“She jumped off the step into the pool. We think she overextended her leg or twisted her hip as she jumped; she was limping when she came out.”
“We weren't too concerned initially,” says Gayla, “but as time wore on, it was getting worse and worse. She was having more trouble getting up, and she found it hard to get comfortable when she laid down. It upset us a great deal.”
Gayla and Phil go camping with their dogs, but Phoebe couldn’t get up or down into their camper van. Phil was carrying her up the four steps. And at home, she had lost all of her enthusiasm for life.
“She was really having a hard time. We have a padded rug in the front room, and that's where she loves to lay. But she couldn’t get up, I had to pick up her back end for her, and then she'd drag her back leg behind her. She had no desire to run, and walking was an effort!”
Gayla and Phil took Phoebe to the vet, but because she couldn’t be anaesthetised, they couldn’t x-ray her leg.
Gayla was keen to use natural remedies to support Phoebe’s recovery. Initially, she tried hemp oil. It seemed to help for a short while, but the impact quickly wore off.
Phil says, “Gayla was doing so much research. She worked so hard to find something natural that would work for Phoebe. Then she saw an advert for Antinol®, and she's like, ‘We're going to try this. It has excellent reviews, and people are raving about it.’ And what a world of difference it has made!”
“Gayla got in touch with Vetz Petz via their social media. They helped us work out a plan for Phoebe, with Antinol® and we felt like they really went above and beyond to support us.”
“Yes”, says Gayla, “initially we didn’t see much difference, so I got back in touch with the Vetz Petz contact. They were fantastic. What a fantastic company! The guy said, ‘I tell you what, double up for another month, and we’ll go from there.’ Well, it was brilliant!”
“That made all the difference. We are overjoyed. I mean, literally overjoyed! The way she is now, she is one hundred percent. She is a totally different dog than she was, so we are just thrilled.”
Phil and Gayla are delighted with Phoebe, she is her happy, bouncy self, and they are loving life together.
“We went from the pits of despair, worrying about her, but she is a changed dog. She is having fun, and she's healthy and just having a blast now. She trots up and down the steps to the camper, no problem. No more lifting her.”
“Yeah”, says Gayla, “we talk about it all the time. When we're in the car going somewhere, we're like, ‘Wow, isn't Phoebe doing so well?’ And she's so happy!”
“We have a long garden, she goes down to the very end, and we say, ‘Come on, Phoebe, it's time to go in’, and she runs to the back door. She hasn’t run like that since she was about four years old!”
Phoebe likes to get comfy, and she used to sleep sprawled out on her back, but recently her stiffness has made it impossible.
“She's rolling on her back now, with her legs out. She couldn’t do that with bad legs, but now she just lies flat on her back, sprawled out, and sound asleep. It's amazing. Amazing. I can't stress amazing enough. It's amazing!”
Gayla is now telling anyone who will listen about Antinol®. We asked what she would say to another pet parent, worried about their furry friend’s mobility.
