Page 18 - Summer 2024

PERCY PICKLEPANTS
As some of you know, we had to say our
goodbyes to Percy Picklepants. The team
and his immediate carers have needed
some time to come to terms with his loss –
he has been a big part of our lives for over
two years - we also needed to notify his
sponsors and now we feel ready to officially
share this sad news with our loyal
supporters.
You may remember Percy came to us when
he was deemed unmanageable in his early
months. He was thought to be a ‘naughty’,
out-of-control teenager, but we could see
straight away all was not quite right with
his movement.
The first step in such cases is to try and
determine whether or not the dog is in
pain as this type of behaviour can often be
directly linked to pain. This is done through
a pain relief trial working closely with the
vet and monitoring response.
When we started the pain-relief trial – he
became calm and relaxed almost instantly –
we knew we were on the right track
because it was clear he was in a great deal
of pain.
Following lots of tests, including x rays, two
MRI scans and groundbreaking pain trace
technology, we finally got a diagnosis of
what is a fairly rare condition in dogs –
hypermobility. Having this diagnosis meant
that we now knew what we could do to
make him feel better and ensure that he
had the right treatment. Since starting
treatment, Percy had been doing really
well. He had been having regular physio to
help strengthen the muscles in his
info@bedlingtonrescue.co.uk
hindquarters and back and the bimonthly
chiropractor sessions. We were also
preparing to start some hydrotherapy and
as result we were even able to start to
reduce some of his pain meds.
He had been doing so well that we felt
ready to give him another try in a home
environment – previous attempts of a
home environment caused increased pain
because having more space (i.e. a garden
for him to run in) and having sofas or even
stairs caused more pain for the lad.
However, we had a lovely fully checked
foster home lined up, an ACE Free work
instructor with lots of experience
rehabilitating rescue dogs.
But then Percy being Percy, he threw us a
massive curve ball.
When his carer was taking him for his vet
MOT in readiness for his move to his foster
placement, he was exhibiting unusually
high signs of stress and became super
“bitey”. We needed to x ray his chest area
urgently because he was clearly in a lot of
pain.
The x rays showed that he had basically
popped two ribs off his sternum. There was
no external sign of trauma, so the x rays
were sent off to his orthopaedic consultant
to review. The conclusion was that with
Percy’s hypermobility, it could easily have
happened simply getting out of his bed or
twisting in a certain way – so basically just
doing normal dog stuff. However he did it,
there was no surgical fix, so we
immediately significantly increased his pain
meds to make sure he was more
comfortable.
www.bedlingtonrescue.co.uk