Meet Sadie! She is our December Pet of the Month! As young pup, Sadie got into some trouble when she was about 5 months old and ended up with 2 fractures involving her L rear leg. She was signed over to a rescue group for care and then got surgery to help get her on the road to recovery. Her fractures were already a few weeks old by the time of her surgery and some callous was forming to try to stabilize things in the wrong positions. Also some of her growth plates were involved in the fractures, so her left rear leg may ultimately end up a little shorter than normal. Additionally, she had quadriceps contracture, meaning her L quadriceps muscles were no longer functioning (they had fibrosed) due to the type of growth plate femur fracture she had. She had one more little issue to overcome...although she was walking well, she was knuckling over on her L rear paw. She didn't have complete nerve sensation here after all of this.
So Sadie started rehab! Since her fractures were stabilized, the most urgent item to address was to teach her how to walk better on her L rear paw as she was not completely aware of its location. Her therapy program included acupuncture to improve nerves communication along with structured gentle exercises to improve her body awareness and paw placement and use of the underwater treadmill. Our rehabilitation goals for Sadie were focused on muscle and nerve re-education to help her get that paw positioned normally all the time. She started out landing appropriately about 30% of the time and had some wounds on the top of her paw as a result.
Over the last several months, Sadie has made great improvements. Her neurologic deficits have improved and she may always have some minor issues. However, she had brought tons of energy to every session and is now landing properly on the L rear paw normally 85% of the time. Sadie also has her own photo album on our facebook page, complete with her radiographs and also some of her exercises along the way. Stay tuned for updates on this gorgeous little girl!