'Tails' of a Three-Legged Puppy

Just in case you're wondering...

2011-05-24T10:36:00.002-05:00

Hi folks, Mom C here. It's been a while!

I haven't visted this blog in a long time, and I noticed that Jaida still gets the occasional visitor with questions. I'm happy to help in any way I can, so feel free to email me Jaida's hotmail account: help_jaida

As for the star of our story, she's doing just fine and dandy (other than feeling a little itchy today due to spring allergies and the bath I gave her yesterday :-P). She's as sweet and lovely as ever and has been doing quite well health-wise (I cringe saying this, in fear of jinxing the good streak :-P).

Anyhoo, any newcomers with bendy-footed or three-legged pups are more than welcome to drop me a line anytime. :-)

Cheers,

C

The final(?) post

2009-10-21T13:18:00.001-05:00

Hi faithful readers.

I think this will be the last post for the forseeable future. You see, life is just, well, LIFE now, and it's pretty boring. Two years ago I started this blog in the hopes that other dog people dealing with similar situations might find some useful or comforting information (in the "oh thank GOODness someone else has been through this before" kinda way).

Jaida is doing quite well. She has good days and bad days and she's still the dog that causes us the most worry out of the three. She still has allergies and may need to undergo a small surgery to remove a lump and fix some issues she's having in her, um, girly parts. She's the one who gets stung by wasps (because she tries to eat them, sigh) and inflates until she looks like a shar-pei. She sometimes get spasms in her front leg that make her yelp and us frantic. She has days when she's a bit stiff and it's obvious to us that she's going to be arthritic at a considerably younger age than most dogs. But MOST of the time she's just happy-go-lucky, sweet, sweet Jaida, who doesn't let her disfigurement stop her from enjoying her life to the fullest.

We all thank you for taking the time to follow Jaida's Journey. If anything super-fantastically-important comes up, I'll be sure to let you know.

Love from us all, and extra love to all the other lucky three-leggers and bendy-footed-pups out there whose humans recognized their worth.

Raw, baby.

2009-01-13T10:16:00.002-05:00

Crystal here.

Nothing super-snazzy new to report. The only big change in our pup's lives right now is their diet. We have gone 100% full-time RAW.

Yep, raw.

As in, naked, uncooked, bone-in, meat. Oh, and organs. And eggs. And fish. Yummy.

Without getting into too much detail, as you know we did a fair bit of research on dog food/nutrition this year. Frankly we ended up pretty much horrified by what we've been taught to feed our dogs, via clever marketing and misinformation. This led to a switch from common commercial kibbles (prescription vet diets, Iams, Purina, etc. etc.) to grain-free, meat-based holistic kibble. We settled on Orijen, an absolutely marvelous Canadian product. The dogs did really well. This was a good first step. More research ensued, leading us to dip our toes in the waters of raw.

Lo and behold, Jaida ate her food. Not only wilingly, but RAVENOUSLY. Like she ENJOYED eating. This is the same dog we've been more or less bribing to eat since day one. This was a pretty good indication that there was something to this "raw" business. More research, some diet planning, some seeking out resources like local butchers, fish markets and neighbours with unwanted food in their freezers, more diet tweaking, and voila. Full-time raw.

The girls had chicken thighs, chunks of pork, some liver, some whitefish and some green tripe for breakfast this morning. Nummy.

Anyhoo, they're thriving on this food. I'll probably post more on the diet later, as we're starting to learn about some implications of kibble-feeding (high carbohydrates) for carnivores on gut and overall health. It's an interesting subject, and deserves some discussion.

In the meantime, please enjoy some wintry pics of the lovely ladies in question....

The cuteness. Honestly. And some bendiness.

2008-12-12T11:52:00.005-05:00

Crystal here.

Can you stand it? Can you really? It's just too much.

I'm grateful that Charlotte's Mom#1 lets me post these pics. Like me, she became a google addict when this little bendy entered her life, and found frustratingly little information, let alone PICTURES for goodness' sake, of other dogs with leg deformities.

Charlotte's bendiness is different from Jaida's. In my humble opinion, it's pretty neat-o (but then I'm a geek that way, y'all know that). She seems to have a bit of bone protruding in the upper arm, near her armpit (do dogs have armpits?) The vet is planning to xray when she's 6 months, and in for her spay, and they'll figure out what best to do for the arm, if anything, at that time.

(Is it just me, or am I crazy for wanting to smoochie-smooch that bellie???)

Charlotte's Mom#1 is in that lovely limbo-land I remember so well: what on EARTH is going to happen with this pup's arm, and when? The waiting and wondering can be oh-so-frustrating. Sometimes you just want all the questions to be answered RIGHT NOW so you get just get on with gettin' on.

Call the paramedics!!!

2008-12-09T13:45:00.002-05:00

Crystal, intrepid reporter, reporting live:

Mr. Dino is down, I repeat, Mr. Dino is down!!! All units report!!!

Jaida takes full advantage of the weakness in her nemesis..."quick, get him while he's down!!" (stuffing flying everywhere)

"Here, let me help, we'll tag-team him!!!"

"Victory is ours, bwah-ha-ha!!!!"

Update: Although the attack on Mr. Dino can only be described as opportunistic and malicious, he has survived the encounter. He thanks the hoomans for their quick response and, although his arm will never recover, he is thankful to be alive...

A face only a mother could love.

2008-12-01T10:24:00.002-05:00

Crystal here.

Heidi. Upright: cute. Squishy, but cute.

Upsidedown: not so cute.

BAY-BEE bendy Charlotte is growing up!

2008-11-17T11:11:00.002-05:00

Jaida here.

We had to share more cuteness (we're all about cuteness around here). The BAY-BEE bendy is getting bigger! Look like she has some TUFF-ness as well as cuteness! Mom Crystal says that Charlotte has a new mom and dad who is waiting for her to come live with them when she's bigger...yay!

A Bendy BAY-BEE!

2008-11-06T15:15:00.004-05:00

Jaida here.

I just wanted to share some pictures of BAY-BEE bendy cuteness...mom Crystal got an email from a nice lady whose momma dog just had puppies...and one little girl has a fabulously bendy foot! The BAY-BEE is strong and wriggly but not bunny-hopping yet on account of her teeniness and BAY-BEE-ness. Mom Crystal says it's important not to be sucky and wimpy with BAY-BEE bendyfoots, and that their moms (even if they're very nice) should not carry them around because bendies are very strong and capable and crafty and independent and do NOT need to be carried (how rude!!!)

Mom Crystal also thinks it's important to show pictures of other bendyfooted dogs, so that other moms and dads out there don't think they're all alone.

So here is the little bendy...she is kinda pink and not ready to open her eyes yet, but still has much cuteness.

Well I'll be dipped.

2008-09-09T08:22:00.003-05:00

Crystal here.

Huh. So word on the street is there's nothing particularly wrong with Jaida's hips.

The specialist said that she shows no sign of hip pain, her well-muscled legs and xrays don't show signs of hip displasia, and that Jaida's likely dealing with either back/leg muscle pain or else a problem with her spine.

We're probably going to be looking at some follow-up xrays or possibly an MRI of her back, and then if that turns up nothing, we'll be heading off to the physiotherapist to see if there's anything we can do.

So, the good news is, there's nothing wrong with her hips. The bad news is, there's nothing wrong with her hips so now we have to figure out what the real issue is.

Weird.

Snuggles and SPESH-AL-ISTS

2008-09-03T08:48:00.003-05:00

Crystal here.

Jaida and Heidi are becoming fast friends...when Heidi's not beating Jaida up, she's usually snuggling with her...

Jaida is with mom Kim today with the SPESH-AL-IST, er, I mean specialist. Hopefully we'll have a clear picture of how we can help Jaida with her hips by the end of the day. Our poor girl deserves a break.

Cuteness!

2008-08-29T10:41:00.005-05:00

Jaida here.

I think I have some pretty stiff competetion for queen of cute in this house. Hmmmm....I will have to work a little harder at my adorable-ness (this is a pretty easy job for a pup as fabulous as myself, however).

My new sister!!!

2008-08-26T10:02:00.008-05:00

Jaida here.

Meet Heidi! (But be very, very quiet....she's sleeping right now...)

Heidi is a BAY-BEE and is also a Very Small Dog on account of her teeniness. Heidi used to live with her mom, Melanie, who loved her very much and who helped make her healthy and strong...because she used to live in a not-so-nice place with not-so-nice people who didn't take very good care of her...kinda like oh-so-fabulous me. Mom Melanie thought that Heidi would be happy living with me and Gracie and Solomon and Boo and mom Kim and mom Crystal.... she's a lucky three-mom girl!!!!

Even though she is teenie, she is TUFF and when we play (and play and play and play) she beats me up a little bit. But I let her do it on account of her funness and cuteness. Honest.

Gracie usually checks me over to make sure that her TUFFness didn't break me....I think I may have been killed.

Heidi thinks my big sister Gracie is toooooo cool and would really like to play with her but Gracie sometimes does snarly-growlies so she mostly just sneaks up quiet and close and watches.

Mom Crystal says she will put up more pictures of our family after she gets more sleep. (Apparently BAY-BEE dogs are very BIZ-EE and beansy especially when it is dark outside).

I have BIG news!

2008-08-25T14:27:00.002-05:00

Jaida here!

There's stuff goin' on in my house, oh yes there is, and it has nothing to do with bendy feet or boo-boo legs or hip fairies...but this fab-tripod-gal is oh-so-excited!

You'll have to wait until tomorrow and then I'll let you in on the secret (mom Crystal has to get some pictures first!)

This is what I do.

2008-08-08T08:53:00.002-05:00

Jaida here.

If you are ever looking for my oh-so-gorgeous and fabulous self, and aren't sure where to look, try here:

My pool is my FAAAAAV-O-RITE thing. It is also a "time-out" place for me if Gracie starts to get the snarly-growlies when we're playing...Miss Gracie does not like to get her paddy-paws all wet.

Moms are waiting to bring me to meet the SPESHAL-IST. I don't know exactly what that is, but he must be pretty SPESHAL if he's the IST of them all. My boo-boo legs are sore but I can do stairs again now, so it's not too bad.

Mom Crystal says that some nice people are helping her build me my own set of wheels...I think it's going to be like a car ride, except only for me. She's waiting for some peices to come in the mail, and then she's going to get crafty. She says she'll put some pictures of me and my wheels when they're all done. Yay!

Hip Fairy, where art thou?

2008-07-21T10:51:00.002-05:00

Crystal here.

So last week, Jaida started to get really sore. Like bigtime. We're carrying her up anything more than 3 steps right now. Soooooo, we'd been hoping to delay any surgeries until the fall, but Jaida's telling us it's time. We'll be meeting with an orthopaedic specialist in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, we're giving her some asprin for the discomfort, heavy doses of the GlycoFlex, and lovin' her up. Oh, and I've decided a little engineering project is in order...I'm designing a cart (wheelchair) to help her get around and rehabilitate after the surgery. She's already down one leg, so I don't think it's going to be very easy getting around with only two...

Sigh.

She's still beyond cute though. Have I shared the story of Jaida's leash? I don't think so...

Jaida MUST hold a leash in her mouth during walks. Hers, Gracie's, whoevers, it must be in her mouth at all times. To the point that we don't need to clip the leash to her collar anymore. We'll be heading for the woods, let Gracie off-leash, and Jaida goes into a panic because Gracie's out of sight...she pulls and tugs and frantically tries to catch up....and the only thing holding her back is her unclipped leash...which she is holding in her mouth. We must tell her "out" to remind her to let go so she can catch up to Gracie. It gives us the giggles every time.

The Glyco-Flex III is here!

2008-06-06T15:21:00.003-05:00

Crystal here.

We've done some research into joint supplements, and finally managed to get some Glyco-Flex III shipped here from the US. Lots of rave reviews from satisfied pet people all over the web, and it's been recommended by a few large/giant-breed breeders I've spoken to.

Click here for the website

Tomorrow is day one. We'll see how it goes (fingers crossed).

Bye for now Riley...

2008-05-13T14:57:00.004-05:00

Jaida here.

Moms are very sad because my kitty sister Riley went to the Rainbow Bridge yesterday. Riley's feelings were very sick, and she was unhappy and angry all the time, even when moms gave her "happy pills". Moms decided, after many, many, many things they did for her couldn't help, that the only way Riley would be at peace was to send her to the Bridge. I'll see her again someday, and I'll even let her swat my nose if she wants to.
Bye-bye for now, Riley.

Hip Fairy, are you out there???

2008-05-06T08:59:00.003-05:00

Jaida here.

Moms have been sad about my new boo-boo leg. I'm trying to be a very good girl so they don't worry so much. I'm still playing with Gracie and digging clever holes in the wet grass and mud-puddle-ing a lot. My leg is sore, though, so I can't help but limp when I'm walking, and I don't always really like to do stairs.
Here's what my new boo-boo looks like:

My right hip (the one on the left, pay attention!!) does not fit in its socket nice and tightly, like the other one does. The ball of my leg is kinda square too (that's not good). The doctor wants to give me a brand new hip, but I think moms are waiting to figure out what to do.

Maybe the Hip Fairy will come give me a new hip?

Crap.

2008-04-17T14:19:00.003-05:00

Crystal here.

I know it's been a while again, sorry.

Unfortunatly I have no good news to report. In a nutshell, Jaida fell quite lame in her right hind leg about 7 weeks ago. X-rays were inconclusive, but showed mild, non-clinical (i.e. non-arthritic) hip dysplasia. Diagnosis: soft tissue injury.

Fast forward to yesterday. Jaida's still very lame. New x-rays are taken. I don't know the whole situation, but the words "bad hip dysplasia" and "hip replacement surgery" just about sum it up.

We have likely hit the wall with respect to our ability to help Jaida, surgically, any further. We will have to simply do our best to manage her pain and keep her happy as best we can.

This is really awful news, we are reeling from it, even though we were bracing ourselves for the worst.

This IS the worst.

On that note, I want to rant for a minute about freaking backyard breeders. To all you idiots out there that are mating a male and female dog you just happen to have and just happen to think are pretty special, just to get some puppies in order to make a quick buck, you're all scum. Learn about genetics, pedigree, get a mentor, and freaking test your dogs for heritable disorders before you breed them, register your dogs, so suckers like us don't end up with a trainwreck of a puppy that we fall in love with and they end up breaking our hearts. You suck.

I am in love with Daisy!

2008-01-16T14:19:00.000-05:00

Jaida here. I love my Daisy! I would play with her all day, every day, if our moms would let us. Here is a MOO-VEE of us playing together. She bites my nose, but I get her back in the end! I am soooooo tough!
Video of Daisy and Jaida

Jaida's pup-pal, Chance!

2008-01-16T12:43:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

A nice lady sent me a letter and some pictures of her baby MAL-A-MUTE, Chance.
Chance is very much like me on account of his frickin' cuteness and handsome-ness. Also, he has one oh-so-fabulous scrunchy-dangly leg and ONE GOOD LEG, just like me! Or, well...ummm...well, like I USED to.
Chance has a very nice mom who is taking him to see a nice Dr. who is taking xrays of his scrunchy-dangly leg to see if there is anything that can be done to make it a little less scrunchy. His leg is growing differently than mine did, it's more like hypoplasia/agenesis (moms taught me those big words!!).
(He looks like he's thinking about being NOT-TEE in this picture, huh?)

No matter what the nice Dr. says about his leg, Chance is going to be an oh-so-gorgeous and handsome guy and will get along JUST FINE. His mom is going to let me know what happens with the Dr., so I will keep you posted!

In the meantime, simply admire his cuteness.

A long-overdue update.

2008-01-07T11:19:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

I just realized how long it's been since we posted...sorry!!! (Jaida wanted me to point out that this was not her doing at all, she always has lots to say...)

So. Updates. Jaida's incision boo-boos are thankfully doing much better. The hairy one (ew) seems to have healed on it's own (thank the gods)...she's no longer licking at it, Gracie is no longer sniffing at it, and there's just a little grey-coloured patch where the scab used to be. Hooray! The bumpy one is still bumpy. Not bigger or anything, though, so we'll just keep watching that one. So, all in all, things are good and I'm really happy about Dr. Kitchen's decision not to do anything antibiotic-ey or anaesthetic-ey.

The girls had a wonderful Christmas, despite our best efforts. Kim and I had decided not to spend money on the dogs this year.

Yeah, right. So, two nylabones, two Dirty Rotten Kitty stuffies, two bully sticks (ew), two pig ears (ew) and two stockings from Grandma and Grampa later...they were spoiled and happy.

The girls also have a new regular playmate at our house: the neighbour's golden retriever, Daisy. A very pleased-with-herself Jaida appeared on the back porch with Daisy in tow one weekend, and Daisy now runs over to play with Jaida whenever her people parents are away. We love Daisy. How could you not? Look at this face!!!!

This is her "please let me in" look.

Gracie is amazing with her...as you know her history with other dogs has been a bit...er...sketchy. But Gracie fully accepts her. She's not enthralled with her like Jaida is. But then, Jaida's easily enthralled. They do have a wonderful time together, though...

That's it for now. I'll try not to let it go this long next time. Ta!

The old boo-boo's got a boo-boo...

2007-11-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

So, it's been five months since Jaida's surgery.

And she's STILL having problems with her incisions!!!!!

She's been licking/nipping at her chest in one spot for quite some time, months for sure...I never could see or feel anything there, and after talking with other moms/dads of three-leggers I wrote it off as nerve "zaps" and regrowth or phantom pains. Well, about two or three weeks ago I found a brownish scab there. I soaked it off, put on a little antiseptic, did the ol' "wait and see"...well last night my comfort level with "waiting and seeing" was GONE, the scab was there but rather oozy-looking, and it felt puffy underneath, plus there was this weird hard "tube".

So, off to the vet this morning. Today we saw Dr. Kitchen at Dundas Veterinary Services, who was the first vet to see Jaida when we first got her...and therefore also contributed to the removal of the layers off poo and pee from her fur. (Dr. Kitchen exclaimed today that Jaida was much bigger and considerably "less tangy" than the first time she met her...)

Well, after some shaving, local anaesthetic, forceps, big ol' squirty syringes of saline, and a VERY well-behaved and tolerant Jaida...we discovered that she had some proper skin growing under the scar, complete with 1.5" hairs (hence the "tube"). We THINK it might heal properly now that the hairs have been pulled out and the vet took a stab at pulling the skin out, but there's about a 50-50 chance we may have to excise some skin and reposition/suture it properly so this doesn't happen again.

To top it all off, Dr. Kitchen found a second lump at the top of her scar (we hadn't noticed that one before), which she drained, and a quick stain showed bacteria growing in the smelly fluid she pulled out. We're hopping that the poking there will induce an immune response and she'll fight it off on her own, but if not, it may need some surgical or medicinal intervention too.

SIIIIIGGGGHHHH.

Oh well, could be worse. She's otherwise lovely. And she is the world's best little patient, the techs kept marvelling over how tolerant and calm and sweet she was despite everything. (That's our girl).

My first trick!

2007-11-21T11:36:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Moms are all excited because I learned something called a trick. Mom Crystal has been calling me a dum-dum-head lately, which is most unbecoming to a gal of my cleverness, so I decided to show her that I am NOT a dum-dum-head. (For the record, I am simply disinterested in listening, I'm far too busy with other important things).

So I have learned to SHAKE-A-PAW. This involves me sitting on my bum and giving moms my ONE GOOD LEG to hold. I don't see why it's such a big deal, but they go "AWWWWWWWWWWW, HOW CUTE" and give me cookies.

I like cookies a lot, so I can handle doing this SHAKE-A-PAW business.

p.s. it SNOWED this morning, and I got very excited about it and did crazy zoomies in the yard with Gracie. Gracie was not happy about getting her paddy-paws all cold and wet. What a grumpster.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

2007-11-16T10:41:00.000-05:00

Jaida here!

It's my birthday, yup, yes it is!!! I am a whole one year old today, I think that makes me a big girl now! Moms better spoil me rotten tonight, as is fitting and right for a three-legged gal of my gorgeousness and fabulousness!!

Happy fall!

2007-10-29T14:23:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

My gorgeous three-legged self and the fabulous Miss Gracie want to wish everyone a happy fall!

The very small person.

2007-10-29T13:59:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

The very small person, Jacob, visited us again for the day. He has many toys that have a lot of fun-ness in them, but moms say Gracie and I are not allowed to play with them, no fair. But he is just a BAY-BEE and doesn't know about the niceness of sharing yet, so it's o.k. Besides, he is very interesting even withOUT his toys. Gracie especially thinks so...Moms told Jacob that it was time to go sleepies and put him in a wheelie bed, and he made noises that said he was not happy. I was a little worried about the noises, but he did go sleepies so I guess he wasn't THAT sad.

(That's me looking worried up there...those sad BAY-BEE no-sleepies noises are worrisome.) I hope Jacob comes back soon!

Life is good...and boring.

2007-10-15T10:22:00.001-05:00

Jaida here (that's me...).

This fab-three-legger is hoping she's not boring you to tears. I think I read on Xena's blog that being a dog with only ONE GOOD LEG stops being very exciting after a while because life just becomes very normal-ish...

And it has. I am still bunny-hopping and fabulous. My sister Gracie is still my hero (we're really the bestest of buds these days). My moms still take us for nice walks in the woods and play frisbee with us in the yard and chase me out of the veggie garden (although they dug up all the nummy tomato plants this weekend, how rude!)

I think the only exciting thing that happened to me recently was that I got to meet a very small person named Jacob, who is my cousin. Jacob is about the smallest person I've ever met. He doesn't talk and he smells really, really, interesting. He has soft skin and very small hands that like to touch my fur. I liked him a lot (so did Gracie, she cried because she couldn't see him very well when moms told her to DOWNSTAY). I hope we get to spend more time with him.

Other than that: boring. But, moms still take pictures of me, on account of my cuteness, so I can share those with you.

You can see that my boo-boo is all better (mom Crystal keeps telling me I need to grow more fur, but I'M WORKING ON IT, ALREADY!!!)

My ONE GOOD LEG is strong like Popeye...

And moms still can't beat me at tug-of-war...

O ye of little faith.

2007-09-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Ok, that title was for my benefit.

Jaida did fine. No puke, poo, pee or chewed-up things in sight after Gracie and I got home from the vet. There were, however, songs, sighs and stories about her day alone that lasted a good TWO HOURS, then Kim got to hear about them all over again when SHE got home. Sheesh. Rotten loudmouth german shepherds.

Gracie did wonderfully, although she was supremely stoned and glassy-eyed for the evening. Back to her usual self, and carrying her heaviest, hardest, bumpiest toy around in her mouth in the morning, making me cringe.

Home ALONE!!!

2007-09-11T09:45:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

We've done the unthinkable (well, in Jaida's mind anyways)...Jaida's home alone today.

The oh-so-fabulous Miss Gracie, Jaida's buddy and constant companion, is visiting the vet for the day. Why? She has somehow managed to CRACK IN HALF one of her teeth, so it needs to be surgically removed. How does one crack a tooth in half, for pete's sake? I mean, I understand that the little ones in the front can get chipped easily enough, but CRIPES! There, I circled the one she broke...it's HUGE (called a carnassial)! Ouch. It's the main one used for chewing/cutting...no more bones for Gracie after this I guess, she's gonna be all gummy. She may actually lose them on both sides...we noticed that what used to be a tartar lump on the other, non-cracked upper carnassial, is now a tartar-free tooth with a red spot that looks suspiciously like a hole. Siiiiggghhhh.

So, we dog-proofed the house as much as possible, closed all the doors to all the rooms, but I suspect that we will come home to a very distressed and talkative (read: whingy, panty, groany) Jaida, a.k.a. Miss Separation Anxiety, and ample quantities of poo, pee, puke or chewed-up stuff. I planted treats and toys all over the house to keep her busy before I snuck out with Gracie, but I'll be very surprised if she made it through the day without a melt down.

Gracie, a.k.a. Miss Sensitivity is likely to be all sad and sucky when we pick her up tonight. Just look at that face:

Yup, she's going to be a big suck-head tonight.

The little squirt made us proud.

2007-08-16T08:47:00.001-05:00

Crystal here.

Kim and I decided to bring Jaida with us to a housewarming party last weekend. Personally, I've always been a tad concerned about how Jaida would react to a situation like this. Because of all her illnesses and surgeries as a pup, we weren't able to get her out into the world for as much socialization as we would have liked.

So we got to the girls' house on Saturday afternoon, and there were loads of people, dogs, children, food, music, commotion, noise...it seemed like a lot and I expected Jaida to be clingy and whingy. I couldn't have been more wrong.

After a quick tour with her around the property, a brief scuffle with our friends' dog, and showing her where her water bucket was, Jaida (a.k.a. Little Miss Independence) was off doing her own thing.

She was fascinated with the children. I think she liked having pople at her own eye level. She let them pet her and lean on her and play with her tail, then spent HOURS running back and forth between them as they tossed around frisbees and badminton birdies. She never took their toys. She watched them closely when they were playing in the kiddie pool. She nudged them on their tummies with her soft nose, making the littlest ones squeal and giggle. It was truly awesome to watch.

She didn't ignore the adults either, and introduced herself to most of them, often plopping down in the middle of a group of lawn chairs to score a few quick pats and scritches as she rested between bouts of play.

She didn't beg, steal food, cry, whinge or cling to her mums. She played nicely with the other dogs who wanted to play, and respectfully gave space to those who didn't. We couldn't have asked for a better-behaved puppy.

Jaida's three-leggedness was definitely a conversation starter. Most of the time the conversations started with "why is she limping?" ... people had no idea she was missing a leg until we pointed it out to them. Although I did catch one person staring at Jaida from across the lawn counting aloud with a puzzled look on her face:

("one...two...threee...one...two...threeeee.....?")

That one made me giggle a bit. Once they saw how well she was getting around and how much she was enjoying herself, her disability stopped being an oddity, and people simply commented on what a great dog she was.

The little squirt has turned out o.k.

I forgot to tell you...

2007-08-08T11:23:00.001-05:00

I also did a nifty trick for a three-legged dog with only ONE GOOD LEG in the front.

I dug a hole. Yes I did. In the yard. I was thinking about putting my frisbee in the hole, but I changed my mind because I was pretty sure I'd forget where I put it. It took all my strongness and fastness and sometime (ok lots of times) I landed on my face, but I did it all by myself.

Here is my hole that I did dig, all by myself: TA-DAAA!!!

Swiiiiming, swiiiiming, in my swimming poooool...

2007-08-08T11:02:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Speaking of presents, moms came home with a present for me on the weekend. It was big and purple and round and wet...can you guess? A POOL!!! Just for me, on account of my cuteness. I love playing silly splashes in my bucket, and I'm still trying to figure out how to catch the water that comes from that snake-thing that squirts me when I'm in the vegetable garden, but this POOL is just TOO FUN!

Because of my strongness and athleticness I am great at this POOL stuff. I can ALMOST catch the water from the snake-thing and I can make waves for my crafty teeth to practice with.

Gracie will not come in my POOL with me. I tried to show her how fun it is, but grumpster Gracie does not like to get her feet wet. Silly Gooser.

Mmmm...leftovers.

2007-08-02T13:06:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

My kitty-brother Solomon is a wild ferocious jungle beast who likes to catch little furry creatures when he's not snoozing-sprawling in the sun or cuddling with moms or having me bounce on him. Sometimes he brings presents home for moms. I don't think they like his presents, they say "EEEWWWWW, GROSS!"

Solomon brought fabulous ME a present yesterday! Mom Crystal was outside with me in the morning and I found it on the lawn, so I picked it up with my crafty teeth. It was very nice and tasty and squishy and I wanted to hold it in my mouth for a bit before I ate it. But mom saw the present's tail hanging out of my mouth and she went "EEEEEEWWWW, GROSS!" and came to take it away from me, how rude!!

So I ran away from her...I didn't want Solly to think I didn't like his present. Mom chased me all over the yard (ha-ha I'm faster than her and she has NO boo-boo legs at all) and said words I didn't understand but I think they were NOT NICE WORDS until she finally caught me.

But I held on to my present very hard and I tried to keep in in my mouth. Mom tried to get me to DROP IT but IT WAS MY PRESENT so I didn't. Mom then had the nerve to put her hand in my mouth and take my present away!!! Then she went "EEEEEWWW, GROSS!" again and threw my present over the fence. Then she marched me inside and told mom Kim that I was NOT-TEE.

I don't get those moms of mine sometimes. I'll have to tell Solly to leave my presents somewhere where moms can't see....

Boring old medical stuff.

2007-07-31T13:42:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Well, I'm going to bore you all to tears with some medical updates.
Jaida had a recheck with Dr. Sparling on the weekend, and passed with flying colours. She's healed up, looking good, and can get back to the business of playing in mudpuddles and such. She's off all meds (has been for a few weeks), and is back to roaming about the house of her own accord.

You'll recall that the original plan was to retain part of her leg and have her fitted with a prosthesis...obviously that's not in the cards these days (no stump = no prosthesis). So now we're on a mission to do everything we can to prevent wear or premature degeneration of the joints of her remaining legs. This is going to be especially important for her ONE GOOD LEG, which now bears about 60% of her body weight.

We're exploring a few things:

1. a diet change, to a food that encourages lean body mass (high protein/low carbohydrate), provides antioxidants, and contains supplements that will support her joints (omega 3 fatty acids and glucosamine). We're trying out a food by Purina called JM (Joint Mobility) for starters, but we continue to research other products. Lately we've become a little more careful about the types of ingredients in our pets' foods, and are leaning towards more holistic varieties.

2. supplements of fish oil and of glucosamine/chondroitin. These will help with inflammation and joint repair. The amount we give her is going to ultimately depend on the type of food she ends up eating...i.e. if the food provides her with the appropriate "dose" of these supplements on its own.

We'll update on these items as we get the kinks/details sorted out. Stay tuned!

I am a frisbee superstar!

2007-07-31T13:31:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

I'm great at frisbee, have moms ever told you that? Yep, this gorgeous gal is the best frisbee player around. I'm not sure why moms get the giggles when I play (I guess it's because they are so in awe they simply do not know how to express it properly, with "oooohs" and "aaaaaahs").

So, moms throw my frisbee, and I run with all the fastness of my THREE GOOD LEGS until I catch up with where it is sitting on the ground. Then I GRAB the frisbee with my crafty teeth, land on my head and do a perfect somersault, landing neatly on my side. TA-DAAAA!!!

My superstar video!

Gracie doesn't know how to play. She CATCHES the frisbee while it's still in the AIR...what fun is there in that?

Running fool.

2007-07-27T10:14:00.001-05:00

Crystal here.

I thought I'd post a couple of links to videos I took of Jaida last night running around with Gracie. It's pretty neat to see her in action, propeller-butt and all!

Video # 1

Video # 2

And one more picture of Miss Thing looking all grown-up:

Smiley happy girlie.

2007-07-26T09:36:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

I just wanted to share some of my cuteness with you. Mom Crystal already told you about all the stuff I did on the weekend (except she left out the parts where I played silly splashes in my water bucket and where I ate lettuce and carrots and beans from the garden.

So, just for you....me!

The gifts of dogs.

2007-07-25T14:08:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

I'm sure Jaida would like to share some of her stories with you today, but she seems to have developed amnesia.

What I mean to say, is that she is bursting to tell you about how she went for a walk in the woods with Gracie and her mums, and how she went to Daisy's house and that they were so happy to see each other and play again, and how she rolled in the grass, and chased some balls, and played keep-away from her mums and her sister, and chased her cats, and visited with her aunties Tara and Patty, and ate corn on the cob and....

I don't think she remembers all the craziness that happened over the past few months. She still has some scabs on her chest from her almost-all-healed incision, her fur is still patchy and fuzzy and growing in, and her stamina isn't what it used to be. She definitely looks different. She certainly must feel different. But I can't detect in her any acknowledgement of the change, or any remorse/pain/grief/anger/sense of loss...nothing. Like I said, it's as if she's forgotten.

Either that, or she is demonstrating one of the most amazing and enviable gifts that only animals (dogs especially) seem to be blessed with: the ability to forgive the past, take everything in life (good or bad) as just one more thing to experience, and then get back to the important business of loving the life you have at that very moment.

Jaida is a source of wonder and happiness for me, each and every day. I can't help but smile when she's in the room, and over the smallest things, like the distinct sound of her tripod hop-hop-shuffle on the hardwood floors or the way she gamely (and slowly) walks up the stairs at bedtime, or her new propeller-butt running style. It's all pretty run-of-the-mill doggie stuff that I'm in love with, even for a three-legged dog. But it just feels like every little thing about her, and the way she goes about her life, is special.

I think partly it's because, in all likelihood, she would be long-dead from pneumonia had she not found us in time and I can't help but think what a terrible loss it would have been had she died. I feel lucky that she chose us as her moms and that we were able to give her the help she needed. And partly it's because she lives her life so completely, and with such joy, and with no ugly parts of her past weighing her down. I don't know. It's very hard to put into words. She touches my heart in a way that no other creature ever has. Her presence in our lives, despite all the days and nights of tears and fear and heartache and sleeplessness, has been a gift right from the start. We wouldn't trade her for anything.

My first day of freedom!!!

2007-07-19T13:31:00.001-05:00

Jaida here.

As you can see, my ouchie is much better now. Mom Crystal picked off a bunch of the crusty bits (she's just gotta pick sometimes!). It's not so itchy now and so moms left my t-shirt off all evening. I was a well-behaved gal and did not try to lick...I mean investigate...my ouchie.
It is still BALD.

BUT...moms thought I was doing things like UP and DOWN stairs and walking nicely, so they let me PLAY WITH GRACIE!!!!!
My sister and I ran and ran and ran and ran. I chased her, then she chased me and did snarly growlies so I rolled on the ground (her snarly growlies kind of scare me, but not really), then I got up and chased her again until she did growlies some more. This gorgeous-and-oh-so-fab-three-legged gal is definitely happy to be running again!!! I think Gracie missed me a little...

So then I was tired, so I found a nice smelly thing in the grass (I think it was a dead worm), and I chewed on it a bit. Then I rolled in it.
Funny...moms just smiled and laughed...usually they say "EWWWW, GROSS!!!" but I think they let me do it on account of my cuteness.

The queen reclaims her throne.

2007-07-16T15:34:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

So. Mom Crystal has been HOGGING this blog for too long. I am reclaiming my rightful place as PRINCESS, no, make that QUEEN of the blog and its entire surrounding universe. My fabulous self is back.

The last time I wrote, I was telling you all about my PEANUT-BUMP...all that was left of my fabulously bendy boo-boo foot. Well, things have changed again. That ol' PEANUT-BUMP was simply not doing a thing for my cuteness (it was just a little too oozy), so it's gone too...definitely a bye-bye foot. So now, I am streamlined and sleek...and although still BALD, I am gorgeous (of course).

I have, in my cleverness, finally convinced moms that I am much better now after all those SUR-GER-EES. So they are letting me out of that crate. I don't always want to do things like walk up stairs, but that's ok because I have moms to carry me. And I would like to run around the yard with Gracie, and I'm SURE I can, but my ONE GOOD LEG gets a little tireder than it used to. Moms say I just need to go SLOWLY and that all my strongness will come back to how it used to be. But I am a very busy gal and I have mudpuddles to visit and Daisy's to chew on, so this SLOWLY stuff better be quick.

The place where my boo-boo leg used to be doesn't hurt much anymore. I can go sleepies on that side, where I am BALD, and I don't feel like I need to scream about it. There are still little crunchy bits on the boo-boo, that I would very much like to investigate, but moms are still making me wear my t-shirts. I will have to THOROUGHLY investigate once my cleverness convinces them to take my t-shirts off.

2007-07-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here she is...the day after getting her drains and stitches out!!!

Yep, Jaida went for a checkup yesterday, and all those bad ol' sticky-outy thingies were removed. She's still itchy and wants to lick (her t-shirt had to go right back on after I snapped this picture), but this feels like a really positive milestone. Happily, there seems to be no signs of fluid buildup either.

Back home, and rearing to go!!!

2007-07-06T08:48:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

So, Jaida's home and looking...GREAT!!! She's happy, comfortable, and full of beans...you can tell she's just DYING to have a full-tilt crazy puppy circles run around the yard with Gracie, chase her cats...all that good stuff. We're going to have to keep her crated for a while, for her own safety. Not a big deal, although her "I-hate-being-crated" temper tantrums are a tad more...um...persistent now than they used to be.

Her incision and surgical site look awesome. Healthy, flat, clean...really, really good. Only a bit of dampness came out of the lower drain last night...and really only clear fluids.

We are soooo looking forward to the time when we can let Jaida and Gracie rip around the yard again, and take them for their nice long walks in the woods. Get back to normal life, in other words. We're almost there.

A big thank-you!

2007-07-05T14:46:00.000-05:00

Me again (don't worry, Jaida will be back soon!)

I just wanted to say a humongous THANK YOU to our friends at Kawakanum Kennels in Alberta, who have generously donated a two-hour dog-sledding tour for four participants in the upcoming season, to be auctioned off to raise money for the JAIDA Fund!

On top of breeding and driving their beautiful, happy, registered Siberian Huskies, Kawakanum Kennels also actively rescues and re-homes these wonderful dogs. You can read about their rescued pups and how to adopt them here.

We will soon be setting up an on-line auction for this wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Stay tuned!

Huge Happy Dance!!!

2007-07-05T09:13:00.000-05:00

A very happy Crystal here!

Our girl is coming back home today, hopefully for the last time. She has continued to do really well, with no significant fluid buildup. I feel like a weight of worry has been lifted from my heart.

I can't wait to get her home, get some nice sloppy kisses and hear all her stories.

We still have a longish road to full recovery, and likely another week or two of her living in a crate...but who cares? She's going to be fine, and is going to live a long, healthy, happy, active life with us.

Happy dance!!!

2007-07-04T11:16:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

We have good news...FINALLY!

We spoke with the vet clinic this morning. Very little fluid came out of the drains overnight...however...there doesn't appear to be much to drain! The surgical site is looking flat and not puffy. These fluids might finally be under control!

Hurray!!!

Rolling along...

2007-07-03T14:43:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

We have a drain. Fingers crossed.

On a happy note, Jaida got to come upstairs to join her mums for coffee this morning (we carried her of course, and she only got to smell the coffee, she's too young for caffeine). She stretched out on the bed, looking relaxed for the first time in a while. Then, she rolled onto her back (first time since the surgery), got a nice belly rub, then rolled onto her BAD side and stood up...all on her own, and with no ouchie moments!!! I think she's feeling better.

Fluid-ey girl.

2007-07-02T16:59:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

We're hanging in there.

After three calls to Dr. Sparling this morning (poor guy, no holidays for him with Jaida and her mums around) we ended up heading in to the clinic today. The fluid buildup around her neck just seemed like "too much". It's really hard to judge this, though; we don't have any experience with what's "normal" for a large seroma. It was a good thing too: when Kim took her out of her crate, her neck and shoulder were all wet...fluids had wicked up her bandage and leaked out.

So I went in with Jaida this afternoon, and Dr. Sparling cut off her bandage. The top (vertical) part of the incision is healing well, but the bottom part is still kind of mushy-looking because the fluids are draining out of a part of it, keeping the surrounding skin moist.

I have to say, it was a bit crazy how much stuff came out of that incision. It was like watching a water-balloon deflate, only redder. Pretty gross, but nothing surprises me anymore, and I did well holding her while the vet applied pressure to push the rest of the fluids out. There are still no signs of infection, so that's good news. The amazing thing was that she didn't flinch throughout the whole ordeal, even with direct pressure on the surgical site.

In fact, we haven't had a single "ouch" today, for the first time. If we brace her good shoulder while she's eating or going to the bathroom, we can apply some resistance if she starts to flinch away. This seems to stop the whatever it is that's making her scream.

Back to the clinic. So, after the surgical site drained FOREVER, we bandaged her back up. She'll go back to the clinic tomorrow and will likely stay for a few days. She'll probably get her drain after all (I know I said she got it on Friday, but Dr. Sparling decided to hold off on it for a while longer). I think we're throwing in the towel for natural drainage and are willing to take the risks associated with the drain. While in the clinic she's get routine bandage changes, draining as needed, monitoring...and her moms will get another mental health break.

Still hanging in there.
_________________________________________________

It occurred to me that I hadn't updated between Friday and Monday...I'll fill in what I can. She came home Saturday afternoon, bandaged from neck to belly, in an attempt to apply pressure on the whole area that was building fluids. She was put on a second, stronger antibiotic (zenequin) along with her cephalexin, to be on the safe side, and continued to get Metacam for pain every 24 hours.

She was living in a crate about 23 hours of the day, and took to it with grace...mostly...she was not thrilled about it, but was resigned and not crying constantly (although there were definitely a few temper tantrums at first).

The fluid initially mostly stayed where it should, although we applied more pressure wrap around her upper chest/lower neck on Sunday morning to be safe, since things were looking a little bulgy there.

She still had moments of acute pain, but they didn't last as long as they did the first day she was home with us after the surgery. It seemed to happen primarily when she went to the bathroom or was eating. Sometimes it was simply when she was standing, without reason. She was crying/screaming and flinching her "bad" shoulder backwards, trying to lean on something, sometimes almost falling over in what seemed like an attempt to escape what was hurting.

Things were reasonably good until Monday when the fluid buildup got out of hand again...(above)

Update 2.

2007-06-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

Still doing well. Dr. Sparling will be sedating her shortly in order to insert a drain in her chest, and to remove the existing fluids. Hopefully this will help get the edema under control and we will have a problem-free weekend.

Update.

2007-06-29T09:49:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Jaida's still in the capable hands of Dr. Sparling and his team, and is doing well. She is apparently resting nicely (although is demanding attention in her typical Jaida-esque way...loudly) and her pain is being managed very well...she's about a "2" on a scale of 10. She was released from her "cell" (just kidding) for a pee break this morning, but was too busy talking and visiting with everyone to do her business...she's such a social gal.

She continues to have fluid buildup. Some of it is leaking out through a part of the incision, but the rest is pooling in her chest/abdomen area (gravity is simply pulling it down). Her incision is being left uncovered for now, and is looking good.

Dr. Sparling is going to consult with his colleagues about Jaida's case and together they will determine the best course of action for her...in terms of the fluid management, drainage, and bandaging. He mentioned the possibility that she may have a minor blood clotting disorder. Nothing serious, or she would have bled out during her surgeries, and her other incisions (spay, dewclaws) would not have healed as well as they did. In the meantime, I am happy that she is comfortable, resting, cooperative with her "staff", and in good spirits.

She was home...for a while.

2007-06-28T14:16:00.000-05:00

Here's our brave girl.

She's had a rough go of things. So have her mums.

She was very happy to go home yesterday, and walked herself out to the car. Getting her in the car was another story...she screamed. It is very hard to lift her without hurting her, but it's the only way to get her in and out of the car and up stairs. We are glad she's "only" 45lbs...

She was even more happy to be carried into the house, so happy to be home...big kisses for kim, tail wags for all the cats, and peed over my arm and onto my shoe as a display of her undying affection for Gracie. We got her settled in her old "play room", the downstairs bathroom, gave her some food and her meds, and settled in. Or tried to. She was, and continued to be, quite restless, having trouble finding a comfy place to settle down for any extended period of time.

We managed to get out for a bathroom break, then upstairs to bed...she settled reasonably well. But we awoke from a dead sleep with out hearts in our throats...the was screaming in pain. She had rolled onto her "bad" side and didn't seem to know how to roll back. Leapt of of bed, repositioned her, soothed her until she calmed down. Lots of heavy breathing and whining all night...and at least two more heart-lurching screaming episodes, only without an obvious reason for them. All we could do was wait it out.

She was in good spirits this morning, despite everything, and walked herself down the stairs and outside to go to the bathroom, but screamed after doing her business and refused to walk back into the house on her own.

Got her settled again in the house. She was calmer, but restless. I noticed that she had developed a firm bulge on her neck, under her duragesic patch (you can see it in the picture), then later another small bulge on her belly on the opposite side of the bandage. Another phone call to Dr. Sparling, and then another trip to the clinic ensued.

The bulges were buildups of fluid (blood mainly) from the surgery. Nothing life-threatening, but they needed to be drained. Dr. Sparling removed her bandage to see how things were looking under there, and drained the fluids. She handled it all very well.

The good news is, the incision is looking wonderful. HUGE, but really healthy and CLOSED, which is the most important part for me. It looks like a large backwards "L", about 7-8" in each direction, closed with sutures. I've looked at a LOT of incision pictures in the past few months, so this wasn't shocking to me. I was just happy to see the incision starting to heal well.

The crappy (well, sort of crappy) news is, we decided the best thing for her would be to stay at the hospital for a few more days. They will monitor the fluid buildup closely, perhaps put in a drain, rebandage her, and give her different pain medication. This will also give her the opportunity to stay calm and quiet...no cats or mums or Gracies to cause distraction. This will give her mums a much-needed opportunity to breathe, let someone else take care of her for a while, and get some desperately-needed sleep. We will be better able to cope with the rest of her recovery if we are rested and clear-headed.

This is a whirlwind, and very trying. But we are fortunate to have a lot of people supporting us through this ordeal.

She's o.k.

2007-06-26T13:12:00.001-05:00

Dr. Sparling just called...Jaida is o.k.

The surgery went well, without complications. She is more sore than last time, as this type of surgery requires disturbing the brachial plexus nerve system (a biggie). Muscles have been repositioned to pad and protect this sensitive area. She has a large, inverted-Y-shaped incision. They are managing her pain well and monitoring her very closely. She will stay overnight, and will be monitored frequently. Hopefully she will come home with us tomorrow if all goes well.

Speaking for myself only (although I suspect Kim is feeling much the same)...I am shaking and exhausted...drained emotionally and physically...it is all I can do not to cry.

Thanks to Dr. Andrew Sparling, his surgical team, and all the other staff at Osgoode Veterinary Services who continue to be fully supportive throughout this ordeal.

Round two.

2007-06-26T08:46:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Jaida went for a recheck at the vet's last night. Things were not good. Her incision had split open completely. It was weeping. Bone was visible. There was a serious risk of infection. We had to make an awful decision:

Jaida is having surgery this morning to remove the rest of her leg.

Although this procedure is much more invasive than the partial amputation, the wound should heal properly as there will be no moving parts to pull on the incision, and the incision will be flat against her side...no sticky-outy parts to bump.

We are devastated. We feel terrible that she has to go through this. We are exhausted from a restless, sleepless, anxiety-filled night. We are emotionally drained.

We will keep you informed as soon as the vet calls.

I am still fabulous me.

2007-06-25T15:43:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Life has been a tad weird for this oh-so-gorgeous gal lately.

My fabulously bendy boo-boo foot is now a fabulously...um...not-there foot.

A marvelous peanut-bump is now in it's place!!! I will admit, though, that my peanut-bump is not quite at the gorgeous state just yet. In fact, it is BALD and there are metal thingies and stringy thingies in it that my crafty teeth would like to examine a bit more closely, and it has a tendency to leak in a most unbecoming manner.

So, in order to ensure that my peanut-bump gets the glamourous reveal it deserves, moms are hiding it under t-shirts until it is up to par. I am not sure why they make me wear a CONE all the time. It keeps me from inspecting my peanut-bump for signs of its future fabulous-ness, how rude.

Also, despite my telling moms that I am FINE they will NOT let me play. Not outside, not with my cats, not with Gracie, not even with gentle Daisy. There have been no walks in the woods or mudpuddles. Only trips to see nice Dr. Sparling and his helper-doctors. It sucks.

But, I am getting lots of pets and belly rubs, and moms are carrying me everywhere, and I get lots of car rides (which I have now decided are actually as fun as Gracie claimed), and people keep giving me treats and cookies, and I get a lump of peanut butter twice a day, and I take lots of comfy naps. So I guess it's not all bad.

All of this to say, I am still fabulous, just a little less bendy, and I'm doing just fine.

Time heals all wounds?

2007-06-22T12:10:00.001-05:00

Crystal here.

I think I'm more stressed about this than Jaida (or Kim...thank goodness one of us can stay calm in these situations). Jaida's arm has been "leaking" all week...not terribly alarming...but last night she pulled off her bandage, to reveal a large open wound where a bunch of stitches had "popped". We got back from the vets not long ago, with Jaida re-bandaged and 10 new staples in place to hold everything together.

She is taking a long time to heal, longer than "normal". It may be weeks until we are able to take out the sutures/staples or even take the bandage off and let things breathe a little bit. Her poor little immune system has already been through so much...it's like her body is saying "give it a rest, already!". The good news is, there's no infection and the incision is clean and healthy so far. All we can do is take it a day at a time.

It's a bit hard (ok, a lot hard) to see her arm like this. I spent a fair bit of time awake, staring at the ceiling, and wondering if we did the right thing by trying to spare her upper arm for the prosthesis. But, my rational side tells me we've done everything right so far, and things could have gone flawlessly...there's no point in second guessing our decision. It's made, and we'll work with it until things change considerably. In the meantime, I permitted myself a good weep at the vet clinic while Jaida was in the treatment area getting fixed up.

On another note, a fellow amputee, Magic Crazy Bear the beautiful malamute girl, has passed away after a long courageous battle with bone cancer. She will be missed by everyone, especially her human, Peter, who loved her more than life itself.

Our little trooper.

2007-06-19T09:36:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

I had a quick moment to grab a computer, and wanted to let you all know how Jaida's doing 5 days post-op.

In a word, AWESOME!!! Doesn't she look great?

We couldn't be happier. She's happy, active (more than she should be), doesn't seem to be in pain, and looking wonderful. We took her home on Friday morning (earlier than we thought we would), and since then she hasn't looked back. It's honestly as if she has no idea that she just underwent major surgery.

We had a bit of a fright on Sunday, after she escaped from us and started wrestling with Gracie (sigh)...her stump started "leaking"...but after a few calls to the after-hours emergency vet, it was decided she'd be ok until her recheck the next morning. We got her bandages off, and things were looking good (the leaking was normal post-surgery fluid buildup escaping through a popped stitch). We're going to keep her bandaged for now, until the fluid subsides and she show a little less interest in licking her incisions.

We are still quite computer-less until next week, but rest assured that Jaida's happy, healthy and as gorgeous as ever.

It's done!

2007-06-14T13:36:00.001-05:00

And she's o.k.

Everything went well, no complications other than some trickiness because of the wonky way the bones at her elbow articulated...but things went smoothly.

She's awake and alert. More alert than the vet expected her to be at this point. She's on painkillers and antiobiotics, and they will keep her overnight so that she stays quiet and still. We get to take her home tomorrow.

Phew.

We may not be able to update as regularly as we'd like to for the next week, as we will be playing "nurse" for a while, but we will make sure to post all the details once we get back.

For those of you who have been sending prayers, good vibes and happy thoughts our way: thank you, it's paid off :-)

Got the all-clear to go...

2007-06-14T09:58:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Kim called with an update...Jaida's had her physical and bloodwork, and she's good to go for surgery within the hour. Dr. Sparling can hear some residual scarring in her lungs from the pneumonia, but not enough to cause him concern. He's going to remove her hind dewclaws too, while she's under. Poor baby is going to have THREE sore feet (or lack thereof) and a sore tummy from getting spayed. It seems like a lot, but it's better to have fewer rounds of anaesthetic because of her lungs. Better to get it all done at once.

She's at the vets.

2007-06-14T08:38:00.001-05:00

Crystal here.

Kim and I dropped her off about an hour ago. We should hear from them this afternoon. We know she's going to be just fine, but that knowledge isn't helping the nervous mummy butterflies.

We'll update as soon as we hear from the clinic.

One more day.

2007-06-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Moms are smelling a little nervous these days. I think it's because tomorrow is my SUR-GER-EE day with nice Dr. Sparling. Moms told me that's going to be when my boo-boo leg turns into a bye-bye leg.

Apparently I'm going to be sleeping through the whole thing, so I won't be able to offer my opinion (which I am NOT used to at all - I have a lot of very important and clever opinions about things), but I'm sure nice Dr. Sparling will do great and make sure I still look gorgeous (just a little less bonky and twisty and dangly).

I think moms are feeling a little scared, but I know things will be o.k. And I can tell they're a little sad, too, about the bye-bye boo-boo (it is, after all, a part of my cute-ness and special-ness). But I have PLENTY of other cute-ness-es about me, and the darn ol' thing is still getting in my way and getting bonked. I don't think I'm going to miss it that much.

Moms will let you all know tomorrow how I'm doing. Thanks for being part of my fan club!!!

Disappointment, decisions and...dirtyness :-)

2007-06-11T12:17:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

What a whirlwind. Friday: we arrived at the vet's office for Jaida's pre-op consultation, only to discover that a booking error had scheduled us in to see the WRONG VET!!! As much as we like Dr. Currie (she actually saw Jaida during her first two days and was great), she knew nothing of Jaida's amputation, the prosthesis option, or anything. She was able to show us an old orthotic support made for another client's dog, but didn't know much about it. It was really disappointing, and extremely hard to go home without answers to our questions and "the decision" still unresolved.

Our strong desire to get this monkey off our backs (plus a couple of cold beers) kept us talking for most of that evening, and we've made a decision:

Jaida will have a partial amputation, and we will have a prosthesis made for her after she heals. There. It's done.

We figure this way we will have provided Jaida with every opportunity, we will have explored and pursued all options, and the worst possible outcome would be another surgery and/or some money down the toilet if Jaida refuses to wear the device. If, however, it all works out, Jaida will have a new crutch that will slow or prevent wear on the joints of her good legs. The decision is made, so now we just have to deal with the pre-surgical nerves, of which there are plenty - eek.

So, with this out of the way, we threw ourselves into enjoying a beautiful, sunny, warm weekend with Jaida and Graice. Kim actually treated the girls to a "day out" before our vet appointment. They got a big, long car ride (Gracie's favourite, and Jaida even likes them now too), went to visit Kim's co-workers, then stopped at a pet store where Gracie spotted a bald guinea-pig she really wanted to *ahem* meet (maybe just have a little taste?). Then off to ANOTHER pet store where miss Jaida promptly selected a pig's ear from the shelf and headed for the door. This act of thievery was cute enough to score her some extra cookies from the cashier. On the way home from the vet, Gracie made friends with a construction worker who stopped us to allow some vehicles to pass. The woman leaned over to speak through the open car window, and was surprised by a very enthusiastic and very wet kiss from Gracie! The look on her face was priceless, but she was a good sport about Gracie's forwardness.

Saturday was glorious, so we started it off with a long walk in the woods....

...and, of course, MUD (what would a fun weekend be without mud?)... (there are hazards associated with closeup photography of boo-boo leg mudpuppies:) ...and we followed up the muddy fun with a nice dip in the creek... Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy a few more fun-filled days before the surgery this Thursday. Here is a portait of Jaida with all four legs, possibly one of the last we'll take:

It may sound strange, but we're so used to her little leg the way it is, and her with it...we're going to miss her little boo-boo foot.

Fun and games.

2007-06-05T11:58:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

It's been a quiet week consisting of rain, rain, clouds, rain, and more rain. The girls have more or less been stuck inside, with the odd romp in the woods thrown in between showers. Gracie's pretty cool about having some low-key days (she, like her mums, appreciates a good nap and a little down time). Jaida, however, has a tendency to get beansy but knows how to keep herself entertained.

She has the most utterly ridiculous and hilarious moments of puppy craziness...dashing around the hardwood floors (which really do lend themselves to a certain degree of comedy when it comes to animals), legs flying everywhere, eyes rolling, crashing into tables and couches, ears back, big wide toothy grin and floppy tongue, squealing and panting and groaning and chasing anything that moves...when it's Gracie she's chasing there are usually some great stop-drop-and-barrel-rolls thrown into the mix when Gracie chases back.

Kim and I usually sit back and watch these episodes half-collapsed with the giggles...they're so frikin' cute and funny. We'll have to try to capture it on film some day...

As for Jaida's Journey, we're kind of in limbo right now...it's a waiting game. Waiting for her pre-op appointment this Friday. Waiting until the final decision is made in terms of how we will proceed with her surgery and prosthesis (this aspect continues to be a bit of a roller-coaster ride). Waiting for the surgery itself. For the recovery period and everything that entails. For the time that she's feeling better and we can settle into a comfortable routine once again. It's a weird, quiet place to be...yet somehow whirling and frantic at the same time.

I think Kim and I are both determined to make "THE" decision this Friday during Jaida's pre-op . Personally, it's one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to be involved with. Just when I think it's a no-brainer (one way or the other), I start second guessing everything again. Hopefully, with the guidance of Jaida's trusted veterinarian, Dr. Sparling, we'll be able conclude this particular chapter to everybody's satisfaction. We'll let you all know how things turn out.

And what do the cats think?

2007-05-31T15:19:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

My cats have been not around in my stories. But that is probably because they spend a lot of time hiding or running away from me. I think there is a LOT of fun-ness in chasing them around the house, and I especially like to jump on Solomon and trap him under my boo-boo leg (he always yells at me when I do that, the big baby).

Boo is too important to be bothered with a boo-boo footed gal like me (even if I AM fabulous).

Riley thinks my nose is a punching bag (she's an even bigger grumpster than Tasha). But she has TWO boo-boo legs with wonky knees and only half a tail, so I guess she's allowed to be a grumpster.

And for some reason (even with all of my cleverness I cannot figure out why) Solomon is always jumping up to high places where my boo-boo leg and I can't reach. No fair.

I think Solly might be happy when my boo-boo leg is a bye-bye leg. Yep, I know about the bye-bye part. Moms have told me what a SUR-GER-EE is and have been telling me a bit about what's going to happen when I go see nice Dr. Sparling soon. It sounds a little weird, but they tell me that I am going to be JUST FINE and that they won't let it hurt too much.

They also tell me that maybe they will do something about my bye-bye boo-boo. My moms love me (well, duh, who wouldn't love a gorgeous gal like me?) and I know they will do what's best.

What does Gracie think?

2007-05-29T12:55:00.001-05:00

Jaida here.

I think the fabulous miss Gracie is bored with all the talk of boo-boo legs and SUR-GER-EES going on in our house.

Unlike moms, SHE'S not worried about any of that stuff at all. As you can see...

she's pretty relaxed about the whole thing.

"Tails" from K-9 Orthotics.

2007-05-28T14:21:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

We now have some more information regarding Jaida's prosthesis...we'll have to share more later once Kim and I have a chance to hash things out with her vet, but in the meantime...

We now know that she'd be able to run amok in the woods and mud puddles without having to worry about getting her new leg bunged up...that's a really important point for us, being an outdoorsy-type gang.

Jeff at K-9 Orthotics just sent me a video of the cutest little fluffball puppy (sorry Jaida), who is trying out his new leg. This poor baby had both his hind legs and his tail cut off by some ^%$#!* %&*-holes with a sick notion of "fun" (that's a post for an other day).

Anyways, here's the little survivor, feeling better, but not yet walking on his own:
He found his way to kind people who helped him recover from his trauma, and who then took him to Jeff, who has made him TWO new legs!

The video shows him with only one prosthesis , and it's his "maiden voyage", so he's a bit slippy, but it's amazing to see him find his balance and standing tall! Jeff tells me that now (two weeks later) he "runs like hell" on that leg, and is working on using his other prosthesis more often (his other stump is more sensitive). When we get some updated videos, we'll share them too...I think they're important to see.

I don't know about you all, but this clip brings tears to my eyes and hope to my heart, not just for Jaida, but for other "moms and dads" of amputees considering a prosthesis as well. Have a look:

Video #1

Video #2

Fundraiser a success!

2007-05-28T11:03:00.001-05:00

Crystal here.

Thanks to our friends at the Pretoria Pet Hospital (PPH), plus family members and coworkers who generously donated items for sale, our "booth" at last weekend's Glebe Garage Sale was a great success! We raised approximately $255.00 through sales and donations.

Also, our friends at Pet Plan Insurance contributed a doggie gift basket for a raffle (also hosted by PPH), which raised an additional $90.00, for a grand total of...

$345.00

All proceeds of the sale and raffle will go directly to the JAIDA Fund!

Our big ol' thanks to everyone who helped, donated, bought raffle tickets or items at our sale. Each and every contribution, no matter how small,
brings us closer to our goal of helping other disabled animals.

NEW: you can now donate to the JAIDA Fund via Pay Pal! Just click on the "donate now" button on the right side of this page. Thank you for your generosity!

Support the JAIDA Fund this weekend!

2007-05-25T09:48:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Our friends at the Pretoria Pet Hospital in Ottawa have generously offered to let us set up a "booth" in front of the clinic this Saturday, May 26, so that we can participate in the annual Great Glebe Garage Sale!

Staff at PPH, friends, family and coworkers have generously donated items for the sale, and all proceeds will be put towards the JAIDA Fund (Jaida's AId for Disabled Animals Fund) - see more info about this fund on the right side of this page.

Raffle tickets for a doggie gift basket , donation jars, and "What's the Matter With Henry?" books will also be available.

So, if you're in the Ottawa area, love a good treasure hunt, and want to take advantage of the great weather we're going to have tomorrow, come out and show your support!

You'll find us here, at 16 Pretoria Avenue, which is between Bank St. and the Queen Elizabeth Parkway along the canal, near highway 417.

"A" Day!

2007-05-24T10:14:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

It's official. Jaida's amputation is booked for Thursday, June 14th.

We remain undecided about the prosthesis, but obviously will have to make that decision prior to the surgery.

New Leg or Not, that is the question.

2007-05-23T12:58:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Lately, Jaida's mums are talking a lot about things like surgeries and prosthetics.

We're ready for Jaida's surgery (as ready as we'll ever be) and are anxious to get our family over this hurdle and help Jaida carry on with her newfound "official" three-legged-ness.

We sent a bunch of pictures and videos to K-9 Orthotics, who has been consulting with our vet, Dr. Sparling, throughout this process. Jeff (the fellow at K9P) needed to get a feel for Jaida's range of motion: how much she was able to move her joints. Here are the video clips we sent:

Her shoulder

(careful-she starts to bark at a car horn right at the end...so turn the volume down!)

Her elbow

You can see how flexible her shoulder is, and how little the elbow is able to bend. Jeff has recommended amputation at the elbow if we decide to proceed with the prosthesis. Dr. Sparling has recommended the same. So, it sounds like a prosthesis is definitely an option for Jaida. The thing is, we still haven't decided whether or not a prosthetic device is the BEST option for Jaida.

We still have a lot of questions about how Jaida's life will/could be improved if she gets a prosthesis. Things like: will it reduce the wear on her good leg? Can she muck around in mud puddles and creeks and snow while wearing it? What is it made of? Can she chew it up? Will it be easy to take on and off? Will she be able to be more active for longer periods of time with it on? Aesthetics have never been a factor for us. She's gorgeous now with her scrunchy little dangly club foot, and she'll be gorgeous with three legs or three-and-a-half legs. We just want her to be healthy and happy.

We have an on-line friend, Sandra, who has a pup named Angel. Angel had a stump for a front leg when Sandra adopted her. Recently, we found out that Sandra had Angel fitted for a prosthetic, through OrthoPets, and that it will be arriving any day now. Our family is anxiously awaiting pictures and stories of Angel and her new leg...it might help us make our decision about Jaida.

We're going to book the surgery for mid-June, if all goes according to plan, and Jaida will have either a full (entire arm, including shoulder) or partial (from the elbow down) amputation, depending on what we decide to do with the prosthesis. It's definitely not easy to make decisions like this, but I know that Kim and I will make the right one.

Long weekends ARE fun!

2007-05-22T11:07:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Now I understand why moms say long weekends are fun! I was a busy gal, yep I was. Here's what I did:

chased Gracie in the woods; lay down in mud puddles; ate grass, leaves, dirt and bugs; swam in a creek; chewed bones; played with Gramma and Grampa; got a new BAY-BEE SOCKS from Gramma - very stylish and snazzy (that's me with my new SOCKS...it has a dinosaur on it...I am sleepy from all my long-weekend-ing); licked ice cream; rolled on a dead bird; played baseball and frisbee; got a french fry from a nice lady; played on a beach and splashed in the river; got chased out of the gardens by moms; played with Daisy; went for car rides; got a cookie from a nice lady; got to sleep in my BIG GIRL BED upstairs with moms; had many good sleeps and many good leg-twitchy dreams.

Much better than my last long weekend! I hope yours was fun too!

ESCAPED!

2007-05-15T09:42:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

I really surprised moms this weekend. I am getting too big for my crate-bed, so moms let me sleep in my playroom with just my BAY-BEE gate across the door. After my sleep, I was feeling awake and beansy and strong and didn't want to be downstairs all by myself, so I ESCAPED!!!

With the mighty strongness of my THREE GOOD LEGS, I climbed right over that BAY-BEE gate and went upstairs to wake up sleepy, lazy ol' moms. They were very surprised to see me...I don't know why, because they should know by now that I am a very clever gal and can do anything if I really want to. I still want them to help me up onto the bed though, which is what they did after I woke them up.

Here is the conquered BAY-BEE Gate Mountain from which I ESCAPED:

My boo-boo leg is NOT a stick, Daisy!!

2007-05-11T11:12:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

I just came back from a WALK with mums. We went in the woods where all the mud puddles are and I think I succeeded in squooshing through all of them to acheive my desired level of dirty-ness.

Then we went to the house where Daisy and Tasha live. They are very big and pretty and yellow, but they both have four GOOD LEGS. Tasha is kind of like my sister in that they are both grumpsters and don't always like to play.

But Daisy is FUN!! She is very bigger than me and bounces on me, but does it with niceness. I bite her nose. She bites my ear. I steal her bone. She stands on me and stares at her bone. I jump on her head and fall down. She sits on me. I try to bonk her with my boo-boo leg. She CHEWS my boo-boo leg, the nerve!!

MY BOO-BOO LEG IS NOT A STICK, DAISY!!

But you can chew it a little if we can play again, ok?

Little updates.

2007-05-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Just wanted to leave two quick notes:

1. We've been in touch with a few more orthopedic specialists, and the consensus seems to be that Jaida's deformity is definitely not RH (see last week's post). It was most likely due to either an injury or impeded development in-utero (possibly due to the environment/diet of Jaida's mother), and probably doesn't have a genetic component. So, Jaida's just Jaida, with her own unique version of bendy-twisty-bonky-boo-boo-leg.

2. We're still waiting for to hear whether or not a prosthesis is going to be a possibility for Jaida. The type of surgery she will have is totally dependent on this information...we're really anxious to hear what K9 Orthotics says. It's hard to wait!

Ode to Gracie.

2007-05-08T12:57:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Kim asked me to pen a special "ode to Gracie". She's right...it's definitely well-deserved.

Gracie, Grace, Gracie-goose, Gooser, Pooper, Pooper-doo...what would we do without you???

Gracie has been an amazing, amazing, amazing dog throughout Jaida's whole ordeal and introduction to our family. She has accepted this bratty brat-child boo-boo leg mudpuppy into her pack, and has put up with all of Jaida's puppy foolishness...the chasing, the stealing of bones and toys, the constant nipping at her mouth for attention. Gracie hardly gets a moment's peace when Jaida is around. Gracie has endured a whole lot of "sorry, you can't come" car rides (one of her favourite things) as Jaida gets trucked off to yet another appointment with the vet. She has had to share the bed, the play times, the snuggles, the sunbeam sleepy spots, and her mummies.
Gracie never holds a grudge.

Jaida just LOVES Gracie. Loves, loves, loves her. Want to touch her, be close to her, look at her, follow her...any of these sets Jaida into a full-body-all-out-tail-wag of pure joy. Gracie, we're sure, has pushed Jaida to really stretch her physical capabilities and build her endurance...Jaida is highly motivated to go everywhere Gracie goes and do everything Gracie does.
Gracie takes this all in stride.

These days, Jaida is starting to show some signs of maturity and settling. There is a little less of the puppy foolishness, and Gracie is starting to appreciate her more and a friend and playmate. This morning, after some morning mummie snuggles (and getting bonked repeatedly on the head with Jaida's boo-boo foot throughout), Gracie leaned over and gave Jaida kisses right on the lips. Jaida thought she died and went to heaven.

Gracie is sweet, smart, beautiful, funny, happy, friendly, silly, patient, forgiving and kind. We love her to bits. She makes our hearts full and happy. Thanks Goose!

How does she do that?

2007-05-07T14:31:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Moms tell me that some people are wondering how a fabulously-bendy-footed and gorgeous gal like me can do stuff like go down stairs, chew STICKS or chase my sister Gracie around, when I only have ONE GOOD LEG. Mom Crystal used to wonder if I walked "normally" for a pup with only ONE GOOD LEG (normal, sheesh, the nerve, I am TOO SPECIAL for normal-ness) and says other people might have questions about their own pups that I could, in my cleverness, answer here.

For starters, technically I have THREE GOOD LEGS, which are all fabulous in their own right, and they help me do what I need to do just fine. So here is how I do stuff with my own variety of special-ness.

How do I chew bones or STICKS? Well, sometimes I cheat and use my boo-boo foot to prop up my STICK, but mostly I just wedge my STICK under my ONE GOOD foot and hold it upright with my crafty teeth. Sometimes I poke the end of my STICK into the grass or carpet (heh, I sometimes sneak my STICKS inside...shhhh, don't tell moms...) to hold it in place, then my crafty teeth can go to work.

How do I rest my chin on my paw when I'm lying down? My boo-boo leg doesn't bend very well. Actually, it doesn't bend at all, so I can only put my head on my ONE GOOD LEG. I kinda crook my elbow under my chest so it's right in the middle and supporting me, stick my foot out, and then I can rest my chin on my foot. Moms sometimes snicker at me and say it makes my cheek all smooshy, how rude, but I'm comfy like that.

How do I go up and down stairs? Pretty easily. No, really. Down is very simple for a gal of my cleverness, and I can go FAST... I do it differently from miss Gracie, who zooms down headfirst in a straight line. I just hold my boo-boo leg up and out to the side (no need for it to be bonking on every step), and I go down with my body on a diagonal with my ONE GOOD LEG leading the way. Two hops for each step: GOOD LEG, back legs.
Going up stairs is slower, but still pretty easy, and I don't have to go diagonally. I pop up my ONE GOOD LEG fast, and step up with my back legs. There are lots of stairs in my house, too, and I do them all. TA-DA!

How do I walk and run? My nice vet Dr. Sparling says I bunny-hop, and he's right. It's a good way to move if you're a gorgeous gal with legs like mine. It's basically two steps: my ONE GOOD LEG goes first, then my two back legs hop up to join it.
Walking is harder than running. When I zoom around the yard or run in crazy puppy circles, I can really move. I can turn fast in any direction, and jump. I look a lot more bunny-ish and hoppy when I have to move slow. I try to tell mom Crystal this when she takes me for "walks", of all foolish things. She puts a THING around my neck that I don't like, because it's hard for me to run with that THING on. So my crafty teeth and I bite her ankles as we "walk". This makes mom call me a "jerk", which I'm pretty sure is another way of telling me I'm frickin' cute and clever.

How do I dig holes? With my mighty strongness and fastness of my ONE GOOD LEG, I can dig holes in snow, dirt, mud, and make "nests" in my bed with my blankies. Moms say its kinda like doing a "clapping push-up": I just gotta go fast and strong. I dig extra-good holes in the mud-pits in the yard, which is useful for getting dirty.

How do I jump into the car or up onto the bed? I don't. At least not yet. I haven't made up my mind why I don't, if it's because I don't feel like it, or I just like to be lifted, or I can't because I'm still just a baby. Moms tell me that lots of fabulous three-leggers do these things just fine, so I'll think about it a bit and let you know what I decide.

So, that's it for now. If you have any questions about how a clever, crafty gal like me does other kinds of stuff, send an email to moms here.

Big words: stuff about club hands

2007-05-04T13:23:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

I've been snooping around the internet, trying to find information about Jaida's deformity. We know that it is congenital, meaning that it was present at birth. There is very little literature publicly available that discusses deformities of the extremities (i.e. arms/hand and legs/feet) when it comes to animals. From what I've found, though, the medical terminology is the same for dogs and people. I've also contacted a few orthopedic veterinary specialists for some guesses about what kind of condition resulted in her little "club foot" (which technically is a "club hand", since it's on her foreleg). Here's what I've gathered to this point:

Jaida has a type of manus valgus. This is the generalized term used to describe a club hand that bends in towards the body. If the hand bends away from the body, it's called a manus vanus. This type of club hand is usually associated with a shortening or absence of the radius bone in the forearm, conditions respectively called radial hypoplasia and radial agenesis.

Radial clubhand (also called radial hemimelia) is the term used to describe this combination of of manus valgus, plus radial hypoplasia/agenesis. Radial clubhand is actually one of the more common hand/arm deformities in human children. In this child's x-ray, you can see how the radius is missing from the lower arm, leaving only the ulna (there should be two bones there), and the inwardly-turned wrist.

However, Jaida's recent x-rays show that her radius bone is not missing, and even though it's short, it's attached in the right places and is the same length as its "sister" bone, the ulna, so that rules out radial clubhand or radial hypoplasia. All of this to say:

She has an abnormal antebrachium. (Ha, you thought the big words were all done, didn't you?) The antibrachium is simply the forearm, the part of the arm between the elbow and the wrist, so that means: she has a screwy forearm. Cause? Still unknown. But the wrist itself is screwy too, no? Which leads us to...

Carpal contracture. The carpus is the wrist. A contracture is a tightening of muscle, tendons, ligaments, or skin that prevents normal movement. So, basically, the wrist is tightened up into an immovable "club" position.

The combination of these two things make it look like she has radial hypoplasia (RH), with the associated club hand. RH was a possible diagnosis for Jaida until we got her x-rays. Here's a pic of a sweet little boxer baby with the RH condition. He was in a shelter in New York, last time I heard about him. They called him "Gumby". I hope he found a good home.

RH occurs in kitties too. They're often called "twisty" cats, and some really questionable people have gone as far as starting breeding programs to perpetuate the trait. I think it's safe to say that most people would not condone this practice (I, for one, do not). Interestingly, specialists say that RH is a heritable condition in cats, but that there is no evidence of heritability of RH in dogs - it's a fluke in canines, in other words.

Jaida and I will keep you posted if we are able to get any more information about her particular condition. Right now, it looks like a fairly unique type of malformity. We always knew she was one-of-a-kind!

Paper towels and tears.

2007-04-30T14:45:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Things are feeling pretty normal these days in the Jaida/Gracie/triple-cat-threat household. Jaida continues to show us that she's just another goof-ball puppy, with normal puppy ups and downs. Both her moms think that she's getting stronger and gaining endurance every day.

Jaida loves to spend her days outside poking around the yard, following her sister Gracie and her mums as they do their chores (for us, stacking wood; for Gracie, making sure the chickadees don't steal any food from the birdfeeder). She is definitely her happiest when she is filthy. We cannot keep her out of any recently dug pile of dirt, nor out of the swampy, mud-filled depressions in the far end of the yard. The mud-holes are particularly fun because the grass is oh-so-soft and easy to rip out by the sludgy mouthful. But more than anything, she loves to play "shadow" with Gracie.

Gracie is an adventurous gal, and likes to go ambling in the hay field behind our house. Of course, all of her amblings are now accompanied by a certain dangly-legged mudpuppy. Kim and I were busy gardening when we noticed that the girls were preoccupied with something in the field. They were taking turns rolling and snacking on something that was, without a doubt, dead and disgusting and beyond foul. So of course they were quite happy. Such happiness is not permissible in our house, so we called them back home and gave them a "sniff test" to determine whether or not they were going to be allowed back in the house. They passed (barely), and we thought that was the end of it.

Oh, boy, were we wrong. We paid dearly for our inattentiveness, with a lovely episode of DOUBLE DIARRHEA!!! Nothing like having two dogs who desperately need to go outside every hour on the hour, all night long, and all day, for two days. Whatever those fools got into, we'll never know, but I sure hope it was worth it. A diet of cooked rice, boiled chicken and cottage cheese now has them back on track, but Kim and I will be changing our investment portfolio to include copious shares in Bounty Paper Towels. Let's just say we didn't always wake up on time. *Sigh*

Part of the reason we missed a few "episodes" is because we are becoming increasingly sleep deprived. Jaida has an internal clock that you could set your watch by. And her internal clock says that at 5:20 a.m. she should be awake and barking/crying/howling. The TEARS, oh, the humanity. It's quite a scene. So, on the weekend, when her poor mums just want to sleep in ("pleeaaaase?")...well, we can forget about it. We tried an experiment on Saturday. We were going to break this habit by letting her bark her fool head off until she was exhausted, thereby realizing that barking/crying/howling are NOT productive means of being allowed out of bed.

For those of you dealing with a similar puppy problem, here is how it works:
10:00pm: put puppy to bed after a potty break. Tell puppy that her goose is cooked and snicker to yourself.
11:00pm-4:00am: let out diarrhea dogs every hour. (optional)
5:20am: the barking/crying/howling starts. Grin, knowingly: puppy will wear herself out in no time, and the battle will be won.
6:20am: close bedroom door to dampen the volume of barking/crying/howling.
7:20am: remove pillow from over your head so you can find the bottle of asprin on the bedside table, take 2 extra strength, then replace pillow.
8:00am: restate your resolve and reposition pile of pillows...the puppy cannot win this fight. Lie awake staring at the ceiling and dream about coffee while the puppy barks/cries/howls her fool head off.
8:20am: throw off the pillows, fling open the bedroom door, stomp downstairs and release the rotten brat smelly mudpuppy mutter mutter from her sleep area, make cups of strong coffee, and sulk over them while puppy romps and plays happily on the bed.
I'm pretty sure that Marty would have something to say about this. "Bad owners, bad!" comes to mind.

High-tech gear for the boo-boo leg?

2007-04-25T09:53:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Jaida went for a checkup last weekend (clean bill of health, thank you very much!!) Along with the routine exam and vaccinations, we also decided to do some xrays of her little leg. The reason we did this is because we are exploring some options for her little chicken wing, namely, a prosthetic.

There are several talented and wonderful people out there who create custom orthotics, prosthetics and wheelchairs for dogs and other animals who need a little extra help getting around. We have spoken to such a person in Nova Scotia (Canada) who does just this and is interested in seeing if he could fabricate something for Jaida. This man is an amputee himself, and uses human-grade materials to create his masterpieces.

There is absolutely no reason why Jaida couldn't enjoy a great quality of life after a complete amputation of her little leg. Many, many three-leggers do just that (click here for lots of examples). However, since Jaida is still a baby, and thus will be relying on that ONE GOOD LEG for her entire life, it would be nice if we could give her a way to reduce the wear-and-tear on that good leg. Also, it would mean a less invasive surgery with only a partial amputation. So, we're checking things out. If it turns out that she's not a good candidate for a prosthetic, then we will go back to the original plan.

Here are the xrays from the weekend...kinda cool, eh? To quote our beloved and much esteemed veterinarian: "that wrist is all screwed up!"

Two views of the entire arm

Closeup of screwey wrist

How to make your very own oh-so-stylish and fashionable BAY-BEE SOCKS

2007-04-25T09:13:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Moms would like you all to have instructions for creating fashionable and oh-so-stylish booties for fabulously bendy club feet. Moms tell me that they work better than booties designed for flat-footed gals and require much less of that paper stuff to make.....

Step 1: Aquire different sizes of BAY-BEE SOCKS. Note: these should be stylish and fashionable (very important). One should be smaller and snug, the other should be longer and able to fit over the smaller one. Put stick-on (or sew-on) VELCRO on two places on the bigger sock, one near the top, the other near the bend at the ankle. Don't put the VELCRO around the whole sock, only around half of it so the sock can still stretch over the fabulously bendy foot. Have small peices of the other half of the VELCRO ready.

Step 2: Put on small BAY-BEE SOCK.

Step 3: Put bigger BAY-BEE SOCK on over small one.

Step 4: Use small velcro bits to snuggly hold the big SOCK on the leg.

Step 5: Play and be naughty and chew STICKS with now comfy and padded and protected and clean and oh-so-stylish bendy club foot.

TA-DA!

Dirt, Dirt, Dirt.

2007-04-23T08:37:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

I have, in my cleverness, discovered something as fun to chew as STICKS. Possibly funner. And definitely messier.

Moms spent all weekend making big piles of it in our yard. I'm pretty sure they were doing this just for me, on account of my cuteness. This new stuff is nice and cool to lie in and tastes delicious, especially when garnished with bugs and grass, and it goes right up my nose when I stick my face in it, kind of like snow.

DIRT.

Yep, DIRT.

For some reason, Gracie doesn't like DIRT as much as I do. I tried to show her how fun it is, but she just shook her paws when she stepped in it. I suspect that she is concerned that her fabulously gorgeous fur might get messed up. Which it probably would, because my BAY-BEE SOCKS and its VELCRO is all black now.

Still, I'm pretty sure that life doesn't get much better than this.

Henry, the three-legged Angel

2007-04-19T08:42:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

I just got an email from my new paw-pal, Henry. Henry is rather like me, in that he is furry and oh-so-gorgeous. Oh, yes, and he only has three legs.

Henry is a very famous guy, a real celebrity. He has been on T.V. and in magazines and newspapers and he even has written BOOKS! I think I need to get moms to call his agent....

Anyways, fabulous Henry has decided that I, too, am fabulous (naturally) and is going to send me some of his books! My moms are very excited about this, because they tell me that other people are going to want these books, and these people will give them some of that paper stuff they need to take care of my boo-boo leg.

If Henry were here, I would be bouncing all over him and giving him all kinds of kisses for making my moms so happy! Thanks, Henry!

A word of thanks.

2007-04-18T12:33:00.000-05:00

Crystal here. (Jaida's off busy being cute at this moment. Sorry.)

We just want thank the folks in our lives (real and virtual) who have taken the time to let us know we're doing an o.k. job with this little pup of ours. You all made a big difference, and your kind words came when they were needed most. So...thanks.

EXCUUUSE ME! Jaida here.

Boy, mom's been hogging this blog lately, huh. My crafty teeth and I will have to have a word with her ankles about this. Pardon me? Nothing.

I would like to tell you all that my ONE GOOD LEG is feeling considerably more like it's old self, and I am back to my usual hopping about, with much less bonking and more dangling of my boo-boo leg. I still am BALD on my ONE GOOD LEG, which is most unbecoming to a gal of my loveliness. Moms tell me that I should get used to the BALD-ness, and that I "haven't seen nothin' yet", and whisper about something called a SUR-GER-EE. I'm not entirely sure what they mean, but mom Crystal gave me a BATH last weekend, so maybe she's thinking about a new hairdo for lovely me? Personally, I don't think that BALD would be a very good look for a gal of my loveliness. My teeth and I will have to have another word with her about that too.....

A dose of reality.

2007-04-13T12:14:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Ok, folks, it's time for a dose of reality. A lot of Jaida's posts are fun and maybe even silly at times, which makes sense because she is a fun and silly gal...she writes as she sees things.

Her moms sometimes see these ordeals quite differently, and I think it's important to recognize this aspect of caring for a special-needs animal along with the fun-ness and silliness. Truth be told, Jaida's moms are starting to feel pretty rough around the edges right now.

There is a lot of fear. Fear of the unknown. Why did she get so sick last week? Could it happen again? Could it have been prevented? Is there some horrible underlying chronic or congenital issue lurking somewhere? What's going to happen next time? Are we going to be able to deal with it emotionally and financially? What if her front leg doesn't heal properly? There are a lot of "what ifs" floating around.

There is also guilt. About not doing enough, about missing signs of sickness or not responding fast enough. There is guilt about feeling tired and at times dispairing, because none of it is Jaida's fault.

Of course, the reason we are so scared and feel guilty is because we love her so much. This little pup is our baby. We have other animals who we love dearly, of course, but they are the result of a "blended family" (2 were Crystal's and 2 were Kims). Jaida is the first to be OURS. This makes her a little special. We love her so much it hurts sometimes, and the thought of her getting sick again, or worse, is hard to bear. The thought of not being able to do anything about it is terrible too (either because there's simply nothing to be done, or because our resources run out - we're trying so hard to raise funds right now to prevent that, but still). Our lives are fairly consumed with her. We are her caretakers, and she depends on us for everything, more so than a "normal" pet because of her disability. We are feeling tired and worn out, and perhaps even close to a breaking point. I have heard from other pet caretakers that they have felt this too.

But inevitably, something so sweet happens that you forget about all this, if only for a just a moment.

Like this morning. Jaida came tromping and bumping up the stairs and ended up on the bed, as usual. She snuggled in, and draped her leg over mummy Kim's neck and nuzzled her head in close, just hugging. My eyes are tearing up thinking about this, because it was just so ... nice. A sweet, beautiful, quiet moment where everyone was feeling ok. If only for a moment.

Hopefully there will come a time when these kinds of moments will outweigh all the fear and worry and guilt, and we will be able to relax and just enjoy our beautiful girl. In the meantime, we will simply do what we can, and love her through it all.

Solution for boo-boo leg.

2007-04-12T11:48:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Well, my moms finally figured out that a run-of-the mill boring ol' dog bootie, which is meant for a straight, flat foot, is simply not spectacular enough to put on my boo-boo leg, on account of it being of its own unique shape.

So, they have discovered an amazing device surely created just for gals

like me ... it is called a BAY-BEE SOCKS. They are shaped nicely curvy and cushioney in all the right places. I still will chew and rip off the BAY-BEE SOCKS because that is what my teeth are for. I have been hearing rumours about something called VELCRO and I have a sneaking suspicion that moms are going to do this VELCRO to my SOCKS, and knowing them it will make it harder for me to use my teeth for their functional purpose. But as I said before I am a very independent girl and my teeth are very crafty, so we will see... In the meantime, moms at least had the common sense of picking out very stylish and snazzy BAY-BEE SOCKS to grace my lovely boo-boo leg. Stylish and snazzy things are much more fun to chew and rip.

The boo-boo leg gets a workout.

2007-04-11T10:11:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Because I am a very independent girl, I simply cannot be carried around ALL the time. There are cats that need chasing and soggy brown grass patches to be sniffed. So, I have to use my boo-boo leg to help get me around, yes I do, because my ONE GOOD LEG is still sore (but a bit better). My moms need to get me a better-fitting boot for my boo-boo leg because THIS is how it looks today. I don't think it's that big a deal, but my moms are fussing over it a lot, so if a boot will make them feel better, hey, who am I to argue? I'm always game for a new chew toy...

A looooong weekend.

2007-04-10T09:33:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

Moms told me that long weekends were supposed to be fun. With trips to the park and to places where people give me COOKIES and stuff. Well, long weekends are no fun AT ALL, uh-uh, nope. At least, this one wasn't.

On Friday I forgot to wake up my moms. I am usually very on time and BARK at 6:00. But I didn't feel like it at all. I was too HOT. Moms remembered I was still downstairs at 8:00...they slept in, the nerve, leaving poor HOT me downstairs. They let me out of bed and I got my BREAKFAST, but then I just felt like lying down. And lying down some more. Then my mums stuck something COLD up my bum, how rude, and I smelled them being worried after they looked at the cold thing. (They didn't smell the cold thing though, which I thought was strange, because what else are bums for, really?) So, after more lying down, and me being too darn HOT to want to stand, let alone play or anything foolish like that, they put me in the CAR, the nerve, and took me to the VET.

Not my nice vet Dr. Sparling...this was an EEE-MER-GEN-SEE vet. Apparently an EEE-MER-GEN-SEE means that you are so HOT that people have to poke you with needles and poke more cold things up your bum and take pictures of you with scary machines and then poke medicine in your mouth and wrap up your ONE GOOD LEG with a needle under the bandange attached to a tube so you can't bend it and stick you in a cage. And then your moms go away smelling all worried, and then they live near the phone and call nice Dr. Sparling all weekend every five seconds.

For four days. Yep, that was the long weekend. Long weekends are not fun. No more for me, thanks.

But by Monday, I wasn't feeling so HOT so I guess the EEE-MER-GEN-SEE was over and my moms finally came to take me home. They still poke medicine in my mouth (but they do it with peanut butter, much nicer!) and still poke cold things up my bum. And my ONE GOOD LEG is very sore today, so I still don't feel much like walking. Mom Crystal took me to nice Dr. Sparling today, and he said my ankle is sore, and I thought, "duh, I had a needle and tube and bandage on my ONE GOOD LEG all weekend" and now I can't give it a rest because I only have ONE GOOD LEG." I just need a few days of pampering and carrying, and I will be fine. This is my boo-boo on my ONE GOOD LEG. I think I will live, however.

Moms are happy that I'm better, but they warned me that they will continue to stick cold things up my bum until they are convinced that it will never say 41.1 ever again. Apparently that is too HOT. I wish I could tell moms or the vets where I had been feeling sick, but they don't seem to speak BARK very well, so it will have to stay a mystery.

One nice thing about having to go to the eee-mer-gen-cee vet is that when you come home your big sister thinks you smell great! Gracie sniffed and sniffed and sniffed and wagged her tail. I think she must have missed me, but my moms roll their eyes when people say that. There are rumours circulating that Gracie got extra spoiled and didn't miss sharing STICKS and toys with me while I was gone. I don't believe that for a second though. I'm sure Gracie was pining away for me the whole time...
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Crystal here (thanks Jaida).
Just a quick note from the moms. She's again on antiobiotics (Zeniquin 50mg once a day for 14 days), plus Cisapride 5mg three times a day for her digestion. No idea what happened, despite blood/urine tests and x-rays, and it wasn't the pneumonia. Very scary. Not overly impressed by the service at the emergency clinic which shall remain nameless. Poor communication between staff, terrible service at front desk, little conveyance of useful information from doctors to moms. Glad Jaida is home. Well, actually, she's not home today, she's being spoiled and pampered and given nice meds for her sore leg by her favourite-est vet Dr. Sparling.

Get over it, she's fine (And: an exciting weekend)!

2007-04-02T15:39:00.000-05:00

Crystal here.

Kim and I took the girls to a dog park this Saturday. This was a very big deal for both dogs. For Jaida, this was her first "yay-I've-got-the-pneumonia-licked-enough-to-get-vaccines" major outing to socialize with other dogs. Of course, she got loads of attention, and everyone stared at her, because she's so frikin' cute and because she was accompanied by the fabulously gorgeous miss Gracie.

And because she hops around like a bunny and has a dangly little scrunchy leg.

There was lots of "aw, poor thing" and "oh, it was so good of you to take her on", which I guess is not necessarily a bad thing, but I'll be honest - it gets a little tired after a while. So, for all you owners of run-of-the-mill 4-legged dogs who happen to come across a dog with three legs or a bum leg or two legs or paralyzed, cart-weilding warrior legs at a dog park: the dog's people KNOW that their dog looks different and don't need to be reminded all the time. And, the dogs are fine. They are happy. They are enjoying their day at the park. If you watch the dogs veeeeerrrry closely, you might notice that they act, well, like fine happy dogs enjoying their day at the park. Hmmm ... sounds remarkably like all the non-handicapped dogs, doesn't it?

Ok, rant completed.

Next. Big deal number 2: GRACIE HUNG OUT AT A DOG PARK!!! This may not seem like a huge big exciting thing, but it sure was for Kim and I. We were super-dooper proud of our girl, yes we were. Why? Because if we had tried this last year, there would likely have been a dog fight. Probably several. The fabulously gorgeous miss Gracie, best friend to cats and all human beings everywhere, was not always the nicest with other dogs. In fact, she could be a downright jerk.

Enter Marty Walhin, dog trainer extraordinaire, and mummy Kim, expert handler. Gracie started going to "bad dog school" early this year to correct this *ahem* issue. After weeks of excellent teaching and hard work, Gracie passed her Level One Obedience class with flying colours. This weekend was proof of the value of those classes. Gracie was relaxed, happy, quite content to sniff every other object and pee on the ones in between, and met lots of dogs, with no problems. In fact, she practically threw herself at a handsome little pug (such a flirt!) It was the coolest thing to see, and Gracie provided Jaida with an excellent example of polite behaviour with other dogs. Yay, Gracie!!!

Props to Uncle Marty (he doesn't know that Gracie calls him that, hee-hee!). His website is here:
Marty Walhin
If you are looking for a dog trainer in the Ottawa area, call this guy. Seriously.

Happiness is a stick to chew to bits...

2007-03-30T11:25:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.

My mom Crystal was away for a whole week (she has a j-o-b that makes her leave sometimes). Mummy Kim took great care of me. I learned something called "manners"... it's a type of torture where mummy makes me SIT and WAIT while she puts my food bowl down. I have to WAIT until OK, which means the torture is over and I can EAT! I like food a lot, have I ever mentioned that?

The snow all disappeared this week too. This was sad, but underneath the snow another favourite thing of mine was hiding: STICKS. Lots and lots and lots of STICKS all over the place. It is my job to find them and chew them into little bits, especially STICKS that Gracie finds. She finds them for me to chew, I'm sure that is her job, but for some reason she gets grumpy when I take them. She's funny.

My Hero

2007-03-28T07:02:00.000-05:00

Jaida here.This is my big sister Gracie. She is my hero...isn't she beautiful? I want to be just like her when I grow up. I think right now she thinks I'm just a pesty little sister, but I can't help wanting to be around her all the time. Gracie is the smartest dog ever and is showing me how to be good, except my moms don't think that Gracie should have showed me barking. Barking makes them say "no" a lot. I think it's fun and I'm glad Gracie showed me how to bark whenever my moms come home and whenever there's perhaps something that might possibly, maybe be moving outside.

Jaida gets the "all-clear" (and the story of Jaida's first month)

2007-03-27T15:17:00.000-05:00

So, Jaida had her one-month checkup this past Saturday. They were x-raying her lungs to see how she was recovering from the pneumonia. Good news: her lungs look much healthier.

So healthy, in fact, that she will be able to undergo the surgery sometime in the next four weeks. It's now simply a matter of getting the estimate from the vet and booking the day. This, quite frankly, is mind-blowing, despite all the time we've had to process this whole amputation thing.

Let me go back a bit...

Jaida came to us as a 12 week old puppy. She's a lovely little german shepherd. We found her rather by accident, after answering an ad for puppies in a nearby village. We went to check out the pups, and were beyond horrified by what we saw. The pups and their "owner" were living in a shack with no heat or running water (this was in February in Canada - in other words, very cold). The 12 littermates had never been outside in their whole lives. Guess where they did their "business". You got it - in the house. The floors were covered in what can only be described as s*&t soup. The little ones and all of their bedding were matted with filth. In the middle of all this, we found our little girl: Jaida. We knew she was special. Her eyes told us she needed to come home with us. We loved her immediately and unconditionally.

Then there was her leg. She was born with a deformed and underdeveloped right front leg. It is shorter than the other front leg, and does not bend at the wrist or elbow. Her paw curls up almost parallel to the lower leg. She has toes, but no nails. We knew immediately that the leg was not long for this world.

We got her to the vet right away. They cleaned her up and did an exam, which revealed malnourishment, fleas, burnt paw pads from walking on urine, and to top it all off, pneumonia. The vet also confirmed our feelings about her little leg: it would be prone to damage and injury and would add unnecessary weight (and therefore strain) to her alreay maxed out three good legs: it would need to be amputated when she was stronger and able to handle the surgical anesthetic.

She came home to us after three days of recovery in the hospital.

Since then, with only a brief scare about the health of her kidneys (which, thankfully, turned out to be just fine) plus lots of love, good food, and daily antibiotic injections, she has put on weight, has a lovely shiny coat, and the pneumonia has almost been licked. She is playful, funny, active, and fearless. In fact, right now, she is downright wicked (that wonderful terrible twos phase pups go through). She knows no limitations and does it all on three legs.

Her little leg has proved to be an issue already...it doesn't touch the ground when she walks normally, but bonks on everything and gets in the way when she tries to do something as simple as lying down or go up stairs. Her wrist, which is the part that "bonks" the most, has already become bruised and raw. She now is being subjected to wearing a bootie on her paw for protection (oh, the indignity!!)

Which brings us to where we are now ... she has recovered enough to start planning seriously for her surgery.

In the past month, we have discovered some amazing resources for people whose lives are touched (or ruled) by dogs who have undergone limb amputations (see Jaida's Fave Links on the right). Most pups have lost their legs due to injury or illness, and their stories, sometimes posted on blogs, have given us hope and great encouragement. We know now that she will be ok, and will live a normal life. Jaida decided that she wanted her story told too, so her own unique spin on things could be shared with others.

This will also be a sanity-saving exercise for one of her moms (Crystal). She tends to be a tad too much on the left-brain side for her own good. Documenting everything will placate her humongous inner science geek who needs to collect and analyse stuff all the time.

So, anyways, that's all we have for now, until the surgery date is set. Jaida's journey begins....

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"Editor's note": we have received many enquiries about the fate of the other littermates and related issues. To clarify, no money was exchanged with the individual from whom Jaida was removed. Also, the appropriate authorities were alerted about the situation. To our knowledge, most of the pups went to other homes.