Big words: stuff about club hands

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!

High-tech gear for the boo-boo leg?

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

A looooong weekend.

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.

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

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.