Dane was hitting all his puppy milestones and growing as he should until one day, he woke up and couldn’t walk…
Dane is a 7-year-old Great Dane who was adopted back in 2015 by his Mom, Crystal Mitchell at just 8 weeks old. Have you ever seen a picture of a dog and you just knew in your heart they’re meant to be yours? That's exactly what happened to Crystal. It was love at first sight.
That first night, Dane came home and snuggled in his mom’s arms. Every day since, they've been inseparable. "He’s my best friend and I prefer to hang out with him over humans any day", Mitchell says.
Dane was hitting all his puppy milestones and growing as he should until one day, he woke up and couldn’t walk. Crystal rushed 4-month-old Dane to the vet. Once they cleared him of hip dysplasia, they diagnosed him with Ricketts. Ricketts disease is a bone condition triggered by a deficiency in Vitamin D, calcium or phosphorus. Essentially, his body was just growing too fast and was leeching the calcium he needed. After they began supplements his improvements were almost immediate.
Unfortunately, his joint issues didn't end there. In 2021, Dane suffered through some serious joint problems. He’s very stiff getting up, seems uncomfortable most of the time, and now has a hard time getting around.
It became so serious that Dane had lost 20 pounds very rapidly simply because he hurt so badly that he couldn’t get up and eat. Crystal’s heart broke to see Dane suffering like this so she started taking even more of an active role in his care and started researching ways to help him. She settled on a two-prong approach: the right pain meds and a quality orthopedic bed.
"I heard about Big Barker both from Facebook and also from a good friend of mine, who is a Chiropractor and has a Great Dane (Prim) who is a year younger than Dane. She highly recommended it and after her excellent recommendation, I decided that I wanted him to have a proper and comfortable bed built just for him," Crystal explained. One of the biggest reasons she decided on Big Barker was because it was specifically designed to support Great Danes and comes with a 10 year warranty, something she hadn't seen anywhere else. Since the first day Dane had his bed, he's been in love! He has plenty of room to stretch out and no longer tries to get on his mom's bed. Crystal tells us that he now sleeps comfortably through the night instead of going from his bed to her bed to the couch all night long.
"This bed is 1000 times better than any bed I’ve ever purchased for him! We have been through the cheap orthopedic beds and none of them seemed to hold up or make my boy fit comfortably. From day one with his Big Barker bed, I noticed a huge difference in him and knew it was one of the best purchases I had ever made. My only regret is that I didn’t get it sooner!", Crystal says.
Within a month of sleeping on his new Big Barker, Crystal could already see a very noticeable difference in the way he got up. He doesn’t struggle to lift his body and his stiffness has improved.
At his follow up appointment, Dane’s vet was thrilled to see how much his mobility and comfort had improved. Crystal is happy that Dane’s eating better, putting on weight and enjoying his day-to-day life again.
"Dane's Big Barker has seriously helped him so much these past few months. In the long run, it would have been way cheaper if I would have just known earlier about Big Barker sooner and didn't have to buy over 15 beds that we needed to keep replacing. I just can’t say enough about this bed!" - Crystal, Dane’s mom
| Did you know? Big Barker beds are specially engineered to help dogs with joint conditions? Click here to learn more. |
Thank you to the Mitchell family for sharing your story with us and taking such amazing care of Dane.
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