Cory’s Story

After Cory’s miracle at the lake, we discussed what may have been the cause for his unbelievable recovery. We decided that it was probably a combination of the fluid movement of his joints in the water, helping to lube up and loosen his joints, coupled with the cold water which may have had a soothing effect on the pain.

Determined to help Cory feel that sense of freedom again (and hopefully regain his ability to walk unassisted), we bought a pool for him last weekend (we got it on craigslist for $50). Unfortunately, the pool is not quite deep enough for him to swim, but with his life jacket on his buoyancy is enough to keep almost all pressure off his legs, allowing him to move freely in the water.

Watch as his eyes just lighten up as he gets to play with his ball. We think this must be a very freeing experience for him since he gets to move about in the water wherever he wants. He’s still unable to stand up or walk on his own outside of the water, and improvement has been evident but slow since we bought the pool. We are hoping that with 2 swim-sessions a day, his atrophied muscles will strengthen enough to allow him to at least stand and walk on his own.

If you have any suggestions for arthritis relief for dogs, please tell us in the comments!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vYf4cK8s58]

If you read Sandy’s last blog post, you’re aware that Cory’s health is declining. For the last month or so, he has lost the ability to stand up on his own, and he can’t take more than a few steps without his hind end collapsing.

But to our complete shock and amazement, this weekend Cory stunned us. Apparently driven by his undying love for water, he swam for the first time in months. But the fact that he could swim wasn’t what really shocked us. It was when he actually exited the water and began walking with a little spring in his step. He proceeded to grab a tennis ball and demand that we throw it for him, fetching it numerous times and bringing tears to our eyes as we witnessed the sparkle and life returning to his. Take a look… we would have never expected this to happen.

And here’s Cory walking on his own for the first time in months.

As I promised earlier, here are some videos of Cory swimming in his golden years. We used to throw things out as far as we could for him and we could still never tire him out. He was always full of energy! These days he’s not nearly this spritely, as arthritis has caught up with him. But he still perks and wags his tail at the mention of “going for a swim.”

Does your dog love swimming too? Leave a comment!

Hey everyone! One of Cory’s favorite activities when he was young and invincible was scootering. Sandy covers this more in the upcoming book “Cory’s Story” but I thought it would be nice to show you what it looks like in case you’ve never seen a dog scooter before. This video turned up miraculously from one of our good friends, Johanna. She captured some priceless video of Cory swimming, running, playing, and scootering. We’re SUPER excited to share the videos with you! For now, here’s a video of Cory scootering. By the way, if you haven’t tried this, it’s absolutely a BLAST!

It’s been 7 weeks since cauda equina surgery, and Cory’s hair still isn’t growing back very well, so we applied Dermagic Skin Rescue Lotion to help heal the wound and promote hair growth. Here’s the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB2JWHNkfAI]

Quick update: Cory’s Story is in the hands of the publisher now and we’re so excited! We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.

P.S. – If you’re interested in the Dermagic Skin Rescue Lotion, visit Dermagic’s website at http://www.dermagic.com

Hey everyone!  This video shows how Cory is doing on Mother’s Day.   Note how he walks fluidly, almost without any limping.  He wanted to go further but we don’t want to have him overdo it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTgNIkJ_L8o]

Here’s the video I promised. It shows Cory moving around and doing some tricks 3 weeks after surgery on his spine for cauda equina syndrome.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHsbERbuNwQ]

Here’s that video I promised. It shows Cory on his first day back home after spine surgery for a herniated disc caused by Cauda Equina Syndrome.

You can see him limping on his front legs, which is caused by arthritis and is unrelated to the surgery. Before the surgery, Cory was losing control of his hind legs due to the herniated disc pinching off the nerve in his spine. His hind end is still a little wobbly, as you’ll see in this video, but it’s a vast improvement over what it used to be. Furthermore, the doctor says that it’ll take 4 weeks for the benefits of the surgery to really kick in, since there is still a ton of swelling in his spine from the surgery.

The really big wow factor about this video is that just 24 hours earlier, we visited Cory at the hospital, and he was unable to move any part of his body except his eyes. We were all horrified by that experience, and expecting the worst when we picked him up from the hospital. You can imagine our surprise and delight when Cory was bright-eyed, cheerful, and mobile when we picked him up.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT7dMrpqSGM]

Hey all,

I just helped Cory set up his Youtube account. You can click the button over in the right sidebar to subscribe to Cory’s channel, which he says he would really appreciate! Here’s his first video on his new Youtube channel. It’s a shout-out to all his fans.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgQ48Iwqukk]

Hi to all my new fans! Wow, I had no idea that there were so many people out there who care about my story. I am so proud to have a mommy person who wants to share it with you. I hope my story touches many people, and I hope many doggies’ mommy persons learn from my story about how to feed us nutritiously. That’s all for now! Here’s a boo-roo to all my fans!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An3qmAQmPjA]