March 24, 2010
Winston's Story: Back To His Old Self Thanks To A Caring Chiropractor
Winston's motto: Why get out of the chair and walk to the back door when I can launch myself across the chair, across the end table and land right in front of the door? Flying is fun!
Winston was only 3 years old. One day in August of 2007, I noticed Winston sitting by the front door. Not a normal place for him to park himself. I thought it odd that he wasn't on his usual spot on the couch. As the day progressed, I noticed he was shaking. Now, Winston is scared of everything, and shakes when he's scared, but there was nothing around to frighten him, he was just sitting in front of the door, shaking. I kept thinking "how bizarre". That evening my husband came home and I pointed out Winston's odd behavior. My husband later commented that Winston wasn't jumping up on the furniture at all. The next morning, Winston wouldn't eat. My husband reached down to pick him up and he yelped. At this point, we knew there was something seriously wrong.
I called the vet that morning and made an appointment. Winston was in terrible pain-he couldn't even put his head down far enough to eat or drink-we were having to hold the food and water bowls for him, and he was starting to drag his hind quarters. I had made a comfy place on the floor for him, and he stayed there shaking and shivering all day until time to go to the vet. I was terrified that Winston would have to be put to sleep because he had permanently injured his back, or would require some expensive back surgery I could not afford.
The vet confirmed he had a back injury. He gave Winston some pain medication and some steroids to help with the inflammation. Then he gave me a slip of paper and told me to take Winston to a Chiropractor. Animal Chiropractor? (I'm seeing $$ in my head-this is going to be expensive!) I looked at the paper, then looked at the vet and said "This is a 'people' chiropractor." He just smiled and told me to call the Dr. right away. We went home, I was relieved that the term "back surgery" had not come up, but poor Winston was suffering so. He could no longer make it down the back steps to go outside-we had to carry him. He couldn't eat or drink unless we held the bowls for him. He would cry if we even touched him.
I wanted to discuss taking him to the chiropractor with my husband. Neither of us had been to a chiropractor before, and really had no opinion on chiropractors one way or the other. I was distraught at Winston's condition. My husband told me to do whatever needed to be done to make Winston better. The next morning I called the Dr. noted on the vet's referral slip. The receptionist told me they could see us that morning and to be sure and bring the referral slip. Off we went to the "people" chiropractor, not knowing what to expect.
When we arrived in the office, we were put back in a room. Dr. Heather Wright came in, introduced herself and proceeded to examine Winston. She confirmed a serious problem in his back-right over the rear legs. She adjusted Winston's spine with a handheld device called an "activator". She told me to continue the steroids, pain meds and to ice that area down as best I could. I was told we were to keep him from jumping at all costs, but to keep him moving. I began to cry, because at this point Winston could not walk, he just dragged his rear. She looked me in the eye and told me "this dog has got to keep moving. He's already experiencing muscle atrophy, and that will make his recovery that much more difficult. I don't care if you only walk him ten feet, he has to keep moving every day. Put a leash on him and walk him as far as you can, but he has to move." We scheduled a series of appointments for the next couple of weeks.
I would put Winston on a leash to go for a walk. (Winston LOVES to go on a walk, and thinks he's a sled dog!) He would literally drag the back half of his body down the sidewalk as I bawled. We would walk to the corner of our yard and back. One day we went as far as the corner of the next door neighbor's yard. He was struggling so hard to drag himself, and I was crying as usual. We were seeing Dr. Wright three times a week. Winston didn't seem to mind going to Dr. Wright and the adjustments didn't phase him at all.
About two weeks later, we were coming in from church on a Wednesday evening, and Winston met us at the door. He wasn't dragging his hind end anymore and he met us at the door and gave us "the paw" (which is his "hello, notice me, I am here, pet me" signal). We hadn't gotten "the paw" in weeks. We could tell he was finally feeling better. We were ecstatic. We saw Dr. Wright a couple of days later and told her he was finally getting back to normal. We continued with her treatment plan for Winston. After 6 weeks, Winston was totally back to normal and trying to jump and sail again. We devised a number of ways to stop this! Dr. Wright was adamant about his not jumping, as she was quite sure that is what started the whole back problem.
Winston continues as a chiropractic "maintenance patient" almost 3 years later. He goes every month for a "tune-up". He has reinjured his back twice in the last 3 years. I now know his pain signals, and when I see them, we immediately get in to see Dr. Wright. Usually two visits and he's back to normal. The latest episode was the day before Thanksgiving 2009. Winston did it up good this time and was in terrible pain. We got in to see Dr. Wright first thing Monday morning. She confirmed a big subluxation (misalignment) in the usual area, got everything back in place and asked to see us Tuesday morning. We went back on Tuesday, she worked on his shoulder which was out, probably due to his compensating for the pain he was having, then she looked at me and said "if you did not bring him in every 4 weeks for an adjustment, you would be looking at 6-8 weeks of recovery again. However, because you do bring him every 4 weeks, everything went back into place very easily yesterday and has stayed that way. He'll have a 3-4 day recovery instead of a 6-8 week recovery." That makes our monthly visit to the Chiropractor worth every penny!
Three years of regular chiropractic care has been much cheaper than back surgery for Winston.
Dr. Heather Wright has an undergraduate degree in Animal Science. She is an honor graduate of Palmer Chiropractic College and is one of only 21 Certified Chiropractic Extremity Practitioners in the state of Texas, which means she can treat extremities and sports injuries. She has been the official chiropractor for the Texas Agility Circuit, and is trained in equine, canine and feline chiropractic.
Texas law requires all canine chiropractic patients to have a vet referral before treatment can begin. If you would like to seek chiropractic treatment for your dog, please speak to your vet, or call Wright Chiropractic Health Center at 817-594-5944. Dr. Wright's staff would be happy to help you get a referral.
Wright Chiropractic Health Center
702B Eureka Street
Weatherford, Texas 76086
817-594-5944
www.drwright.topchiro.com
