This has been such a protracted, puzzling recovery for our little Jackie. He is on the mend, he is improving, gradually. If we compare how he is at this point to where we were a month ago, there's a world of difference. But he's still not the lively, energetic, curious and independent little fellow he was. On the other hand, he isn't a sad sack, he demonstrates ample nimble energy when he feels like it, his sense of mischief is intact, and his wish to interact with us playfully is as well, on an episodic basis. He still isn't totally comfortable in the restoration of his own agency, however.

He has us successfully trained to respond to his imperious little barks to lift him hither and yon when it seems it would be too much of an effort for him to move himself. On the other hand, we can't be certain that these are whims of his and not manifestations of pain hobbling him from physical expenditure.

Yesterday when we were out for our usual daily ramble through the forest trails, at one point he dashed madly off-trail into the interior after a squirrel, bounding his way along, as he tends to do, resembling a deer in flight. When he returned to us on the trail it was clear he had slightly re-injured himself. He asked to be picked up, and I obliged. After awhile I set him back down and he continued on his own steam.

He did the same thing this afternoon, only this time the consequences of his impetuosity were more severe. He wasn't able to trot along at all. And we shared the burden of carrying him through most of our trail walk, a shorter-than-normal circuit, of necessity.

We had a morning appointment with Jackie's veterinarian, someone whose professional services we have trusted for decades. He was a little puzzled with Jackie's seemingly slow return to normalcy, but in the same token pleased with his progress. At the last appointment he had prescribed a ten-day session of Metacam and for the past five days Jackie was free of the medication and we hadn't noted any difference, that his condition regressed without it or he seemed to be evidencing pain.

The vet checked him physically, palpated his left hind leg, since we reported that he had taken to lifting it regularly -- about fifty percent of the time we'd be out on our circuit -- whatever the speed of his trot. He checked that same point around his hind quarters that Jackie had reacted to instantly when it was pressed last time, and once again there was reaction, just not as acute.

So it seems, according to the veterinarian, that a sciatic nerve is involved; it had become somehow injured, and it's that injury that Jackie is slowly recovering from. It would be better, of course, if we walked him on leash, to prevent him from spurting after squirrels out in the forest, and we may be reduced to doing that to ensure he doesn't keep re-injuring himself.

We're trying out another therapeutic initiative, a week of twice-daily ingestion of another medication meant to reduce inflammation and soothe pain, to see if that has an effect on our little guy that will serve to expedite his recovery and allow him to recover his independence, restoring his sense of playfulness so he responds positively to his sister's invitations to come and play.