Time4ANap

She is so adorable. I guess when there are no slippers available to rest your head on you use the next best thing....

Happt Birthday, Wiki Mark and LaVida want to know what this "acting your age" thing is all about?

What a handsome dude! Looking good, Mooney!

Rocket had something similar but on the outer part of his rear leg/hip area. It turned out to be a fairly large and deep benign fatty tumor of some kind, which isn't all that unusual. The only way to know for sure is a vet check. If I'm remembering correctly though, there was no sense in doing a biopsy or aspirating it with a needle because it would be possible to miss any cancerous part if only taking a small sample. We had it removed at the same time that he had a dental and the pathology came back as completely benign. Good luck and keep us posted.

Tell Annie that everyone at Camp Broodie is allowed to sleep as late as they want. Mark not only does that, but he is more of a Brunch Guy than a Breakfast Guy most days. We eagerly await her arrival.

Annie, we told you not to lick her nose....

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/nestle-purina-petcare-company-voluntarily-recalls-purina-pro-plan-veterinary-diets-el-elemental-dry

Thanks. They have come down in price since I last looked.

So, where did you find one? Have casually watched for one but never found it in stock anywhere.

Thanks! She's feeling much better since I put her back on the Carprofen at half the dose she had been on. We will re-evaluate after next week when Stella goes home since LaVida's level of play should be reduced after that.

Mark is jealous!

We did a full workup with a physical rehab vet right around Christmas. They felt that with the pain meds working at the time, LaVida would probably be fine just going for short walks, and maybe some cold laser or the Asiss ioop we've been discussing. She holds her foot in a way that throws off her gait. I'm really thinking that her activity level will diminish without Stella here and she will be much more "back to normal." Since the E-Vet was more worried about long-term effects of the Carprofen and it wasn't related to her collapse, I went ahead and put her back on it last night at one dose daily instead of two until we get a feel for how well that works and we consult with the vet. I'm hoping all of this becomes a non-issue once Stella is gone, as none of this happened until LaVida decided that she could keep up with the young dog. Thanks - good info!

Hi Ducky, We have not tried those. Our dogs since Rocket have been on the Frsh Factors and Springtime Joint Helth product. We saw a big difference in Rocket's activity level after we started using those years ago, and have just kept all of the dogs on those as a daily supplement.

Thanks - As far as recent labs go, LaVida's kidneys are fine. Labs were done last month and some were done again at the E-Vet. We've had a number of seniors on carprofen with no issues, most of them in their later years as mobility decreased with pain evident. I think the ER vet was probably being overly cautious about the Carprofen as he had a whole laundry list of things that he wanted to check for 4 grand. Um, no.... I actually put her back on ithe Carprofen tonight but will likely give it once a day istead of twice until I talk to the vet. She was just holding herself kind of hunched and the crooked walk was really bad. I can tell that she definitelty got some relief already. Also, Stella is going to be heading home to Denver next week which will mean that LaVida will do a whole lot less running, chasing and jumping which should help. Not familiar with it but will research it. Thanks.

When LaVida had her recent collapse / possible vestibular event, she was on a combination of Gabapentin and Carprofen daily for pain. Our vet prescribed these meds for pain related to arthritis and an old leg injury from her racing days. The leg doesn't slow her down any, but based on the way she holds it we know that it was hurting. At the time we started the meds, she was walking slightly crooked based on the way she was holding her body, most likley due to arthritis in the hip. The combination of meds worked well for her. When she collapsed and ended up at the E-Vet in the middle of the night, they advised to take her off of the Carprofen due to the long term side effects of the drug. They felt that it might have been a factor in her collapse, but couldn't prove or disprove that theory. We left her on the Gabapentin dose of 200mg twice a day but stopped the Carprofen. Now that she has been off of the Carprofen, she is once again holding her body at an angle so I'm thinking she needs another med. We have not done her follow up yet with our regular vet and have been waiting to do that until we knew what impacts, if any there were from the collapse. She has been perfectly normal otherwise, and I just started seeing her holding her body like this again yesterday. Otherwise, she is running, jumping, playing and digging her hole in the yard like she's 3 years old. She does not know her age. What alternatives to gabapenin have fewer side effects and will help with what I'm guessing is arthritis pain based on the x-rays, and maybe just some overall age related body aches? Any experience with them will help. We will be getting her tothe vet this week for follow up. Thanks!

Sid,Odin, Punkin, and Annie, Mark and LaVida said that you should come to Phoenix and catch some rays in the back yard with them. You can leave the boots at home.

Does this butt make my nose look small?

LaVida Update: LaVida is 100% back to her old self. To prove that she showed us last night that she can still fit Stella's head in her mouth. My Mom is here visiting and LaVida has followed her into the guest room every night and slept in there with her, but has also made occasional appearances back in the master bedroom where her collapse happened. She does not appear to be afraid to come back into the bedroom now, and working the system, going to Mom for pets about 50 times a day.

Just an Update - Urine and Fecal checks are all good. Vet appointment tomorrow just to follow up and decide if we should do one more x-ray or an ultrasound. There have been no more spasms since Friday night. I also stoppped the dental additive in his food after that one and there has been no spasm or obvious stomach discomfort since. I'm leaning toward waiting to see if the spasms continue now that the dental additive has been stopped before moving forward with x-ray or ultrasound. The dental additive was a Vetriscience product that some other owners have good results with, and his teeth did improve while using it. Not worth it if it causes tummy issues though.

All normal. No more spasms that we've seen. Urine and stool samples went tothe vet today. Vet appt late Wednesday. Urine was really dark so probably good that we are checking it.

I would ask the vet to check for laryngeal paralysis Coughing after extertion can be one symptom but there are numerous symptoms having to do with heat intolerance, exercise intolerance etc. Better to rule it out than not check for it.

It appears there is udder chaos at your house.