Hi fellow tripawd lovers,

I know most of you don't know us since we're not here very often, but for those who remember Rocky, I wanted to give you an update.

As of yesterday, Rocky is a 32 month cancer survivor! Can I get a Woot, Woot??

He's extremely happy and healthy but has had some mobility challenges that are really slowing him down. Last year at this time he was diagnosed with arthritis in his rear legs. Well, over the past year, both of his back legs have gotten progressively weaker and he seems to have a hard time controlling them individually, so he hops like a rabbit with his back legs working in unison. He continues to be able to take his morning hop around the perimeter of our yard, but for the rest of the day he pretty much just lays down and only gets up to follow me to a different room.

I took him to the vet on Friday to have him checked out and to get blood work done. The blood work came back fine, but the vet is confident that degenerative myelopathy is the cause for the lack of mobility. She explained it as the nerve cells along his spine are dying and he is loosing sensation in his legs and eventually will be unable to control them at all. His mussel tone is completely gone in both of his legs and when she tested for reflexes, found none. He was slow to right his legs when she pulled them back behind him and had to "think" about where his feet should go. She manipulated his legs and his spine and he didn't seem to have any areas that were painful to him.

It all makes sense now that I think about it. I do see him stop and "think" about how to hop down the step to go outside and his refusal to eat breakfast some mornings isn't because he's not feeling well, it's because he has a hard time standing still. Guess what buddy? You now get breakfast in bed!

It may sound weird, but I can actually deal with this diagnosis.There is some comfort in the knowledge that while I might not have a whole lot of time left with him, I do know that in his case, the cancer will not win and in the end he will not be in any pain.

Rocky is still bright eyed and happy and his vet thinks he's still doing really well. So we will just take things day by day and enjoy the time we have left together.