You think? On Wednesday I took Miley to the underwater treadmill and she did terrible. She walked really slow. And then after 13 minutes she refused to walk anymore. But while in the UWTM ( underwater treadmill ) her gait was normal. I had brought Natural Balance Rolls dog food. We use that a lot when training agility. She usually likes it. But not when doing the UWTM. She wouldn't come to me. It was so weird. The vet had a piece of chicken that seem to work somewhat. But then when I had to go back to my stuff, she (Miley) made a terrible face like I gave her tar to eat. So we took her out of the UWTM and called it a day. When waiting to pay, I saw blood on the floor. I didn't think it was Mileys blood but she did stop in the treadmill a few seconds before it was turned off. The building also does orthopedic surgery , so blood on the floor wouldn't be unheard of. I checked Miley's foot. There was nothing there. But then the vet saw me checking her and got concerned and came out and asked if she was limping. I said ,"no, I'm just a worrier". But when I got home I was freaked out. Did she refuse to walk because it was hurting her? Did I run her through agility to hard the day before? I gave her 1/2 a Rimadyl and didn't let her do anything that night. Then next morning I walked her and didn't see anything wrong. Then the real test. I took her to the park. The one with the steps that are wide and will show a problem , if there was one.
Side story: I had this cat when I was a kid. After she would eat, she would go around her bowl , scratching the floor like she was covering up her food. She would make a complete circle and then turn around and look at the bowl. Well, of course the food wasn't covered up. So she would start again. She would do this about 4 to 5 times. Each time turning around to see that the bowl wasn't covered. So the final time she would work, scratching the floor all the way around the bowl and just wouldn't look back. She probably thought, "If I don't look back, it must be covered".
That's how I wanted to feel about Miley's leg. If I don't take her for a walk and I don't do the steps with her, I wont know if anything is wrong. Like the cat. But I'm not the cat and if I don't know what is wrong I cant fix it. So I took her to the park and everything was fine. No weird gait down those steps. No skips on the walk. Everything seems fine.
Today, back to the UWTM. This time I took a hot dog. Miley loves hot dogs. I told the vet about seeing the blood on the floor on Wednesday and that is why I was checking Miley's foot. She felt better. I told you, I think I made her worry too. So maybe Miley is bored or just doesn't like the UWTM. The vet decided to vary the treadmill speed a lot more. So she would go a few minutes at 1.2 mph and the one minute at 1.6 and then back down again. Miley did great. I'm not sure if it was the hot dogs or the varying of the speed. Miley has definitely build up her thigh muscles. I always thought she was in shape, but man her thighs are awesome now. Of course you cant see it because of all the hair , but you can feel it. Even the vet said, "wow, huge thigh muscles" today.
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17 hours ago
6 comments:
You're a Mom. Mom's worry! Maybe Miley was just tired of doing underwater stuff when she had just had a great day of agility! Maybe she thinks the underwater stuff (that face it, she NEVER loved) was some sort of punishment for something. Maybe she was just tired. After all it IS hard to walk in water, and she HAD been doing agility recently...the point is, you were right to check her out, she's getting stronger with the therapy, and she's a happy happy dog!
I'd be worrying just as much as you - if not more!
My dad is doing underwater therapy, much like Miley's, and he hates it! He would much rather be out on his bicycle, which he loves. He reminds me of Miley!
Worry you? Of course you are, just like all of us would, I think :). I know I would see things with JoJo that just weren't there, and also see things that were there that others wouldn't see. I think it's all very normal :)
And I think it's normal that one day nothing is working and the next nothing is wrong.
JoJo had hydrotherapy after his broken foot, he got all his muscle mass back in (this is hard to believe, but) about two weeks. There is nothing better than building muscle than hydrotherapy, nothing! It was the best thing I ever did for him.
I'm a worrier too -- although I mostly worry about training Mika! "Is she stressing? Why is she slower than usual?" Glad to hear that Miley is doing well though!
Mom is a huge worrier too! So it's official - everybody's a worrier!
But I agree with Dawn that Miley just doesn't like that UWTM and maybe she does see it as some sort of punishment - it probably goes way too slow for her all the time (it's set more for my speed!)
Good to know she is getting so much muscle and getting stronger - I bet she is going to be just fine!
My mum is a huge worrier too! I is odd that all these worrier mum's end up with sheltie kids who are quite little worriers ourselves? BOL!
~lickies, Ludo
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