Tia came to us as a foster for Gumtree Greys, several weeks after having pan carpal arthrodesis surgery for a severely dislocated wrist which had not been treated at the time of injury.

Tia had laser treatments over her fused wrist joint once her cast was removed and massage to her full body on a regular basis as she had been suffering with an abnormal gait for an extended period.

Her wrist fusion surgery unfortunately resulted in an infection caused by the metal implant which was identified after her recovery seemed to be taking too long. Her metal implant needed to be taken out over several stages, whilst allowing time between surgeries for her bone to heal. Laser treatments helped to accelerate the bone fusion at the wrist and in combination with massage, manage ongoing musculoskeletal pain in other areas resulting from periods of limping after each subsequent surgery.

Four surgeries later (!) Tia went through a period of acute back pain which required further medical management and a bit of trial and error finding the right combination of pain relief.

Update: Sadly, Tia’s onslaught of complications following her carpus injury continued and she broke her fusion. Given that he arthrodesis surgery required every scrap of cartilage to be removed from her joint, living with movement at the joint was not going to be an option; she would be living in constant pain and have a gradual deterioration until eventually she would need to lose the leg. We tried one more surgery, number five, to save her wrist but it wasn’t to be and in January 2024, a year, and 4 months since her first surgery, Tia became a tripawd dog. Our hearts were broken, and her spirit seemed crushed for a period, but we know she’s out of that chronic carpus pain now and she’s bounced back to be a very happy dog. We’ll write more about our journey from four legs to three in a later blog post.