Kari asked us if Tanaka’s legs lack strength because of his sedentary lifestyle or age. I think some of it is because he is more sedentary. He used to be on the go all the time. He is 10 and still very active. Adrian thinks that he had never had to run away from others and so he had used his muscles in a different way - to stalk and prowl. But now suddenly with Rez he has to always be on the lookout and always has to run at sometimes no notice at all and so his muscles are finding it a little difficult to adjust. So he has stiffness and his muscles are ‘jumping’ because of non-use. I had to feel his muscles and they seemed to palpitate. Adrian said it was because of the great amount of stress the muscles are under. But in the long run, they will be better as his muscles would have figured how to move in response to a predator-type stimulus.
Also when I play with him I have to make sure he does no somersaults on a hard surface so we play more on the bed where he twists and turns and jumps but he will always land on a soft surface to minimalise injury to his joints. We had played like this for a long time as he had stressed his hind legs and hurt them from jumping onto hard surfaces before.
Nowadays because Rez is always out and about, he sits here, way up from harm.
Therefore Adrian advised that I make sure Tanaka has some respite from Rezki everyday where he can relax and his body will not always be tight and in fear. I have to put an ice pack on both his hind leg muscle joints so his muscles will ‘open’ up and relax.
I think he appreciated the very hard massage that Adrian had to give him last Friday as he had presented Adrian with his hind legs to massage and he stayed still and allowed Adrian to do the necessary manipulations. In a month he has to go back again for osteopathy and Adrian will see if his muscles are less stressed.
