And it is about time some research was paid for because I just remembered something which, at the time (6 years ago) was to waaaaaay out there radical but trust me, I did the research.

Botox. Roo still looks like a spring chicken so I wasnt suggesting we did his eye brows but heres what I thunked way back when, and researched, found it was a known protocol in humans and not been tried in fur babies.... which is kinda ironic given vivisection... Ok, Roostar has a spastic back leg.... can I stop saying its the correct terminology yet? Basically he has cerebral palsy...  I looked at that leg when he was no bigger than a ball of wool and thought.... if we botoxed the muscles that were doing the primary job, in lieu of the proper and correct muscles doing the job they are supposed to do..... would the brain then be forced to reconsider the idea of 'chatting' to the muscles it was ignoring? You might think it radical, not so. Botox is used in children and likely adults (I worked predominantly with kids and tended to work with Autistic kids with behavioural probs but worked with CP kids long enough to see them have surgeries etc). I contacted my osteopaths mum, who is a physio and run the idea past her and she was the one who told me all about the botoxing of cp human patients and said my theory was sound. I then contacted an American Botox Specialist (sorry, name eludes me but he was a top Doctor, not some beauty therapist) and chatted with him and he said 100% the theory was sound. The potential hazards/drawbacks were that the muscles that functioned were paralysed and the brain just decided to wait it out until the muscles worked again and did not choose to do the..... predictable thing of employing the redundant muscles and then you would have potentially serious problems because in the hands of a novice, a limb thats literally dragging will rapidly become .... the word has escaped me... dragging over a rough surface with not degrade or debride... (give up) ....it will be skinned across all areas in direct contact with the ground and the potential for infection, necrosis and any kind of rot you wish to name could set in and result in the need for amputation... but as the doctor said.... in the right hands and the right environment (I was quite prepared to literally carpet my flat in artificial sheepskin) it *could* work.                                                                              Flaw in the plan? Veterinary medicine hadnt caught up. There was not a vet I could find world wide who had ever practised the protocol. If I had found  a vet that had used the protocol would I have gone ahead? I think I would have botoxed a single muscle to see if it had any impact or perhaps two muscles but not all the functioning muscles because as I understand it, there have been cases where botox has NOT worn off and the risk of completely disabling the entire limb was so high because it was functioning and still is. It is the wrong muscle groups operating the leg but they do the job. Some vet really annoyed me last week because she said his leg was 'atrophied'...... er, no lady, that would require muscle mass to waste to call it that... he *never* had certain muscle functions from the get go so how the muscles that never developed wasted away is obviously something she, as a vet, is more qualified than me to have an opinion about. Dont mean to sound bitter but she was quite.... her hearing was selective is the best and most polite way I can speak about that consult. Thank goodness he sees a 'proper' vet in a week..... I so need a good outcome for both me and Roo..... I am rarely stumped, no pun intended..... but can I figure the source of his pain? I would give up chocolate for life if I could.xx.