Shuna

A few years ago In March Shuna experienced some significant, scary and painful mobility issues in that we thought we may need to say our final goodbyes.

It was thought that she may have slipped a disk after an MRI dismissed a neurological tumour.

Shuna had always been an active girl having hiked and sailed with us regularly for most of her life. We have had so many wonderful experiences and adventures that we would not have had without her.

The recommendation from vets was to medicate for pain and cage rest for a few months. Having never been caged before, having no cage and having a really active old lady that was in pain meant this was really tough to manage. 

The pain meds zombified and reduced her mobility further and we really feared the worst and we were struggling to know how to move on. Shuna really wanted to walk albeit gingerly but we feared doing more damage. 

After extensive independent research we stumbled across Zoomadog and their Wiggleless Jacket and this proved to be the answer to our prayers. Our experience was that although our vets are amazing their experience of new, non mainstream techniques is limited as cases are fewer and a bit more niche. This made making the decision to do something without “their advocacy” seem scary but we were desperate and did it nonetheless and we think based on our experiences our vets would now recommend some of our solutions. The Wiggleless jacket proved invaluable for not just our mental health but more importantly the physical health and safety of Shuna and which was so successful that it enabled us to take her on a holiday that we had booked previously and to go on lovely Shuna friendly walks without fear of the risk of inadvertently creating more pain or damage to her back whilst it continued to hopefully heal. Our holiday to Somerset, despite her activity having to be much less, made such a positive difference to her mental health was most definitely improved by a change of scenery- as was ours.

Since we purchased the Wiggleless Jacket Shuna's mobility has improved and it has meant that she has also maintained her muscle tone which for an old dog is critical, and she has gone from strength to strength. 

Albeit we no longer need to use pain meds for neurological pain we still dare not let the Wiggleless jacket go - just in case!

So life continued and Shuna’s adventures did too and we are now a year on.

Albeit Shuna was left with some proprioception issues, this has consistently improved and is not an obstacle to her quality of life and she still consistently walks 30 to 40 km a week!

To aid Shuna with her occasional stumbles and again to give us peace of mind, we researched extensively, and found the Help EM Up lifting harness which is brilliant. It's a full body mobility harness for dogs who are old, arthritic or rehabilitating.

This is used daily without fail. The last thing we want is a repeat of Match 2023. This harness helps us to support her in the event she trips due to a misplaced paw, to help her up or down steps/ stairs/ in and out of cars etc reducing further damage if she feels tired or the step is too challenging. It also enables us to help her over stiles and other barriers that we might encounter on our walks.

Our most recent purchase from Zoomadog back in February has been Therapaw Carpo Flex Wrap. We noticed that now aged 13 1/2 she had some hyper-extension her front left wrist which we felt was giving her some discomfort and contributing towards a few stumbles, and yet despite discussing it with our much loved vets, we were once again left feeling there was nothing much we could do about this and that potentially the wrap might lead to rubbing issues. Unhappy leaving it like this, again after much research on our part, we once again found ourselves back on the Zoomadog website and talking to Megan and her team about the Therapaw supports. It’s designed to support and stabilise your dogs wrist without holding it rigid and it’s proved that it is great fro her outdoor activities.

We bit the bullet and purchased one in February and to be honest have not looked back -so much so that have only recently also bought another for her right leg as protection! Shuna is not perfect but she’s nearly 13.5 and the products we have purchased from Zoomadog have enabled Shuna to continue living her best life for as long as possible and that means for her humans too.

Only last week, amongst numerous other hikes and adventures in the Lake District and Scotland, Shuna came with us up Loughrigg Fell doing a circuit of 5.2 miles and 1,125ft of ascent on very challenging terrain at times -particularly the very steep and rough descent. 

All of this has led to the phrase “Happy Shuna, Happy Humans”, and Zoomadog have provided many of the solutions to our problems.

You can follow Shuna’s walks on Strava (Sue Speed) and you can see what she gets up to on Instagram #shunatheredsetter

We CANNOT praise the service of Zoomadog more and we cannot recommend their products enough.

Before signing off we also NEED to add that in addition to all of the above products we also swear by Hydrotherapy and Massage and since March 2023 have also taken Shuna regularly to Peak District Canine Massage and Hydrotherapy, Grindlow, Derbyshire. Once again this was done on our own initiative and we have been amazed at how much difference this has made alongside traditional veterinary practices.

If our experience and learning can help you in any way on your journey then Shuna’s journey will not have been in vain.

Here’s to helping our four legged friends live their sunset years to the full.