Mercy has hit her goal weight!

Thanks to everyone for their support after Mercy's appearance on Animal House Calls, donations are the key to Mercy being able to continue with rehab. Mercy doing well and getting stronger all of the time.  The swimming is really showing great benefit. 

Mercy has finally hit her goal weight of 25lbs!

Relay's Diner www.RelaysDiner.com has generously donated a feeding station to Mercy to help her to be more comfortable when eating. Once it arrives we will post some pics!

A day in the life of Mercy

Mercy continues to live each day to the fullest, charming the pants off of everyone she meets.
She continues her weekly appointments at the Canine Wellness Centre where she maintains that delightful puppy enthusiasm for anything put in front of her.  She revisited her exercise on the long and narrow air mattress to work on building her strength.  Mercy really has to use all of her muscles in order to keep her little legs under her for walking on the mattress. 
Additional low level laser treatment, five minutes of swim class, then directly to sleepy time under her beach towel on the snoozer for the car ride home. 
 
Sweet Mercy made a new boxer friend at the park this week too.  She did some galloping and shared one of her toys.  She had a drink from the water spiggot (maybe more of a facewash), plus plenty of time sunbathing, stretched out on the grass. 
A super outing with lots of fresh air and fun for our girl.  She surely knows her stroller by now and will set herself down right beside it when she's ready to cuddle in for the walk home.

Mercy will continue with her at home exercises and her appointment at Canine Wellness to make her as strong as possible. Canine Wellness is offering a very generous discount to this special little rescue girl, but every penny donated will help Mercy become as strong and healthy as she can be.
 


 

Mercy working on her rehab

Mercy is continuing with her work at the Canine Wellness Center to help build up her strength and endurance. She has been really enjoying all the one-on-one attention, and is the best little patient ever! Mercy's week included the following:  low level laser treatment, a homework assignment (find the hiding biscuit!), five laps in the pool and relaxing with Colby on his big boy boxer bed.

Mercy also got out to play with her friends at the park, this video gives you a glimpse at how fast she can get around when she wants to! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rvo90Xystw

Mercy goes for some swim therapy at the Canine Wellness Center

Mercy paid a visit to the Wellness Centre where she received a complete and thorough examination which included a swim trial.  The range of motion for her legs actually lands in the normal category.  She really showed no pain indicators with all of the fussing and even did her best to help out by chewing on the ruler if it came near enough that she could snatch it.
 
Miss Mercy didn't know what to make of the pool and despite being a bit frightened, she paddled away  completing two laps with a short rest in between. 
After she was dried off, she scampered all over the show, playing keep away with her new friends.  In addition, Mercy really took ownership of the Wellness Centre's luxurious orthopedic bed.  Many, many thanks to Tania for sending it along with Mercy to use at home! 
 
Going forward, we will continue very short sessions of swim therapy accompanied by low level laser treatment.  The hope being that in building both muscle mass and endurance in the pool, Mercy will be better able to more comfortably navigate her little wonky body about on her own.  The laser treatment is an avenue to pain management. 
We're making no changes at her foster home as yet with regard to her prescribed medications.  For now, we are building a time table to see what works best for sweet Mercy. 
 
It goes without saying that Mercy's personality is that of a joyful, happy dog.  Everyone that meets her falls under her spell and wants to do all that they can to help her. 
 
You can check out some video of Mercy doing her laps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLruxnOYytQ&feature=channel
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhSs4EHUDZ0&feature=channel
 

Prognosis for Mercy

Mercy has settled in nicely in her temporary foster home. We have increased her pain meds as she seems to be quite uncomfortable. The vets and specialists feel that Mercy likely has HOD - Hypertrophy Osteodysplasia, unfortunately there is nothing that can be done for Mercy surgically to correct her front legs or to fix her hips.

Mercy will likely need to be placed in a hospice foster home for the time that she has left. Boxer Rescue will continue to cover all costs of Mercy's care and ensure she has the best life possible. Mercy will need to have limited exercise, no stairs and ensure that her caregivers can monitor her pain and quality of life. Our fingers are crossed that Mercy has the chance for lots of happy days to make up for all the struggles that she has been through so far in her short life.

Mercy's X-Rays

The verdict hasn't yet arrived on Mercy's X-Ray's. Beaches Animal Hospital was reaching out to a couple specialist to hear what everyone thought of this poor little girl.

Her front legs, are obviously deformed, this is easy to see just by looking at her. Her rib cage is another matter, it is quite misshapen and has significant additional bone growth. Her hips are another matter in themselves. Her left hip is almost out of the socket and often when you are carrying her you can feel it popping somewhat.

On a good news note, Mercy has gained just over 1kg. I have been feeding her like a full size boxer rather than the 1/2 pint that she is, so she should continue to gain weight, she also has a huge appetite for such a little girl.

We are now going to give Mercy some Medicam each day, more to help with any discomfort from her hips than anything else. All that being said Mercy has no idea that anything is out of sorts, she is happy as can be. Mercy will be heading to another foster home for a week or so as I will be out of town. Brinley my own boxer will be absolutely crushed to see her go, they have become best buddies and do everything together from non-stop wrestle-mania to sleeping all cuddled up. My Pug on the other hand likely won't miss her!

Mercy has some new wheels

Thanks to some wonderful dog lovers Mercy has some new wheels. Lesley & Theo dog rescuers extrodinaire have lent us a doggie stroller to help Mercy keep up with the rest of the crew. This makes it a lot easier to take her to the park and on walks, as she can't walk very fast or for very long.

We had our X-Ray appointment with the vet today, and the general consensus of all the vets that were on site was, "Wow, I have never seen anything like this." The vet team from Beaches is going to do some collaborating with some specialist to decide what the best course of action for Mercy would be.

The X-Rays show the significant malformation of her front legs, which are fairly visible to anyone she meets, but they also revealed a very misshappen rib cage and terrible hip dysplaysia. Her left hip is almost right out of the socket. All being said she is not in a lot of pain, but likely is uncomfortable mainly because of the hips. We came home with some pain/anti-inflammatory medication for her to take each day which should help.

Mercy charmed everyone she met at the vet clinic

Can Mercy ever boogie on those little legs!

Mercy has settled in and seems to be a bit more relaxed. We are working on the house training and she is about 80%, she does cry when she needs to go out, sometimes it is just hard to get to her before she goes. The meds for her kennel cough are working well and she is coughing a lot less, so she is feeling a lot friskier, you can really see her puppiness coming out. She has had a few "Boxer burns" in the backyard.

We introduced her to our dogs today. She was a bit nervous at first, but got a lot more comfortable after a bit of time with them. She is particularly fond of our Pug who she wants to chase and wrestle with, she hasn't quite figured out that he does not like to chase or wrestle!

We took her to the park tonight for a change of scenery. She has trouble walking on the concrete because she walks on the sides of her feet, so it seems to get a bit uncomfortable for her after a bit and she will sit down and wimper, so we just picked her up and carried her, good thing she is so tiny! It is amazing how heavy 20lbs feels after you have carried her for about 3 blocks! That being said it was worth it, she loved the park and as soon as we put her down on the grass she started ripping around and trying to play with the dogs, she had such a good time. It is amazing how fast she can go on those crooked little legs!

By the time she was done she was way too tired to even try to walk a little of the way home, so she got another arm chariot ride back home, (carrying her is a great workout!)

She is out cold now, tired puppies are good puppies!

Mercy has arrived

I had been told all about Mercy, seen the pictures and thought I was prepared for her arrival. But meeting her in person was so much different than looking at her pictures in an email. Nothing had prepared me for her sad little eyes and the actual real life effect of watching her walk on those terribly deformed legs.

That being said Mercy doesn't seem to realize that she is any different than any other 1 year old Boxer, never mind that she weighs only 19lbs, and stand about 18 inches tall. Mercy still wags that stubbly little tail and wiggles her little body every time you look at her or say her name, she is just happy to be here.

Mercy likely has a long road ahead of her, we went to the vet tonight and she does have kennel cough and will need to go in for x-Rays to determine more about her legs. She was the perfect little pup at the vet, and behaved wonderfully, charming everyone she met.

I will keep you updated on how things go and the progress we make with her diagnosis.