Hawthorn

That is so sad and I am so sorry for your loss; rest in peace, Ceasar.

Sunny and Sophie have both had blood blisters that would turn into scabs, fall off and then reform repeatedly. I had them removed and they were cutaneous hemangiomas, benign tumours which if left can progress to the malignant form, cutaneous hemangiosarcoma.

I'm so sorry

I followed Ranger's journey too and am sure that many others will be inspired by your strength and positive outlook whilst you were caring for him. Grief is a process that won't be rushed but I hope it's not too long before you can remember your boy with peace in your heart.

I don't think you can generalise about what's best for every dog. I voted for walking mine every day, but that's not quite true because we don't go if it's snowy, raining or too hot because the dogs just don't enjoy it and/or it could be dangerous. The days that we do walk, we walk for between 20-90 minutes. If time is short, we just have an on-lead walk around the local area, which to be honest the dogs seem to find pretty boring. The only walks they get really excited about are the ones where we go somewhere nice in the car and they can have a run off-lead. They absolutely love those walks and we try to do it at least once a week but that's not always possible because of the weather or time constraints. I don't let them run on snowy or muddy ground for fear of injury. The days that we don't go out they certainly don't seem to care at all but we do have a nice big garden for them to wander round.

I'm so sorry . She was so young and it's a terrible shock for you to lose her so suddenly . Rest in peace, Trillian .

How heartbreaking I am so sorry for your loss . RIP Nicky

Prayers for Sammy and all who loved him.

I'm so sorry you had to say goodbye to Tasha.

Oh I am so sorry . We can't control everything, as much as we'd like to, but you did your best and that is all any of us can do. RIP Jack

This is just a thought, but could your vet consider adding in a sedative, such as valium, to see if it might help Mikie rest?

I'm sorry you had to say goodbye to Kodi.

In Teddy's case I remember being shocked at how rapidly his pain was progressing. We could notice a difference from one day to the next. I had read about how grindingly painful bone cancer is in humans (dogs can't tell us) and I really didn't want Teddy to go through that or the excrutiating pain of a fracture so we let him go earlier rather than later. It was devastatingly hard for us to make that decision but I knew I would never forgive myself if I allowed Teddy's leg to fracture and his last hours were spent in agony. It really is all about quality of life rather then length of life.

Stepper sounds like he was a wonderful character - I'm so sorry you had to say goodbye.

Poor Jack and poor you .

What an absolute nightmare . Sending positive thoughts and I'll be checking back for updates .

I'm so sorry - rest in peace, Bonnie Twist.

RIP MacGregor. Deerhounds are wonderful. I've always admired them but have only ever met one. She belonged to a co-worker at a rescue shelter I used to work at and we sometimes used to walk our dogs together at lunchtime. Lottie, the deerhound, really wanted my greyhound, Charlie, to play with her but he seemed to find her annoying. Lottie persisted though, darting at Charlie and nipping his tail etc, until one day Charlie gave in and chased her - after that they were best friends and played together all the time. Condolences on the loss of MacGregor and welcome to the world of greyhounds.

I'm so sorry - that's just too tragic for words .

Sending my sympathy for your loss.

My condolences to all who loved Sunny.

I've been thinking about this subject recently too, as my Sunny can't have NSAIDs as he had a bad reaction (staggering around, loss of coordination) from just one injection. When Sunny had a recent problem with limping, instead of a NSAID we had Tramadol for pain relief on an as-needed basis but as others have said this does not have the anti-inflammatory properties of the NSAIDs. There are also herbal anti-inflammatories that can be given to dogs, such as Devils Claw. I've recently bought one for Sunny that's a combination of Devils Claw and Yucca but have yet to use it so don't know how effective it is. You also have to bear in mind that herbal remedies can also have side effects, such as gastric disturbance. Re steroids, because of the serious side effects, I think I would want to reserve these for very serious conditions only.