Mojo prepares for the treadmill

Michael and I took Mojo to Back on Track this morning for her recheck with Dr. Shaw. Turns out things are going pretty well. She stands more normally on her rear legs and her exercises that we are doing appear to be working. Dr. Shaw's evaluation showed that she has more movement in her hips and more flexion in her toes than she had 2 weeks ago.  She even did a couple of really nice sits in the office - squared off instead of sitting on her left hip and sticking out her right leg (like she still does sometimes!). We learned some new exercises to help build up her gluteal muscles and her core strength - there are these cute "sit pretty" exercises that she started doing on her own anyway so those should be pretty easy to do and I think she's going to like them. We also have some new hind leg stretches that involve picking her up and putting her tippy toes on the ground for her to stretch and then square off her legs properly. She's 23 lbs now so I think Michael will be in charge of those! We'll continue with her various other exercises but Dr. Shaw says we can stop the one she really hates which are the right leg rotations - she's thrilled and so are we!

Getting into the treadmill

We also reviewed her x rays and her left hip is seated well and her right appears to be as well. This means that the JPS pelvic surgery we were considering in the next 2 weeks won't need to be done - whew! The poor thing has already had 2 surgeries in her short 4 month lifespan (her amputation and her spay surgery) that thinking about one more so soon was a little stressful. The bad news on her x rays is that her right hip is smaller than her left and it appears that the right growth plate in the proximal femur (ball joint) is damaged. We aren't sure exactly what that will mean for her but we'll continue to monitor her progress and recheck x rays in another 6 weeks. If we have to she'll have orthopedic surgery to remove the femoral head on her right side but in the mean time we are working on  building up her thigh muscles to prepare her if she's needs the surgery.

Waiting for the water

She also had another exciting underwater treadmill experience. She doesn't seem to enjoy it much and she cheats at every chance she can. For awhile she would put her front leg off the treadmill and saunter with her back legs or she'd turn around and ride the treadmill backwards - so much easier that way! She crashed out pretty good for the ride home from all of her exercise.

So the plan is to continue her exercises, slow her growth, keep her lean and recheck in 3 weeks. We will keep you posted!

P.S. Mojo and DeeDee appear to be getting along better and DeeDee is actually PLAYING with Mojo sometimes! And will even lie down next to her!

Water in, ready to start the treadmill

P.P.S. Mojo had many real play dates last week. On Monday she went and played with Champ Conrad at his house and had a ball. He is such a good boy and really got her to come out and play chase. Then, of course, they did some rough housing and he knocked her down at every turn - it was on the grass and she didn't mind. They also had a nice rest on the grass in the sun. On Saturday she had a fun time in the yard at the clinic playing with Raisin, a 5 month old Boston that is tough as nails from living with her big brother Takai the Pit Bull. The two of them were so cute together and Raisin kept rolling Mojo and standing on top of her. They are sure to be best friends and we'll look forward to more play dates in the future! (Michael will have to get some pictures!)