Ziggy the Cardigan Corgi - IVDD Weeks 10-12

I haven't done a Ziggy update for a while, so here's what he's been up to the past few weeks:

The week before last, Ziggy spent another week at the ISU Vet School rehab center to do underwater treadmill work, etc.  On his first visit there, I recorded one of his underwater treadmill sessions, and I'm really glad I did.  The folks at ISU recorded him on the treadmill this time, and the improvement is nice to see.  In this video, he's reaching much more with his right hind (which is his "good" side), and even starting to reach forward with the left!

Last week we went to see a rehab vet here in town.  She's been a "regular" vet, and has done acupuncture and chiro work for years, but is just now setting up a rehab-only practice.  Ziggy went for an acupuncture session, which we'll be continuing every week.  It's really nice that her location is 2 miles from our house.  She's also very nice, and Z seems to like her, which is a bonus.  

During the first session, she gave us some ideas of stretches we can begin to do for Ziggy's front end.  Needless to say, his shoulders are getting quite muscular, and we don't want him to lose flexibility.  She also said that he's maintaining good muscle tone in the rear.  I can tell he's lost a ton of muscle mass, so it's good to hear that relatively speaking he's doing well.

Her best guess is that Ziggy will walk again, and she estimates 6-9 months from the surgery date.  This is a similar number to the estimate we got from the rehab specialist at ISU.  Nice to hear, but that means we've still got 4-6 months to go.  

We continue to do daily physical therapy with Ziggy, and we do hydro work in the basement with him a couple of times a week.  He seems more comfortable in the "pool" now - probably thanks to a constant stream of bil-jac treats. 

Overall progress continues to be slow - but at least it's progress!  He's starting to move his right hind quite regularly when in the sling outside and in the pool, and he's even tried to stand a couple of times by pushing himself up with the right hind.  He's also started to bark a lot more which I guess is a good thing?  Or at least it means that some things are back to normal!