Tiny's Wheelchair Project

amberwolf

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I hope no one here ever needs anything like this...but if they do, this might help them make a wheelchair for their big dog.

Tiny has suddenly gotten very very sick, and though tests are still in progreess to find out what the cause might be, at this point Myasthenia Gravis is a possible, even likely, diagnosis. Whatever it is, has disabled some of her muscles (esophagus) and weakened others (legs), yet left her aware and bright-eyed, and wanting to do all the Tiny things but unable to do most of them.


I can't continue to lift her by her harnesses (one on her front half, carabinered to one on her back half) and "carrywalk" her around, cuz it hurts too much and I'm just way too exhausted to do it for long. So...the wheelchair.


At first, I was going to take a human walker thingy and stretch it, so it's four corners were just beyond her paws, so that it would be stable while she "walked" suspended under it by her harnesses. But I couldn't find wheels large enough to support her, and roll over stuff in the yard, etc., without reinforcing and buildng up the bottom fo it so much that it basically became a wheelchair.


So, I figured I might as well just build a wheelchair.


I have two...for people. One was for a kid or a skinny/small adult, which I got off freecycle years ago, and was glad of when I broke my ankle. It's a Quickie2, and modular like most. Aluminum so I can't weld on it, but being modular eI might not have to. The ohter was a steel one, I think it used to be my mom's. I could probably cut and weld to modify it, make it work, but I wasnt' sure. Both are folding types, which both maeks things easier and harder.

Since the Quickie is modular I could take it apart, try it out, and if it didn't work, I could return it to human use relatively easliy at a later date. So that was where I started, and is the one I'm still working out.

actual wheels were too tall so used the 20" wheels off of her original trailer from teh apartment. Startted out with 16 " but they were too small.

I am too wiped out to describe everything right now, so I'll just post the present pics, and a couple of video bits, and maybe someday I can come back and fill stuff in, or answer questions if any. The pics show various stages of modifcation, ideas, and versions of it as I found things wouldn't work for one reason or another.

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This is an amazing project, I feel so sorry about your little mate.

What are the technical issues you feel there could be improve for make easier to the dog walking straight?

Have you ever think in something lighter like a skate?

thanks for sharing this
 
Aww man, now I'm gonna cry. This is really tough, when a dog that big can't walk. No way you can carry her around, even if you were young and strong it would be hard. Great job on the wheelchair!! An awful lot will depend on if she can recover some on her own, and how well she can adapt to the chair.

But you can see it in the pictures, that's definitely not the I'm done, give me the shot face in the pictures. This is so hard, trying to get it right, not too soon, nor too late. We went through this with Max, his last year he would get up to eat, and again one more time to go out for the bathroom. Otherwise he just laid there in the bedroom with a surprisingly happy look on his face. You'd think he'd give up sooner, but as long as he got some love, he was still happy enough. So even though it was so hard on us to see him like that, it just wasn't time yet. His end problem was eating, unable to digest even the best kibble. So I made him fresh chicken soup every day for 9 months.

In the end, one day he let us know he was hurting too much, and we went ahead with euthanasia. The point of my story is that Max was still happy, sure not gleeful, but happy even when he could only handle a short walk outside once a day. He surely missed the yard, but he was ok with retiring from his guarding duties. You will need to find the balance between your needs and hers. Obviously she needs at least one bathroom trip a day minimum. But likely she'll need to pee more often, so your laundry is going to get a workout. But you will need to be sure you don't hurt yourself too much caring for her too. This is so hard, but one thing I've learned with so many dogs over the years. Too late euthanasia hurts a lot more than too early. Get guidance from the vet of course, and it's clear that this week is not the time. But don't make it too much worse for you by waiting too long either.
 
Praying for you all, your dogs are very fortunate to have you as their pack leader. Would be a great doggie/human intrest story for the TV News if it somehow goes viral. If Oliver needed something adaptable like that, I would have to modify a toy plastic roller skate. :D
 
@nobuo: Since Tiny can't stand on her own, or even get up, skates are impossible. She'd just fall and probably break bones.

For walking straight, it's mostly because the yard is uneven, and she is struggling just to move, even with the wheelchair holding her upright. There's not anything I can think of to do with the chair itself to help with that (though there are plenty of body-support things I'd like to do if I could figure out how to without causing her other issues).

The first purpose the chair *had* to serve was to let me move her around, like a doggie cart.

The second purpose, and it's main reason for being a wheelchair and not a cart, is so she can eventually walk using it, more like a walker than a wheelchair.

The third purpose is a compromise between a bailey chair for feeding, adn what her body can manage (and since she will NOT help hold herself up, even under normal circumstances, she likes to relax, which hampers the process of eating).




@dogman: it's always a tough call for the end...I've only ever had to do that once, the rest of the time they passed on their own one way or another. It was so bad doing it that one time I am not sure I *could* do it again...especially not at some sterile place like vets, ro whatever. *maybe* here at home, I know some places offer that; I have a friend that did that some months ago, and as hard as it was for him it would've been impossible anywhere else. I hope I don't have to make the choice ever, but at least not for a really really long time (years). As unrealistic as that hope is...it's holding me together right now.


@The fingers: I guess that makes Oliver a little luckier, cuz you could also just carry him around. :)


A few more pics of it in use from yesterday, today, and also of it stowed on the trike for the trip to work.

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amberwolf:

I am so sorry. This is making me tear up myself. I know how much your furry family means to you. I can relate as I am currently the caregiver for the 2 most cherished people in my life.

It is obvious that Tiny loves you and appreciates what you do for her. She is lucky to have someone as kind and ingenious as you to help her. Unfortunately I am sure it does little to curtail the feelings of helplessness you must feel.

At times like these it is very hard to juggle time, money, effort and anxiety.

While most of my positive energy is reserved for the 2 loved ones I care for, I will send as much as I can spare to you and yours.

Stay strong and know that many here care a lot about you.
 
Thank you...


We haven't had the best of days, but it is much better than it could be.

Today someone from the rescue brought by the Myasthenia Gravis meds, and TIny was so happy to see him (they know each other well) that she practically dragged herself in the wheelchair to get in there when she heard his voice in the living room as he said hi to Yogi. I had to work around her wiggling so much and trying to walk so I could help her do it. I wish I had gotten video of it, but it wasnt' on my mind at the time.

I've thought of a number of improvements I'd make if I had the tools and skills to, like to take the back edge of the seat cradle fabric, and trim it inwards along the sternum down at and near the abdomen, and reinforce the cut edges (I can cut it, but not sew it up with the needles and stuff I have here--and if I screw it up or it begins to tear from that no-longer reinforced edge, we'd be screwed cuz I'd have to make a whole new sling/cradle, and Im not sure what I have I can do that with.

Maybe a towel doubled over....tempting idea actually, if I had one I coudl spare (but I need to use them to clean up various messes we make in feeding, watering, and potty activities, even rotating them in the washer and/or handwashing; I only have two big ones that are tough enough to do that with).

Lots of other stuff I have to use for that but all would need stitching I can't do to them, while I *could* do stuff with the towel fabric.


I also found the footrests for the quickie, and they also are modular. No pics yet, but I think I can modify them and the rear frame to accept them, to make a butt rest instead of foot rest. Then there's no more worry about her pushing the stool presently used out from under her when she wiggles, and ending up sliding down back out of it except for the belt that runs thru her harnesses.

Only catch is that to use them for that I think I have to mount htem in a way that makes them impossible to fold up out of the way, so if she ever becomes able to walk herself in the chair alot, rather than just momentarily when super excited, I'd have to remove them for her to do that, and reinstall them when she can't or needs feeding, etc.


I have worked out a fairly reliable method of feeding her in this chair, since a bailey chair wwon't work cuz she can't/wont' hold herself upright. It's basically lke you see in the pics above, where her butt is lower than her middle, and her head above that. It is not nearly as good as pure upright would be...but it is as good as we can reliably get without her ability & cooperation. She's usually reclining to one side or the other but this doesnt' appear to affect getting food and water down. As long as I do not feed or water more often than 3-5 minutes, with nothing bigger than a smallish ice cube for water, and a pinky-end-joint sized piece for food, and I don't give her anything while she has the throaty rumble, which happens periodically, after she's coughed a bit, then she will keep stuff down.
 
I hate to even make you think about it, but She will let you know when she wants it. They take so much pain in stride, it's always hard to know when it's too much. But when it is they finally show it.

I've had so many dogs, and it never gets one bit easier. But I have learned to not keep the dog suffering because I'm not ready. Waiting for me to be ready is a long wait, I'm never ready for most dogs. We've made bad mistakes waiting and hoping too long, usually on a weekend when all the vets were closed. Then the poor dog suffered bad all night waiting for Sunday morning when we would call in the vet. Now there is a weekend and nights vet, and we've used them before to do it at the right time.

I'm still very hopeful that some meds, and some practice, and she will still be with you quite a long time. She'll quickly adjust to not moving around so much I'm sure. But when happy, she'll wiggle out of the chair I'm sure. I just mean that she will adjust, so that you don't have to put her in the chair so much time each day. You'll adjust too, so you get her moved around more efficiently. Max eventually learned to eat lying down, though it was hard for him. Easier for him to slurp down the chicken soup and rice lying down than deal with kibble. Looking for the sale on leg quarters kept the feed surprisingly cheap.

I still just love what you did with the chair. Best I ever came up with was a sling with a handle on it. Exhausting to move a 100+ pound dog around that way, even worse when we lived in the trailer, with three tall steps to outside. We made special steps, much wider than normal so old dogs could take them one at a time.
 
I actually have a Senior Sling or something like that, given to me at work some years back, I think for Bonnie. Can't remember. Anyway it didn't work well for Tiny cuz it only holds the backend up, and she needed both.

We had a little miracle today, thanks to the MG meds. Vids to be edited into this spot as soon as they upload....
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Alrighty, here's a little summary for anyone that hasn't read the other thread stuff, for which I don't blame them; it's huge. :/

In about 4 days, from early last week, she went from being a little under the weather cuz she had an occasional cough to coughing enough to need a vet, finding out that she had light (walking) pneumonia and getting treatment for that, and in the xray process of that finding out she had MegaEsophagus, which can be dealt with relatively easily, with some care in feeding and giving water.

Then, the night of the vet visit, but afterward, she began to get so weak she would fall if she tried to run. Then she couldn't get up wihtout help, and was unsteady walking. Then she couldn't even try to do that. It looked really bad. So we setup another vet visit...they did some more tests, saw her pneumonia was gone already, so not that. They didn't yet have the test results back from the visit a few days prior, so they could only say that it was more than possible that she had the Myasthenia Gravis that the test was for.

A bunch of traumatic stuff (to me) later, the test came back positive and meds were delivered. Gave her some right away, then later that night, and didn't see any change yet, but not surprising. Woke up after a doze this morning to find her standing near the foot of the bed, when just before I dozed off she'd been on her stack of pillows (to hold her head and front end higher than her back end so stuff runs down toward her tummy and stays there). It felt like a miracle, or a dream.

She then walked off, on her own, whiel I hurried to get up (hard to do quickly) and follow her, in case she fell. She was wobbly (whcih considering she's eaten and kept down maybe an average of 1/20th of what she would normally have, for several days, and maybe 1/8 the water, is not surprising), but she made it to the back room and sat there instead of going out the back door cuz Yogi was in the way staring at her like "WTF is this? Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"

After I got him to go out, she got up and followed, unsteadily, then plopped down for a rest on the back porch.

I was still in a kind of euphoric shock, becuase I did not expect anything like this, and it gave me a hope that might not be real.

After a while of resting there, she insisted on getting up on her own, so she could do her potty patrol, where she checks stuff out and picks which spot to do her thing in today (it's almost never the same twice in a row). At some point in there I had to hold onto her harnesses (one front and one back) cuz she was unstable, but she still insisted on walking around and finishing her business before she'd go back inside (and it was getting warm out there, mid 90sF in the sun and low 80sF in the shade, still early morning, not much after 8am).


Then she was all done and needed to lay donw for a while, and we did, under a tree, then moved to the porch for a long while, where we did meds, then came in and camped out on the couch with her butt on the spot where the cushion goes but not with it there, so it is lower, and then her frnt paws over the arm of the couch and head on a pillow on them. Keeps her as upright as she gets without holding her in place (which doesn't work well), and she'll stay there, mostly, for a long time. So then we did water, and a little bit of food.

Unfortunatley one side effect of the MG meds is diarrhea, and she got the squirmies for that so we had to go outside, whcih we did in this wheelchair. It was a lot hotter so she wore out way faster, and we didnt' do a tour, just in the shaded area near the house except one little jaunt she insisted on before she would go potty. :roll:

Then she HAD to get water from the lixit faucet waterer setup for her above her head height, and I had to keep stopping her from drinking too much at a time. (needs a timer on it so it shuts off after so many seconds, then won't reactivate for several minutes). I know she's terribly thirsty, but if she gets her fill she'll choke on it before it gets into her stomach, cuz of the ME. So it has to come in very small amounts, like an ice cube amount, with up to 3-5 minutes before the next one. If she coughs, its all on hold for a while, or she'll puke everthing back up from now to a while ago. Sometimes taht happens anyway.



Which leads back to the only problem she really has right this minute: if she can't stop coughing, which is quite possibly from aspiration of liquid, mostly drool or water, (or food), she won't be able to keep down enough water or food to survive.

At that point, it's a question of what to do...keep trying what I'm doing, or more "heroic" stuff like IV fluids and feeding tubes, till she's "better" and can eat and drink on her own without that problem (which may never happen cuz of the ME), or...well, I'm sure y'all can figure out what lots of poeple tell me I should do.

But Tiny saved MY life at least twice, probably several times, just by being herself, and I owe her a debt I can't imagine not at least TRYING to repay.

Already she can walk around and do nearly-normal stuff.

If she was eating and drinking normal amounts, she'd be very nearly back to normal activities and life, other than not slurping up all the water and food she thinks she needs. ;) (and having to sit up straight as possible for at least 10-15 minutes after drinking or eating so it gets to her tummy).


All we need is a way to get her water and food into her without coughing enough to puke it all back up, preferably without it literally taking 24 hours a day to do it, but I'd be ok with that if I could get money for rent/etc some other way than a dayjob, so I could stay right there with her for it. (though if she didn't puke it back up it wouldn't take that long anyway, cuz she wouldn't need to redo more than half of her feedings/waterings)


We already have a message into the vets and the rescue to find out if there are any "doggie cough suppressants" she could take along with her other meds, but I haven't heard back yet.



Next post, some improvements to the chair:
 
I forget when, but I added the parking brakes. Since I was using the clmaps meant for this to hold the front rails on, I had to improvise with hose clamps instead.
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Today I added the butt rest. Just drilled holes along the bottom frame tube for the screws in the same pattern the foot rest units had, so it oculd be screwed right in. Couldn't get a useful pic of the holes, but this is the butt rest from underneath in v1. V2 got zipties to hold teh plates together at the center, and the 2 layers of styrofoam for the "cushion" were cut in half split down the same line as the rests are (it was cracking anywa from bending loads). Then the bolts holding the plate clamps to the rearward-pointing sticks out of the frame tubes were removed, and instead I am using "cotterless pins" that are the same diameter as the bolts were, so while not quite long enough to go thru and let their bearing/spring secure them, they aren't going anywhere with a cross-load on the hole and pin while she's sitting on them.
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I still need to make a fold-away front leg/head rest, cuz right now to convert it from wheelchair to feeding chair I have to put this strap off the original chair it used to be across the front rest tubes, then fold this stiff pillow in there for her legs to rest on.

Her head then rests on this "moon" pillow I have had since a goodwill visit shortly after teh housefire took all of my bed stuff. I use that for her cuz it's curved like a 1/4 moon, and so she finds it harder to escape having a rest under her chin to hold her head up.... (I had tried banding it around her neck but she really wouldn't cooperate and it had to be removed).
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Oh, and at some point in past copule dasys I think I aaaaaaaaa flipped the push handles around so the rear strap which is always diagnoal doesn't let her butt hang back so far when she affdddddddddddd wwon't lean forward while waiting.
 
dnmun said:
spectacularly original. so much better than my idea for a barkolounger. barko-lounger, get it?

could not have been a better solution if you had a $4 million guvment grant.

if she'd use it to lounge in normally, i'd like that name. :) the best we got so far is that now with the buttrest in it instead of separate stool, she will stay (for a while) in the chair wthout straps or anything, and is sleeping now after meds and then a little food. she's shifted positions a couple times but not tried to get out, and she knows she could. (she's done the escape thing noted previously now twice at least, i think a third time but i'm hazy on that right now).

she's figured out some things...like when she's coughing she'll put her ead on the pillow cuz it helps her to stop. but she wont' *stay* on the pillow which woudl prevent a lot of it.

still trying to get her to stop movng head down lower than rest of body, but she ereally reall ly likes that so it's probal y never gonna happen.


this thing has a lot of imporvmets still to be made, some i can't quite do msyelf, som take more tme than i have away from her safel y to do, some i keep thinkin of but forgetting until the situation arises again. then for get right away when it's over..can't remember them atm either.

but i'd love a 4million grant cuz it would help me take care of her...if i didn't have to show it spent on the chair itself but could use it to suport me while i worked out all the bugs by making hers perfect. then make a living selling them or something...probabl never happen but instead id put the design out there open source like this thread and showing why i did some things vs others and each change.

one change i see is the buttrest needs one or two more layers of styrofoam to bring it's height up a little for her comfort but i think if i do that she won't be angled enough and stuff won't flow down right.

what i'd like to do is have the front wheels able to raise and lower lik e at least 8-10 inches, maybe a foot, so that the whole thing could be rotated into a more vertical chair like a bailey chair, but not quite vertical and so that the buttrest would autorotate with the chair to keep it at the same angle relative to her butt and hold her up.

i don't have any stuff here to do that with tht i know wher eit is though. i do have more quickie chair stuff, or did before the fire, and proably still do cuz i thought i saw it in a shed but no idea hwere, and no time to look for it between things with her. cant' leave her alone for long, worse now cuz she can wander off when not in the chair, not a big deal except she's still weak and i dunno what might happen.

anywya, yeah i do wish thre was something like that but with no strings to guarantee i get a perfect dsign or whatever out of it. just whatever i get is what i get.
 
so you feel you cannot leave her alone during the day so you can go to work? when the agency gave you the dog to care for did they know this would disrupt your life in this way? was that why the previous owner bailed out? they knew this all along?
 
I think you'd better read the summary above, or go back thru the housefire thread for the last couple of years of posts, because you're drawing unwarranted conclusions from data that doesn't exist. ;)

EDIT: I could just retype it all over again, but it'd be several pages long for a single post...

BUt the basic answers to your four questions are:
dnmun said:
so you feel you cannot leave her alone during the day so you can go to work?
Yes.
when the agency gave you the dog to care for did they know this would disrupt your life in this way?
No.
was that why the previous owner bailed out?
No.
they knew this all along?
No.
 
Hang in there bro. Hopefully when the pneumonia gets better, the MG meds will make it possible to get back to work.

But pay attention to her, when she tells you she's had enough. Lots of dogs out there waiting for their rescue, so think of it as life for another dog when she has to go.
 
I know sadly that my dog has more love for me than the entire church does, that saying I have to be careful to remember to love people (I say this to my shame). Since I don't know many people personally, I try to reach out to those strangers I meet with God's love. Sometimes I say that dog is God spelled backwards because of their great loving nature towards us, which I know are a special way of God leading us to the reality of His great redemptive love for us. Now back to another exciting episode of: The Adventures of Oliver the Gospel Dog! :D
 
Today is...much better. At least for Tiny. I'm friggin' exhausted. :/ But happy. :)

Nothing new on the chair itself, (except that we havne't had to use it at all today for feeding or walking) and the rest of the update over on today's post in the housefire thread.
 
You have done a fantastic job of re-purposing the Q2 chair for Tiny. I am a full time wheelchair user myself and these Q2 chairs lend themselves to being rebuilt for quite nicely for other purposes. I think I can help you. Look closely at your caster steering axles. In the wheelchair world those need to be vertical or steering will be difficult as the casters will not want to trail.
 
Also, it looks like you have the rear wheels about as far forward as possible, but if not move them even more forward. The more weight you can get on the rear wheels and off the front casters the easier the chair will move and turn. You might even consider fabricating something to move the rear axles further forward. Look at the profile picture with Tiny on the chair and you will see the weight distribution.
BTW, what a sweet dog.
 
Thank you...the good thing is that at least for now, she doens't need this contraption, cuz the MG meds are working so well that she can even once again yank Yogi around the yard by the stick he's playing with. :) Not for as long as she used to, but she can still get it away from him sometimes, like before.


The main reason I hadn't moved the rear wheels forward is that I found when she slouches back she puts enough weight back there already to tip herself over backwards if I'm nto right there to stop her. :( Now taht she has the buttrest it cna't happen the same way, (and even if it did I could put small casters as wheelie-bar wheels straight out the rear of the buttrest posts that stick out back of the chair), so it should be possible to mvoe them forward if I ahve to.

For teh front casters, if you mean that the steering pivots have to be vertical, AFAICR they are. Migh tnot look like it in my pics, cuz I'm terrible at taking ones that show the right angles and stuff, but they shoudl be vertical. they do trail correctly AFAICT.

Unfortunately they need some form of "suspension" on them to deal with teh uneven yard surfaces, whcih made it difficult for her to steer it when "paddling" herself along, as the wheel in the direction she wasnt' turning will come off the ground since her weight shifts in the direction she's trying to go. Then that wheel spins in some random direction and when it comes back down it may not be in a direction it can roll the way she needs it to until she's dragged it into place. (or in some other cases with dips and stuff the wheel in the direction she's going comes off ground and she tips toward that corner, not in risk of falling but she feels it and panics anyway (not a REAL panic but a "WTF was THAT!?" experience)).


FWIW, I had two chairs to try, and was gonna cut and weld up the steel one, but this was just so much easier to modify and continue to do so cuz it's MADE to be customizable. I have (or maybe had, after the housefire cleanup) another quickie nonfolding frame, plus all the bits that went with it, but I have no idea where that stuff is except for the wheels, axles, and axle plates/hardware. Plus a smatterig of powerchair stuff, which I considered using for this but didn't (yet).
 
Glad she's out of the WC. Yes the steering pivots, and pictures are deceptive. Your other Quickie is probably a GPV, another great old chair. The steel folding one is considered a hospital chair, nobody wants heavy steel for permanent use.
 
So glad she's doing better on the meds. She deserves as much time with you as possible, after her stay at the shelter so long. :D
 
Been having a bad couple days, not as bad as before but not as good as it had been. Had to use the w/c last night for her to get around for poopies and stuff (was better this morning and on her own for a while).

Details (wall of text) over in today's housefire thread post.
 
much better last ocuple days, nearly normal again. vet is loking into stuff about the cough/drool issue see fi we can minimize it further, no word yet.

haven't had to use the w/c since the above. still pondering best way to fix the issues it has with the stuff i have here and the skills/tools i have, so ti works better for her next time she does need it.
 
I haven't updated this in almost a month, but Tiny's been pretty good since teh above, nearly normal, though she's had her ups and downs.

her temperature went up a little and she was not feeling that well yesterday, better this morning, tempertuare normal again, probably gonna be fine but gotta keep an eye on her as always.

She thinks she's starving even more than usual these days; not sure why, perhaps somethign to do with the meds. Those meds now are just her usually Phenobarbitol, twice a day, and the otehr P one I forget the name of that takes care of her Myasthenia Gravis, tiwce a day, ad then once a day in the mornign she gets Prednisone, too.

She'd had another med I forget the name of that was supposed to help with her cough (taht she doens't have now) but it never did anything, and it has liver side effects so I discontinued it with no change in any of her condtion or behavior that I could see.


But all in all, she's still practically normal, and that makes all of us happy. :)
 
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