Just in case you're wondering...

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

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

Crystal here.

Heidi. Upright: cute. Squishy, but cute.


Upsidedown: not so cute.

BAY-BEE bendy Charlotte is growing up!

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!

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.

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

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!

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!!!

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!

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.

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?

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!

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...

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???

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.

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!

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