Pellinore's Story

Pelli is a rescue BC that we adopted at approximately 6 months of age.At roughly 17 months of age in January of 2008, he came up lame in his left rear leg after apparently slipping in the carpeted hallway of our home whilst playing with our other BCs, Dred and Gael. Our traditional medicine veterinarian diagnosed Pelli with an ever-so-slight strain of the ACL. With Rimadyl and crate rest he recovered fine. In late 2010, Pelli was occasionally coming up "tender" on his left rear leg, after running in a couple of classes each day at NADAC trials. His knee didn't seem any worse to our traditional vet, so we also sought the opinion of our alternative therapies vet. Pelli's lumbar spine was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay "out" of alignment and he also felt that same very slight movement in his left stifle. X-rays followed and EVERYTHING came back "within normal limits" EXCEPT for some arthritic/pre-arthritic calcium deposits on Pelli's right elbow.

At that point, we scheduled an evaluation with an orthopedic specialist thinking that Pelli may be a candidate for "preventative" TPLO surgery.The specialist didn't find Pelli to be a candidate for surgery. With our alternative vet’s guidance, and also keeping our traditional medicine vet "in the loop", we embarked on a series of hydrotherapy sessions for Pelli on an underwater treadmill and more frequent chiropractic exams and adjustments. Pelli was doing soooooooooooooooooooo well, but still will favor that left rear leg from time-to-time. We requested a follow-up exam with the orthopedic specialist with an "in-house" consult with the neurologist, for an MRI to ensure that NONE of his health care team, traditional and alternative, were "missing" something that may be hiding from view of other imaging techniques and talented hands. The MRI was also "within normal limits." We're continuing with hydrotherapy that is definitely reshaping his already athletic body and seems to be strengthening the muscles of his lumbar spine.

Overall, Pelli is moving better, feeling better and favoring that left rear leg less often. I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooo very gratefulthat we have more options for Pelli, who is less than 5 years old, than we did for my late Kali, when so much of her therapy relied on anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs and rest. NOT that there is ANYTHING wrong with that!!!Pelli's agility jumping career is OVER by my choice.

Pelli has a health care TEAM. his traditional vet, his alternative vet, the central veterinary teaching hospital that they both utilize and the specialists ALL work with ONE goal in mind, the BEST for Pelli and our other dogs. Pellinore is beginning to learn new agility skills that will permit him to have even more FUN without putting undue stress on himself, and that's been able to happen because of an INTEGRATED approach to health care, and vets, traditional and alternative, that RESPECT and VALUE what each and every vet can bring to the table when it comes to the best health care available.

I know sooooooooooooooooo many folks that are "all one way or the other", traditional or holistic. We just want the best for "our kids", and don't really care if the provider has a "politically correct" image. OK, we don't understand how a lot of the alternative therapies work; but we also know that our dogs are not subject to "the placebo effect". For my late Kali, it took the best of the West AND the East to make her golden years truly golden. Pelli is just getting an early start, thankfully.

Hugs & wags,

Al & Barb Ceranko and Pellinore