Kane, German Shepherd, suffered a Spinal Stroke and Elbow Hygromas

Kane is an absolute hero in my eyes as he's been through so much over the past 4 1/2 years. Kane is a 13 year old rescue we adopted when he was 6 years old. He suffered a spinal stroke (FCE) 4 years ago and had a hind leg amputated almost 3 years ago. He doesn't, however, let this disability get in the way, as he still enjoys life to the full and loves going out in his wheels with our two other rescued German Shepherds.

Kane also suffers with Hygromas on his elbows, this is due to his age, mostly, as he likes to lie on hard floors rather than any of the dog beds (sofa is OK as long as I am alongside him). This has caused him to have Hygromas on each elbow, which sometimes get a little raw. As bandaging isn't an option, we use the Balto Elbow Brace to protect his elbows, add a little padding, take some pressure off and prevent him licking them and causing further problems.

We use elbow butter or aloe vera gel on them, our wonderful vet agreed that there was little more that could be done to prevent re-occurrence - unless they became infected. She also checked him for signs of arthritis but found no evidence of that present, thankfully. At the moment, he's been pretty good and we've not had to use the brace for a while. He continues to have acupuncture every 3 weeks, Kane has had a total of 103 acupuncture sessions so far, they began in December 2019 following his FCE.

These are to help reduce tension in his muscles due to, initially, just 1 hind leg working so his back had to work extra hard to maintain his balance. In March 2021, Kane began having sessions with a McTimoney Practitioner - extra to the acupuncture. These helped realign his spine and reduce tension in his neck and shoulders caused by him compensating for the missing leg.

He truly is an incredible dog. His strength of character really helps both him and us to carry on. We have spent an absolute fortune so far, but will always continue to do our best for our amazing boy.