8/19/2012 - Cletus' unbelievable recovery

8/19/12 - It has been almost 2 weeks since Cletus' first acupuncture treatment and he is doing FANTASTIC!!  Each day since his treatment he has been getting stronger and stronger, happier and happier. 

If your pet or child is suffering and of course with your physician's permission, acupuncture seems to be an ideal additional treatment to help ease pain, nerves, discomfort, anxiety, etc. 

I did not know what to expect from acupuncture being that I had limited experience with the practice.  It was our last option.  Cletus was literally on death's door.  For almost 2 weeks prior to his treatment, Cletus was collapsing more and more when he tried to walk.  He stopped eating his food 6 days prior.  I was making him skinless chicken, rice and veggies and he was eating some of that.

I was planning on putting Cletus down to put him out of his misery depending on the outcome of the acupuncture.  His quality of life was going down fast and his level of pain was going up.

The morning of his treatment, Cletus could barely stand and when he tried, he would collapse.  Cletus was in pain from a torn ACL in his right knee, hip dysplasia, and open lipped schizencephaly.  I had to lift all of his 100 pounds into and out of the truck to get to the acupuncturist.  I had to help walk him in with a towel under his belly holding up his back end and his harness holding up his front end.

Cletus normally needs to check out everything being the nosy body that his is but he just laid down and let the doctor put the needles in for the acupuncture treatment and stayed on the floor with his head on my lap for the entire hour long treatment.  Even after the needles were taken out, Cletus just laid there.  He looked so peaceful and relaxed.

I asked the doctor what to expect and he told me "maybe a 10% improvement if any".   Being that Cletus is a one-of-a-kind, the doctor said that he did not know truly what kind of outcome to expect or how long it would take, if it would be of any good at all.  Throughout the treatment, other doctors from around the hospital were coming in to meet the "famous" Cletus.

When we got up to leave, Cletus stood right up and walked himself out of the office and down the corridor, it was absolutely amazing!!  We stopped by the vet on the way home and Cletus was falling all over the place on the linoleum floors but when we got home, Cletus went right outside and played with his brother for the first time in weeks.

The next morning Cletus ate his breakfast for the first time in a week and since Cletus has been eating regularly.  Each day gets better and better.  After 12 days, Cletus barely falls anymore.  He is playing with his toys and with his brothers and his tail is wagging constantly.  Cletus is happy and is able to be the 2 year old puppy he is supposed to be.

I have taken Cletus off of one of his medications and slowly reduced another medication to the level he was at 2 months ago.  Next week I will reduce another medication if all stays well.  Cletus has also not had a seizure in over 3 weeks (knock on wood).  He goes back to the acupuncturist on Tuesday.

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As far as Cletus' doctors are aware of, Cletus has the only known reported case of open lipped schizencephaly in a canine. The key word here is reported. Most vets are not aware that schizencephaly exists or they are not aware that this condition is possible in an animal. Cletus is living proof of this possibility.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are 78.2 million dogs in the U.S. (http://www.humanesociety.org/). Some sites state that schizencephaly affect 1.54 per 100,000 people. According to rightdiagnosis.com, schizencephaly affects 1 in 2719 people or 0.04% of the population (http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/lists/preval.htm). The fact is that no one is sure how many people schizencephaly truly affects. If we assume these same statistics in dogs, it equates to up to 31,280 dogs out there with schizencephaly in the U.S. alone.

Please help me to get the word out about Cletus and schizencephaly. Contact your local news organization about Cletus or have your local news organization contact me directly at dsilber27@hotmail.com

Thank you for your support,

Doug & Cletus