A disabled pet in Hastings has his life restored after his owner made him wheels to get around. Video Warren Buckland
The past five months have been one hell of a roll for a Hastings sausage dog.
Bay Sausage Rollers dog walking group founders Megan and Warwick Alderton were open to anything that would get their pup Scooter feeling in his back legs again.
In January, Scooter, an energetic dachshund, wasdiagnosed with stage four intervertebral disc disease (IVDD), but he was a stage five when his owners got him to veterinary specialists at Massey University the next day.
Warwick explained that level five is the worst you can get - Scooter had lost all feeling in his back legs, and there was only a 24-hour window to get to Palmerston North for emergency spinal surgery.
IVDD is the most common reason spinal surgery is performed on dogs. The disc degeneration is thought to occur because of the loss of the disc's ability to "hold water", becoming dehydrated.
Dogs with disproportionally short and curved limbs like the basset hound, dachshund, Lucas terriers, sealyhams and shih tzus are more likely to suffer from the disease.
Scooter had a personal nurse for a week, and then a student vet would look after him, phoning his Hastings owners every day to tell them how he was doing.
Megan explained he was there for three weeks, but he wasn't improving and still had no feeling.
Warwick and Megan Alderton with their two dachshunds, Millie and Scooter - in his wheelchair. Photo / Warren Buckland
"He was fretting like you wouldn't believe, and we were fretting like you wouldn't believe, so we decided to bring him home," she said.
Massey was great, said Megan, but besides giving the family a pamphlet about possible rehabilitation, there was little more information available.
The first weeks were hard. Megan and Warwick were unsure how to manage the condition.
Scooter suffers from urinary incontinence due to the spinal cord injury; this was the first hurdle Megan had to face as she found no one in New Zealand sold dog diapers and would have to order them from overseas.
After watching a few tutorials online, Megan made her own, explaining they turned out much like reusable kids' nappies.
Nappies were not the only thing the couple found themselves DIY-ing.
With a bit of Kiwi ingenuity, Warwick, an engineer by trade, has created wheelchairs to help Scooter.
The first model had Scooter's legs tucked underneath him, and now the second harness with wheels allows Scooter's legs to hang so he can feel the ground and hopefully remember how to use his back legs.
"He is as happy as Larry when he is on his wheels; Scooter is a lucky boy with an engineer for a dad and a good seamstress for a mum," Warwick said.
How to move forward with recovery was still a big question for the couple.
Warwick Alderton said Scooter is as happy as Larry when he is on his wheels. Photo / Warren Buckland
After reading a lot, Megan found acupuncture could be an option for Scooter's recovery.
"I spent about four days solid online researching, looking and ringing physios."
Megan eventually found veterinary physiotherapist Sarah Massingham and since then Scooter has seen the Hastings-based physio weekly.
Massingham trained as a human physiotherapist in the UK, gaining her master's degree and spending most of her career with the Royal Air Force.
She then went on to study for a Master of Veterinary Physiotherapy at the Royal Veterinary College London, before moving to New Zealand with her husband and children.
Massingham now works out of Hastings, treating mainly horses and dogs, with the occasional cat in the mix.
"People need to know she is available because if I hadn't persisted, we would not be seeing the improvement in Scooter," the dog mum said.
Massingham explained that unfortunately, not all animals get a prompt referral and not all owners know that veterinary physiotherapy exists.
"Scooter's case may benefit other animals in educating the public about the importance of rehabilitation."
"Whilst there was a delay in Scooter starting physiotherapy, thankfully Megan contacted me and we could start in earnest towards Scooter's recovery," Massingham said.
Megan said there is no guarantee they will get a complete connection back.
"But if we had done nothing, Scooter would have just been a vegetable sitting, never being able to do anything.
Scooter is seeing improvement and is gaining back some feeling with help from an animal physiotherapist. Photo / Warren Buckland
"He has gone from having absolutely nothing to now wagging his tail, being able to stand while supported."
Scooter has even started putting his feet flat on the ground when going for walks in his wheel harness, which supports his body's back half.
"It is brilliant because that sends a message up the leg, and it starts connecting everything, Warwick said.
"You can test for IVDD now, and I will never buy a dog without the owner or breeder getting the test done," Megan said.
"I just want people to know that you can do tests and let them know it [IVDD] exists, as I am worried we may see more of this as the popularity of dachshunds grows."
