! And I'm so happy you guys are clearly doing everything in your power to do what's best for her. Yay for Hope!

We chose this fabric for her braces, hopefully it works since the doggies are a little big and she has tiny legs XD



We also like to say that hope is gradualy losing weight, while my other dog lost it a little faster on Metabolic.

Hope: 3.5 kg --> 3.1 kg (So far!)
Niles: 4.6 kg --> 4.1 kg (also so far!)

I love this diet, and it seems to work as you all can see.

Hope started at a 7/9 on the "scale"
And Niles was a high 5, maybe 6 / 9

the scale is like this: (Dr Yelen prefers them to be in the 4, but a 5 is also healthy.)


Anyways ill update as we go along.

Just thought id let everyone know Hope's appointment is tomorrow. She will do the casting, and the first fitting. Then we go back a few days later and get the finished product. Ill try and video tape and take photos of the casting process etc.

It would be cool to see a vid. Good luck, hope it all goes well!

We Are back! After some testing we decided to go with a full boot to also help support her toes. The ones in the photos/videos are just test ones, so they are just black and white. Her "true" braces will be ready in a week. Here is the photos/videos we took.

PICS









VIDEOS
http://youtu.be/i8H_wPyinYw (full boot)
http://youtu.be/Jskb2cdePRY (Just hock)

Wow! I am so sorry you both have to go through this. You both seem like troopers though! Thanks for sharing the photos/videos, she looks to be adjusting to the braces well.

Those little booties are so cute! I hope she adjusts to them OK.