Meet Ripp, our furry child. We rescued him on January 5, 2022, when he was only 9 weeks old. When the girls and I went to check out the puppies I noticed one little fella sitting all by himself still locked up in his crate on the shelf. Despite how cute and fuzzy all the puppies were on the floor, I kept finding myself looking over at this little face. Puppy Love!! We got him out to meet him, he was so calm, so quiet, so snuggly. All he wanted to do was be held. He was the one. We went through the adoption process, and we were off to bring him to his forever home.
I have NEVER owned a dog or a pet other than a hamster, in my entire life. I had NO clue what I was doing. I was more nervous about being a puppy mom than I ever was about being a human baby mom. Anyways, later that evening I had him outside with me, on a leash (as if this 9-week-old puppy was going to take off running somewhere), trying to teach him to go potty. HA. As he and I walked around the yard, I noticed every few steps he would sit and stare at me. I kept encouraging him to go potty like he even knew what those words meant yet. Eventually, I started noticing his legs and how they were turned inward. Then I started watching him try to walk and it just got progressively worse, with each step. Eventually, he was walking on his puppy elbows, and I realized something was wrong. It almost looked like his legs had been broken and never fixed. The next day, by 10 am he was walking the same way, so I recorded it and then called
the Veterinarian, and they got us right in. Sadly, they said the best-case scenario would be that he was malnourished, so we worked out a nutrition plan to up his food intake and let him 'exercise' as he was able to. They also prescribed him some puppy pain meds to help
him get through the next couple of days. The plan was after a week or 2 if we did not notice a change in his legs or his walking, we would need to see a specialist.
After a couple of days, he began to walk longer and would even try to trot when being
playful. After 7 full days of eating more food and playful 'exercise,' he was in full sprints and became the ankle-biting puppy we expected to have. Now he is a big 2-year-old boy who runs freakishly fast, goes on hikes with us, and is so vocal, sometimes I can barely stand it haha.
The moral of this story is that whether human, animal, plant, etc, proper nutrition and exercise are vital. You don't have to accept your 'fate' when it comes to your health. Yes, there are times we cannot control the outcome of our health but a lot of the time we can. Be conscious of how you fuel your body, how you fuel your children's bodies, how you fuel your pet's bodies, and respect your body enough to listen to it.
