Our first inspirational story of love and strength. George loved very much by Linda Tyson. For Love of George George is a twelve-and-a-half-year-old Labrador Retriever/German Shepherd mix. We’ve had him since he was a puppy. My oldest daughter rescued him, his mother, and his eleven litter mates. She kept one puppy and found homes for his mother and ten siblings. We took George, and fell completely in love with him. He’s a very smart, sensitive, gentle, affectionate, sweet soul, and an important member of our family. Even as a puppy George was very well behaved, if you don’t count a couple of months when he developed a penchant for grabbing the end of the toilet paper in the first-floor powder room and teepeeing the entire house – through doorways, around corners, everywhere until the roll ran out. It was hard not to laugh. We did our best to be serious and let him know that was a no-no. Eventually we realized the need to baby-proof the house, and the toilet paper was relegated to a shelf he couldn’t reach until he outgrew his mischievous stage. But he never chewed a shoe, furniture, or anything else in the house. He was always such a good boy, always doing his best to please. He’s the sweetest dog I’ve ever met. He loves everyone, and everyone loves him. The years flew by, and before we knew it our sweet boy became a sweet old man, and started developing some of the aches and pains that often accompany old age. Dysplasia and arthritis slowed him down, but never stopped him. He remained happy, healthy, and very active. He did the retriever part of his heritage proud, and loved to chase balls, sticks, knotted ropes, and stuffed animals around the house and in the yard. He loved to go for walks and sniff everything in his path. In January 2012, we noticed George’s back toenails were wearing down very short. It was a mild winter, and we’d been spending more time outside than we normally would during a typical Midwest winter. I was thinking maybe it was because of that – after a summer outside, he would normally have had the winter for his nails to grow longer. I should back up a bit, and mention that in fall 2011 we took him to the vet, noticing he seemed to be having a little difficulty getting up from a lying down position. It was attributed to hip dysplasia, which he had from an early age. By spring 2012 we noticed he was dragging his left rear foot. It wasn’t dramatic, but we could hear his toenails dragging on the patio, and they wore down so much, one day we noticed small streaks of blood on the patio. Two of his toenails were bleeding. His foot was bandaged, and off we went to the vet again, with another concern about how he was walking. He got a complete physical, his back and hips were checked, and again the conclusion was his hip dysplasia was worsening. It’s not unusual for the earliest stages of DM to be mistaken for something else. There are many possible explanations for the symptoms we were noticing. We were advised to keep him moving, and continue giving him Rimadyl for pain and inflammation. By fall he started knuckling under on his left foot, so back to the vet we went. This time more tests were conducted. Because of his age, our long-time, trusted vet’s recommendations, and the wish to avoid elective anesthesia, we opted not to do an MRI. Prior to this visit to the vet, I’d been researching on my own, and was beginning to suspect George might have Degenerative Myelopathy. With the exam and tests done that day, our guess matched the presumptive diagnosis. It’s presumptive, because Degenerative Myelopathy can only be definitively diagnosed through an examination of the spine after death. George’s diagnosis has had a profound effect on our family. We are empty-nesters, so it’s my husband, George, and me at home now. Caring for a dog with DM is a huge commitment of strength, time, attention, patience, and focus, starting with tons of research to learn more about the disease and how to care for a progressively more disabled dog. With our vet’s encouragement and support, our love for him and willingness to provide for his additional needs, with everything we’ve learned through hours and hours of research, and with the support of internet groups we joined, we are finding caring for our sweet boy and keeping him happy, comfortable, nourished, and physically and mentally stimulated to be very rewarding. It’s not always easy. The demands are not insignificant. But just as we would lovingly care for an ill child or an aging, disabled parent, we are willing to take care of our George for as long as he needs us to. He is a loved, important member of our family and very precious to us. Several years ago George started having lots of allergies and other health problems. We changed his diet to more natural, higher-quality food, and took a serious look at household and lawn products, and the shampoos and other products we use on him, making changes as we learned more about some of the questionable ingredients in products we had been using. His health improved tremendously with the changes we made. We even made changes to our own diet and personal care products because of what we learned and how George’s health improved. If I could do one thing differently with George, I would have been more aware of these things from the beginning, when he first came to live with us. George has lived a long, relatively healthy life and we’ve done our best to do right by him. I can’t help wishing I’d known more about DM... I’d never even heard of it until we were faced with it. It has taken countless hours of research, scouring everything I could find about this disease. I understand it’s believed to be genetic, but I can’t help thinking there is more to it than that. I wonder what else is contributing to the development of this disease. I wish more was known about what causes it, and I wish there was a cure. Update July 30, 2014 – On June 23, 2014, at the age of 13-1/2, we set our sweet boy free. His body was failing, his organs were shutting down, and it was a matter of days before he would have passed on his own. We did our best for him, and he had a wonderful life in spite of DM. We will love, and miss him forever. Rest peacefully, sweet, wonderful George.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 02:16:29 +0000