Originally Posted by
Mollysmomma
Hi! I'm so sorry Cilek is having such trouble! Unfortunately, my precious Molly is, too. We had a terribly icy, snowy winter for here, & Molly slipped a few times & couldn't seem to get her hind legs back under her & she just gave up & laid down in the snow. Her hind legs have been getting weak for some time. Took her to the vet, thinking it might be her hips, but the vet laid her down & felt her hips & knees & didn't feel any problems, so maybe it is her muscles atrophying or something. I ended up ordering a lifting harness from Solvit, which seems to work pretty well for what I need it for. I usually put it on Molly for our walks outside, & then I take it off while I go to work. Late afternoon, I put it on again & leave it on for the evening, because we have another outside walk, & then in the evening is when Molly seems to have more trouble getting up on her own. She doesn't really like the harness, but has gotten pretty well used to it. I let her get up on her own if she can, as she doesn't like being pulled up. But usually at least once in the evening, she tries to haul herself up on her front end, but her back end just doesn't seem to come up--her legs don't seem to go back under her. So I try to gently raise her up so she can get the hind legs under her. I try to get her to stand still a minute to let the circulation get going again in her legs. After we are done with our walks & everything, & I'm ready to settle down on the couch to read & watch T.V, I take the harness off her so she can relax & sleep on her bed without the straps bothering her. Molly will soon be 13--it is so hard when they get old! Sending along hugs & prayers for you & for Cilek!
Here is Molly's Lifting Harness from Solvit--the Help 'Em Up Harness looked like a really good one & I almost ordered it, but then I saw this one from Solvit & it was much more affordable for me. Seems to work fine for now, but as you can see, Molly is not impressed with it!