Cazzie and her OrthoPets Tarsus Devices (Dog ankle braces)
Martin, Martin, Martin,Where do I begin?
You have given me my spirit and active lifestyle back! Let me start my story from the beginning. A hunter adopted me because I was named after my grandmother who had earned the honor of being one of the top 5 hunting dogs in the nation. I did inherit her hunting and pointing skills; however, I did not inherit her hearing. I decided that I did not want to hunt when guns were involved because it was just too painful. Three owners later I found a family that loves me for who I am, not for what they wanted me to be.Everything was going along great and I was leading a very active lifestyle with my family, when I tore my Achilles tendon in January. I had been out of the cast for my left leg a week, when I tore the Achilles tendon on my right leg. The veterinarian thinks that it might be because I was on prednisone to suppress my immune system to control Masticatory Myositis and long term use of prednisone can make your tendons weaker. This is where Orthopets entered my life! After 6 months of a very hard time (i.e., inability to move, cast rub sores, stressing the leg that was not casted at the time, etc.), I had totally lost my spirit and was getting very depressed. Then to make things worse my mom and new orthopedic surgeon thought that the initial 2 surgeries didn’t work because of the amount of swelling in my hock and I was going to have to start all over again!:(The orthopedic surgeon immediately sent me to Orthopets to get a hock and paw brace on my left leg to keep it from getting worse, while my right leg was still in a cast. When I went back to the orthopedic surgeon about a month later, he could not believe how much better my left hock (the one that had been in the brace) looked, the swelling had almost disappeared entirely. So he sent me back to Orthopets to get a hock and paw brace made for my right leg. He wanted me to wear them on both legs until we scheduled the surgery, to begin all over again. My mom could tell how sad I was about having to start all over again. So she asked the orthopedic surgeon if I could wear both of my hock and paw braces and just get to be myself for a month and then we would start the surgeries again, one leg at a time.The orthopedic surgeon warned me that the hock and paw braces would not allow as much freedom as I was hoping for because of how fast I can run, he thought that they would rub and slow me down.Well he was WRONG! However, he was right in the fact that I have very thin and sensitive skin and I did have a nightmare time in my old casts and splints with rub sores. However, that was not the case in my OrthoPets braces. I was able to run, jump, and point just like before in my hock and paw braces and NEVER got one rub sore, even my mom was shocked!When my mom took me back to the orthopedic surgeon last week, his staff prepped me for surgery and he came in to tell my mom what would be happening during the surgery. She asked him to take one last look at how well I was walking on both of my back legs. It appeared that the hock and paw braces had allowed my Achilles tendons to continue to heal, while I was ACTIVE!! The orthopedic surgeon could not believe the improvement in the swelling and how well I walked and immediately cancelled the surgery. He said that maybe we were wrong and the Achilles tendons were not torn again, they just needed more time to heal. It appears that the hock and paw braces had allowed for the continued healing of the Achilles tendons.WOW, was I pleasantly surprised! We left there and went right to Orthopets to get new mountain bike treads on my braces to support the active lifestyle awaiting me every day!!!Martin you even told me that when my legs completely heal you can adapt my current braces to become sports braces by just cutting the paw portion off. I just wanted to thank everyone at Orthopets for giving me my life and spirit back!!! Well I have to run now, because I am having my fifth birthday party today and I have a t-bone cake with candles waiting for me!THANKS for EVERYTHING!
