Sya is a dog with Ataxia
I want to share Sya's story with you. Sya's full name is Kachat'sya, which is the pronunciation for the Russian word Wobbly. Sya has Wobbler's syndrome.
Sya came to me as a puppy of 5 months old with her owner Riet. It was not immediately clear to us that Sya was still a puppy. She is a Borzoi dog. As a puppy she already weighed 15 kg and her height at the withers was 55 cm. So not a little girl.
Sya has had an abnormality called Ataxia from a young age. Ataxia is not the easiest condition. Ataxia is a summary term for various disturbances of balance and movement coordination. Ataxia can have several causes. In Sya this is a disturbance in the cerebellum.
Sya's gait is mainly characterized by falling sideways at insufficient speed. After walking fast, stopping was also quite a task and she spun until she fell.
The first thing we helped Sya and Riet with is a Help’m up harness . This allowed the unstable hindquarters to be better controlled. In this way it became easier to go for a walk.
We also started working with a rental dog rear wheelchair to support the hindquarters more. These were the first steps in her dog wheelchair.
But little puppies grow (very) big. We soon received a message that Sya and the wheelchair had fallen over. When we looked at the photo it was clear to us quickly. The balance that the wheelchair had to provide was lost because its center of gravity was too far above the wheels.
Sya got bigger wheels for her dog wheelchair rental and so she can handle it again for a while.
Besides being a dog, Sya is also a hero. Gijs, a boy who is in a wheelchair himself, became acquainted with Sya and adopted her as a therapy dog. Gijs has Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a hereditary muscle disease that affects and weakens the muscles. Gijs and Sya can now go out together with their wheelchair. Sya ensures that Gijs is reassured during physio and Gijs ensures that Sya gets enough attention.
We received an update from Sya, and we are so happy with this news, read on:
Hey Liesbet, here's an update, Sya is doing great. Sya walks a lot with a wheelchair but also a lot with her harness. Sometimes she can even walk all alone without falling.
I hope this story can contribute so that people still want to give dogs with ataxia a chance.
Regards, Riet