Hawthorn

I'm so sorry for your loss

Yes, my Charlie had to have his ears flushed a couple of times under anaesthesia during an ear infection which was too painful to allow normal ear cleaning.

This is just so very sad and my heart goes out to you.

Sending my sympathy

I agree it's best to get it checked - your vet may be able to do a fine needle aspirate to see if it's a histiocytoma or something more sinister.

Such a sad story. Bless you for helping her.

That's very sad - I'm so sorry

Is she on any painkillers? Incontinence is one of the lesser-known side effects of some of the NSAIDs, such as Rimadyl.

Just wanted to say thanks all for your input. As you say, if this was a recent injury there would most likely be pain or swelling of some kind so I'm not going to take him to the vet unless it starts bothering him but I will lead walk for a while as a precaution. I think he most probably has injured the joint at some point in the past and it healed a bit wonky. I feel a lot calmer now .

Congratulations - he looks very content - and he's very handsome too

Hi all Earlier this week, Monday or Tuesday, Sunny was running in the garden when he suddenly yelped and stopped, holding his back right leg up. I checked it all over and found a grazed area on the third joint of his outside toe. He's always had a bald area there so what you're actually looking at in this picture is just the grazes that you can see: It really was just a scrape and has already scabbed up nicely. When I found this graze I assumed that this was the cause of the yelping. He walked away without limping and has since been perfectly happy to go for his normal walks and runs. HOWEVER, last night I was looking at the foot again and thought that the joint looked wrong. Here are two pictures - you're looking at the toe on the lleft of the picture, third joint up from the floor. There's no swelling; the "lump" you can see is bony: Here'a picture of the other uninjured foot for comparison. This time you need to look at the toe on the right of the picture: Does that joint look dislocated to you? I'm thinking it must be but am puzzled as to why Sunny hasn't been limping on it. Now I think about it, I vaguely recall thinking before that that joint looked a bit odd, but because it's never bothered him I've never paid it much attention. I'm wondering if it might be an old injury that never got treated. I'm trying to decide whether I should take him to the vet (not grey-savvy unfortunately) for x-rays or leave it, as he's not limping on it and doesn't appear to be in any pain. If it is an old injury, would the vet be able to do anything about it? What do you think? All advice will be much appreciated PS: I feel very bad that I didn't notice this before because now I've noticed it it seems really obvious.

I'm so sorry for your loss rest in peace Kiowa

I'm so sorry Rest in peace sweet Jade.

I'm so sorry . Rest in peace Diplomat

Which vitamins would you recommend? and where can I find bone meal? I rotate the supplements I use. At the moment I'm using The Missing Link but sometimes I use a powder called Keepers Mix which I get online from Dorwest Herbs based in the UK and sometimes I use a multivitamin made for humans with my home-cooked meals. As for the bone meal I get mine from our local pet shop but an internet search should provide you with some sources. If I were in your shoes I think I'd look for a hypoallergenic multivitamin as others have suggested. Ones made for dogs would be best but I use one that I get from the human health food shop and adjust the dose accordingly. If you could locate a doggie nutritionist to help you, that sounds like an excellent idea in your particular circumstances. I don't feed mine a home-cooked diet all the time, just a couple of times a week, but a book I've found very informative is "Home Prepared Dog and Cat Diets" by Donald R Strombeck DVM. It has 2 whole chapters on gastro-intestinal problems including recipes for nutritionally balanced meals.

If you're going to continue with the chicken and rice diet I'd add some vitamins and sterilized bone meal to make it more nutritionally balanced, if she can tolerate these. You could also look into using Aloe Vera juice - years ago I used this with great success in one of my hounds who'd been suffering from recurrent bouts of colitis for over a year.

Has the vet ever checked it? Personally, I'm always suspicious about any kind of growth on my dogs and prefer to have them removed unless the vet can do a fine needle aspirate or other test and tell me for sure it's benign. No-one can say what these growths are for sure just by looking at them, not even a vet. If it were me, I'd be off to the vet for sure, especially as there appears to be something going on with it; it may be nothing to worry about at all but I'd rather take the "better safe than sorry" approach to these things.

Poor little mites Rest in peace little ones.

I've been thinking about this for a while and still can't decide. My 15 year old poodle was blind, almost deaf, incontinent and a bit senile. After months of agonizing over what to do, I made the decision to have him euthanised. I took a week off work and spoiled him rotten: all his favourite walks and meals and lots of love. He was peacefully put to sleep in the garden on a cool summer day with the people he loved around him. This was the "best" ending I have experienced. I felt sad but peaceful afterwards. In this case it was good to know in advance, as knowing that I had made his last week as good for him as I could helped me with the pain of losing him. Many years later, and 6 year old greyhound Teddy is diagnosed with osteosarcoma. We knew we were going to lose him and tried to spoil him but were so shocked by the diagnosis and in such a panic about what course of action to take that the last 2 weeks were filled with sleepless nights and constant tears. In his case, knowing in advance was too traumatic to make it a positive thing. With Charlie, a 12 year old greyhound, I came home from work to find him unable to stand and he was euthanised later that evening. I wish I had known in advance that this was going to happen so that I could have taken time off work and been with him in his last days. I agree with those who've said to treat each day as if it could be their last. My two are only 3 but I spoil them every day just in case.

My two have both had growths similar to this removed in the last month; initially the growths looked like blood blisters but over time (a few weeks) they became more scab-like. One turned out to be a Cutaneous Hemangioma and the other was an Angiokeratoma (which as I understood it is a variation on Cutaneous Hemangioma). Whilst these were classified as benign growths, the pathologist advised that they can sometimes progress to Cutaneous Hemangiosarcoma if left. There are so many different types of growth, though, that Shelby's could be something completely different.

What devastating news - I'm so sorry

Yes - Sunny's a hot boy. He never needs pyjamas at night whereas sister Sophie nearly always does. He's a big boy, too, so I'm wondering if that's it.

I'd say that's almost certainly an ear infection. Personally, I wouldn't put anything down the ears without seeing a vet, just in case the eardrum is perforated. I should think the local animal hospital could be trusted to look down the ears and prescribe some ear drops - you can always follow up with your own vet once you're home.

You could try building up the length of her walks gradually to your "normal" length, adding 5 minutes every few days or every week even, and watch closely for any signs of discomfort after the walks or next day (good idea to keep a diary or log). If she's OK with the length of the walks, you could then gradually increase the speed of the walks, again watching for any signs of discomfort. Have you got her on any joint supplements, such as glucosamine, chondroitin or MSM?

It depends on the dog. Sunny seems to produce a lot of wax in his ears, and has already had one ear infection, so he gets his ears cleaned with a cleaning solution every 5 days. If I leave it longer than that (I've tried) his ears start to get itchy again. Sister Sophie has no problems with her ears so I just clean them when they look dirty.