So we took Jack in to see Dr. Miller for his back legs, the girls took him out walked him around and saw the "stiffness" i have noticed while we are walking. Dr. Miller came in and poked, and moved legs and checked his spin and did agree that something was not right (im giving you the short version of what happened). we had 4 options, check his anal glands ( we did that right away and expressed them, nothing was in them) x-rays which she did not think would get us an answer and cost the most, do acupuncture on him and see if that fixes the issue, or go 2 weeks on Rimadyl.
im not a huge fan of Rimadyl and have used it in the past but if we have an option other then drugs i wanted to try it out, that is one of the reasons we started to see Dr. Miller as she is a holistic vet, owns her own Sibs, we have a few sib owners seeing her and is a female (sorry guys). so from the post title we went with the acupuncture, it was also in the middle of the price range with the remaining 3 options we had, Jack was fine while she was putting the needles in his head and spine but we had some loud cries when she got to his legs, she said in her experience the ones that yelled the most saw the best results because she was hitting the right spots. she got them all in and he laid but then got up and shook and they fell out she came back in and did it again and we got him to lay on the ground and stay for about 20 min. we are not to limit his exercise but watch him and if he says he is done then we are done, that means no hiking on this Sat. and we will go to the meet up on Sun and see how he does, if he does not want to play then we head home. i will say that even on the walk out to the car his stride looked longer all ready, we are both working today so i will check on him tonight and see, she said he can be good to go after one treatment or it might take a few. we are to watch him the next week and see how he is looking to make the call on what to do next. im really happy we tried this and hope it works. i took some pictures and a video for you all to see what its like.

WOW! I've never seen it done on a dog before! I really hope you see some improvement!

My holistic vet in FL also does acupuncture but none of mine have ever needed it before. I love that you took a video to share with us!

Thanks for the video!
I've had accupuncture done on me, and I didn't like how it felt in some spots which where I needed it the most. But I did feel an improvement after the first treatment.

From what I read, Jack is already showing some improvement - Yay Jack!

I'm so happy we found Dr. Miller!

Dr. Miller is so cool, i think most vets would have said no to me taking a video! i told her we have never talked about acupuncture before on the forum and that this would be so helpful to everyone

jbealer wrote:

i told her we have never talked about acupuncture before on the forum and that this would be so helpful to everyone

You were right, I'm so glad she let you record it as I think it is beneficial for all of us...well, it is to me at least!

That was a great idea to video it!
I'm glad Dr. M was cool with that!

Wow, that's pretty cool that acupuncture can be done on dogs. I didn't know that! I hope that Jack continues to show improvement. I can't believe he actually sat still for her to put the needles in. What a good boy!

oh he only sat still like that till she got to the back end where the pain really was! then it was lots of yelling and running to mom and dad!

Hmm....maybe I should look into this for Dakota. Great idea!

Jenn keep us posted on this because like you and Jack, Biko acts "different" when were on longer then usual walks. Not so much hurting pain but can tell he isn't as comfortable as he should be. I'm dreading hip dysplasia and keeping an eye on his actions and reactions.

Len,
Hip dysplasia was my first thought and fear.

I got home tonight and jack had to pee really bad, he was walking odd still. Fed them dinner then we went for a walk. Jack was walking more like he was sore then in pain so I have my hopes up, his stride was longer. I will keep you all posted on how it goes.
Dr. Miller said he might be tired for a few days and we will know if it helped in a week or so.

SO COOL! Thanks for sharing And of course, keep us posted on Jack!

Well after our husky meet up yesterday jack seems to be doing ok. Tonight we went for a walk and I tested out the backpack. He did not run from me when I took it out and he let me put it on him. I did not put any weight in it, just wanted to see if he would do ok, and he did. Tomorrow we might try some water.

That's great to hear!!
I hope Jack is on the mend!

Well 2- 17oz water bottles was to much for jack in his pack tonight
But on the up side sierra carried 4 bottles. Looks like I might be carring the water.

Aw, Jack
Get better soon!

Well since this is still regarding the same leg i figured i would do the update here so everyone could read the past treatment.
We were back at the vet last night for the yearly check ups and i asked Dr. M about Jacks back leg again. because as most of you know were are all pretty tuned into our Huskies and their behaviors and know when something seems off. well i have been keeping an eye on this leg for the last yr and i would say 90% of the time he has been doing great but some days his walk is just off or he will waddle some or even walk with slack in the leash (no pulling) she was pulling and tweaking and said his muscle seemed to be in a constant contraction and really tight/stiff. the left leg seemed fine. she said it could be something with the hip but at this point since what i see is every so often that she would like to take an Xray to just see what is going on and if it can point us in any direction for treatment, if nothing is seen then if something comes up in the future we have a "good" Xray to compare it to, im going to up his glucosamine for now and try to figure out how to pay for the Xray. i will also lighten his load for hiking till we know what is up. this just sucks not knowing..... she did not tell me to not let him do anything and at this point were just going to try to prevent something worse happening. i hope we can do the Xray in the next month or so

Thanks for sharing, I didn't see this before... I've been looking into acupuncture for Odin... Did you notice anything significant Jenn? There's also this thing called electro acupuncture...

i noticed a HUGE turn around after the treatment last yr. with in 3 days. so i know he did tweak something last yr. now were just wondering if is still an issue with the muscle or the hip. like i said its every few weeks something at one time seems weird since this injury. i would diffidently treat with it again if needed over drugs.

Electro acupuncture is awesome if the problem is not severe. If the joint issue are really bad would see if someone in the area does Prolozone therapy. Hope Jack gets a clean bill of health.

Prolozone is similar to Protherapy which I've had done. After I had been thru left elbow surgery I started having the same problem a few years later with my right. I had no desire for the slice and dice alternative. I lucked out and found a Prolotherapist right here in Western NY . (at the time there were maybe a half dozen in NY state).

Its works, pretty uncomfortable the day of the treatments but hell of a lot better then surgery and being out of work for 3 months. All together I had to go in 4 times and I'd say w/o a doubt that my right elbow came out much stronger then my surgically repaired left elbow. The worst part of it all is that most health insurances WON'T cover the cost, I guess they would prefer to help a orthopedic surgeon make his boat payments. They could have paid less then $1K to my protherapist to cure the problem instead paid lord knows what for surgery.

I was having my 14 yo BC treated for around $100. She went from unable to get up on her own or stand to walking after one treatment. She had 4 every two weeks then one only when she started having trouble. It added a good year to her quality of life.

Haven't had the need to do it on myself yet but I know a chiropractor here that does it and that's covered by my insurance as a part of a chiropractic treatment.

hey where have you two been with me complaining about my knees and my stupid wrist/elbow deal! this sounds like im perfect for it. not sure about Jack yet though..... might bring it up at the knee apt next tue if he does not depending on whats wrong with them.

Oops.....

jbealer wrote:

hey where have you two been with me complaining about my knees and my stupid wrist/elbow deal! this sounds like im perfect for it. not sure about Jack yet though..... might bring it up at the knee apt next tue if he does not depending on whats wrong with them.

Jenn, tsk tsk I did mention it way back when your were about to have your wrist surgery but I think you were already booked for the slice & dice routine. If you still have problems then I'd seriously look into prolotherapy, but don't expect to much support from your doctor if he/she is a surgeon.

http://www.getprolo.com/

Denver Prolotherapist:

http://www.getprolo.com/berenbeim_prolotherapy_denver_colorado.htm

http://www.getprolo.com/ravin_prolotherapy.htm