You may remember reading a few weeks ago that a wonderful friend of the animals, Mark C. from Missoula, had bought a special bed for Kodiak, our paralyzed Malamute. The bed has a mesh lining so urine flows through and drops into a tray below. This keeps paralyzed dogs from getting soaked in their own pee. Well, poor old Kodiak died a week later and never got to use the bed that Mark had so kindly bought for him.
As all this was unfolding with Kodiak, our old three-legged girl Keisha was starting to have incontinent problems of her own. And when we say "old," we mean it: She's now 17! When you get to that age, I think you're entitled to have a bladder control issue. (See Keisha's remarkable story here.)
We've been finding Keisha's bedding damp in the morning, and even outside sometimes she can't get up in time to pee. Her one remaining back leg has hip displaysia, which has gotten worse in the past year, so her mobility is more and more constrained.
Enter Kodiak's special bed. I took this photo of Keisha on the bed tonight, just when we put the dogs up. Now the trick will be seeing if we can get her to STAY on the bed. She may have limited mobility, but when she wants to move, she can!
(Click on photo for larger image.)
What a sweet old gal. There is just something special about these loyal Northern snow dogs. Glad the bed was there for her.
Posted by: Karen SA/TX | September 21, 2005 at 09:19 PM
Keisha is such a sweetie! In re-reading her story, I just cannot believe people let their animal companions run loose and who would give up their elderly dog?!I'm so glad she lives at the ranch and hope she'll take to Kodiak's bed.
Posted by: Roz | September 21, 2005 at 08:14 AM