A Path With Paws

I came upon Cappy’s story recently and his human mom, Lindsey gave me permission to share his story and the new blog she set up to help with his care.

From Cappy’s blog -
Cappy is about 1 year and 6 months old. He is a beagle, possibly pure bred, but we are not sure. Cappy came to us from D.A.W.S. in Connecticut, USA. D.A.W.S. obtained him from a rescue organization in Ohio that had raided a puppy mill and saved many dog’s lives in that raid, not to mention the future puppies that could have been tortured. D.A.W.S specializes in taking animals out of the mid west where there is an overwhelming amount of puppies due to these puppy mills. They found a family of Beagles, a mom and her 3 girls and 3 boys, that they wanted to get a home for out here in Connecticut.

My husband and I are big time animal lovers and activists in animal rights and especially pet’s rights. We had just purchased our first home and already had 6 cats, but I knew it was time to get a dog. I had always had dogs growing up, and my husband NEVER had a dog. We searched and petfinder.com ads for weeks debating over whether or not it was the right time for us. I finally, on a whim, put in an application for “beagle puppies.” There was no picture or anything, but I knew about beagles and their personalities, and I knew that a beagle was the perfect size dog for us. Not too big, but not a yippee small dog. Big enough to scare away an intruder, but small enough to lay on the couch and take everywhere.

So my husband and I anxiously waited to hear from D.A.W.S. and over the weeks, we were hearing from out friends, family, and our vet that they were calling for a reference. Of coarse they all gave us a good reference, WE LOVE OUR ANIMALS!

We finally got the call that we were approved for a beagle puppy and we were SUPER excited! We had to wait till Friday (we got the call on a Monday) to go meet out little puppy, but in the mean time, they asked us which one we would prefer. We told them that we didn’t really care, but I would like to have a tri-color. They had 2 boy black and white beagles, 1 boy tri-color, and 3 girl tri-color beagles. When I told them that I wanted a tri-color, they said “Perfect, because that is who we have left.”

We arrived at the animal shelter on that Friday excited to meet out new little guy. It was the LONGEST 1.5 hour drive ever. When we arrived, we told the lady at the window that we were here to meet the beagle puppy. The lady looked and us and said:

“Well, I have something to tell you before you meet this little puppy………”

A million things ran through my head – “was he psycho, food aggressive, did he hate other dogs?” Just about EVERYTHING except what was actually wrong with him.

“………….. He is missing his front right foot.”

My husband and I both at the exact same time, in the exact same way said “We’ll take him!” without even ever seeing him! The lady was relieved that we didn’t care about his little missing foot. So we went into the back where they took him out and let us play with him.

He was the best puppy I have ever met. He was only 4 months old and he was so well behaved. He wasn’t all nippy like most puppies and he wasn’t all that excitable even though he was locked in a kennel for most of the day. He also came when we called him. Oh, by the way, his name was Skittles when we met him, but over the long run, it did not suit him well.

We fell in love instantly, but had to leave him. They told us that we had to come back next weekend because he still needed to get neutered. It was a LONG week. I had to have surgery just a few days before we went to pick him up, and I was worried about having a puppy in the house while I was recovering.

So 3 days after my surgery, we went to pick him up. We were so excited that week that we went out and spent $500 on crap. We had every type of puppy toy, collar, leash, bed, bowls, food, blah blah blah.. We were going to be new parents!!
We arrived to get him and it all happened so fast that before I could realize what was going on, we were in the car on our ride home…

That was ONE YEAR AGO TODAY!!!!

So THAT, my friends, is the story of how we got Cappy!! I will be posting another post SOON to tell you about his first day home!

We created this blog because Cappy’s peg leg is getting the best of him. We were told by the vet that we were going to have to do something eventually to absorb the impact on his bone in his right front leg. Since there is not ankle there to absorb the shock of running (and Cappy LOVES to run) we need to have a custom fitted silicon sleeve made for him.

Lindsay is working to get a hosted blog up for Cappy where they can have a store to help support the care he needs. If you want to contact Lindsay, she is at lindsay (at) webdesignforidiots (dot) net . And please visit Cappy’s blog.

Adam sent me this interesting article today, Communication with Cats. The guy who wrote it rigged up a special platform for his cat so they can drive around together.

I’ve often wondered why the animals I work with seem to be extra intelligent. He brings up the point that the more we communicate with our animals the more they communicate back. If we treat them like just an animal they give up on engaging with us. Makes a lot of sense. Once again they understand so much more than most people give them credit for.

We are so very thankful to have our fuzzy friend Mel still in our lives. You never realize how fragile life is until you see your dog laid out on the table and know that there is a less than 50% chance that you will never be able to look into his eyes again and tell him you love him. Watching his chest rise and hearing his heart beat but knowing that he is one wrong move away from death.

It was three months ago today that we almost lost our dog Mel to adrenal cancer. On October 29th Dr. Tim Kraabel at Lien Animal Clinic removed a large adrenal tumor and Mel’s left kidney is a three hour surgery. Tim said it was the most difficult surgery of his twenty year veterinary career.

We know that there is still the possibility that the cancer will return but for now we have our friend. He is pretty much back to normal except for the fact that he will no longer eat anything unless it has duck in it. Go figure.

We are also so thankful for having Tim Kraabel’s help. He diagnosed the tumor on a radiograph when both the board certified radiologist and I missed it, and he performed a very difficult surgery most veterinarians would not have been able to do and saved Mel’s life. How to offer thanks for saving a friend’s life? Words can not say enough.

I can upon this story today, Outlaw Bikers Rescue Orphaned Kittens, about a group of bikers, who had rescued 180 kittens about to end up on the streets. I found the group, Rescue Ink’s, website and learned that these men had committed themselves to rescuing animals and ending animal abuse. Believe me if I was an abused dog this is who I would want to come to my rescue. I don’t think these guys would be afraid of confronting anyone!

In my work I have found that animal people just have a way of coming together. It matters not how we look, our income level, our backgrounds, or our politics. There is just something about the people who speak for those who can not speak for themselves that you have to admire and love.

Maggie tries really hard to be a good guard dog. When you come to the door of her home, you can hear her barking in a strange muffled way, which makes you wonder until the door is opened and you realize she has a teddy bear in her mouth. That being said Maggie loves people and once she meets you she is all smiles, teddy bear or no teddy bear. Maggie has a way of smiling with her eyes that just draws people in.

When I meet Maggie she had been diagnosed with osteosarcoma or bone cancer in one of her front legs. At the time her family were exploring options to treat her but one thing was almost certain, regardless of treatment, in a year she would no longer be with us. Bone cancer has a very poor prognosis, usually causing death within three months with no treatment and within 6-12 months with aggressive treatment.

I could tell when I met Maggie’s family how important she was to them. Her family lived in a wonderful older home with one of those grand living rooms and they really liked having photos of those they loved in this space. When I walked in I immediately noticed that there were as many photos of Maggie and the kitties of the household as there were of the human family members. Her family told me how difficult it was for them to have Maggie sick because their previous dog had died of lung cancer and now Maggie also had a cancer that usually spread to the lungs.

We talked for a long time about the options that were available for Maggie. They had already seen an oncologist and had set up appointments for radiation and chemotherapy but they really were hoping for some way for Maggie to completely beat the cancer.

I always like to give people hope and tell them that not every animal follows the textbooks and that acupuncture can sometimes dramatically change the course of an illness but at the same time I try to be realistic. I explained that we could probably double Maggie’s time here and make her feel better but that it would be unlikely that we would completely get remission. I remember looking at this beautiful dog so full of life and her family who loved her so much and thinking that it was so tragic that she would not make it to old age.

As time passed Maggie did not get sick but she did become incredibly painful because of the tumor in her leg. I would show up to treat her and she would no longer get up most of the time. When I looked in her eyes, I saw so much pain. I felt so bad that not even the strongest drugs we had and the acupuncture could keep the pain away for her.

Amputation became the only option to stop Maggie’s pain but what a difficult decision. I saw her family struggle with the decision of what seemed like a major mutilation of her body to them. Maggie had lived almost a year with the cancer at this point and by everyone’s assessment she was supposed to be gone by now. Was it worth doing an amputation only to have her die a few months later?

Amputation is one of the hardest decisions for an animal’s human companions to make. So many thoughts go through their mind. Will they still be whole? Will they want to be alive with only three legs? Will they still be able to do the things they love? Will they understand why I did this or hate me for taking away a part of their body?

One day Maggie got up and when she stepped down on her front leg it broke right in two. The cancer had weakened the bone so much that it could no longer support her weight. At this point it became a much easier decision to make and Maggie had the leg amputated almost immediately.

With three legs, Maggie may not be able to go for long walks like she used to and the stairs are sometimes hard for her to navigate but Maggie greets each day with a playful spirit and a happiness to be here. She loves to greet neighbors who walk by and many people in the neighborhood know her as the dog that cancer could not take.

These days I do not treat Maggie as often and our main concern is keeping her legs healthy so she can continue to get around. I feel like coming to treat Maggie is like seeing an old friend.

She rolls over on her side after the needles are in and I stroke her belly and neck. If I stop for even a moment she lifts her head to look at me with those big eyes, “please don’t stop.” There is a familiarity and a comfort in visiting Maggie and it feels like I have been included in her special family of people who she shares her happiness, love and the journey of her battle with cancer.

When I stopped by Maggie’s house this week she bounced over to greet me with a tennis ball in her mouth and than run to the other edge of the yard to pick up another one. She raced around with the two tennis balls and a big smile, “look what I can do.” As I walked up to the door she bounced up and down next to me, “mom, look who’s here, look who’s here!”

It has been almost two years since Maggie lost her leg and close to three since she was diagnosed with cancer. This happy golden retriever with the sparkling brown eyes has beaten the odds.

2/17/2011 Update. It has been over two years since I wrote this and Maggie is still cancer free and doing well!

1/18/12 Maggie sadly passed away a couple days ago. She was almost 13 years old and it had been almost six years since her cancer diagnosis. We are all grieving for her, she was very loved. Please visit Maggie Rose a beautiful poem written in honor of Maggie by her human father.

Return to Integrative and Holistic Methods for Treating Cancer in Cats and Dogs

Rudy paused on my partner Adam’s shorts, looked at me and opened up his bladder. I sat in disbelief for a moment, staring at him, and then jumped off the bed screaming, “stop, stop, stop.” I scooped him up as urine dribbled down my leg and onto the floor. He frantically jumped from my arms and raced down the stairs out of sight. I was so frustrated, why did the cat have to pee on everything?

Ok, so at least the shorts could be washed easily, he had already ruined three meditation cushions, those being his preferred target. For nine years of his life he had never urinated anywhere but in the litter box and then suddenly he was peeing on Adam’s things and most importantly the meditation cushions, leave him alone with one for a minute and it would be ruined.

We had recently moved to a new house but Rudy really liked the house and the urinating hadn’t started right away. I had also done a whole work up on him and nothing was wrong physically that would cause him to urinate.

We had a theory that he was objecting to a new meditation practice that Adam was doing but we weren’t certain. Until we figured it out, Adam had stopped doing that practice, but it was something he really wanted to do and had rearranged his schedule in order to have the time for it. As it turned out he had done a few minutes of that practice when Rudy urinated on his shorts. Our theory had been proven correct, the new practice literally scared the piss out of him.

We often meditate in our household and while this was the most extreme reaction we had seen from one of our cats, it did not surprise me that he had responded so strongly to meditation.

Our other cat Melody had been very timid when Adam first moved in with us. At the time Adam was starting a meditation practice called Werma, which was about confidence among other things. She loved to go into the meditation space when he was practicing and would sit with him every day. Slowly we saw her change and become much more confidant. She no longer would back down to anything or let anyone push her around. Our cat Ziggy, who used to bother her, would now get an ear boxing and she would chase him out of the room if he upset her. She also would come up to anyone who came in our home and gently tap them on the leg while looking up at them with her big blue eyes until they would give her pets. That confidence has stayed with her even though Adam no longer does that practice regularly.

In my own work, I treated a beautiful collie dog a couple years ago who would only let me work with her if I would sit and meditate calmly between needles. If I tried to make her sit still against her will she would get sick from the acupuncture and if I followed after her with needles she would only move faster. However if I only put one needle in at a time and sat quietly between needles she would let me treat her. After all the needles were in place, she would only relax if I would sit and meditate. She taught me more about patience than any other being I have worked with.

My large twenty-pound cat Basil also likes helping with meditation and I have found that on the days I am feeling particularly ungrounded, he will sit in my lap when I meditate. There is nothing to help ground you like twenty pounds of Zen cat.

I think animals like the calm energy that we create when we meditate, if you have ever been in a meditation center you know how calm and good it feels. That being said some meditation practices that are designed to stir up energy can agitate our furry friends as in Rudy’s case.

In the end it took a Shamanic journey with a local Shaman back to another place, for him to stop being afraid of Adam’s practice. However that is story which I will share at another time.

We are always connected to those in our home, including our animals, who pick up on our stress or our calmness and respond to it. Sometimes looking at our animal companion is like looking in a mirror at ourself. My dog Jake is often my emotion detector, if he is stressed often I am and when he is calm I am usually as well.

I came across this great story, Night of the Hunter, about Homer the three pound blind wonder kitty. Quite incredible, check it out!

Nick has the most beautiful toes. They are white as snow and super fuzzy and every time I see them I just want to touch them. Of course he hates that. Part of the reason that his toes are so beautiful is that he doesn’t walk on them. Five years ago a car hit Nick and his pelvis was badly broken. After consulting with a surgeon, who was quite certain that there was no permanent nerve damage, his family decided to do the difficult surgery to put his bones back together. As he healed it became apparent that there was something wrong with Nick’s nerves and he was not able to control his legs or support his weight below the knees.

This doesn’t stop Nick from getting around however. He just pulls himself with his front half and bulging biceps and lets the back half come along. If you try to catch him it becomes clear that he can move incredibly fast and can even scale a fence. His litter box is a little shorter than the normal ones but he uses it like a normal cat and is clean and proper. Although he can’t jump he is able to pull himself up on furniture or use stairs to reach where he wants to be.

If you ask Nick, he’ll tell you he’s just fine and wonder why you are looking at him strangely. After a moment though he will decide that you must be admiring his beauty. He is a beautiful cat with perfect stripes and deep big eyes. He wears his confidence well and is clearly the keeper of the house making sure that no other cats are allowed in.

I met Nick while treating the two dogs of the house and we had no intention of treating him initially. He of course thought this to be plain wrong, after all the cat is clearly the most important member of the house. One day while I was there he walked over and grabbed my box of needles between his front feet and stared at me, “excuse me but you seem to be forgetting the cat.” From that point on he started getting acupuncture treatments as well but only if he was given proper notice. If he was not told the day before that I was coming for his treatment he would disappear or hide under the bed.

Shortly before I started coming to his house he started to push off on one of his back legs which was amazing considering how much time had passed since his injury and the fact that he had shown no improvement up until that point. We started off treating him to try to encourage this improvement but also had the added benefit of getting him off of the steroids that he had needed for a very itchy neck. He’s still a little itchy these days but only to the point that he really, really likes it when you rub his neck. Which by the way helps to keep him still while he has needles in.

While most people who don’t know Nick would see him as disabled, in Nick’s mind he sees himself as perfect and whole. He doesn’t dwell on the past when he could use his legs normally and jumps into life with excitement and attitude. Sometimes I wonder if Nick is here to teach us all that being whole has nothing to do with the physical body and all about the way we see life.

Beautiful, strong and proud, he leaps across the field with graceful steps, able to turn on his heals in a second’s time if something fun to chase crosses his path. But slowly the gray hairs form on his muzzle and his step slows, his eyes are no longer as clear as in his youth and he no longer hears the door when it opens.

For many dogs, aging is a difficult transition from being able to take on the world to not being able to take on the steps. The fun things they used to do like going to the dog park, going for long walks on the beach, or just making it around the block or into the car become impossible. Many of the very active or herding dogs have an equally difficult time mentally accepting that they can no longer do what they see to be their job.

My own dog Jake recently went through a very difficult period which started when he reached the point of not being able to climb the stairs between the first and second story of our home. Jake had always been the protector and organizer of our family, following everyone around, many times backwards bumping into walls as he went, so that he would not have to take his eyes off of us. He even made it a job trying to herd our four cats, which as any of you with cats know is clearly impossible.

He became extremely anxious about his limitations and would walk around panting nervously until he fell over with exhaustion. This was very difficult because his anxiety was not only very uncomfortable for him but also for us, especially when there was little we could do about it. We quickly got into a pattern of Jake becoming extremely anxious, us leaving the room because he was so anxious, and him becoming more anxious because he wasn’t with us. This was compounded by his anxiety causing him to lose continence and end up walking around panting and peeing as he went or pooping on the living room rug. I became convinced that not only was he losing his footing but that he was also losing his mind.

I would get so frustrated with him that I would shout,” just stay there, can’t you just sit still and relax!” Of course I was not making things any better with my frustration. Jake was not accepting his condition and I certainly wasn’t either. This just made him more agitated because I was upset with him in addition to him not being able to do his job. And he had always tried so hard to be a good dog. Having a career working with older dogs you would think I would have realized right away that we were both stuck in a very bad pattern but it is always harder to see the things that are closest to home.

Gradually as a family we realized that there was a large problem with acceptance and the first thing to do was accept Jake for where he was at. We also made some changes to our home and routines to improve things. We changed our schedules so that we were able to let him out at the same times every day to poop and pee. One very important change was to put up a gate between our two floors so that Jake could not go up or down the stairs on his own. In the morning we would help him down the stairs and in the evening we would help him up so he could sleep in my son’s room and do his job of protecting him. Because the gate was there he knew that we were purposely stopping him from going on the stairs and he no longer felt that he had to follow us where he could not.

We let him know that we accepted him for who he was and that we valued his job of protecting us and watching over us but that his most important job now was to keep his strength and be our companion instead of our protector. He received more pets and we tried our best to make him understand that he was loved for being Jake and that was separate from what he could or could not do. We praised him when he was calm and sitting still and took more time to sit and talk to him.

In a short period of time he because more calm and stopped following us around everywhere. After about two weeks we were able to take the gate down and he no longer went on the stairs except in the morning and the evening. Now most of the time he doesn’t even need help to get up and down the stairs the two times a day he climbs them. His continence also improved and he no longer pees or poops in the house and can make it much longer without being let out.

Of all the things we did I think the most important was to accept and love him unconditionally. I have had other clients tell me as well that when they were able to truly accept and love their animal companions in the condition that they were in, there was improvement not just for their animals both mentally and physically but also for themselves. I had one client explain to me that when she was able to accept that her dog needed to go out multiple times in the evening and realize how happy she was just to have her here in her old age that she no longer found it so difficult to get up in the middle of the night. In addition I noticed a huge improvement in her dog’s physical condition, she was much more present and less painful.

When we have friends or family who truly accept us regardless of state it makes us feel very loved and protected. We no longer have to pretend to be something we are not. I think it is no different with our animal friends. Through accepting them we are sharing our love and letting them be what they are at that moment. After all with older animals every moment we have with them is precious.

Love me for who I am today
Tomorrow I will be someone different
Gray may shine through my hair
Like stars in the sky
My eyes may be cloudy
Like the far off sea
But we are together
Our hearts touch as one
I am forever your friend
You are the one I love

Photographs in this story from Jennifer Kogut

So often our animals remind us how it is to be free to play and enjoy the world. Today while on vacation in Pacific Beach I saw a couple dogs running across the sand, their feet flying off the ground with every step. So happy, so in the moment. Barking wildly at their people to throw sticks, running against the wind, and having the time of their lives.

Today I also received some beautiful photos of Lucca and Sadie playing in the snow, in their element, jumping in the air, biting at the snow. How does it feel to be so happy and excited about life? Through our dogs we get to experience some of this, what greater gift. Laughing as we play and toss sticks or throw snow in the air. Laughing as we run after them in their joy which we are allowed to share in.