DOG OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 2009 – INKA Alison Williamson, 4th December 2009 (Re-printed with the kind permission of DTW) Healthwise, Inka, my GSD, has not been the luckiest of dogs. She was born in June 2001, and by the start of 2009, she had accumulated over £15,000 in veterinary fees. I bought her at six months old from a show kennel who had decided she was not of sufficient quality to breed from. Before I bought her I paid for her hips to be x-rayed – which were excellent at that time. I had received advice from many sources (including professional) that if a dog has good hips at that age they are unlikely to become very bad hips.... We had to work very hard together to overcome Inka’s nervousness caused by poor socialisation and exposure to ‘every day’ events during her early months. Then, when she was x-rayed/ scored at 2 ½ years old, I was shocked to discover her hip score was an appalling 81 (39:42), although thankfully her elbows were clear (0:0). Clinically, she exhibited no symptoms whatsoever, and veterinary advice was to ‘carry on as before’. So we continued with our lovely long walks, as well as obedience, agility and breed shows. Sadly, Inka’s health was always causing set-backs. She had a nasty on-going skin complaint for many years, which largely ‘disappeared’ after she was spayed. She has also had several benign skin tumours. More seriously, in spring 2004 she very nearly died from splenic torsion – a rare and usually fatal condition. If that wasn’t enough, in summer 2007 Inka bloated three times in two months. Referral to specialist vets at Langford revealed chronic inflammation of the stomach wall caused by megaoesophagus. On further advice she had gastropexy surgery to ‘tack’ her stomach wall to prevent future torsion, and is now on a prescription tinned diet for life. In 2008 we had a great year. Apart from two great walking holidays, she competed in the Special Prebeginner Stakes Final at Crufts, won
her Pre-Beginner and won one of her Beginners, had some great places in agility, and qualified for Crufts 2009 in breed! We started off well in 2009.We went on another lovely walking holiday to North Wales in mid-March, and Inka had more successes in breed and agility shows. However, by the spring things were starting to go wrong. Not only had I found out I was being made redundant, but it was also apparent that Inka’s hips were quite suddenly deteriorating. I had done everything I could to keep her fit and comfortable, but she was slowing significantly on walks, struggling with the stairs, could no longer jump full height at agility, and kept ‘clipping’ the back of the car as she jumped in. The day she just looked in the car and looked back at me I knew I had to take her to the hip specialist. Inka went to the specialist on 7th May. He concluded that she needed to have her right hip replaced ASAP. Since there was no real alternative, other than watch her suffer until she would have been PTS, I agreed and the vet operated that day. I picked her up the next day. She was very lame and confused, and so unsteady she needed help when rising, whilst she ate and to go to the toilet. She had to do four 10-minute walks a day, and right from the start she seemed to walk reasonably well, although would never weight-bear on her new hip when standing. The first weeks were a constant worry in case she slipped, tried to rush somewhere (such as if the doorbell rang) or tried to have a game with my other dog! I knew if she slipped in the first six weeks there was a very real risk of dislocation. I devised a system of ‘baby gates’ and room exclusions to try to minimise the risks, but suddenly life seemed fraught with potential dangers! Five weeks after surgery she still wasn’t weight-bearing when standing, even though she was apparently
walking reasonably well. I took her back to my local vet who confirmed that he could feel vertical and lateral movement in the new joint on manipulation. I obtained an emergency appointment with the specialist the next day. He found that the metal pin was luxating in and out of the metal ball joint to which it should have been tightly secured. After it was fixed under further anaesthetic, Inka improved straightaway. There had been massive muscle loss during those five weeks, which now made her recovery and return to fitness much slower. However, six weeks later Inka was walking seven miles a day again. Following a further checkup Inka could start hydrotherapy, which we did twice a week for twelve weeks. This made a real difference to her overall strength. She also had physiotherapy to help release the locked muscles in her back and hips, which had gone into spasm to compensate for her joint problems. In August we did our first Open Obedience Show of the year at Bath, where she won the Special GSD class – I was thrilled to bits! In September, knowing her passion for agility, I took her to my local Open Agility show, and ran her in the NFC anysize (micro height) class. To curb her speed and enthusiasm I just ambled along behind her. By jump four she realised I wasn’t ‘with her’ and looked around and gave me a very concerned look of “Oh well, if you’re not feeling too good, I’ll slow down and go at your pace then”. She happily ‘pottered’ around the rest of the course at a very steady pace, being very careful to measure her strides so as not to get ahead of me! It was a truly touching moment and the memory will always be with me. To prove her Bath obedience win wasn’t a fluke, she even managed a second at BAGSD Birmingham in late September. However, by then, erated hip. This was partly the result of excessive load-bearing and joint
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