Shaysmom

I am not familiar with Adequan--I will do some reading on it. Acupuncture is one of the few things we have not tried so far. By the time Seamus was given permission to go to physical therapy after his surgery (well over a year later), the PT said it was too late for him to regain any flexibility. After that, we tried a chiropractor, cold laser treatment, and then underwater treadmill work. Unfortunately, none of it was helpful in relieving his pain or regaining his muscle use. I was ready to try acupuncture, but after all of the money we had spent on the surgery, the complications, and then on the numerous therapies, without any results for Seamus, it was just getting too expensive, and we had to let it be for awhile. Seamus was functioning okay, and we could control his discomfort with meds. That has been years back now, and as he gets older, his pain and stiffness are worsening. No one really knows if it is only from his bad leg or if he has lumbar sacral issues as well. The vet seems to think he does, but he has had x-rays of his spine and leg that didn't reveal anything significant. Without knowing the extent of what is hurting him, it has been very frustrating to not know how to help him. It breaks my heart to watch him struggle, and I feel like I am letting him down. I will revisit the acupuncture & massage discussion with my husband. Seamus thanks you for the scritchies.

I will ask the vet about it. Part of his difficulty is scar tissue from a surgery that had many complications and not a great outcome. The pain keeps him from wanting to put weight fully on that leg in particular. Perhaps a muscle relaxer would help. Thanks for the well wishes!

Thanks. Maybe the liquid is the next one to try. I will be sure to wait a few more days.

Seamus, who is ten, currently takes Gabapentin, 300 MG and Tramadol, 50 MG, for hind end pain. Because he is still having a lot of trouble getting up and down from his bed, the vet suggested adding an anti-inflammatory to see if we can get him more comfortable. On Sunday, we tried 150 MG of Vetprofen (generic Rimadyl), and he had a bad reaction to it within a few hours of taking it--itching, hives, swelling, anxiety, and restlessness. Are there other drugs in that category that might be better tolerated? I am guessing that the allergic reaction was to the other ingredients and not the actual med? He had such a bad time with it, I am afraid to try anything else.

My guy is another one who has bad reactions to the opiate pain meds and other pain drugs as well. After his last dental, he was in an agitated state for almost 24 hours. There is really not a whole lot you can do except wait it out. I hope Miriam is feeling better today.

I have found a DAP diffuser to be very helpful, with both my own dog and fosters I have had, but I know it doesn't work on all dogs.

He found them at the top of the tail. I flea combed him at home after that and found them around his chest, on the backs of his hind legs, and also around his tuck area. Poor guy. I couldn't believe it. The vet said I was not alone and that many other people were having trouble controlling fleas right now. It makes you wonder if the fleas are becoming resistant to the meds.

You might want to rule out fleas just to be sure. I was using Frontline Plus monthly and recently found out it wasn't working on Seamus. He was scratching and digging all over, and I took him to the vet, convinced he had an allergy. The vet brushed him with a flea comb and found flea dirt and live fleas. Ugh. I never dreamed he had fleas. We switched to Advantix.

I used an x-pen indoors to keep my dog contained and quiet after he had Achilles surgery. He never tried to escape, seemed okay with it, and I thought it was the answer--until he lost his balance with his cast and crashed into it, knocking it over. Luckily he wasn't hurt. We then gated him in a room.

Seamus wears Therapaws for corns, and while they do soften a bit with wear, they remain fairly stiff. The front part never rubbed enough to bother him, but he did get sores on the side of his foot where it contacted. It finally turned into callous and hasn't bothered him since. We also have Neopaws which I use off and on. They don't always stay on even when I cinch them up tight, but they definitely conform to foot shape better than the Therapaw.

Yes, I actually volunteer with our local adoption group, which is a small branch of a larger group two hours away. This new vet we are trying is on recommendation of someone in our group. We are in a city of 150,000, but it seems very small when it comes to vets for some reason. Most suggestions for excellent vets involve driving to the bigger city for care. That is where we would have to go for neurology and also MRI. Seamus is an anxious car rider and anxious at the vet, so I hesitate to put him through that usually. But within our community, I am starting to feel like a serial vet-hopper.

I will talk to the vet about other medicine options. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions and advice. How do you find a vet that is knowledgeable with pain management issues and drug combinations that work? We have seen 4 different vets in the last two years, and not one has really been able to offer much beyond the basics. Should I go in with the information and just ask for what I want? I already feel like a big thorn in their side when I go.

No, we haven't tried robaxin. I am not familiar with it--might that work instead of the prednisone? I asked the vet about alternatives to the pred when Seamus started having such extreme side effects, but he wasn't optimistic that anything else would do the trick. That was frustrating.

He is taking 20 mg total per day. The vet started him out at 80 mg. per day, which was a disaster. Seamus was peeing huge amounts every hour nonstop, even through the night. He was having several accidents in the house each day and not getting any sleep (us either). We kept reducing it down until we found a place where the peeing wasn't so extreme. The vet said I can reduce it again by half starting this weekend. It sounds like I need to feed him more meals in a day. I didn't think about the possible problems with higher fat foods. That is good to know. I was picturing feeding him cheese and peanut butter. It does seem like once they lose the muscle, it would be hard to gain it back. That worries me.

Thank you! I will look into that. Springfield is very close to us. Seamus saw a chiropractor a few years back, but at that time, it didn't really help (for hind end weakness, not his neck). Just this last year, he had cold laser therapy and underwater treadmill work, again with no improvement. The one thing we haven't tried is acupuncture, and I have been told it can really make a difference for some dogs.

Thanks, we live in Eugene.

When the neck pain started, he was on Gabapentin and Tramadol, and he was still crying out in pain. The ortho vet thought it had to be something serious for him to be crying out while on those two pain meds, and suggested a tumor or herniated disc. The xrays showed nothing so he put him in the prednisone with the thought that it would give him relief, which it did right away. An MRI is not an option for us, and the pred was the next best thing, I guess. He didn't think anti-inflamatories would help. I want to wean him off the prednisone and try something else. The vet is reluctant to do that, but will if I insist.

My sweet boy, Seamus, 9 years old, has been taking prednisone for a little over a month for a neck problem. In that time, he has lost ten pounds, which has me very worried. His appetite is excellent (even ravenous), and he licks his bowl clean every meal. His regular vet thinks it is a concern and told me to give him more calories to see if we can get him to gain a little back. He doesn't think that prednisone should cause such a dramatic loss and wants to do more tests if he doesn't gain weight. His blood work (taken last week) looked normal. The orthopedic vet, on the other hand, thinks that it could be a result of muscle wasting from the pred and lack of exercise. He is the doc who saw Seamus for the neck pain and gave him the pred. He also said to up his calories and see it that helps. Seamus has suffered with back end pain and weakness for over two years--and is also taking Gabapentin. I can see how much more frail he is right now, and I worry that his back legs will just start to give out because of the muscle loss. Can prednisone cause such an extreme weight loss? What are the best ways to up his calories? There really is nothing he won't eat.

Bring really yummy treats with you to distract her. If she can learn to associate seeing the children with something good (treats) she may eventually show no reaction. I have used this technique with fosters who were aggressive towards other dogs when on a leash. The key is to get her to focus on you instead of the children. If her stress level is extremely high, she may not respond at all to food, but it is worth a try. You could also research clicker training which can be very effective.

Seamus chooses not to sleep in our bedroom even though he has a bed next to us. He sleeps in the family room and most days, will come in at 5 AM or so (whining loudly to let us know he has arrived) and lay down until we get up. The only time he will sleep in our room is after we have been away on a trip and have left him with a dog sitter, or sometimes when we have a foster dog that he particularly likes (we always have the fosters sleep in our room), he will join us. It has never really bothered me that he prefers to sleep elsewhere--although I could do without the serenade at 5 AM.

A bootie will certainly help her protect her nails. I have a Greyhound who drags his back right foot to the point of wearing down his nails to bleeding. I have used Neopaws, and I have also used Thera-paw. I prefer the Thera-paw because it is easier to put on and it stays on. But it really is a matter of personal preference. The Neopaw has more of a flat surface to stand on. Both will help protect the nails and both are easy to walk in. (I have also used a thin bootie designed for snow that has no rubber or padding and it works too. It just wears out more quickly.)

How long have you had her? How old is she? Sometimes it does take them a bit of time to build up endurance for walks. When we first got Seamus, he would collapse on the grass panting whenever he got tired. That went on all summer but in a few months he was just fine. Normal for us now are walks of 45 minutes to an hour, which he does no problem and loves. If they are older, their stamina may not be as sharp as a young dog either but unless it is really warm, they should be able to handle a normal walk.

My guy is like that after a dental but it is more from coming out of the anesthesia than the pain meds. He pants and whines for hours but usually gets less disphoric and is able to sleep by 9 or 10 in the evening. Poor sweetie. I hope Princess is able to settle down tonight.

My guy ruptured his Achilles 3 years ago, and it looked very much like that. I hope that is that not the case for Slick. Sending good thoughts your way and wishing for a positive outcome for your sweet pup.

I am so very sorry. Sending prayers to Chevy and to you.