Today was that time of year again when I took our little Jackaroo to the vet for his yearly examination. As he gets older, the anxiety related with this appointment increases because I’ll never know what the vet is going to say. In the last year he has completely lost ALL of the fur from his ears and around his nose and I mean ALL of the fur. His ears remind me of bat ears and they are always super cold. He is also a lot slower than he used to be and is less coordinated at doing simple things. I have to accept it…he is my aging little best friend.
Today the vet informed me that he could have major issues with his thyroid or something else internally that could be causing his hair to fall out. She also noticed that Jack’s front end is very strong and muscular and his back end and back legs are hardly being used causing muscle wasting. Basically, his hips and legs must be so uncomfortable for him that he has been mostly using his front legs and gradually bulking up his upper body. She even did some exercises with Jack so that I could see that he in fact does not use his back legs except for balance. There is not much that can be done for this except to make him comfortable. On my way home I kept staring at my little Jack with this new knowledge and felt bad for him. He is definitely not the pooch he once was jumping 4 feet in the air for his toy. I kept thinking about what will happen to his back legs when he really can’t use them at all anymore? Is there anything that can be done? Well yes there is! Thanks to our friend the internet, I found out there are little wheelchairs for dogs. I guess you do learn something new every day!