Guest blogger Lola-No is stepping in to fill readers in on Phoenix and his news!
When I heard that
Phoenix had got his wheels, I'm afraid my imagination got the better of
me. I pictured him perched on a stack of telephone books in the
driver's seat of a gleaming, red '59 Cadillac convertible, blowing
through stop signs and forgetting to use his turn signals. We Frenchies
are, without exception, notoriously terrible drivers. Fortunately, it
turned out that Phoenix's wheels were of a considerably more practical
sort, and, I dare say, less likely to result in heavy fines.
Phoenix has hemivertebrae, a congenital defect of the spine. It can
be seen as too much of a good thing. Frenchies -- like our English,
Puggish, and Boston Terrier-ish bretheren -- have delightful, twisty
screw tails, the result of the malformation of the little vertebrae in
our hindmost appendage. That is all well and good, but sometimes a
puppy is born with malformed vertebrae extending farther up his spine
and compressing his spinal cord. In many cases, there is little cause
for concern. The dog is unaffected by the condition, and does not
require treatment.
In other cases, symptoms are mild, and can be
treated with anti-inflammatories and limited activity. Occasionally,
though, as with young Phoenix, the pressure on the spinal cord is
significant. As he grew, Phoenix slowly lost mobility in his hind end
until, at the tender age of one, he was having difficulty getting
around.
The end of the road, you ask? Not in this day and age! It
takes more than a wobbly rear end to keep a good dog down, and Phoenix
is a remarkably good dog by all accounts. How do you give a dog with
limited mobility a new lease on life? Not, it turns out, with a
gleaming, red '59 Cadillac convertible, but with a cart! Measurements
were taken, an order placed, and voila! Sure enough, as soon as Phoenix
got his new wheels, he was zipping around like a pro.
Nowadays, when
he isn't anxiously checking his e-mail to see if his forever family has
applied for him yet, Phoenix is rolling around the house and yard, going
to the park, playing fetch and relaxing poolside.
Ride on, Phoenix, ride on, says
Lola-No,
In Lieu of The Frog Princess.
PS Our thanks to Lola-No! If you'd like to read more about Lola-No and her adventures, check out her blog. It's always diverting and comes with highest recommendations from
FP
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