Noun: Proprioception...

1. "The ability to sense the position and location and orientation and movement of the body and its parts..."

This is the technical name for what Cassi is lacking at this point.  Cassi has no ability to sense the position and location and orientation and movement of her rear end...and she walks like a drunken sailor on shore-leave.  The term is actually called "drunk-walking".  Good news is, she is already responding to the new exercises that I learned on our first physical therapy visit this past Wednesday.

Last Wednesday, we visited Animal Care Center and saw Juli Dell'Era, RVT, CCRP for about 1-1/4 hours and Cassi and I learned a lot!  I was able to video the session so I didn't have to take notes and could concentrate on learning the exercises to help Cassi.  Juli was very patient at answering all my questions, most of which had to do with stuff I had been trying with Cassi.  But a lot of the things I wanted to try need to wait...right now, we neet to work on her "ability to sense the position and location and orientation and movement of the body and its parts"...

At least twice a day (and always as much as I can push her to do), we do a short workout routine that Juli showed us.  The tools are the harness you see in the picture above, a couple rolled up towels (taped around) and a book I have covered with a non-slip material.  A carpeted floor is also required.  The harness if so I don't hold Cassi down in the rear by her tail...BAD DADDY!  (Disregard previous videos...)

After we put the harness on and get her legs (front and rear) planted firmly in a Lhasa stance, the idea is to shift her weight towards the rear and keep her from shifting it all to the front legs.  It is easy to see when she does this shift forward because she drops her head and "inch-worms" her back.  Until I saw Juli, I thought (incorrectly) that this was good...she was strengthening her front end...right?  WRONG!  She was putting un-Lhasa like pressure on the front end...and possibly doing other damage!  Harness on...CHECK!

While in the standing position, I use the 2 towels between her rear legs for a "half-squat" exercise...basically a sit, but not all the way down.  Juli feels Cassi needs to work up to standing from a full (on the ground) sit.  Eventually I will remove one towel so she will sit closer to the ground...and eventually no towels.  While she is in the sitting position, I rub and massage her back end, legs and feet all while I have her maintain the "squat".  After a few minutes, I then ask her to "stand".  She will slowly rise on her own, but sometimes needs engouragement from me with a little "tickle" to her rear-end. (VIDEO LINK)

When she stands and is in an aligned position, I start a "range of motion" exercise. Holding her leg just above the ankle, I start a "bicycle" motion, circling her leg forward and placing it on the ground...then sliding the foot along the carpet for "tactile" feeling in the foot...and continuing in the bicycle motion for 15 reps.  Then I move to the other foot and repeat another 15 reps.  The hard part is keeping her head up because she "cheats" by leaning downward in front, which takes the weight off the rear.  I have to stop and correct her.  I grab Diane for this whenever she's available because it's easier with two people...but I can do it with one.

After the "bicycle" exercise, we do another 1/2 squat.  After she stands from that part, we test her "orientation" sense by, first, having her stand correctly...then, I take her paw on the rear and "knuckle" it so she is standing on the top of her foot.  I then press on the pad of her foot and see how long it takes her to correct it to the proper position.  When she does the correction, she gets the high-pitched "good girl"  "good Cassi" from me and I praise her and rub her foot in the corrected position.  She is getting pretty good at this game, turning her foot before I get to pressing the pad...which is a good thing!

After repeating this 3-4 times per foot, I have her go to the "half-squat" once more and massage and rub her legs once more to make her feel it.  And once again she stands.  Done with the towels.  Onto the book...

As you will see on the VIDEO, Cassi doesn't like this one very much.  She constantly adjusts her front feet to "cheat" on me...but as you'll see, I am persistent, replacing her feet and raising her head when she tries.  The idea of this is to, again, get her weight to shift and give her a sense of where she is at.

Towards the end of the exercise session, the doorbell rings and she runs from the livingroom. When I came back to the bedroom, she had beat her brother back! But I must heed Juli's warning...QUALITY OVER QUANTITY! It' s like trying to hold a 2 year old back from the cookie jar. (VIDEO LINK)

Another recommendation was that we elevate Cassi's food and water bowls.  This also makes her keep her head up and her weight shifted to the stern.   We also decided to get a new bed for the pups to fit the corner where they sleep instead of bunching both beds into the corner.  There is another story around the bed that I won't go into now.  Suffice it to say, they love it...now.

And, with no more diapers...no more urinary tract infection!  Got the call today that she is clear!  But continue the course of antibiotics...of course...

Thanks for checking in...

Maybe I can use the "M" word now...

Ok, so she is not walking perfectly...but she is giving it a heck of a shot!  The faster she moves the better she seems to walk, mostly when she gets excited for one reason or another like her Mommy (Diane) coming home or Orion barking at the birdies in the backyard.   Well, today is the day she'll have the chance to chase those birdies...if she wants to...

To be honest, started an update over a week ago and never posted it because I never finished it.  I bought an inexpensive video camera that puts everything you record in one day in the same file AND has crappy editing software which is the ONLY thing I can use to retreive the videos from the camera.  I use it to find the breaks between, what they call, the "scenes" and use a nice editing package to split the files...needless to say, this takes a bit of time so I didn't post anything until I finished splitting the "scenes".  

Which leads me to today...Cassi's visit to Dr. Cheri Nielsen at the Pet Emergency and Specialty Center of Marin  this morning.  Cassi did her usual "shakey" thing on the way down to the vet as if she knew where we were headed.  From her angle on the seat, all you can see if what's up in the sky...maybe she recognizes things.  Cassi has had two "traumatic" incidents at both The Country Vet when she was "fixed" and they also repaired her umbilical hernia, and at PESCM...and I believe they have great memories of things like that.  Anyway, I let reception know I was there and waited for a few minutes.  One of the techs came out and talked with me, asking about her progress.  She then took her back to draw urine (still has a bladder infection...) and to visit with Dr. Cheri.  After a short period, Dr. Cheri emerged from the back...with a rather large smile on her face.  "You didn't post any video that she was walking" she says...."I guess you wanted to surprise me!"  Dr. Cheri was beaming!  I could only tell her how grateful we were that she was there to take care of our little girl.  I felt "scolded" and, I must admit, I have been rather lax at posting.  But I couldn't have been "scolded" by a kinder person.

Now, the great news...Dr. Cheri has recommended physical therapy at Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park!  I have been concerned that we were doing "the right thing" for Cassi now that she is regaining her legs.  I don't want her to injure other parts while healing this injury.  I was concerned and made some calls last week about this place and another in Mill Valley.  The ACC in Rohnert Park comes highly recommended by everyone I talk to, including our groomer and now Dr. Cheri.  I told Dr. Cheri that she should call soon because I was calling for an appointment as soon as I get home...which I did.  First visit is at 3:30pm TODAY!  And I can bring my camera, so I will have a few pictures.  Oh, and Dr. Cheri said to leave Cassi out of the diapers!  Outside potties here we come!

I bought one of these harnesses in anticipation of assisting Cassi on "walkies" out in the real world again (booties not included).  I am hoping to not need it for long, as she is progressing rather rapidly.  Friday the 15th will be exactly 2 months after the incident.  We never in our wildest dreams thought she would be progressing so quickly...it has to be all of YOUR prayers and thoughts!  Plus, her age helps a bit.  She is young, strong and determined to walk again!

I still think Orion is going to be a big help in the comback.  He is "antsy' for her to play! In this VIDEO, Cassi walks towards the camera and proceeds to "bug" her brother by biting his face (face-wrestling as I call it).  They do this quite frequently and I, sometimes, have to seperate them for fear of him hurting her.  He still outweighs by 7-8 pounds.  Surprisingly, Dr. Cheri said they could go back to their normal,run around,  knock-down game they play in the back yard.  She sometimes does 3-4 rolls when he "knocks" her over on the run...it is actually hysterical!

This next VIDEO was taken last week when we went out to dinner for Paige's birthday.  I left the camera rolling to see how they reacted to being alone again.  They have always been really good about being alone because they have each other.  This video was mostly them reacting to cars driving by and the house kittys roaming around.  There was this one section where she walks towards the camera, pauses, continues and then walks away, back to her rest spot.  Pretty cool and not "sad" as some might say.  She had NOTHING down there...no "deep pain" reaction, no tail-wagging...nothing!   We are blessed that she is recovering so quickly!  She will be fully functional, I feel, by 3 months after...Feb 15th...which is 6 days after my birthday.

And lastly, the same night...this VIDEO shows Cassi standing strong when we got home.  She even ventured out a bit onto the "hardwood" floor!  Once she manages the Pergo, she can handle everything!  Off now to the PT appointment!  More pics and video later!  Thanks for checking in!