Let's See Your Dogs!!

Hope it's nothing serious

 

Yes another Lucy

 

Our girl Nala when we first brought her home 2 years ago and a recent picture of her playing with my son's new puppy he brought by for a visit.

 

they arent really sure why she is having such stiffness in her one leg. they tested for lyme and took 4 x-rays. they said she has a very mild arthritic condition starting in her back legs, but its nothing that should affect how she is walking. so they are thinking its a muscle injury maybe. they recommended doggy chiropractic and see if it does anything. i'm very glad its nothing serious, but i hate paying large vet bills and the get no results lol.

 

My Greyhound went to the doggy chiropractor for several years and the results were amazing. We also used a product called Legend and Adiquan that are normally used for horses and it regrows the stuff that dogs lose when they get arthritis. Great stuff.

 

interesting, do you need a vet prescription to get those or can you just go buy them? she's been on a 1500 mg glucosomine everyday since she was 3. the vet also wanted to put her on rimadyl but i've read such bad things about that stuff.

 

We have gone to a therapy place for our dogs. They use water to help get motion back and keep the weight off. Also laser therapy to help get blood back in the tissue. Now we go there every other week just to let the dogs swim in their pool. Good exercise and keeps the range of motion on the legs.

 

my golden is only 5, i was not ready for her to have these problems yet. not for like 5 more years lol

 

I managed a vet hospital for what seems like forever and I used to assist in surgeries with an orthopedic specialist. So I am not claiming to give you advice rather just telling you what I heard. So Dasuquin made by nutromax is the only company that has ever done pre and post treatment research. Literally open up the joint see how much arthritis is in there give them various doses of their product euthanize dog open joint again and they proved that there was growth of healthy tissue again. So what they claim to have found is that Glucosamine alone does nothing. With a combination of glucosamine/chondroitin and MSM is needed to do anything. Same mix I use personally for myself and my dog. Chewy's pets carries it online and you can get it shipped to your door.


Legend is a once a month IV injection that a vet has to do. It is expensive but works well with the Dasuquin and Adequan. They use it on race horses.


Adequan is a sub Q injection that you can learn to do at home. After the intial phase it is something you give every 21 days. I give it to my cat along with the cat version of Dasaquin and within two weeks she was running and climbing everything again.


Rimadyl seems to be what vets use outside of California and some dogs have GI reactions from it and some don't. The perk to Rimadyl is that it is a twice a day medication which means it is less expensive than previcox or deramaxx so I think that’s why more vets use it. I personally use it on my dog who is young but has a bad knee and will eventually need knee surgery called a TPLO. (Fun surgery to participate in by the way drilling in a bone is awesome!!) I give my pup Rimadyl on days that we go back packing or she will have a long run. She does not need it daily at this time.


Also weight is going to make a big difference. Personally I like to see my dogs first rib or two and when she is panting you can see four or so. This means she has a super low body fat and is not carrying excess weight. I feed her in kongs and toys that she has to play with to get her food and she enjoys the challenge and it gives her something to do.


just my .02

 

just curious. how do you do this? do you have food that is the consistency of peanutbutter or does it just fit in there perfectly somehow?

 

Depending on the size of dog is how you pick the size of the kong. I personally take a few kongs and mix her kibble with wet food, fill the kong and freeze them. It takes her longer to get it out. You have to start with it being easy so I just put the kibble in the kong at first. She learned how to chew on the kong and roll it to get the food out. Over time I made it more difficult. Kong also makes cookies that fit in their kongs and peanut butter spread etc that would be a treat not a meal replacement.

 

interesting... I do the freezing peanut butter in the kong thing, but ive never thought of feeding in it. shes a slow eater though so im not sure she'd have enough drive to work for the food she already isn't all that interested in.

 

thanks for your .02 cents, its very helpful. i mispoke, the 1500 mg is the combo glucosamine chondroitin and MSM. the vet i saw said she is a good weight for her size, she is not a huge dog. she weighs in about 75 lbs and you can see her first rib or 2 for sure. i'm also glad to hear from someone that has good things to say about Rimadyl. i think i'll look into the chiropratic, continue the 1500 mg supplement i've been giving her, and from something else i've read i think i'll add fish oil supplement to the mix too. see how that works, if its still not helping, i'll go get the Rimadyl from the vet and see how that goes.

 

+1 on Adiquan; Used it on a German Shorthair a few years ago. Vet gave it to me, so I assume its prescription.

 

Going for a truck ride. To the vet. To have teeth cleaned. And pulled.

 

Because ears.

 

This is my dog paisley. We have been struggling with her for about 6 mo this with behavior issues. She is extremely over stimulated. When waking on a leash she wants to kill any dog that's in sight. She also is very aggressive with people. She usually does circles around me and doesn't let anything get near me. Been working really hard with her and seeing some approve meant. She's the sweetest dog ever. I've taken her to the dog park lately and she is doing better. She is really bad on the leash walking from the car to the park. Very aggressive toward other dogs. Then she's totally fine in the park with 100s of dogs. She does snare her lips a little though. Then leaving the park on a leash she is completely fine and wake right past dogs with zero reaction. Sorry for the paragraph lol

 

My dad's red heeler is identical to that description you just gave of yours. He like 5 people and thats it. He likes my 2 dogs and thats it. Any body else, old or young, he nips at and some he full fledged lunges at. He will jump at any other dog also. Mom saw him chasing a coyote through the side yard a few months back. He's kinda psychotic. If it's just his people and my dogs, he's an angel and super loving. Huge behavioral issues. I've offered to take him in for a while and try to work with him. We had him for a week and he didn't show any of that with us. I think it's my dad fault as his temperament is at peak level with him.

Anyway, good luck with the training and keep it up.

 

Double belly rub!

 

Hoss and Oskie