Happy Endings - New Beginnings
JAY
Coming out of the pound
My first sight of Jay (then Joe) was on an internet web page in November 2007, my beautiful German Shepherd Samantha had gone to Rainbow
Bridge that January and I was desolate. I’d moved from London leaving all that I knew behind and had a dreadful aching loneliness. Worst of all, I was renting a small flat while waiting for my house purchase to complete. One evening while surfing the net and thinking about Samantha I came upon the German Shepherd Rescue website which directed me to Rain Rescue and there I saw him, so sad, hunched up in his crate, his eyes full of sadness, he totally captured my heart. I spoke to Jac from RR who explained that he had been abandoned and was severely malnourished, having to be fed little and often, his legs were also very weak, RR were holding on to him until he had a vet check and that they were certain he was up to his goal weight, I tentatively enquired if I might take on this beautiful boy , hoping against hope that my house purchase would complete in time. Over the next few weeks Jac and I became friends and I was getting daily reports and pictures of him. On 1st December 2007 the date was set for him to be brought to me on 5th December, I’d never met this lad but I knew he was meant to be with me.
Our first couple of weeks were spent with me building up Jay’s trust, he was nervous of everything from a door shutting to a carrier bag, he was (and still is) ‘cowardly lion’ from the Wizard of Oz. Slowly he began to trust me and make eye contact, he began to follow me and accept affection although he showed no interest whatsoever in any type of dog toy or even any of the various bones and chews that I gave him and believe me I must have brought every one on the market.
In that first week Jay had an examination from the first vet who gave him the all clear saying that his legs were more than likely wobbly due to the fact that he had been starved and mistreated although in my heart I knew that the vet’s assumptions were wrong. After three weeks Jay’s legs were not improving and he knuckled his paws quite badly (I brought at least four pairs of specialist dog boots to try to protect his paws but none stayed on and I ended up taping round his toes with athletes strapping) at this point my vet decided that x rays should be done, they showed nothing decisive and a dye test was suggested. I decided to go to a different vet to have this done and they suggested that we have an mri scan which would be more comprehensive. This was done and all but Degenerative Myleopathy was ruled out. I was told that Jay would probably have between 3 months to 18 months left to live. I refused to accept this, surely after having such a dreadful life previously, he deserved some enjoyment and perhaps more than a little spoiling. So the two of us sat up into the night, Jay snoozing while I researched everything I could find on Degenerative Myleopathy, we tried Veterinarian suggested drugs (which didn’t work and caused colitis) and we tried homeopathic remedies, which we had a little more success with. Degenerative Myleopathy is incurable, all that can be done is to make life more comfortable and try to postpone the inevitable in as painless way as possible. As had been my fear, Jay’s legs were gradually worsening, he managed ok on the grass but on the patio he was having problems, I managed to find some large rubber matting which acted as a soft padding from my back door to the grass, but this didn’t solve the problem of Jay going out for walks. I was told about an advert a friend had seen on e-bay for dog wheelchair information, I duly sent off for the information pack and began finding out about all the different dog wheelchairs, and quite a variety there was to choose from, without the help of Jim Colla I could have made some bad mistakes, some of the wheelchairs were downright dangerous with bits of metal sticking out, some were totally unsafe in that if the wheels caught a wall, then the whole thing would upturn, Jim came up from London to see me and showed me his design, he measured Jay and lent me a chair purely as an emergency measure, it was one of his competitors chairs and Jay went in it only once, due to the fact that I felt it was unsafe and uncomfortable. Two and a half weeks later Jim rang to say Jay’s chair was ready and he duly brought it over, less than an hour later we we were walking along a road, Jay trotting happily beside me, heading for our local park, Jay was so very happy, tail wagging and having a thoroughly good time, I let him off his leash and he just ran around hardly believing he was so mobile. He was able to do his bodily functions without having to be taken out of it, he could also have the thrill of chasing a ball. Jay’s wheelchair is lightweight and easily manouverable, now when I go out with friends, Jay can come along with us, it takes literally 20 seconds to pop him into it and away we go. One of the biggest perks is that it’s brilliant for the sympathy angle, all sorts of lovely people want to fuss him and give him treats (and prospective doggy girlfriends can’t leave him alone).
At this present time I have submitted various paperwork to my vet for him to consider in perhaps trying Jay on a new drug which is having a good response in people with Multiple Schlerosis (the human equivalent of Degenerative Myleopathy). I don’t know if it will work, I can only pray that it will and that at last maybe a cure can be found for this dreadful disease.
 
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